THE FLEET AT WEMBLEY: We back the Fleet to deliver our biggest prize

And so the day has finally almost arrived – the day when the Kentish Football army mobilises once more to descend on our national stadium!

But since the troops were last called to arms back in 2000 for the Division 2 Play Off Final that the Gills won so gloriously against Wigan, the old place has been flattened and replaced by what is arguably the greatest stadium in the World.

The first glimpse that most people got of the old stadium was when the Twin Towers peeked through the North West London skyline to those on the tube heading for Wembley Park.

Tomorrow the difference will be dramatic as instead of straining to see the old Twin Towers, the first sight you’ll get is of a "mother – ship" on the horizon... It really does take your breathe away.

To give the authorities credit, as well as upgrading the venue, they have also upgraded the Tube station at Wembley Park. It still takes a while to get out of the place, but then isn’t that part of the Wembley experience…

The new ground is bigger than the Stade de France, and three times the size of the Millennium Stadium, with 90,000 seats all under cover. The first time you walk into the ground you’ll feel like the young boy in Nick Hornby’s "Fever Pitch" as his Dad takes him to Highbury for the first time – the adrenaline rush is amazing as the home of English football stretches away in every direction.

Every single seat has more leg room than the old places Royal Box, and more importantly every single seat has an uninterrupted view of all the action – there’s not a damned post in sight – with the front rows very close to the pitch. And if you are close to the pitch just don’t look up too quickly as the stadium rises, and rises, and rises up into the heavens. Indeed there’s so much terracing in the ground that if it were laid end to end it would stretch for over 50 kilometres.

Having a beer is all part of the day out and if you do need a break, you should find a toilet OK – the ground now has 2,618 of them! Whilst the food and drink prices at the Stadium have been criticised, in my opinion you get what you pay for and the food is far, far better than it used to be.

One word of warning – if you miss your turnstile area when you’re going in for goodness sake turn round – don’t try and do a lap of the ground – that’s a walk of over a kilometre.

Such is the size of the whole place its difficult not to become overawed at the whole experience – lets face it the two giant screens that the ground has are SIX HUNDRED times the size of a domestic TV…

And it will be on those screens that those of us in the ground will get to see Paul McCarthy climb the 107 steps to receive the FA Trophy from whatever dignitary is going to be there…

So that then is the "new" Wembley (how long are we going to call it the "new" Wembley for I wonder?) – all we have to hope for now is that the Fleet can deliver! And I for one think and expect them to give Kent the FA Trophy for the very first time…

Enjoy your day!!!
Mike Green