The opening of the new Wembley Stadium is just 18 months away and, as Deputy Sports Editor Adam Murray found out, the idea is that the fans come first in the 2006 model.

AS Sunderland and Hartlepool chase the route to promotion via Cardiff, many fans will be harbouring thoughts of how their teams should be gracing the hallowed turf at Wembley in the play-off finals.

Remember? It's a big old place in London and they call it Wem-ber-lee.

It's technically still there and it will be still called Wembley. But from the ashes of the dilapidated relic of football past, there rises a 21st century stadium.

If you visited today that transformation would be hard to envisage. To the untrained eye it is the archetypal London building site.

The only difference being that the dozens of cranes on site appear to be forming a circle as if protecting the central core of the home of football.

Gone are the twin towers - a decision that created much controversy when it was discovered they would not be retained within the new structure - but in their place will be the iconic Wembley 'arch'.

Forged in the North-East at Cleveland Bridge, Darlington, the 133m high illuminated steel structure will be visible across the capital.

The original idea to raise the arch even higher was rejected by air traffic control on safety grounds, but once it is in place over the next few months, the opening of the stadium, planned for the Spring of 2006, will begin to loom large.

The slogan now is 'you can hear the roar two years away'. Despite the ground never being renowned for its vocal qualities you can see what their getting at.

Weekend reports revealed that Chelsea supremo Roman Abramovich had spent £2.5m snapping up the last of the 20-seater 'superboxes', but even the 'cheap' seats at the £757m development will be under cover thanks to the new roof system.

Unlike the Millennium Stadium at Cardiff the roof will never close fully, but it will prevent any spectator succumbing to the elements.

And there'll be plenty of spectators with the 90,000 capacity making Wembley the largest stadium in the world which has every seat under cover.

Facilities for fans were a sore point at the old ground, a fact not lost with the new development housing 688 food and drink points, eight corporate restaurants and not forgetting the 2,618 toilets.

Yes 2,618 toilets. So keen to show how much they care for the ticket paying public the toilets are seen as a major selling point.

According to Wembley National Stadium Limited chief executive Michael Cunnah it will have more toilets "than any other building in the world".

Cunnah, a Sunderland fan, must have remembered queuing up for hours at the play-offs final against Charlton in 1998.

Not content with a single attack Sport England chief executive Roger Draper also informs us that the toilet numbers are four times that at the old Wembley.

That may not necessarily mean you'll get to the toilet four times quicker but you can just about see their point.

The idea is to make the stadium itself the place to be. In years gone by it was always the trip up Wembley way, the banter between the two sets of fans.

Once inside the stadium the facilities were so bad fans couldn't wait to take up their seats and soak up the atmosphere.

Now the facilities will be there so fans can arrive early and leave later in a bid to eradicate the congestion problem that blighted the old stadium.

The stations serving the stadium are being upgraded. Wembley Park will cope with 38,000 passengers an hour.

Links to Milton Keynes will allow fans from the North-East to park up outside London and enjoy a stress free journey to the stadium.

The new Wembley, funded by Sport England, the Football Association, the Government, the lottery and other agencies, will be bigger than the Stade de France and Stadium Australia - and three times bigger than Cardiff's Millennium Stadium, currently English football's temporary home.

Sport England chief Draper said: "Within the cost of building a new Wembley we have taken into account a new transport infrastructure complete with new tube stations and public transport links.

"Work is currently four weeks ahead of schedule and if construction goes to plan the stadium will open in all its glory in February 2006."

It will not only host England football internationals, major domestic trophies and the play-offs but rugby league matches and athletics meetings too.

But football will be its lifeblood and the first game in 2006 is likely to be against either Brazil or France.

After that it will be back to League, FA Cup and play-off finals and the chance for fans from across the country to give their verdict on the new Wembley.

Roll on 2006.