Lancaster Gate

LONG before the glitz and glamour and guffaw­ing ex-professionals pulling out balls from a rotating disco bowl, the draw for the FA Cup was made by serious-looking men in grey suits from Lancaster Gate.

In fact, nothing could contrast further from what we see today, than Graham Kelly, the former chief executive of the Football Association, introducing the proceedings with the aura of a timid tank-top-wearing accountant. Each fixture was drawn from a velvet ball bag by ancient executives unable to show much animation, however exciting the ties.

Graham Kelly

Regardless of how things have modernised, 22 Lancaster Gate – and later 15-17 Lancaster Gate – retains a special place in the history of the national game. In these addresses, England managers were selected and rules set.

It was a place where players went to face disciplinary hearings, sheepishly walking down the row of pillar-fronted buildings close to Hyde Park.

Now, a Labour councillor is calling for the address to be fitted with one of Westminster’s green plaques, the series of ceramic markers which spell out the history of the borough.

Councillor Ryan Jude –  a Manchester United fan, the winners of the Carabao Cup – said: “If you walk past this historic location today, you would not be aware of the history that exists here. Almost every major name in English football has passed through its doors, yet there is still no sign to commemorate its rich history.

Cllr Ryan Jude

“It simply looks like another wonderful row of white stucco-fronted terraced houses.”

The FA moved out of Lancaster Gate in 2000 when it switched its operation to offices in Soho Square, before transferring to Wembley Stadium in 2009 – where the cup draws take place each season now.

The old headquarters were turned into flats.

Cllr Jude, who was writing in the latest edition of Sebra News, the quarterly magazine produced by the South East Bayswater Residents’ Association, said he had already written to the FA’s current bosses, including chief executive Mark Bulling­ham, to ask for its support.

The summer edition of Sebra News

“Football is in the DNA of this country, and means so much to so many people,” said Cllr Jude, who was elected for the first time last May.

“The old administrative home of English football deserves to invoke feelings of nostalgia and happiness for football fans who walk past it.”

Westmin­ster City Council launched its green plaque scheme in 1991 and it highlights buildings of cultural importance and the former homes of people who made lasting contributions to society.

These include St Judes Hall in Ilbert Street which is credited as being the site where Queens Park Rangers football club, the 1967 league cup winners, was founded.

Earlier this year, one of a plaque was unveiled at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Hampshire Hotel in Leicester Square in recognition of its past use as the Royal Dental Hospital.