The Battle for Stratford
Saturday, January 15, 2011 at 4:23PM I've shared this on Twitter and Facebook, so only fair I post the link here too. A pragmatic argument for the move to Stratford over at the blog Wisdom for Sport.
Read it here.
The article covers the following talking points:
Athletics Legacy
The Northumberland Park Project
David Lammy
What is modern football?
The Media
The pro-N17 supporters will obviously be focused on the 'modern football' question which is where the basis and answer for not wanting to move away sits quite comfortably. Although the article linked takes a different view point on it all.
All in the name of debate.
Also, if you're unware, tomorrow before the game, protest against the move to Stratford outside the Bell and Hare, from 1pm onwards.
Be sure to visit We are N17 for your anti-Stratford fix and latest news. You can also find them on Twitter and Facebook.
Previous Stratford/N17 articles:
N17: Home is where the heart is
A nail in the coffin of Stratford?
For some, it's a brutal interrogation...
If Stratford Hotspur happens...it ends there (guest blog tehTrunk)
And as an alternative form of petition against moving out of North London and into East London...click and follow: FC Hotspur of Tottenham.
Reader Comments (61)
By the way...How many took part in the 'anti Stratford' demo at the Lane today? 20, or 25.....? No wonder they lit a flare......JOKE
Do not doubt Levy and his rock nosed approach to finance and dealing. He will not hesitate to take decisions either way. He is playing rock ball with Harringay to reduce their demands on all the crap they want BUT at the same time, he is also convinced of the Stratford move because it makes financial sence - and to hell with what the supporters and Tottenham heritage thing.
Im afraid this is ALL ABOUT MONEY and nothing else regardless of what you and I think.
You want to know why this has all changed, well bloody well ask Harringay who screwed the club with its pussy footing meetings and planning permission refusals and the £3m for road signing, CABE and the rest of it. If the club had a reasonable run at this, the scheme would have been done and dusted by now.
And what is Lammy shouting about - its his and his Harringay friends that are to blame!!!
And while we are at it: With Crouch at the club, we have no chance - we simply do not play football. Harry, wrong selection today and it cost us 2 points!! For God's sake get rid of Crouch while we still have a chance!!
West Ham will win the OS bid and then we can finally say goodbye to all this discussion.
I am a foreigner living in another country, so the political and financial nuances of this debate are way over my head. In fact I'm sure much of this debate is way over my head due to my ignorance. And the massive hangover since my "football" team dominated another team and won a pivotal last night (Go Pack Go! by the way).
But I can say why I chose to support the Spurs about ten years ago, which I believe ties into this entire debate. It had everything to do with the fanbase and the ineffable spirit of the team when I looked into the club's culture and history. Well, that and watching a couple of games helped for some reason. The team wasn't doing too well but there was just something about the style of play and - hell I don't know - the feeling that hooked me.
And as a specific aside and at the risk of derailing the conversation, the fans' reaction to the antisemitism displayed by groups of other clubs' supporters especially impressed me. It was a nice way to say "fuck you" and show a united front to the jackasses when they tried to screw with some Spurs' supporters. I like that attitude, and I hate fascism and bullies, and that's why I'm proud to call myself a Yiddo even though I am a redneck atheist. Jewish chicks can be hot as a pistol though.
At any rate, is there any technical or engineering reason WHL can't be modified to a more modern format with a higher capacity, perhaps as some kind of area redevelopment plan? Or is the problem that there is no political or economic will where it counts for something like this?
As a Red Sox's (an American baseball team) fan pointed out on the linked article's comments, how the Soxs handled their non-move worked out extremely well for that team. History and tradition mean something. I'd even venture to say they mean something in financial terms, although I have no idea how any valuation would be done but I bet that it could be. But when these kinds of ineffable qualities cease to have meaning, what else is there? Why get up early in the morning, on this side of the pond, to watch a Spurs' game?
I would hate to see THFC turn into just another massive heartless roboclub like Chelsea, Man. Utd., Arsenal (damn their name), etc etc When I do go over to watch my first Spurs' game I want it to be in Tottenham at WHL. Otherwise what's the point?
There is of course another option:
We work with Haringey, TfL, David Lammay etc to make the s106 and wider regeneration plans for WHL politically and financially / economically feasible. We move into Stratford on a short-term, temporary basis for a couple of seasons whilst WHL and the surrounding area is redeveloped. During this time, UK Athletics get the opportunity to see whether an athletics events other than the Olympics and World Championships can generate enough interest to fill a 60,000 seat stadium. When it is shown that the answer is no and we move back to WHL, the Olympic Stadium can then be downsized to 25,000 as per the original legacy proposals (and perhaps Leyton Orient could then move in).
Worth exploring?
Now, how about Levy spends a few bob on a decent striker?
No thanks to Stratford. Cannot leave north London to the wanderers.
Stratford Dons FC... No one wants to learn from history it seems.\
Much like playing Crouch and expecting a goal. I 'love' Harry...He's doing his level best. And I guess 'loving' Harry means I have to also accept his friend Mr. Crouch. He's useless, but he's Harry's pal & we'll just have to contend with him jumping up and down in our colours pretending to be a striker. Mot uninspiring striker in the history of the club for sure.
Man-u were there for the taking.
Spooky, got to WHL around 2ish, Bill Nick Way was pretty busy with people, but the police had got them out of the road so cars could get in.
There was another small protest outside the Bell and Hare, with a banner on the outside of the pub (which was then passed around fans during the game)
A guy got up outside the tv studio with a massive "Say No to Stratford" banner and was holding it against the window for a good 5 minutes during half-time, not sure if it got shown on tv though....
loads of anti-stratford songs, and a few photos of the banner were taken in the park lane end, which i assume are in todays papers?
Regarding the game, it says a lot that we've drawn against Man U and are disappointed, there was definitely a different atmosphere yesterday, we actually believed we'd turn them over, rather than hoping.
On Crouch...... not up front alone thanks....
Carroll for £30m? No... can we stop with the 6 month wonders for over inflated prices?
He'd be out on loan to Birmingham within 2 years.
The guy was apparently a girl called Helen. She got ejected, obviously, but she's not been banned. Nice of the club not to stir up the wrong type of PR for themselves with that touch.
We are N17 was the protest/petition signing outside the Bell and Hare pub.
I did wonder if it was a girl, but assumed it was a long haired yahoo, i was in block 34 so had a dodgy view really.
She almost got away with it, she jumped back into the Park Lane and tried to hide before the stewards/police got to her.
Shame that it didnt get on tv and that the Bagel Brigade (West Stand) had no banners for the TV cameras to see during the game.
@Malcolm Tucker,
Great post.
Re your question about redeveloping the current stadium: yes, it is feasible. There's enough room on three sides to gradually increase capacity to 60,000, if the will is there.