Dear Mr Tottenham supporter, regarding Stratford...
Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 12:10PM Dear Mr Tottenham supporter,
Regarding Stratford.
It’s a reoccurring discussion point this, one that will soon go beyond protests and arguments once a decision has been made by those with the power to do so. The question being; Stratford? Potentially the new home of the world famous Spurs?
Fancy some of that? Personally, I’d like to reiterate once more; thanks but no thanks.
And yet many amongst us, in a blink of an eye, would be happy with this. It's in our catchment area, it's only a few miles up the road they say. And that we need to make the move otherwise it will cost us a couple of hundred million more, resulting in masses of debt if we proceed instead with the Northumberland Development Project. Haringey and Levy are playing a game of political mug-off, all with their own bluffs, double bluffs and agendas. They’re broke and want to use Spurs for the redevelopment of the area and Levy is using this excuse in addition to lack of public sector funding as a platform and easy way to push the Olympic Site as the only feasible alternative otherwise THFC's very future would be under threat. I call bullshit because if the OS is given to West Ham then what of a contingency plan? What do we do then? By definition, there has to be an alternative. Mainly because, Daniel Levy is no fool – and is hardly naive. So even though Wembley and Arsenal are tagged with receiving public sector money in every other complaint article you may have read, to base all hope on the NDP being manageable for the club on those extra funds...well, it seems very very flimsy and clumsy if to be believed.
It's not like Levy is going to shrug and give up on the vision if the OS goes to West Ham. He'll work towards a resolution. To appease us and to appease ENIC. And to fulfil the promise and the next stage. We have planning permission for N17, so if it’s vital for us to have a 50K+ ground - he will find a way. Unless all eggs have been placed in the Stratford basket from the very beginning. Either that, or he only recently gave up on N17. Which again, seems an improbable thing to do considering how difficult it is for anyone to get through the red tape of development to achieve their final goal.
It's just far far easier to opt for Stratford. No crippling debt we are told and then he can build a stadium and eventually sell the club for untold millions to someone like AEG (who have a habit of getting involved in this type of thing) and could soon be partners in crime if the bid is won. But what of the advantages of moving there I hear you ask? A stadium with a ready-made infrastructure of travel links, the rich in the City a short distance away and countless corporate t*ssers and day tripping tourists. Revenue, it's the new Promised Land. Levy is serious about it, you only have to look at the people he's appointed to talk up the OS bid and the statements they have made. Eggs firmly in that basket then – and if the bid fails, then onwards (back to) North London to make that work.
What some of our faithful are failing to see is that it's hypocritical to move onto someone else's patch. Imagine someone moving into North London. Oh hold up...wait...
It's also quite lazy to believe this is the only viable alternative (I’m going to keep on repeating this) and we'll stagnate if we don't move to Stratford. Moving would also make as a franchised club. Five miles or not. That might sound overly dramatic, but it's fact. If the project in N17is complicated and will take longer in terms of building it (having to knock down parts of WHL – playing with a reduced capacity etc), what is ‘longer’ when the end result is to retain our home and a ground in our area for another 130 years or so? We're not going anywhere, are we? Or perhaps, we are.
There has been no final ‘we are so so sorry’ statement to explain that staying in North London is not, unequivocally not, an option because of the debt we would inherit during the redevelopment. If, 100 per cent without a shadow of a doubt, if...remaining in N17 would cripple us for a decade or so, then perhaps we need to revisit and understand how viable redeveloping White Hart Lane itself would be. If we have to move to survive, it would change perspective. But it's hardly that is it? Is it? If it was, unquestionable, they’d hardly be any debate just more questions about other potential options. Are we staring into oblivion? Are we?
How hard is that gun pressed to the back of your head?
I appreciate Levy is a very shrewd chairman, a good business man and in recent years (finally) a good leader with regards to the actual football (appointing a back to basics manager and letting go of the D.o.F system). He runs the club brilliantly. It's what we expect. It's his responsibility. And even if you might not get the impression from this letter, he does ‘care’. But he’s still a business man who uses business to drive the club forwards. I do get that. But to ignore all of the footballing sentiments? Sometimes, those intangible elements – they speak far more loudly than pennies under the bed.
Levy has a responsibility. To us. And everyone else who has a (different type of) share in the club. ENIC are an investment company and their main priority above all will always concern the money they can make back from their investment. They have an end game. They will be long gone and our legacy will be stuck in East London - making us a club with a history detached back in North London.
Again, I get told countless times 'this is progress' and that I should ‘allow us to create new history’ and that if it's good enough for other clubs why should we bother attempting to define ourselves by citing North London derbies and rivalry and passing judgement on other clubs on what they have done or are doing to be the very best? We should be selfish I'm told and we should focus on making as much money as possible to be able to challenge top end season in and season out. Money, money, money. Its progress. Spare ribs and prawn sandwiches dished up at half time so we can afford the bills to sign and keep world class players.
I guess football has changed. But once more, it’s not do or die until I see it written in blood. That gun, it’s nowhere near the back of my head. Can you feel anything at the back of yours?
Apparently all this money will also guarantee success. May as well invite a billionaire to buy us out and invest £500M in players. If we are that desperate. Okay, being pedantic a little there. Money will aid with remaining competitive. But no guarantees. We’ve been high spenders for years and years. It’s not worked out that well for us until we sat with two points from eight games.
The football. The kicking and pushing of the ball. On the pitch. That has led us to fourth spot. That has allowed us to dream and want for more. It should always – always – be about the football and the desire to succeed. It’s hardly down to the money spent. Sure we spent some, within our current means. And the other superpowers around us, not all of them are in a position to compete with us in the transfer market. But let’s move on from this.
Tottenham the area is a toilet and we’re not the only club whose ground is sat in a toilet. It could become less of one if people started to play ball. That includes you Lammy. People supporting the move are not considering how much the Spurs match day landscape in terms of support and vibe will change. New chapter, I'm told, stuck in the past, I'm accused of. History is relative. It sure is. I hope you enjoy chatting about it in a pub or cafe in Newham which is draped with Claret and Blue colours or Orient colours.
Imagine us winning a Cup. Open bus parade. Through the streets of East London. Stratford, Leyton etc. I don't know about you, but that would be like waving your willy around in the front garden of your girlfriends ex-boyfriend. All a bit unnecessary and avoidable, when waving it around in your own bedroom is far more applicable to the occasion. Call me sentimental.
Sorry for thinking football was about moments, about games, about having a drink pre and post match and making a go of it on the pitch without sacrificing and boxing up your heritage and traditions and replacing emotions completely with harsh economics that instruct us to move now or perish. You know, we've got where we are today by bucking the trend.
I want what is best for the club. And competing at the highest level is what we can all agree on as an ambition although some of us are fine with us just being Tottenham. Regardless, let's try to remain anchored to the place that gives us our name. Try a bit harder. Much harder. Without going weak at the knees at something we are only bidding for because of the apparent commercial support we have backing us - allowing all involved to swim in the quick fix, no matter the consequences.
They say, N17 is but a post code. It doesn't mean anything, not really. The club, its history and traditions - these will remain forever with us and can't be pinned down geographically. Honesty and integrity and Innovation, free flowing football, flair players. Glory nights. This is Tottenham. The fans and the fans expectations of what the club should be. It's not a post code, I agree. But it’s what the post code stands for, what it should stand for. And it should not be replaced by one starting with the letter 'E' and representing a by product of commercialism first and a football club second.
It's consumed the Prem League. Let's not let it consume us completely.
I should not even be bothering to quantify all this. Home is where the Hart is. We are the one constant that will always remain ever present. We, the fans. And all the romantic notions should not be dismissed because they can't produce profit. And they should not have to be packaged up and sent to another part of London for the sake of said profit.
You might not agree, you might cite what I’ve already stated that history is pinned to you, on you – the Spurs fan. Where you go, Tottenham goes. Football (and fans) are fickle, rule changing to suit their preference. I refuse to change the rule.
North London is ours.
We should not even be considering Stratford and I can only hope this is part of some Machiavellian strategy by the chairman. Because the alternative is Tottenham Hotspur without the Tottenham. Perhaps in ten years we'll up and move from East London to the Midlands for easier accessibility for the rest of the country to the brand new home of Sportstainment.
In conclusion - We as fans and as a club have retained plenty of pride in old skool integrity. You know, traditional values pertaining to heritage and history. The type of things you can't slap a price on because, let's face it, its priceless stuff.
We've struggled, no doubt, in the past, but recent management on the pitch has gone some way to repairing the damage. It's a quick fix to accept the OS as the only way to consolidate. And God have mercy on all involved if the Sky Sports money making machine stops printing the notes. It's a risk either way. But it’s a soulless one to the East.
And if we go to the East, there will be no national Olympic Stadium. No running track or obvious legacy paid for by tax payers. Keys to be handed over to a football club for them to demolish a stadium built at a cost of £500M for a few weeks worth of athletics. East London will lose out on the regeneration project in and around Upton Park. West Ham won’t have a new home. What a shame their bid is so weak in impact, hey Karren? And let's not forget Orient. Or have we already? And then there's White Hart Lane, home of many Glory Glory nights which will probably be turned into a massive housing development, flats for the locals, concrete where once Dave Mackay and Danny Blanch flower stood with studs on ball. A car park where Bill Nicholson’s ashes rest.
It's our club. It was our club. It will hardly be our club. Say no to Stratford.
Regards to all. And...
Come on you Spurs.
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 (255)
yidal, are you saying that those wanting to move are not true fans?
Yidal, when you say things like ' The costs will end up the same' you can no longer be taken seriously. You honestly think Daniel Levy would just move us out of N17 for the sake of it or to get us a bit closer to canary wharf ? As for Anti Tottenham....
There was one person on a blog the other day that seriously said, "I will still go (to the games), even if we do stay".
How fucked up is that?
NO TO STRATFORD!
Mattspur so anyone who doesn't agree with your point of view is not a Spurs fan! Grow up. That's exactly the argument that is turning the majority against you.
doc, read it properly!!!! Yiddal suggested that those wanting to move weren't true fans & was asking his confirmation that this is what he meant.
No they aren't yidal.
How much do you think that it costs to clear an entire site and ensure that it is fit and safe to commence construction, then set up all the access routes and accomodation for heavy plant machines, then excavate a huge area of land and remove the contents, then build the enormous foundations required for such a large building, then build the actual stadium plus all the other infrastructure costs, whilst losing revenue at home games due the disruption and eventual loss of an entire stand?
Compared to simply dimantling an existing structure and building the new stadium on the site; the site that already has had everything done that I outlined in the previous paragraph, whilst having no disruption on revenue from current home games.
The difference in costs are enourmous.
Imagine building a house from scratch in a field somewhere, compared with just knocking down your current house and rebuilding it with a slightly different layout.
Economics 1 Emotion 0
Read so much negaitve twoddle i got confused!
doc, no worries. I've had enough of this now myself. maybe we should all get on with our lives until next friday when it'll all kick off again, one way or another!
@ Mattspurs
No Im saying anti- Tottenham as in the area.
@ Chubb
Were not taking you seriously, anyone as proStratford as you are has something to hide (PR guy). Read my last post to nayim. The full costs haven't been factored in.
Tell me Chubb.. Do you think it will honestly be 250m for the whole development? Do you really believe that the whole project will cost 200m less than NDP?
Its the infrastructure and setting that they consider priceless. It makes it more attractive to the Qatar royal family or whoever to buy us as a ready made franchise with everything in place. They can then make it more corporate, more events orientated opening up other revenue streams. Don't get me wrong then Stratford Hotspurs will become a money making machine, a global brand.
It just wont be Tottenham Hotspur my team : (
@Nayim
You make some fair points. Do you really believe though that it will cost 250m for everything? o
http://www.hornseyjournal.co.uk/news/spurs_plans_on_collision_course_with_crystal_palace_fc_s_dream_1_779918
Another patch we'll be stepping on if we won the bid.
Yidal, I doubt anybody here can say for sure as non of us will be privy to all the facts and figures but common sense suggests yes!
when you think about it what a bizarre situation the OS legacy has created, how this kind of decision making isn't made when they decided to spend billions of pounds in the 1st place is mind boggling.
now two football clubs want it, one is controlled by porn barons, on the brink of relegation and won't be able to fill it and thus create payback to the government, the other wants to smash it down and build a stadium that has nothing to do with an athletics legacy.
weird.
I don't know the exact cost yidal, I suspect that no one does. But the actual construction of the stadium will be the same the same wherever it is built. You have to include all the other costs that are required of NDP that already exist at Stratford, plus lost revenue. This sum will be considerable, easily 9 figures.
With regards to the club being sold on; it's been that way ever since Scholar got his hands on it. Scholar, Sugar, ENIC, they've all bought it as a business with the intention of making a return. You should only worry if a new owner borrows against the club to take ownership and saddles us with debt, like ManU or Liverpool. If the owners invest their own money and don't jeopardise the financial future of the club, who cares whether it's ENIC, Qataris or someone else writing the cheques?
Off topic just on the poll mentioned in the quote from HH blog. Doesn't matter how many click thrus you get from one or two newsfeeds. People click in and click out from a blog sometimes without reading any of it. Sadly an indictment of having your site on a newsfeed. Polls are ignored because people don't give a shit because polls mean shit.
If you have 10,000 people reading you'll still only get a small percentage who respond. I've been reading thsi blog for a couple of years and dont usually reply. There are thousands of people who probably have a big opinion but still wont respond.
Polls, surveys - these are dangerous precedents if people think they mean something.
Any word on a survey the club plan to engage fans with?
@ Nayim
I agree, I think it should be ilegal to do what the Glazers have done and borrow against the club. That said if Enic sells Tottenham, it should be at Tottenham Hotspur. Not Stratford Hotspur.
It should be to people that feel at least some moral obligation to uphold our clubs traditions.
Also we already have an identity that could be Global, to all those sports fanatics that appreciate the traditional values and respect us for succeeding without selling out.
That's never gonna happen though yidal. We can all commend ENIC for their investment in the squad and sound financial planning but that's only because it's in their business interests to do so. The same as it's in their interests to keep us fans "happy" by employing the right managers to attempt to play the right kind of football. I don't think that they perceive themsleves to have any moral obligations whatosever to uphold our traditions, merely they are sensible enough to realise that it's in their interests to do so.
If ENIC sell, it'll be to the bidder with the most financially attractive offer, not to the one the pledges the most to uphold our traditions or notions. Having said that, you'd have to be pretty stupid to come in an alienate your customers....
Fantastic article!
I'm from norway, but i've grown up as a spurs suporter. My mum is from London. I've been to some games at white hart lane and other stadiums in england, going to san siro aswell and looking forward to that, but that's beside the point. Every time i go to WHL i feel the special "totteham feeling". That someone like me, living far away, and not able to attend every match, would make the move to stratford for the financial ups of it could be understood. But that english tottenhamsupporters who would be ok with us moving, don't get the soul and the meaning of history at a footballclub.
I love the walk from seven sisters up to the tottenham pubs, and seeing all the excited tottenham supporters along the way. Please do not move.
COYS
PS remember what our "neighbours" did...
Stadium's not cost £500m - the whole development has, of which Spurs would be using the vast majority. Apparently (from some other thing I was reading today on newsnow) the top bit getting knocked down is sub £150m of the £500m, and of that quite a bit is supposed to be reused (seats etc). This would suggest that Spurs get £350m of infrastructure/land preparation costs as a freebie, which isn't bad going I suppose.
What interests me is that there has not been that much talk about what the stadium would look like should it be there?
Don't get me wrong here, I'd rather be in Tottenham, but TBH it looks a lot like the end game is to move to Stratford and then try to sell the massively valued setup to whichever super rich person is looking to buy a football club - if the prize is big enough it will probably be reached.
The stadium will be the one as per the NDP, as far as I'm aware.
A must read, I really hope this has a big sway on any decision.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympic_games/london_2012/9367733.stm
The head of world athletics says London will have told a "big lie" to get the 2012 Olympics if the Olympic stadium is converted into a football ground.
West Ham and Tottenham both want to move to the venue after 2012 but under Tottenham's plans, the track will go.
"They'll have made a big lie during their presentation," International Athletics Association Federation chief Lamine Diack told BBC Sport.
"There will be no credibility... of a great country like Britain."
It'll have no effect whatsover I'm afraid.
Nayim. It will Im afraid.
It's also bullshit - there was never any promise made in the London 2012 Olympic bid that specifically said that the Olympic Stadium would be retained as an athletics venue, merely that there would be an athletics legacy in London.
Nayim, Its not bullshit Im afriad. They said the OP would leave a lasting Athletics Legacy. They may try and use different terms to try and allow for the legacy to be somewhere else but the Olympic & World Athletics commitees will feel duped if it doesnt happen in the OP site.
Would the UK risk potentialy loosing out on future events. I hope not : )
No it won't yidal - Lamine Diack doesn't sit on the OPLC decision panel, he isn't the mayor of London nor is he a member of the British Government. The OPLC decision will be based on primarily on financial realism, not concerns of whether international sporting bodies have any "respect" for us. Especially considering we've already been awarded the Olympic Games and so are unlikely ever to get them again and it'd been made quite clear that we are never getting the World Cup.
You think that the goverment are gonna give a stuff after the farce and embarrassment of the World Cup draw? They are the ones that are going to have to pay for upkeep of the stadium, not IAAF.
Twitter quote of the day:
If LDN didn't have the Olympics, we would not have looked at Stratford, NPD would go ahead. People would not protest against NPD
The OP will leave a lasting athletics legacy: millions of pounds being give to UK Athletics each year from revenue generated at the stadium. That's hell of a lot more legacy than one running track and a load of empty seats.
On a side issue, does anyone know if the contents of the bids will be released after the decision has been made?
agree with Nayim, revenue will always win. doesn't matter a jott what any Olympic person says or ex athelete.
Lets just see Nayim. Personaly in my opinion (which you seem to forget people are entitled to) the more leading Athletics people that speak out against it will have a bearing on the decision.
This process has had a huge negative reaction on the whole with most of the public & Athletics people disgusted at the Tottenham Boards plans. Rightly so too.
If I were a betting man I would put a lot of money on the spammers getting the site. I really hope so anyway as Im sure you do Nayim.
Have a read of this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12227069
And then consider this sentence:
"The OPLC will have to be confident its decision will stand up to scrutiny, especially from the Government's audit committee, for whom value for money overrides all other more emotive considerations in these difficult economic times."
Consider also that in the closed bids are amounts of money that each bidder pledges to distribute to UK athletics and the local community each season.
I just can't see how West Ham's business model and financial package is going to matches Spurs's and I can't see how a Tory Mayor and a Tory goverment will choose anything other than the option with the greatest return.
Added to the fact that Spurs were invited to bid and surely only because West Ham's bid wasn't good enough/viable and also on the understanding that Spurs stood more than a good chance of being successful.
Stranger things have happened but I can't see this vote going any other way. Will see though. All we can do is wait and then deal with what ever situation arises.
and protest : )
Well I hope they were invited to bid to increase competition and improve the quality of the bids.
The more I think about how it will leave Tottenham and its Athletics legacy, the more I think Im worrying over nothing.
There will be an outcry if its Tottenham.
Good news : )
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11675_6681161,00.html
Anyone care to guess how much of the revenue Stratford would produce would go into our pockets and how much rental would cost on a stadium we'd be leasing?
"There use to be a football club here".
Keith knew.
Such a big, big opening for Labour, who have the most power to stop this farce. The Stratford move is already anathema to most of the public, and could be an albatross around the Tories/LibDem's necks (if Labour do it properly). Does Cameron really want to be seen making such deep cuts to public spending but wasting 496m of public money? Certainly not. It's a chance for Labour to shed some of their image of wasteful spending, endear themselves to many voters (not just their base, but the moderates who voted LibDem or Tory as well), and reclaim their mantle (in a small way) of fighting for hard-working people and not the bigwigs. The only people that Labour would alienate are a handful of fervently pro-Stratford cunts in Essex/surrounding areas---it's such a game-changer for them that I'm sort of just waiting for them to do it. If they don't, they don't deserve to be in power again, because they are morons.
By the by, the way forward for WeAreN17 is to protest at Whitehall---while the WHL protests are good and may have an impact, bringing this issue off the sport pages and onto the news pages is a much better way to get broad public attention.
Spooky - would we end up leasing a stadium we built & paid for?
STL - Great point my friend. Who is the main man at Wearen17?
Maybe you should front it Spooky??
If you think the future of the OS can have any effect on Labours image at the moment you are mistaken. I think illegal wars and massive deficits will live longer in the memory and so it should. Also if the club does stay in Tottenham, I don't think any cunts from Essex will become too alienated
Personally I still think we can play 4-4-1-1 with Defoe ahead of VDV...Pienaar on the right giving Lennon a run for his money, could be good.
Eh? Oh Sorry, I just miss the football talk... :-(
Doc,
You started your post by saying that spooky's article contained factual errors. But that one above is an absolute whopper! Where have you been for the past two years? If Spurs stay in Tottenham, they would NOT move into another club's stadium while the new stadium is built. The new stadium would be two thirds built, adjacent to the current stadium. Spurs would then move into the partially completed stadium (capacity about 37,000), knock down the old stadium and then complete the remaining third of the new stadium.
Furthermore, if the will is there to start construction within the next eight months or so, Spurs could move into the completed, new White Hart Lane by summer 2014 - a full year earlier than they could possibly move into the completed new stadium in Stratford. That's a whole extra year of new stadium revenues - in the region of £30 million.
We would get more or less the same revenue increase from a new stadium in Tottenham as we would from a new stadium in Stratford.
rational and brilliant, the true voice of a Spurs fan
Nayim,
The really big difference between the two projects is that one involves building one stadium; the other involves building two stadiums. Whatever savings Spurs make on building their own stadium in Stratford will be comfortably exceeded by the added costs of also having to build a 25K stadium for UK Athletics elsewhere.
And please bear in mind that the current Olympic stadium footprint is not the same as the footprint for the proposed new Spurs stadium. So either Spurs will have to go back to the drawing board (which will mean added cost) or they will be unable to use much of the groundworks of the Olympic stadium.
yidal---I've tried to contact WeAreN17 to no avail. Spooky, if you have any contact info, please try, by all means, to get their attention to this.
chubb---If you think Iraq is still first and foremost in people's minds, then you, sir, are sorely mistaken. 8 months ago Nick Clegg was a working-class hero (to borrow a phrase), and now his name is shit. The last big thing is the only thing people remember---that is a fundamental law of politics---and right now, people are focused on the economy and spending. You don't think that in this political climate, in an era where public sector jobs are being cut left and right, in an era of massive fee increases at universities, in an era where the hammer of austerity is coming down hard on people all across the country, that maybe the taxpayer will care about 496m quid, just one little bit? The issue is tailor-made to become a water-shed moment: simple narrative, common sense, waste v saving, potential hypocrisy of tory/libdem alliance, etc.
also, your last statement implies that you didnt read my entire post---i said that by attacking the plans, the only people that labour risked alienating were the super pro-stratford people that want the club to move so they have easier access. i didn't say that the club staying in tottenham would alienate them. now run along and get mike lee his coffee.
I understand exactly what your saying, you choose to highlight the war, not the deficit but regardless, out of the 2 options, us or West Ham, which offers the taxpayer better value for money? The plan all along was to reduce the stadium as London has no use for an 80k stadium after the games.
Chubb, demolishing a stadium doesnt seem like better value for the tax payer does it? Having West Ham there and us in Tottenham rejuving the area would be a far better use of the money (albeit ours) but thats besides the point. The tax payer wont see it that way and shouldnt.
One of the best write ups yet.
http://tottenhamonmymind.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/stratford-decision-day-looms-no-one-bothers-to-ask-the-fans/#comment-2263
Decision Day Looms: No One Bothers To Ask The Fans
January 20, 2011 by Alan
A few seasons ago Tottenham Hotspur proudly celebrated 125 years of history. In 8 days time a decision will be taken that could shape its destiny for the next 125. It will be taken behind closed doors, by people eminent no doubt in their field but who are wholly unknown to the the public, who have little interest in football and none whatsoever in the future well-being of our club. The closest we get to a football man is the former managing director of Arsenal. Certainly no one has bothered to ask the fans.
The news that the Spurs board wanted to move to the Olympic site at Stratford seeped out gradually in the weeks before Christmas. There’s never been any formal announcement or acknowledgement. However, the detailed plans that were published as part of the bidding process for the post-2012 use of the Olympic Park indicated that far from this being a back-up should the redevelopment next door to White Hart Lane fall through, in fact the club had invested tens of millions in preparatory work. Moreover in AEG they had forged an unholy alliance with a major player in the leisure industry, for whom failure was not an option.
At the time, this caused a great deal of interest, or so I thought. Daniel Levy shrewdly kept a low profile but suddenly previously reticent board members like Sir Keith Mills were available to the media, talking up the possibilities of the site and as a secondary consideration mentioning that it represented a cost-effective option for Spurs. Other former members of the Olympic bidding process were co-opted to posts at the club.
TOMM signalled the dangers under the emotive headline: ‘Betrayal’. I make no apologies – football exercises my emotions like nothing else on this earth. However, the news did not spread amongst either Spurs fans or the public at large until two weeks ago. Despite regular dire warnings from the West Ham board, especially the media-savvy Karren Brady, it was the unlikely figure of the architect who has led Spurs’ design programme who put the cat amongst the pigeons. The media suddenly awoke to the consequences of the Spurs bid – the Olympic Stadium, the pride of Britain in 2012, was due for demolition. No athletics track either.
The fans picked up the mood too. Jolted forcibly out of their complacency, few were now able to claim that this was the Levy fall-back position. I was surprised and dismayed that so few Spurs supporters were unaware of the news but it has sent shockwaves through our worldwide community. It’s fair to say that by no means all the fans agree with my view that we should not move to Stratford, but complacency is no longer an option. Take a look, if you are brave enough, at the comments section of my previous piece on the stadium. Leaving aside the cyberwarrior bluster it reveals deep divisions not only in the debate around should we stay or should we go but also about the fundamental question of what it means to be a Spurs fan.
The fans are the heart and soul of the club. We were there 125 years ago, we’re here now and we will be here for as long as our team pulls on the white shirt. Players and chairmen come and go, we hand down the white shirt to our children and grandchildren.
Yet when it comes to this most momentous of decisions, we are the very last people to be consulted. We turn up through rain and shine, good times and bad, we pay our money and pay the wages. Right now, we don’t exist.
In stark contrast, the club were falling over themselves to consult during the planning process for the new stadium in N17, otherwise known as the Northumberland Development Project. I quote from the club website, as they worked towards the new stadium:
“ The previous application received strong backing from the local community and fans alike – with over 800 letters of support sent to Haringey Council from individuals, groups and businesses. The changes made directly reflect the Club’s desire to find the very best solution for the Club and the locality – and are the culmination of consultation and discussion with the Government’s Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE), English Heritage and other agencies as part of our desire to appeal to the widest possible audience.”
Fans were encouraged to contact Haringey Council. Local people and businesses were roped in. There was an online consultation exercise. They needed us then. Now, our opinions have no effect on the decision-takers. We have no value for the club, hence the deathly silence.
While I’m at it, here’s another quote, again from the club website:
A Flagship for Regeneration
All successful regeneration projects start with a single high profile ‘anchor’ scheme. The Northumberland Development Project represents an investment of hundreds of millions of pounds into North Tottenham and we believe has the potential to be a flagship for the wider regeneration of the area – attracting additional investment and securing significant benefits for the local community:
An even greater ability for the Tottenham Hotspur Foundation to address key social and community issues.
• World-class design which people will be proud to live near and visit.
• New affordable housing, both for rent and for key workers such as nurses and teachers.
• A significant investment in North Tottenham with a comprehensive scheme, not just a stadium.
Remembering our History
• The Club recognises the importance of remembering our history as a part of the new plans.
• We have the opportunity to re-house and re-locate key items which reflect and celebrate our proud history in Tottenham.
• We shall look to celebrate our past, display our memorabilia in a worthy environment and retain much of that which fans hold dear.
• This will be achieved both in the fabric of the buildings, in the new Club Museum and within the public spaces including the public square and lower courtyard.
• We intend to locate the famous Bill Nicholson Gates between the former White Hart pub and the Red House, which is the location of the current Bill Nicholson Way.
• We plan to put the famous cockerel, currently in our Club reception, on a plinth outside Warmington House as one of the first visible symbols fans will see as they approach from Seven Sisters.
• The old Club Board Room on the first floor of the Red House will be protected and retained and consideration given to bringing it back into use for appropriate Club meetings and Museum activities.
• We are also looking at how we decorate the gates and structures outside the stadium on the High Road and what other public art we commission across the site.
• We have established a Heritage Group which will consult on this work.
What price history and regeneration now? Literally: it has no value therefore our heritage is consigned to the dustbin, vacant rhetoric that has served its purpose and is now discarded.
Levy apparently lacks the courage to appear in public to discuss his plans. It’s ironic that this furore comes at a time when he has largely won over our support by the way he has run the club. For years his image was tarnished by poor judgement regarding the key appointment in any football club, the manager. Hoddle came and went, to be followed by what felt like the longest reign of any caretaker when, under David Pleat, we could so easily have been relegated. Santini failed, then Jol was removed because he was successful but not successful enough. With Ramos we plunged to the foot of the league until Our Harry came down from on high (well, the south coast) to save us all.
However, under Levy we have reaped the rewards of a consistent, prudent approach to money. He has resisted calls to make marquee signings, instead driving a series of hard bargains over salaries and fees. We’ve missed out on a few players in the process but the policy of buying good young players has more than made up for that as they mature. Also, the ludicrous problems experienced by Newcastle, Manchester United, West Ham and Liverpool are evidence enough to demonstrate the anguish caused by a potentially fatal combination of overbearing ego and an eye on the profit margin. Levy created sustainable financial stability and we owe him a lot.
Perhaps his biggest achievement, his personal legacy, was the new stadium. Finding a site near to the Lane was remarkable in overcrowded London. I don’t envy L’Arse their cavernous soulless spaceship but my goodness how I secretly admired the fact that stayed so close to home. Levy, however, trumped them, because we had a proper football ground, with stands close to the pitch and rising steeply plus an ‘end’. Thus the atmosphere of the Lane, its very essence, was preserved for generations to come.
This is why we felt safe with Levy, because this above all else proved he knew what football means. A proper ground, in our home! He consulted the fans, listened and responded. He knew what we wanted and did something about it. Now that bond lies in tatters. There’s no consultation now because he does not want to hear what we have to say. That’s why I feel so badly let down.
Levy would say that he’s being consistent, acting with the same financial prudence that has taken us this far. I certainly do not want to bankrupt the club, but we should do everything that is humanly possible to stay in N17, rather than cut and run to Stratford.
So it’s back to the Olympic Park Legacy Committee. A baroness, a Sir and a Lord, plus members with backgrounds in the local community, athletics, politics and planning. They’re so on the ball, they only realised a couple of days ago that one colleague, Tessa Sanderson, has links with Newham, i.e. a partner with one of the bids. They will make a recommendation next Friday, which then goes to Boris and the government for a final decision. It’s possible that on the 28th they can defer their choice to seek more information, so don’t hold your breath. This is fast becoming a political hot potato so they will proceed with caution.
As it stands, Spurs bid is seen as the stronger financially whilst West Ham scores on the legacy issues. How the balance tips is anyone’s guess. Nothing is emerging from the committee. Athletics is having a big push in favour of keeping the Olympic Stadium and this could be decisive, but it is only one of several factors the OPLC is duty bound to consider. As I said last week, the public will be baffled by any plan that knocks the stadium down and I suspect Cameron does not want to be remembered as the man with the wrecking ball.
Whatever happens, Spurs fans will not have a say, and nor for that matter will the supporters of west Ham. Fans left out once more. Earlier I said in passing that we should be heard because we are the ones who pay the wages, but the fact is, that is no longer true. The majority of a club’s income comes not from gate receipts but from TV and other rights and from the corporate sector. They’ll care when it comes to the noise in the big games, the club and Sky love us then, but right now we’re out in the cold looking in.
Yeah, excellent excellent article that.