If Stratford Hotspur happens, it ends there...
Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 7:10PM Guest blog by Jack aka tehTrunk.
Yes hello, you may remember me, I was the bloke what done them little cartoon things with the voices and stuff. I'm here today in a different capacity, to share my thoughts on the eerily quiet new stadium goings on at Stra...Tottenham Hotspur. I say quiet, but thankfully Karen Brady's constant barking does serve some purpose, if only in reminding us of the fact that we could well, genuinely, be leaving not just White Hart Lane but Tottenham itself.
Yeah, this could actually happen. WTF OMG?!!1! (I'm writing on the internet, it's allowed (lol))
Now, I'm not from Tottenham, I don't even live in North London. My allegiance with Spurs is the age old father son connection familiar with many football fans. You know, when dad creeps into your bedroom at night, gagging you with an Arsenal scarf in order to play hide the magic banana? Since those days, anything bearing the cannon of them lot down the road turns my stomach and reminds me of those mornings where I'd have to swagger into school like a cowboy. This then reminds me of cowboys which I also hate (I always preferred Indians). Suffice to say that sitting through Brokeback Mountain was a nightmare.
Alas, I digress.
Where was I?
Oh yes, I support Tottenham but I'm not from Tottenham, there we go.
These recent mutterings that we could be leaving Tottenham to take up residence in the Millennium Dome (er Olympic Stadium mate?!)have created a strange and uncomfortable conflict within my thoughts, much like when I catch a glimpse of Niko Kranjcar. As I've already covered but will tell you again, Tottenham isn't my home, the team Tottenham Hotspur isn't my local team so why should I care where the team plies it's trade? I don't know really, but I do.
History has always been an important part of this club, given that during the years I've supported them there has been little success, but it's been instilled into me that this is a club with heritage, with tradition. I'm sure most clubs think this way, but we support Spurs, we don't care what myths other clubs supporters perpetuate amongst themselves. We're onto a new chapter now, who knows where it goes. I'm enjoying, while it lasts, us grabbing headlines and having a squad filled with world class players, but this isn't why I support Spurs.
We all know about our cup runs, and double heroics and European glory glory nights so I'll save the maudlin mush.
Football is a business (no sheet Sherlock). It's easy to say, but it's hard to grasp what this actually means. Business' exist to make money. The chairmen, the board, they don't care about you, they don't care about me (they should care about me, I'm awesome. Not you though. D*ckhead) Does the CEO of McDonalds care that your burger doesn't look like it does in the picture on the board?
Daniel Levy is a business man. Don't ever forget that. For all his 'Spurs fan' talk, he's a business man. He's not big Dan from down the pub who wears a Spurs shirt on match days and gets asked to leave the pub when he's had a few too many and is getting loud sweary cross and scaring the couple who just popped in for an ale and glass of house white after finishing shopping, whilst he watches Spurs lose to Wolves at home (all in 3D mind). Levy, and the people surrounding him want to make money. This isn't all a bad thing, money has allowed us to assemble the squad we see before us today. Moving to the Olympic Stadium makes perfect business sense.
It's cheaper than building an entirely new stadium. It has a massive capacity. It looks well nice so will entice new fans. Having a massive, well nice stadium increases the club's prestige both at home and abroad. This will see a rise in the attendance, fan base and the type of investors and players we can attract to the club. Maybe it'll even see us become a more attractive option to a super mega rich foreign owner, who'll buy us Messi and we can win everything and be the best team in the world and even make it onto Sky Sports montages and have our players pictured on the front of the packets of football stickers found on the newsagent's counter.
Spurs, nay, football in general is entering into a dangerously vacuous and shallow era. This potential move to Stratford is a perfect example of that. Forget the history, forget about the locals, forget the name, we're going to move. We'll be Stratford Hotspur, it'll be just the same just we'll make more money and maybe win more stuff and then football will be more better, honest. Yeah, worked well for Wimbledon.
You can scream at me until you're blue faced, the endless clichés that 'we have to do it to compete', 'we want to win stuff what with City getting better now', 'Liverpool will bounce back sooner or later'. I don't care. I didn't support Spurs because they competed, because they were amazing, I support Spurs because they're Spurs. Sacrificing what we are in order to get to what we perceive is a higher level is like the bloke who ditches all his ugly best mates because he wants to be more popular with women. He's a lonely, boring, desperate tool and everyone can see it but him.
I know my thoughts don't represent those of all Spurs fans, and I don't look down on anyone for feeling differently (I really do to be honest). I just see this as one of many examples of how appalling our society is now. It's like saying that I think my mum is fat and ugly and I want a new one with less droopy wangers that way it'll reflect better on me and then I'll be happier. I don't think you're fat and ugly by the way Mummy, Trunky wuvs woo.
If Stratford Hotspur happens, it ends there for me. FC Hotspur of Tottenham or whoever else likely pops up it'll be. You can take your Gareth Bales, VDVs and whoever else and shove them. Along with your reality TV, IKEA furniture, tabloid newspapers, celebrities, Thomas Cook holidays and most of all your Sky Sports.
If all of you told Levy where he could stick his plan, it wouldn't happen, fact. But you won't.
Think on.
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 by Spooky:
N17: Home is where the heart is
A nail in the coffin of Stratford?
For some, it's a brutal interrogation...
Reader Comments (559)
I remember my old man saying Tottenham high street used to be lovely with fantastic buildings and of course WHL.
As a club we need to council onboard and central government to help us drive through the regeneration of the area. If we move that place is doomed.
I still cant comprehend Tottenham without Tottenham Hotspur.
If this happens it won't be surprising to see us in Stratford, with a new stadium, new owners, new management (when Harry goes to England) new players, no atmosphere, a running track. Almost unreconisable from now.
Only around 12% of our paying support comes from the immediate area (according to answers at the AGM); so if we move, we won't miss them as we'll easily make it up from the waiting list and new supporters - and God forbid we may even have enough seats for us to take kids again and pay a sensible price.!
The local council has been stuffing the area for years, the transport links to the area are a joke, it will be a really sick joke when it take twice as long to get away from the new ground if we stay in Tottenham. The area has changed out of all recognition in the last 15 yrs, immigrants from the sub-continent dominant the area, and football just isn't in their culture, let's get away from the shit-hole that the area now is and leave the local council, TFL, CABE and English heritage to suffer for the way they've abused and taken the club for granted.
It's amazing how many have come out of the closet to moan about a potential move to Stratford when most of them that are moaning never go to the lane anyway!
https://twitter.com/#!/FCHotspurofTott
FC Hotspur of Tottenham.
Just putting it out there.
People need to accept that the existing WHL stadium is being demolished. The options are to build a 56,000 over-priced stadium next door or the same well designed stadium but for 70,000 in the Olympic Park. There is no option to stay as we are, and no option that involves peering across a running track.
First time writer long time reader. Great post, still trying to explain to the missus what I've been laughing about. Call me cynical but wakes are boring and I never liked the guy (he was my cousin I get to say what I like). What isn't funny is the potential move to stratford. Yes your right it makes perfect business sense, but I'd rather be in the championship with spurs still in tottenham. I agree with you about giving up on spurs if they give up on tottenham and will start my plan b of supporting that inferior Spanish team that plays in the lillywhite. Here's hoping west ham actually win something. Coys
smiffyid
I think you may have missed the 'shopping is irrelevent' aspect. I don't think anyone wants us to move to stratford for the shopping options. (Granted it might get our wives off our back for going so often, but ho hum)
Stratford is an option because it has a stadium site going begging and good transport links. No more to it than that. That it is also being developed really well is irrelevent. Though probably best not to pretend it'll be a dump when finished.
FACT - Hold on a minute, explain the legacy situation, and why West Ham have basically fucked themselves up by saying they would retain the running track as per Lord Coe and his chums wishes. Because that as i understand it, is realistically the only chance to secure the stadium....ie YOU HAVE TO RETAIN THE RUNNING TRACK. We may have said no in public, but if push comes to shove, is that really the case ? And to cap it off i dont want to go there anyway......
FACT - do you have some information on exact costs of moving into the OP? We dont even know if we would have to keep the existing stadium or not. Levy wants to rebuild a completely new stadium there which wont be cheap will it?
In terms of outlay nobody can say yet that it will be the cheaper option. Unless someone can verify otherwise?
Its all about getting the biggest and best stadium so they can then sell us.
Also Levy is saying at the moment its because costs have gone up by 50m but wants to spend that kind of money on players and has other money through CL. I appreciate players can be sold on but still.
We wont miss 12% of our most vocal support?! We will get new fans - wow that is a disappointing statement. ( I really hope your not a spurs fan).
Dave the cunt - So you got a nice shiny new shopping centre in the middle of Krakow.....so what.
Oh and people dont need to accept it either, thats exactly what we dont want.
Seriousness aside; Do you rekon there are any rich spurs fans who would buy WHL for FC Tottenham Hotspur to play in?! Imagine a non-league game with 36,000 fans!
I want to play upfront : )
Exactly yidal......... Football is alll about numbers and percentages.....its a business aint it....but what a load of shit, its that 12% he's on about that make all the noise ! Shelf Side forever.
I think your pretty right on with what you've got to say, but.......... We are called Tottenham Hotspur as we are based in Tottenham. There is only ONE Hotspur, so to move would mean we are still Hotspur. History and Heritage will NEVER be lost as it is in the past and is there for everyone to see. Moving grounds is the same for you and I, when we move house or home we still retain the history and memories..... It's just a new chapter in our history.
Midfield General....like a hybrid Palacios and Modric.....Smiffalaciric
Just a couple of things I'd like to weigh in on---
"I don't care if Spurs were to move to the Olympic stadium in Stratford, in fact I would prefer it. My affection with Tottenham Hotspur has nothing to do with the location known as Tottenham or N17, much the same as my love for hamburgers has nothing to with Hamburg. Today the Premier league is all about the club's brand name, which is why you find supporters are not just local, but come from all over the world. This is the 21st century, so all you dinosaurs need to wake up and smell the coffee."
The brand name? The brand name? I know people have bandied about accusations about others being Mike Lee, but you really do sound like a PR twat and not a fan. Sorry, the club is about those who support it, nothing less.
As far as Jos and his "we must bow down to DL, for he is the oracle of all wisdom and singapore is fucking amazing and all you can rot if you dont like Stratford blah blah blah" bullshit, I say fuck off. I'm not given to personal insults on the internet, but you really are getting on my nerves with your odd bi-polar inferiority complex re:Levy/superiority complex re: the rest of us. Sorry, if it really doesn't matter to you because you love watching on TV so much, then just recuse yourself from the conversation.
To all of the ardently pro-stratford folks on here, I'll say this: I know your type, I've seen it countless times in the States when whichever club demands a new stadium because of whatever bullshit reason they come up with. You are the type that will, like lemmings (as someone said earlier), follow the club over a cliff. You are Spurs through and through, which is admirable---to an extent. However, your blind and unquestioning allegiance is similar to the Republicans in America c.2001-2006, who thought it unpatriotic to even question the government (Jos is a prime example of that mentality). In an earlier post I detailed what the effects of a club moving even 6 or 7 miles within the same city are, I'd love it if you would go back and read it.
As for those who say that fans can't do much, I'd say that you have a valid point, but one that I'd counter with the example of the Campaign for Real Ale. Nobody thought that a handful of beer-nerds could take on the major breweries, but they did, and they won. How? By speaking with their wallets and by mobilizing support. If you are truly against the OS move, you can do two easy things: a) call the club and threaten to cancel your season ticket/membership should the move go through (just ask them to make a note of it but not to take any action just yet), and b) call David Lammy/Haringey councilors/your local MP and register your desire to see THFC remain in Tottenham. You'd be surprised at what a few calls can achieve---a politician is only in a job until the next election, and he/she knows that they work for you, even though they don't like to admit it publicly. A few calls to stir up the conversation on radio, etc. wouldn't hurt either.
By the way, Haringey Council Planning Committee meets Jan 11 and has a special meeting, just scheduled, on Jan 24. Full Council meets Jan 17.
Last Item: To those who say "I'm fine with Stratford if there is no running track"....THERE WILL BE A RUNNING TRACK. SIX MONTHS AGO THERE WAS NO OS BID, AND SIX MONTHS FROM NOW WE WILL BE TOLD THAT THE OS IS TOO COSTLY TO RENOVATE. Sorry, but that's how it's going to go down. If you think you can take DL at his word, then you are ridiculously naive---he cares for the bottom line, as he should, and the bottom line will dictate that it's cheaper to just share the ground with UK Athletics than pay for them to refurbish the facility at Crystal Palace.
stl spurs....was just gonna say that myself, but got side tracked by calling daveblanchflower a cunt. which he is.
smiffyid
Dunno. Shat about it? Are you saying Krakow's a dump too? (It isn't, parts of it are very nice). Are you saying moving to a bit that's nice would be different to moving to a bit that's as downtrodden as Tottenham?
Again, I fear you are viewing shopping as a factor when it really isn't. Stratford's advantages are transport, and having a site.
Hahaha, you absolute nutter!! Great read, although a bit disturbing! I'm kinda with you, but I wouldnt stop supporting spurs, although i may lose some love, were does it stop, will our famous badge change, remember our full badge has all the local landmarks. Can we really be called 'Tottenham' hotspur when were not tottenham, arsenal had to drop the 'woolich' part of there name when they moved. My dad was a mad Spurs fan, the video of him at white hart lane in 1984 for the uefa cup final going fucking mental in the crowd shows you that, he followed them even when we were crap, but he is losing patience with the game, he prefers to watch cricket or rugby now, because of the money and the way the game is now and were at our most succesful for years. Success isnt everything, id rather stay put then lose our soul and chance losing my love for my team.
The funny thing is that I actually think the pro-stratford people posting here are helping to incite more people to get on the 'wearen17' bandwagon with such soulless and extraordinarily unpassionate reasons for being pro-stratford.
Please keep these comments coming because the more we talk the bigger this will get.
And also thanks to any Goons who are helping to get this debate going - most appreciated. COYS
Great post stlspurs
Do you work for Mike Lee!
Dave...ha ha...i like me aldi's.....i have to travel from Slough mate, thats a proper fucking ball ache, but i blame my Grandad for living there, and then blame him again for putting it on my old man, and i blame him for passing it on to me, and finally i blame them both for moving to Slough (which is also a shit hole ! HA!). Tradition, and i'm not a dinosaur but cant help feel the club will completely sell its soul if we move....its that word again, soul. And if a football club can have one, then fuck me ours most definately will have. I'll put up with the transport thank you.......and if you pro Stratford wankers can say fuck the ''12% we can make it up with newer, better, prettier, fans with bigger wallets'', then fine, they will probably all be cunts like you.
N17 all the way, for richer, or poorer......wait a minute, different vows.
stlspurs
Most of what you post is pretty spot on. I especially agree about the "can't do anything so don't try" mentality which goes against so much I stand for.
Only two things though.
Firstly AEG and Spurs were against the track option, and the requirement for it was actually dropped from the bidding rules to solicit their interest. As such speculating it will come back is a stretch.
Secondly, while maybe some fans were not so blind while we became dour and dull under Gerry Francis and George Graham, I carried on supporting Spurs. I didn't switch to passing sides like Wenger's Arsenal, Fergusson's Man U, or more appropriate than either, Keegan's glorious though ill-fated Newcastle United.
Maybe that showed a blind lack of principle regarding good quality passing and attacking football - but affiliation does that sometimes. It is however not actually equivelent to supporting a political party that slaughtered people, instigated torture, and took the country into financial oblivion.
water boarding is not torture....dubbya asked his mate and he said it was ok.
smiffyid
This wanker doesn't say fuck the 12%.
This wanker is one of the 12%.
This wanker just don't think that 12% will suddenly cease to be Spurs fans. There is an weak assumption that people from in and around spurs are the fans most likely to give up their season tickets and stop going. Actually I've noticed no correlation between where people live and how they feel. Certainly in my family none of the Tottenham and Walthamstow based lot of us are talking about giving up our season tickets.
Indeed some one suggested that 12% was also the loudest at the ground. That might be true, but I'd imagine a guy as agressive and vehment as you generates a fair bit of noise too... And as you say, you ain't in that 12%.
DaveBlanchflower:
The OPLC may have dropped the requirement, but an Athletics legacy must remain. The easiest, cheapest way to do that for AEG and DL is to retain the track, and being businessmen, they will try to find a way to do just that.
I will never, ever, criticize anybody for supporting the team, but there is a difference between supporting the players (always, always, always) and blindly following what the board/DL says. Yes, he's done a lot of good, but you can't believe he has the best interest of the supporter at heart.
By the way, would we be AEG's tenants in the OS, or would we own the stadium? That's a very important question, I think, because we'd be paying rent every year instead of paying off our own stadium.
One last thing---the O2 Arena is an AEG concert/events venue, Wembley is a multi-use venue, and the Emirates has the potential to host concerts as well, not to mention all of the non-stadium venues in London. Simply put, AEG is desperate for an anchor tenant---I'm sure the plan looked great when the economy was good, but are there really that many big acts coming to London?
hmm... waterboarding. Wonder if we could do that in Stratford?
Should add again - I have a reason to move that no one has offered any response to (other than to insult me)
I'm comfortable about moving if we can't have the NDP - because the tradition for me is the lineage of family going to the match. My great grandad did with his sons. My grandad therefore did with his sons (and saw every game in the double winning season). My dad did with his son. And I hope one day to be able to do likewise.
If that means a London overground ride to Hackney Wick or something similar every other weekend, then better that than wishing I could get a season ticket for my son so we could walk up the High Road to the game.
The location is not as important as that father-son tradition for some of us.
cant argue with me generating a bit of noise, bet your pretty quiet though Dave....Anyways this is getting personal, something which isnt required. You may find my posts aggresisive, annoying, irrelevant or just fucking stupid.... The fact is i dont think Stratford is right for the club and dont think the club we ALL love today, will be the same in say, 5years time if we move to Stratford. I have visions of a sanitised perfect clean family environment with a vaccuous half empty 70k stadium full of the type of fans who use the term Brand, and i dont mean Russell. That to me would take away in one foul swoop half the enjoyment i get out of going to WHL. And another thing Dave, the 12% was from another poster, and i have to say that rather riled me.
STLS
AEG and Spurs are companies. As such their motive is not the lowest cost. It is the largest profit. (never forget that).
Retaining the stadium in its existing form seems likely to massively reduce revenue prospects. This is because the lower tieckets have to be practically given away for football matches at athletic grounds because of such poor signtlines, and of course because there is very little corporate capacity (boxes and the like) at the OS in its present, temporary form.
I agree we should not assume Levy is a benevolent force who acts charitably out of love for us and our club. And as yet we have absolutely no idea what the terms of our deal would be. We don't know if Spurs and AEG would become shareholders of a special joint vehicle (Newham is doing something along those lines) or whether one would have a long term contract with the other who owns the ground (either a contract with us to be allowed to hold other events, or a contract with them securing our residence for football matches.)
As for whether the plan looked great or not or still does or not - as you say - these people are business people. If it doesn't look good they'll just not do it.
smiffyid
I'm not surprised it riled you. It would rile me if I wasn't a local, to have it suggested that only us local are vociferous. (I sit in the Park Lane lower and know for sure our noisiest corner of the ground is not all locals)
And I get that you don't want to leave. It's fine. It would feel really horrible to think, walking away from the old place, that I was never going to get to go back.
But as I say, it would feel worse to think I can't bring the son I hope one day to have on the glorious journey that is supporting Spurs week in week out.
Nothing wrong with that. Difference of opinion is perfectly reasonable. Apparently that makes me an Arsenal fan, a c**t and a wanker (just thre things people called me on this page)
I just have a different view of a boozed up new ground filled with 50-odd thousand chanting spurs fans like the old days.
For those who have forgotton:
http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/futureplans/scheme/stadium.html
I want this stadium in Tottenham, our home.
To those who are saying that Stratford will enable you to bring the wife and kids: If you want a nice suburban family day out, go to Charlton. If you want a family tradition of fathers and sons, come to Tottenham. Just pointing out that it's quite feasible with NDP to open up more seats to fathers and sons (or daughters, as the case may be) and that if people want Stratford Hotspur for a family weekend outing, well, we don't want them there, do we? That's precisely my argument against it---you've got your family when you come to the ground, it's your fellow fans. Bring your son or daughter and introduce your tradition to them, yes, by all means, please do, but don't view THFC as the equivalent of a day at the beach or a trip to the zoo.
***THE BELOW IS UNRELATED (MOSTLY) TO OS****
Also, with all this talk of family, I'd like to make a point on behalf of the supporters from about ages 16/17/18-30/35, those who are unattached, without kids. This is our club, too. There's a growing tension with what football should be---a family man's game or a boy's day out. It can be both, but the tendency is to proclaim it the former, and solely the former (for various reasons too numerous to go into). Those cunts down the road have made their feelings known, with their fucking gourmet sandwiches and "sit down, shut up"-you're at the theater culture of silence. But for many of us, football is a chance to go out with our friends, have a few beers, support the team we love, while being a bit loud and sometimes a bit crude. I won't do married men the disservice of saying that many of them don't like a boy's day as well, and I'm sure that they understand that we have to maintain a delicate balance.
I know what your saying Dave, but my dad took me along in the eighties when it wasnt all prawn sandwiches and shit. And look at me, fine upstanding gentlemen.....he used to say, ''right, your we're not out with your mother now, so any swearing and shouting stays inside the ground.....right ?''....to which i'd reply ....''yes dad''.....closely followed by ''my old man said be an Arsenal Fan........''
Just out of curiosity, anyone know of any sites where the Shammers are voicing their views on whether they want to move to the OS.
That will be funny, 70k stadium, 20k Spammers, and in the fucking Championship !!! HA HA How many 14'' rubber cocks you gotta sell to balance that equation !!
DUBLIN... I know a few who are keen to go because they think the extra revenue will help them impove the sqaud/ team.
Not sure if that is correct as they cannot sell out their current ground which has a capacity of below 40,000.
What I do not understand is why anyone would want to watch a football match where the pitch is surrounded by a running track.
I went to such a ground years ago and the pitch seemed to be miles away from the spectators.
STLSpur
Like smiffyid I think you are just wrong on that one.
I don't see any conflict between the father-son aspect and the lads at the game aspect. I certainly don't think my dad ever held back on the chanting and abuse because I was there. And I definately joined in.
And I'd say both types of matchday have the same need for a bigger ground.
I say about wanting to take my sone to the game. But actually I've got a bunch of mates who can't get a season ticket with those of us who have them. That's a problem cos it means even when they get tickets they end up in a different bit of the ground.
So the lads day out could do with a bigger stadium too so that great tradition can continue as well.
David....Maybe they would like the running track....make all the shell suites feel a little bit more appropriate.
Smiffyid
Should add - I agree wholeheartdely - that's exactly the tradition I want preserved. We need a bigger ground to do it though. I'm not arguing for sanitisation. I want Stratford to be a bear-pit of a ground if we do move there. But a bear-pit beg enough for Spurs, which WHL is not. (Again, all this is very much "if" NDP doesn't add up.)
I didn't mean that I don't like the boozed up loud nature of our home ground as it is. That is utterly the wrong way round. Sorry.
David: I was just curious what they had to say about it. I would suspect that their main motivation would be that they would want to move there to stop us getting in.
Regarding the running track, I remember going to both Wembley and Stamford Bridge, which had tracks around them. Wembley was not a prob, though you were some distance from the pitch. 100000 fans took care of that prob. The old Stamford Bridge was a bit remote though.
David
West Ham don't want the running track. But they are close to bankrupt so they have no choice but to accept it as part of Newham's bid so they can sell off the Boleyn.
Watching football from beyond a track is awful. In the lower tier the sight lines are awful, which is why Juve used to sell out the upper tier but end up unable to fill the lower tier. (Fans largely saw "only lower tier left" as "sold out"
No worries.......Lets just make a racket and hope that the NDP goes ahead, and we will ALL be happy. No alienating ANY of our longstanding/suffering brethren, and a united front against all other shit fucking teams with shit fans who play in shit stadiums.....
Anyone who doesnt agree to that is most definately a cunt.
night Dave xx
I was talking to my spam mate last night about this. He was saying they dont want to move. They just dont want us there either.
Some of these comments are actually mental - Pro Stratford fans want to follow the club over a cliff, please. You want to tie debt around the clubs neck for the sake of 5 miles, your trying to keep the club down!
Also sounds like some of you are well up for starting this FC Hotspur Tottenham shit...That's loyalty eh?
I also checked the petition. Not even 5000 names.
I honestly believe the average yid is a reasonable guy that can see that the move makes EVERYONE a winner but we lose some tradition, A move provides more season tickets and keeps us competitive (financially at least). Staying at the Lane or redevelopment means, woohoo, our tradition in tact (I dont think Ive ever had banter in a pub with a scummer where the old tradition card has worked as well as the old 3-2 stick it up your arse) but we lose ground on the big boys. Whoever said they would rather stay at the Lane and watch championship football, tie a rope around your neck now because you dont deserve that season ticket.
One last thing the new UEFA rule has not been mentioned. Us and the scum are the only two clubs in the country that wouldnt be fucked if it was to come in tomorrow. Why are some of you hell bent on mucking this up.
smiffyid
Hey, if the NDP is possible, everyone's a winner. Even West Ham sort of. ;-)
Chubb: Thanks for that. I suspected that the Shammers would have a similar outlook to ourselves, and that when it came down to it, their motivation would be to stop us like a dog in the manger.
I think both sets of fans have to realise that we don't own the clubs, and that whatever the outcome, you cannot stop progress.
I totally agree with your comments about championship football.
How many thousand of us paying a subscription would it take to buy WHL if this goes ahead?
Chubb, if success is so important to you to the extent that you're willing to go and sit in a football ground in Stratford and delude yourself that Tottenham Hotspur still exists, why don't you go and support a club that already is successful and just pretend they're Tottenham.
Can't you and your ilk get it into your thick skulls; if it's not in Tottenham, it can't be Tottenham Hotspur.
"Some of these comments are actually mental - Pro Stratford fans want to follow the club over a cliff, please. You want to tie debt around the clubs neck for the sake of 5 miles, your trying to keep the club down!"
Who says anything about going into debt? We're not in debt now (not serious, anyway) at WHL and we're in the last 16 of CL and fourth in the table. With the new UEFA rules coming in, we're in a great spot as-is, and the NDP would be fantastic, but I'd rather be in WHL than Stratford, if those were the two options.
Let me ask you this---if DL had said, a year or two ago, that we couldn't redevelop WHL and it was either stay in N17 or go to Stratford, what would you be saying now? We'd all be up in arms, I guarantee it.
http://www.london2012.com/videos/2010/all-change-at-stratford-station.php
Just putting it out there
Most of the Spammers I know don't have any problems moving to stratford as they keep reminding me its the old County Borough of West Ham and closer to their spiritual home but have big issues with the Running track and us moving into their Manor.
N17 4ever are you mentally handicapped? I have supported Spurs my whole life! Though thick and thin. Yes, Im really enjoying our recent success but have never dreamed of abandoned the club in darker times either. I want what's best for the club. Maybe Tottenham Hotspur will no longer be Tottenham to you if they move. I though about it and no, its just not going in that think skull of mine. They will alway be Tottenham Hotspurto me, regardless if were situated in Tottenham or 5 miles a way.