Will someone please think of the children?
Wednesday, June 29, 2011 at 2:44PM The never ending story does what it says on the tin. Official club statement here.
Twitter reaction:
I think we have all lost track of it now. I guess he wants to be in court same time as 'Arry. Save on cab fares... @SpursSimon
are we really appealling the failed right to appeal? @Studub
Ref: OS appeal - doesn't mean decision will be overturned. Just means #thfc could be awarded compensation for unfair award process @RichSibley
Oh Daniel, you are starting to wind me the f**k up now. Maybe you should concentrate on a live striker instead of a dead duck @Bentleysbird
Rather tenacious our Mr Levy. Reminds me of an annoying Jack Russell, continually yapping & nipping at ankles @Coq_Au_Ginge
#Spurs' attitude to the Olympic Stadium is embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as the idea of W. Ham vs Barnet there in front of 2000 fans @daveeeeeed
#levy. We dont f**king want the stadium. The govt dont want us to have it. Pls just wipe your mouth of it before we dont want YOU #thfc @Rabbicrackers
F*ck the Olympic Stadium Levy! What we need is a statue of Michael Jackson outside White Hart Lane #COYS @aGrime
Join the chat: @Spooky23
Reader Comments (44)
Flogging a dead horse now Levy just let it go
"levy. We dont f**king want the stadium. The govt dont want us to have it. Pls just wipe your mouth of it before we dont want YOU"
This is how I feel, but it's hardly surprising that he's going to the end of the line with this. Perhaps there is a case there, and the previous (paid off?) judge was just trying to put Levy and co. off.
He wants the government to help. Not sure taking them to court is the way to go about it.
Which is why it makes no sense any more.
On top of all this we've got Ken Livingstone whoring himself around the borough, claiming that he been elected the Northumberland projetc would be up and running.
Want/need/must have a new stadium but not at Stratford.
He's doing the country a favour by giving it yet another opportunity to save itself from yet another embarrassing white elephant. The opportunity probably won't be taken, which is almost certain to be to the disadvantage of Tottenham Hotspur, Leyton Orient, West Ham United, UK Athletics, and the country as a whole. I don't doubt however that in the short term it will make a hell of a lot of people very happy, and that those people will conveniently forget their current views when it all goes tits up.
Such is life.
Ken playing the game. I heard about his comments. I got the impression the current Mayor was also pro-NDP supportive, post-OS decision. Obviously gone a little quiet there what with Daniel and his court hearings.
Yes in principal Spurs have been wronged by the process. No, we don't have to take that crap from nobody. But yes, we have already made our point. No, we do not need to pursue further. No, we do not want the bleeding thing anyway. No, I do not know what we hope to get from all of this....cash compensation?
Daniel Levy is turning into Don Logan from Sexy Beast. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!..."
John - Levy knows our bid was the best not only on paper but also in terms of longevity and development and fiscal aspects.
Reality is different for reasons given pertaining to geography, West Ham, the Olympic legacy etc. And the little fact concerning a hefty % of Spurs fans who never agreed with our bid in the first place.
THIS IS ALL A LOAD OF BOLLOCKS ,.. GIVE IT A REST LEVY YOU TWAT .. AND GET ON WITH STRENGTHENING THE TEAM .. WE DONT GIVE A TOSS ABOUT STRAFTFORD
The issue is to do with the un-fair process, and the loan from Newnham council. I am shocked more people from that borough are not standing up and arguing. I hope Spurs win, but more importantly I hope someone looks into the legality of the loan and sacrafices Newnham council for it.
Isn't the loan kosher? Council supporting local business?
Dont want Stratford, but obviously want a bigger / new stadium.
I am guessing this is just further pressure of the government for financial assistance.
Afterall, they can't give Arsenal huge funding towards their new stadium and surrounding areas, then give West Ham a loan, plus a spanking new stadium and say sod spurs, as our area is the one most in need of investment.
Something within EU law about state financing for private businesses is where the validity of the loan is questioned (not sure on the specifics). As for our appeal, though opposed to the Stratford move I do feel we've been fucked over by Boris. I'd wager that Boris made a promise to Levy regarding the NDP in exchange for Spurs getting involved in the Stratford mess. It would appear Boris has reneged on his promise (or has no intention of doing anything anytime soon) and Levy is kicking up a stink about it by attempting to prove the process unfair.
If this is a way of getting money for NDP, then more power to you. If it's a way of actually getting Stratford, then a plague on you.
Having said that, and I'm anti-Stratford, but if the NDP really isn't viable and Stratford is the only way of getting a bigger stadium, should we not go for it? In the end we ain't going to compete playing at the existing ground, even enlarged a bit.
Said the other day Levy put the stadium in front of football last year.
I rest my case. He is obsessed.
Don't see how fighting the government can force them to give us more money (granted, different factions of government).
Our Dan isin't acting on personal resentment. He's more of a businessman than that. He has been advised to proceed and there will be a clear picture when the judicial hearings are over. I'm backing the chairman to get a positive result. As everyone is saying, there doesn't seem to be a case for flogging the 'dead horse'. I'm sure his reasons cannot be revealed until after the hearings. I'm backing Danno. After all he would have to get the all clear from Joe Lewis and between them they seem determined to take this lot on.
Cookie - I just tweeted this lot:
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Any feasible way Levy's commitment to appeal is in some way a push for enterprise zone, reduction of 106 commitments, transport links...If court says no again, and rejects - surely this avenue is shut closed? It's not like we're holding them by the balls, is it?
Not even sure the amount of mud being slang in their direction is doing us a great favour or a massive disfavour to them.
Then again - Levy being Levy, backed by ENIC and owner...is there something he knows we don't? Hence the obsession?
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You wonder if there's something going on deep deep down that is not apparent to any of us...yet.
regarding the loan I think its 2 questions:
1. Whether it amounts to public subsidy of a private business
2. Whether correct procedure waas followed by Newham in approving the loan.
Newham cannot subsidise to the benefit of WHU because it is to the detriment of Orient, and other businesses.
There were all sorts of reports about Councillors not having enough info, or time to consider info to make what was a massive financial decision.
It does make me chuckle how so many are urging Levy to get on with the business of the transfer market and may have accused him of focusing on the stadium and not transfers in January at the expense of our transfers (or lack of).....yet it is the Stratford option that represents a financial position where THFC would be on a financial par with the likes of Arsenal, Utd, Liverpool and in the richest 10 clubs in the world (based on revenue), enabling THFC to compete in the transfer market and rival those clubs fopr the best players.
Levy is doing what he belives is right.....fans cannot have their cake & eat it.
'Danno' WTF!
Can't see Levy winning this, but it will force some people to answer some uncomfortable questions.
No doubt the government will BS their way through it.
Suggestion from some is that it's simply to highlight the 'corruption' and attempt to reclaim money spent on a wasted bid - one that we were encouraged to bid for.
Again, it falls back on the fact that surely Levy isn't daft enough to fall for the flutter of eyelids from the Mayor and others.
Shrewd negotiator and all that.
Devonshirespur, it makes me chuckle how you can't accept that some fans want fuck all to do with Stratford, but obviously Levy (in your eyes anyway) can do no wrong.
The NDP is possible, but the cake might have to be eaten later. That cake will taste a whole lot sweeter. The fact remains that the NDP only became unviable ('unfeasible' is the club's new buzz word) after it was apparent how much extra money ENIC stood to make in Stratford.
If it weren't for the poxy Olympics, there would be no greediness which has turned to bitterness from Levy/ENIC over this debacle and the NDP would be moving ahead. His perceived feeling of being hard done by (real or not) is starting to grate, but then I'm sure you just put it down to a masterful game of poker from someone who only has the fans interest at heart.
Appeal is the correct business decision. Boris had the opportunity to give Harringay special status to attract funding but gave it elsewhere. He says he supports but has done nothing to support, neither has the council or the local MP.
NDP is clearly not viable without outside funding, unless of course we want no investment in the team and have half a dozen years of obscurity. Personally I don't want that not with where we are at now.
Watch Levy get enough Government, Mayoral and LBoH support and the Section 106 caveats being reduced or removed and suddenly the NDP will become viable again with proper rail links etc., Spooky I think you are correct and Levy does know something we don't and I also think that 'Red Ken' making yesterdays statement is more than a bit of campaigning for the Mayrol elections. He might have been approached. These things don't happen by accident. If DL can purchase the players we need for a realistic at CL qualification and keep our best players, we have to back him and let him be the 'Project Manager' in peace on the Stadium front.
Sugar took the FA to the brink over our FA Cup dismissal and it paid off, sometimes you have to be prepared to keep saying 'No'. Of course, few sane supporters would want to see the club chucked back into the hat for Stratford, god forbid, but neither do I like the taste of being bent over and given one simply to validate WHU's rubber stamping of the OS.
If we walk away from this now, we say to Boris & all that we are not prepared to fight for funding for the project or the borough... We'll simply say 'thank you Boris' for the MDC (which means about as much as being offered a run-out bus pass) and foot the bill ourselves.
The area badly needs the infrastructure work which we can't do. I'm not talking about just tube lines, I'm talking about the development grants for builders and property developers that come with it being declared an enterprise zone. I live in Hackney and the place is like Beijing at the moment for how many cranes and building sites are going on.
Dalston is now being touted as a commuter line for canary Wharf with trendy cafe's, while Tottenham is being singled out as a dumping ground for used munitions. The club on their own can't change that... Why build a £250m, £300m or whatever stadium in the middle of a gang war crack zone?
'NDP is clearly not viable without outside funding, unless of course we want no investment in the team and have half a dozen years of obscurity. Personally I don't want that not with where we are at now.'
It never has been viable without 'outside funding'. That's why it would never be called WHL.
Levy originally stated that it would be privately paid for in a way which wouldn't affect transfers, but if the situation has changed that drastically, isn't another 6 years of obscurity preferable to immediate success (which isn't guaranteed, of course) and a lifetime banished to east London?
That question has almost become redundant, and the sooner the OS saga is put to bed, the sooner we can sit down with those concerned and move on with the NDP, or failing that, shut the fuck up and get on with what we have got. Why on Earth would they want to help us out when we're still dicking around in the courts over Stratford?
"Why build a £250m, £300m or whatever stadium in the middle of a gang war crack zone?"
Easier access to crack for more people?
he would not do this if his lawyers told him he had no chance. personally it offensive to me to see two very wealthy porn kings getting funding from a poor borough that could surely put money to better uyse. the key argument has to be one of state aid. and so ba often complains that it is competing unfairly with air france when the french govt kicks extra funding into the french airline that then reduces fairs and thereby compets unfairly. same argument cd and prob was made when the spanish govt bought a chunk of the real madrid facilities for tens of millions a few years ago as a way of subsidising them. the presence of the olympic site has absolutely nothing to do with the viability of the ndp. look athe cost, figure out the interest rate, if, and it is a very big IF you can get a bank to lend. then figure out the extra gate receipts and then ask if you want to risk spurs being like leeds utd. arsenal have not bought because of debnt, yet they stayed in the cl year after year, they had an old ground ina pricey bit of london where they cd raise good money for the flats (check out prices in n17 against islington) . then stop and ask where the big money comes in, yes naming rights, for a club with the thinnest cl hstory possible, and no chance of getting and material amount of wealthy cit money to take boxes coz who the hell in their right mind would take an important client from japan or china or anywhere else to n17? stratford is close, easy and the boxes will sell. stop whining about no buying when you object to the project that allows for the POSSIBILITY of success. shit, waht was that dust? oh, that was four other teams leaving us behind for ever.
"stop whining about no buying when you object to the project that allows for the POSSIBILITY of success."
That ship has sailed I'm afraid (happy really), cyril. When you finally realise that Stratford isn't going to happen, will you and your like insist on using it as an excuse for Spurs not buying players?
For the umpteenth time, I'm not asking for a Lionel Messi or for Spurs to 'do a Leeds (zzzzz..)'. We were just a handful of goals away from top 4 last season but we had one of the worst (if not the worst) forward lines in the league. Stop whining and complaining that we can't compete with Wigan, Blackpool and WHUFC's millions.
"look athe cost, figure out the interest rate, if, and it is a very big IF you can get a bank to lend. then figure out the extra gate receipts and then ask if you want to risk spurs being like leeds utd. arsenal have not bought because of debnt, yet they stayed in the cl year after year, they had an old ground ina pricey bit of london where they cd raise good money for the flats (check out prices in n17 against islington) . then stop and ask where the big money comes in, yes naming rights, for a club with the thinnest cl hstory possible, and no chance of getting and material amount of wealthy cit money to take boxes coz who the hell in their right mind would take an important client from japan or china or anywhere else to n17?"
Levy obviously didn't agree with you, why else would he have made it so public? Perhaps you should go and teach him something about financing, so as he doesn't get everyone's hopes up again.
The way things are going we will still be at 36,000 White Hart Lane in 10 years time. It's not a bad little stadium, and you're close to the action. As long as we stay in the premier league and have some good games there and keep our finances debt free perhaps we should do that and gracefully withdraw from the rat race.
well i am not saying he did not handle the pr badly but the numbers grew, why i dont knwo. to be clear, and i have been on this site regularly, i am happy to stay in n17, but that comes with a contentm,ent to be fulham and not man utd. the fact is the ndp does not work, without an owner throwing money at it, and if the new rules work, that ship has sailed. and therfore that is no longer an option for levy or anyone else. and frankly, it is levy's money, so he can do just what he wants with it. i recall that rag trade clown using the clubs resources to bankroll he crappy bsuinesses and my friends who were working for the law firm that represented the banks telling me, indicreetly just how fucked we were. sale of gascoigne saved us, and then we were in troubled waters again when he ripped his knee and the price from lazio went from 7mill to 4.5. i could not stand sugar, but he was better than maxwell and he was the only game in town, thank god he owned oxford and that held him up. we have been closer to leeds than people think. and levy is a breath of fresh air after all of them since the richardsons. the point is every damn blog has people complaining about not buying and it is ofetn the same people who compalined about stratford. i fully respect both views but if you put them together and the come out of the same mouth then the mouth uttering them belongs to a grade A idiot, simple. in fairness while i recall endless entries from you banging to table about staying in n17, and fair enough, i do not recall you complaining about lack of spending. i recall plenty of others saying levy must go, well if you really knew how close we were to the banks pulling the rug with scholar (the most inappropriate name i can imagine) then you would hesitate to dump on levy.
and when i say plenty of others saying levy must go, i dont mean plenty of other people, i mean plenty of other posts from TMWNN
We should approach the rich Russian gentleman who owns only 29% of Arsenal and who they won't let run Arsenal. Invite him to buy Spurs, build new 56,000 stadium at White Hart Lane and become the power over the water beating Arsenal all hands down. Sounds like a plan
Calm down. Levy doesn't want the olypic stadium. He is using this as a basis to get what he wants from haringay. Newham did everything they could using public money to assist west ham and haringay have not sought to serve themselves by adding more and more financial commitments on thfc to stay in tottenham to make up for their own under investment in the area. People on here don't seem to grasp that levy is actually a little more informed (and dare I say competent ) than those here. I'd rather have him running spurs than any of the naysayers on here thanks.
not sure if technically russian as friom uzbekistan, and he spent 6 yrs in jail there, so not really one for me. much better suited to the club with the longest list of jailbirds going way back before peter storey, hard man of their '70'sand three time convict. running a brothel, importing fake coins and pornaography, he shd have played for west ham. however usmanov did just go past ambromovich for wealth, just dont want him at tottenham, we might soon have our very own convict
nik
i agree with all you say, except the conclusion. i think levy would have us there in a flash if he could.
At one time I thought Qatar might buy Spurs - but they bought into Paris St Germain instead - only one team in Paris but 2 regular champions league teams in London already. Answer therefore is for Spurs to become second Paris team - not far to go and quite a nice city - Paris must be better than Stratford and we could become second Paris regular in champions league.
That's all fair enough, cyril. And you're right about my Levy comments, any chairman, not just Levy, that wants to move THFC out of Tottenham when it isn't absolutely necessary, I want out; it would be pretty hypocritical of anyone as anti-Stratford as me not to.
Levy still has the possible redemption of getting the NDP back on track. As you said yourself, Levy was 100% serious about moving to Stratford and wouldn't have hesitated in doing so (even without consulting the fans), so I don't believe the 'leverage' line, and I don't trust him.
Never know TMWNN, the West Ham bid might end up collapsing...imagine the shit storm if that played out.
The new financial fair play rules, if they are made to stick, will stop the Chelsea owner piling cash into Chelsea. He could only really subsidise the team by buying them a new and bigger ground - but sites are hard to find in Chelsea. So he should buy Spurs and build a new ground at cheaper Tottenham. ENIC could then takeover Chelsea instead and run that as an investment club, buying young players and selling them on.
"Never know TMWNN, the West Ham bid might end up collapsing...imagine the shit storm if that played out."
Doesn't bear thinking about, does it? It's one thing dreaming of all the silverware and cheap seats in Stratford, but probably another once the reality has set in of actually being there (forever, or until a better, more profitable, situation arises).
We can only hope West Ham don't mess this up, I can't believe they will. I don't think there are any legal stipulations they have to keep a running track there long term either. I stand to be corrected on that though.
On a slightly different tack - how many people believe that Levy is such a great businessman that Modric is "not for sale at any price" rather than he is for sale but at a ridiculously high price.
I have no problem with Levy, I find it funny that people confuse business with football. We would have gone to Stratford if offered, as financially it makes sense. But a lot of fans would not have felt the same way.
Same about transfers, I always thought Carroll was our main target in Jan, until Chelsea got involved we probably had a chance of getting him. After that we have a wage limit that prohibits us from buying the top players, and our history over the last 20 years gives us no reason to believe otherwise. We probably should have bought the summer before, Harry had faith in our strikers and Levy found VDV late on, the rest is history now.
Levy thinks we can be a top 6 club, but he knows we have as much chance as finishing in the top 8 as top 4. The OS was a chance or opportunity to start trading punches with the top 4 / 5 a lot quicker with less expense than our other options.
Unlike TMWNN I can see why, however I do agree with TMWNN that a lot of people refuse to look at the other side of the coin.
Most realistic idea might be extra tier on west stand and/or east stand. West stand car park could be re-located to site purchased north of stadium - some of which already used for car parking. May raise capacity to say 46/48/50,000.