By Andrew Warshaw
January 25 – Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy (pictured) has revealed the club will almost certainly have to leave their current ground even if they fail to win the right to take over the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games.
Spurs are going head-to-head with West Ham in the race to turn Stratford into a 60,000-seater ground and the decision on who gets it – originally planned for Friday (January 28) – has now been delayed.
Until now, the only other option open to Tottenham was building a 56,000-seater ground on an adjacent site to their current White Hart Lane stadium as part of the so-called Northumberland Park project.
But Levy says this may no longer be possible and that other locations may have to be sought.
“I think the problem with the situation we are in now at White Hart Lane is that the project is currently not viable, so we would have to go back to the drawing board and that would obviously mean looking at other locations again,” said Levy.
“I’m totally confident that we would have no problem selling out a 60,000-seater stadium [at Stratford].
“As far as the fans are concerned, I have to say that it is a very, very small group of individuals that are making it clear that whatever happens – even if we couldn’t build a bigger stadium – that they would want us to stay here.
“There is always going to be competition between London clubs – we are all London clubs – so wherever we are located, there is still going to be rivalry,” he told Sky Sports.
Levy’s predecessor as Spurs chairman, Lord Sugar, claims the supporters will soon get over it if the club moves to Stratford.
“The next important thing is that the club is ready to move to the next level,” he said.
“Regretfully, moving to the next level might not be possible in Haringey due to a lot of things that have come out as far as the financial issues are concerned.
“It could put the club into a lot of financial problems.”
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