By Andrew Warshaw
January 30 – Tottenham Hotspur icon Gary Mabbutt (pictured) has entered the increasingly bitter Olympic Stadium debate by warning the North London club would struggle to play Champions League football if they do not move to a bigger ground.
Spurs and West Ham submitted their bids earlier this month to the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) to take over the Stadium after the 2012 Games.
The OPLC have delayed their decision by at least a fortnight because of the complexities involved.
Both clubs are adamant they have the better case but Mabbutt says Spurs have no choice but to play before a bigger audience if they want to push on to the next level.
“It’s a hugely emotive issue but we are talking about Tottenham trying to compete with the best,” Mabbutt, the former Spurs captain, told insideworldfootball.
“For us to maintain any possibility of being a top-four team year-in, year-out, we have to move to a bigger stadium.”
Hundreds of fans have been campaigning in protest at the prospect of Tottenham abandoning its roots.
Although Mabbutt, who made 482 appearances for Spurs during a distinguished 16 years at the club, would not be drawn on the specific issue of moving to Stratford, he said the team simply had to increase capacity.
“The question is still where do we move to, when and at what cost?
“Everything being equal, the club will develop where we are.
“But we only get 36,000 fans – United get 72,000, Arsenal get around 60,000.
“The only ones who are not too concerned are Chelsea who are run by billionaires.
“To compete with all that, we have to move.”
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy recently urged the club’s fans to understand the motives for moving to the Olympic Stadium.
In an impassioned open letter on the Tottenham website updating fans on the thinking behind the bid, Levy tried to explain why the Olympic venue was becoming a more viable option than expanding the existing site and turning White Hart Lane into a 56,000-seater as part of the so-called Northumberland Development Project (NDP).
He hinted that Spurs could end up with no other option if the NDP fails to get full planning agreement or becomes too expensive to implement.
“I must once again repeat the concerns we have about the viability and deliverability of the NDP,” he wrote.
“The cost of consent has been high.”
Mabbutt, who still attends as many Spurs games as he can, agreed there was a direct link between commercial revenue and a successful team.
“I have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes,” he said.
“All I’m saying is we see other teams getting double the revenue every time they play at home.
“For us to push for the Champions League every year, which is obviously the ambition, everyone would agree we have to get to a bigger stadium.
“I’m sure that when the final decisions are made, they will be made in the best interests of Tottenham Hotspur.”
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