Joanne McCartney

Tottenham urged to give up Olympic Stadium fight

Ben Pearce, Tottenham correspondent Thursday, October 13, 2011
4:06 PM

Tottenham Hotspur football club should follow the latest development in the battle for the Olympic Stadium by committing its future to Haringey, the borough’s representative at City Hall has said.

The north London club has been contesting the decision to award ownership of the Stratford arena to West Ham after 2012 in the High Court – causing such delays that the Hammers’ deal with the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) collapsed earlier this week.

That could be viewed as a victory for Tottenham. But the stadium will now be rented out instead, and Mayor Boris Johnson has declared West Ham will “almost certainly” be chosen as the tenant.

Now London Assembly member Joanne McCartney, whose Enfield and Haringey constituency is home to Spurs, hopes the club will finally end its interest in the Olympic Stadium and announce its intention to stay in north London.

“Spurs have been in Tottenham since they were founded well over 100 years ago and have always been an integral part of our local community,” she said.

“Most fans want them to stay here and I believe this is the moment where they should draw a line under talk of moving to east London and to commit to staying in the borough.”

Leyton Orient has announced it will bid for the tenancy in Stratford along with West Ham – but leading candidate is West Ham again.

Mr Johnson said: “As everybody knows, there has been a great deal of legal to-ing and fro-ing about the future of the stadium and I think we have come up with a very good solution.

“We will keep it in public hands but we will effectively rent it to a football club, almost certainly West Ham, and that will cover the costs and be a very good deal for the taxpayer.”

Tottenham has yet to announce whether it will also bid for the tenancy, but the ongoing insistence that the athletics track will remain at the stadium may end its interest.

Tottenham still has the option of pursuing its Northumberland Development Project and redeveloping White Hart Lane, with the help of a £17million package from the Mayor’s office and Haringey Council.

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