Written by Joe Austin for FootballFancast.com: It appears that Tottenham bosses are planning to continue their fight over the Olympic Stadium in court if they have to. This brings doubt over the future of the site at Stratford after the Olympics and prolongs a story that has now gone on for months. There is an argument to be had for the Tottenham board to ‘let it go’ and accept that they have lost the stadium, but personally, I have no problem with Tottenham’s insistence on finding out exactly why they did not win the bid.
Having lost the bid, Tottenham are now looking into making a legal dispute with Olympic Park Legacy Company to find out exactly why they lost the bid. Many people, myself included, feel that the OPLC’s decision was massively swayed by West Ham’s decision to keep a running track at the ground opposed to Spurs’ plans to remove the track. This was a decision backed by the supremely influential Lord Coe who felt there was a ‘moral obligation’ to keep a track. However, the OPLC set out 5 criteria when they drew up plans and these alone should have an influence on their decision on who won the bid. Keeping a running track was not on that agenda. Therefore, if the outcome of the bid was influenced by the running track, Tottenham have cause to appeal.
There was a requirement for a bid to support a ‘the London 2012 commitment to athletics’. The Tottenham bosses will feel that their plans to develop Crystal Palace into an athletics arena more than satisfied this. The point is that if the decision was based on a running track, then that decision is not in keeping with the rules set out at when competition for the bid began.
If you are unaware that Tottenham need a new stadium if they are going to stay within touching distance of the top four you must have been very busy for the last few months. The point that the capacity of White Hart Lane cannot support the ambitions of Tottenham has now been made to excess. The reasons that moving from Haringey to the site at Stratford was so appealing to the bosses of Tottenham were numerous. Redeveloping the Olympic Stadium would be a cheaper alternative to almost any other development at White Hart Lane, transport links to Stratford are second to none (unlike those at White Hart Lane) and the commercial potential of the Olympic Stadium was vast. That is why this is an important case and Daniel Levy is not just being ‘bitter’.
Sadly for Tottenham, even if they can prove that there was bias in the decision to award West Ham the stadium, the decision will be annulled and not reversed. This would leave Tottenham still in the lurch over finding a new stadium. There must be many people crying out for Tottenham to give this whole thing up and actually save money and move on. Legal procedures are going to be expensive and you might think that the Tottenham board are just slightly bitter over the whole affair.
However, at the moment, Tottenham are merely enquiring into legal action. They have written letters to various bodies and councils to try and find out the exact reasons for their losing the bid. As far as I am concerned, I have no problem with this going on. If an mistake has been made, Tottenham deserve to know about it. Furthermore, the amount of money being spent on this enquiry is but a fraction of the money Tottenham spent on drawing up plans for their initial bid. Either way, Tottenham now have a lot of money invested into this project and deserve to know exactly why West Ham’s bid was successful.
If want to discuss Daniel Levy’s need to let go of this situation, or justify in his continued pursuit of truth in the matter you can get in touch with Joe on Twitter.
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