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West Ham awarded stadium


Guest Klitschko

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Cant believe such a shitty club has got a stadium like that.

shitty club?

the same shitty club that beat you 4-0 to knock you out the carling cup..

typical Man U glory hunter....... lives in Nottingham but supports Man U....no one respects Man U fans....... probably gonna start supporting Man city in two years time

oh yeah f*ck Gold Sullivan and that bitch Karen Brady

was hoping Spurs would get it tbh

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I wonder what Levys next move is

sell us.

/

There is a striking fact about this week's Deloitte Money League, an incomplete but compelling snapshot of the earning power of the 20 biggest clubs in Europe. All have bigger stadiums than Tottenham Hotspur, the club sitting in 12th place. Canny wheeling and dealing, Champions League qualification and the Premier League's bumper collective TV deals are allowing them to punch above their weight. But once Uefa's financial fair-play rules kick in from next season, the constrained – and less than salubrious – surroundings of White Hart Lane will become even more of a burden.

Daniel Levy, the Spurs chairman, has received plaudits for managing the club sensibly on behalf of Enic, the holding company in which the offshore billionaire Joe Lewis is the majority shareholder. From his luxury tax haven in the Bahamas, he has watched as Levy has forged a winning partnership with the manager Harry Redknapp, loosening the purse strings sufficiently to build a squad capable of beating the holders Internazionale in the Champions League group stage while not racking up heavy debts. But the required investment in players and wages is starting to tell and turned a £33.4m profit in the year to July 2009 into a £6.6m pre-tax loss the following year. Since then, William Gallas, Rafael van der Vaart and others have been added at a cost of £19.9m.

A full stadium of relatively wealthy fans is bursting at the seams and Levy has for the past five years been trying to do something about it. For most of that time, the mantra has been "investment in the first team, a new training centre and an increased-capacity state-of the-art new stadium". But while the first two have been achieved, the latter has remained frustratingly elusive and the additional burden placed on the club by Uefa's impending rules has not gone unnoticed in the White Hart Lane boardroom.

In an open letter to fans to convince them of the wisdom of moving to Stratford, Levy spelt it out in plain terms. "The new financial fair-play rules will mean that we shall only be able to outlay income generated through the activities of the club – increased matchday revenues play a major role in a club's finances and we need to ensure that we are in a position to thrive and to continue to compete at the highest level."

But as £450m plans to redevelop White Hart Lane became mired in frustration – Spurs claim they were faced with ever more onerous demands by English Heritage, Transport for London and Haringey council, who in turn claim they were not consulted early enough – Levy has watched his near neighbours with envy. Since pulling off the trick of selling their iconic home and swapping it for a new purpose-built stadium and funding the whole thing with a complex property transaction, their north London rivals Arsenal have rocketed away in revenue-generating terms. According to Deloitte's figures, 42% of Arsenal's £224.4m revenues came from their matchday income, as fans pack the executive levels. At Spurs, the proportion is just 31% of the total of £119.8m.

As such, Levy was increasingly convinced that the Stratford option is the answer to Tottenham's prayers. "If you want progress, you need to be bold. All I care about is moving the club forward," he said last week. "When it comes to me buying players I can't deal with emotion, I need to deal with the reality of what's going on in football."

What began as a stalking horse to increase the club's negotiating power with Haringey, TfL and English Heritage quickly became the preferred option. The appeal of an open site, on which a new stadium could have been completed while football was still played at White Hart Lane, and the associated spin-off benefits of some of the best transport links in the capital, an association with AEG and the ability to sell naming rights and hospitality packages upfront, would have turbocharged Levy's masterplan and hugely boosted the club's value.

Now that avenue appears to have been closed off, amid furious recrimination and possible legal threats from the Spurs side, Levy will return to the drawing board.

But he is running out of time. The balancing act of investing in the playing squad to compete at the top level and bringing in enough revenue to pay for it will become increasingly difficult to pull off.

Levy insists he is serious when he says the Haringey option is grounded. Despite planning consent having been granted, Spurs have yet to acquire all of the land required to begin the development scheme that would fund it. The mutual distrust that now exists between all parties, and the difficulty of pulling off a large-scale redevelopment project in a relatively poor part of London during a recession will pose added difficulties.

Banks may now be reluctant to fund the scheme given the state of the economy and the fact that Levy has been forced to talk up the problems involved – partly in order to sell the Stratford scheme to sceptical fans. Meanwhile, a new rival for fans and hospitality revenue could rise in the east if – and it remains a big if – West Ham's bold plan comes to fruition.

Levy will explore new sites and insists he will not give up on his quest to build a bigger stadium. But if he starts looking out towards Enfield, he will lose the links with the City that are all-important to maximise commercial and hospitality revenue.

For all Levy's insistence to the contrary, it is not inconceivable that the protracted search for a stadium could eventually leave Spurs at the mercy of big-money bids for their most coveted players, including Luka Modric and Gareth Bale. The question for fans is whether this season's glorious Champions League campaign will be seen by history as the starting point for the club's ascendancy to the European elite, as Levy always hoped, or as a fleeting adventure.

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lol @ glory hunter. supported them as long as I can remember. First kit was Utd. First team I remember watching is United ( when they werent winning everything)

You dont know how much sh*t i get for supporting man u.

Most of my mates are old school forest lads. Everyone I know is Forest. Dad & brother are forest season ticket holders.

Your just pissed cos the only trophy you seen your team win is the Intertoto cup.

/

West Ham is a shitty club.

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Why is Levy all up in other people's business? Acting like a real bitch right now...

Tottenham Hotspur believe awarding West Ham the Olympic Stadium severely risks greater strain on the public purse amid fears the commitment to athletics will not last.

The 14-strong Olympic Park Legacy Company today unanimously selected West Ham, who have pledged to keep the athletics track to honour the commitment made by London 2012 organisers, as long-term tenants for the stadium after the Games.

To date it has been the taxpayer who has largely footed the bill for the £537m stadium and Spurs have always maintained that keeping the track was not commercially viable.

They made no bones about their intentions to rip up the athletics track and honour the athletics commitment by renovating the Crystal Palace athletics stadium - but the OPLC believe West Ham will best honour the London 2012 legacy.

Critics of West Ham's bid suggest they will fall between two stools however, creating a soulless football stadium and an arena, used sporadically for athletics events with small crowds and plenty of empty seats.

Some go as far as to suggest that when that happens, West Ham will break their pledge to athletics and tear up the track.

And in the aftermath of the OPLC's decision, Spurs have released a statement calling for the track to be legally guaranteed.

"It was never an option that we would retain the running track as we believe this to be unacceptable for our supporters and therefore wholly unviable in the long term," reads the statement.

"It carries with it the major risk of being incapable of delivering a lasting legacy without further calls on the public purse or a requirement for changes to the stadium and track at a later date.

"Much has been made of the promise to keep the athletics track within the Olympic Stadium and, therefore, we should all expect to see the retention of this track firmly embedded and legally guaranteed by those entrusted with this legacy commitment, today and in the future."

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has recently suggested that should Tottenham lose out, they could seek a judicial review.

The club statement contained no mention of legal action but confirmed Tottenham would be monitoring the situation closely with two Government ministers and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson still to ratify the decision.

The statement continued: "We submitted an honest bid with the only solution we considered capable of delivering lasting regeneration, a significant return to the public purse and wide-ranging benefits to the local communities and to London.

"The OPLC's decision has still to be approved by two Government departments and the Mayor's Office.

"We shall continue to monitor the bid process over the coming weeks up until its final determination, whilst reviewing our position and holding discussions with our advisors.

"We shall spend time assessing our situation in respect of a new stadium and when we have any further information we shall update our supporters."

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lol @ glory hunter. supported them as long as I can remember. First kit was Utd. First team I remember watching is United ( when they werent winning everything)

You dont know how much sh*t i get for supporting man u.

Most of my mates are old school forest lads. Everyone I know is Forest. Dad & brother are forest season ticket holders.

Your just pissed cos the only trophy you seen your team win is the Intertoto cup.

/

West Ham is a shitty club.

typical Man U response.....

allow giving me your family history my yute....... I didnt ask for your family tree

the reason why you get so much sh*t for supporting Man U is because like most Man U supporters you aint from there....

you are a plastic fan

if you were from manchester I might have afforded you a bit of respect but you are just a typical gloryhunter... you say west ham is a snit team .... Man U has sh*t supporters...

you probably switched to Man U when you realised Forest or County aint seeing the premiership this millenium....

take your green and yellow scarf ,hold your corner and sekkle yourself ...everyone knows City has the bigger fanbase in Manchester

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IMO If we actually get the stadium it's going to frog-leap us as a club into unthinkable territory. Trust me. It has to. Look at that f*ck*ng stadium. Can't believe it tbh..

the running track tho..... if you have ever watched football in a stadium with a running track you will understand it aint the best.... once watched a football match in a stadium that had a running track , a dry moat and wire fencing around it....smh

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lol @ glory hunter. supported them as long as I can remember. First kit was Utd. First team I remember watching is United ( when they werent winning everything)

You dont know how much sh*t i get for supporting man u.

Most of my mates are old school forest lads. Everyone I know is Forest. Dad & brother are forest season ticket holders.

Your just pissed cos the only trophy you seen your team win is the Intertoto cup.

/

West Ham is a shitty club.

typical Man U response.....

allow giving me your family history my yute....... I didnt ask for your family tree

the reason why you get so much sh*t for supporting Man U is because like most Man U supporters you aint from there....

you are a plastic fan

if you were from manchester I might have afforded you a bit of respect but you are just a typical gloryhunter... you say west ham is a snit team .... Man U has sh*t supporters...

you probably switched to Man U when you realised Forest or County aint seeing the premiership this millenium....

take your green and yellow scarf ,hold your corner and sekkle yourself ...everyone knows City has the bigger fanbase in Manchester

:lol:

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Guest Klitschko

City has the biggest fanbase in Manchester

:rolleyes:

I suppose Espanyol has the biggest fanbase in Barcelona

Swear majority of Mancs support Man City?

All but confirms Ushited is a glory hunters haven.

No, they don't. Though I assume this post was laced with some secret irony.

Even more ironic that it's always people from outside Manchester that say this

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