The mayor of London Boris Johnson has this week urged Tottenham to accept a £17 million package to drop their legal battle with West Ham United over the future of the Olympic stadium, and instead stay in North London. Is this really enough of an incentive to end their Olympic fight?
Leyton Orient Chairman Barry Hearn speaking on talkSPORT this morning is far from happy that his club are set to summarily ignored by all parties in what the East End club see as a genuine threat to their club’s future.
Spurs have been embroiled in a long running battle with West Ham over who should move into the Olympic stadium, once the London 2012 games are over. There is a court hearing set for October 18th in an effort to overturn a decision to let West Ham move in.
The case is based around the issue of whether West Ham United receiving a £40 million loan from Newham Council to finance the move, constituted state aid. In terms of the amount of money West Ham look like they will receive for the move, and the amount of financial help other clubs have received when developing in deprived areas, the package of £17 million offered to Spurs is almost an insult, but in the current financial climate it is better than nothing.
The whole reason Spurs looked into moving into the Olympic Stadium in the first place was due to financial reasons, with the Olympic Stadium move potentially saving them half the amount of the Northumberland Park project. If they are to back out now, then the whole campaign would have been a huge waste of time and money. If Spurs were to overturn the Olympic stadium decision then they would save more than the £17 million offered by the Mayor of London, but there are other factors that need to be considered.
Tottenham have always had the option on the table of regenerating their own White Hart Lane ground, however this stumbled after problems with the local council and suggestions by Daniel Levy that the deal was no longer financially viable. If the deal wasn’t finacially viable, then I’m not sure how £17 million is going to ease their worries, especially when the whole package could cost them upwards of £400 million.
With the new regeneration likely to cost Spurs upwards of £400 million, the £17 million offered on the table is probably of little comfort, however the fact it is being offered at all in the current financial climate is a bonus. Some would suggest that football clubs are rich enough, and shouldn’t receive any financial aid at all, however the development does offer a huge amount for the local community and this has to be taken into account.
The deal on the table is clearly better for Spurs than them coming out of this whole sorry affair with nothing at all. It would relieve the club of all community infrastructure payments that planners normally require as well as fund the regeneration in Tottenham itself. If the deal eases some of the problems they originally encountered with the development then they should accept it.
Considering the majority of fans were not too keen on the move out of North London, and the fact that they have already invested considerable time and money (£85 million) on assembling land and planning for the Northumberland Park project, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to just take the deal and draw a line under the whole sorry Olympic stadium fiasco.
Anyone but Barry Hearn would cut a sorry figure as a man sidelined, but the O’s Chairman may yet turn out to be a match for local councils and a London mayor who is good at organizing free bicycles but seemingly out of touch when it comes to safeguarding local businesses.
Courtesy of Lauren Rutter for FootballFanCast and Escapini of TransferTavern.com
