The Soccer Blog: Stratford Spurs FC?

Saturday, 22 January 2011

Stratford Spurs FC?

By: Robert Reed | January 22nd, 2011
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I’m writing this post in answer to messages I got in an earlier post on the same subject as there were too many to address.

In recent weeks I’ve garnered a lot of opinion from fans as to whether Spurs should move to the Olympic site in Stratford. I’ve made an effort to ask young and old and the opinion has overwhelmingly been that they do not want to move, but feel they will have no choice but to follow their team to the new location. A small percentage said they would boycott the new ground, but even fewer thought it was a good idea. I’ve also been looking around the net at various polls and all the ones I’ve seen have been in favour of staying put.

I was therefore surprised that on here the opinion is overwhelmingly that we should move.

It has occurred to me that many of the people I spoke to will be at St. James Park today, but every Spurs fan’s opinion is valid. I, for instance, haven’t travelled up to Newcastle but watched the match on the Internet from my comfy armchair.

My opinion is this. I live in North London and I support a North London club. Whatever way you look at it if we move to East London we will be an East London club. Spurs v West Ham will eventually be known as the big East London derby, and Spurs v Arsenal will just be, well, Spurs v Arsenal.

Some are saying that if we stay where we are we will not progress, this is nonsense. If we rebuild in WHL we will have a terrific stadium, be making great strides and have a capacity to compare with any except Old Trafford. If we move to Stratford we will be making slightly bigger strides but at a great cost to the essence and heritage of the club. Anybody who thinks ENIC are not sugaring the pill of moving is kidding themselves. In any situation like this there is always an element of PR. They want the move and so are painting the prospect of staying at White Hart Lane darker than it is. If we don’t get the Olympic site you will see that attitude change. We are doing well at the moment, is anyone suggesting that building at WHL will cripple us financially? If that were the case ENIC would leave us in the ground we are in if that made more sense, or increase the capacity slightly. They will not though, if we don’t get Stratford they will press on with the NDP as it will be a good move financially.

Anybody who is against the move is being branded by some as small minded. I would label those people short sighted.

If we move, in 50 years time all this will be forgotten. The new fans won’t be calling themselves Tottenham as there will be no link with the place and we will be Spurs from Stratford, another East London club. Do not think that the name Tottenham will be untouchable, in future years and being established in Stratford the name will make little sense and Spurs will be the name used by the new generation of fans. I can even see it being mooted that it should be dropped officially as it has no relevance any more. ’We are Spurs’ would be the argument. Although it will cause outrage to some, those who do not remember the club as it was will accuse those people of being ’small minded’. Most of the Tottenham songs will be gone as they contain references to White Hart Lane and people will see it as no big deal and a logical thing to do.

So what will be left of the Tottenham of today? Not the players, management, board, ground, catchment area, or identity. We will be a completely different club in East London and the club I love will be dead.

I spoke of history, heritage and identity and it was commented that they are ‘just words’. There is no point arguing with a mindset like that. If history and identity mean nothing to you then what does it matter who you support?

If it were a matter of being successful somewhere else or being unsuccessful at WHL it would be a different story, but it is not. The NDP will be superb when it is finished and we will do very well out of it. Estimates are that the NDP will cost £400 million and Stratford will cost £200 million. The Emirates cost £390 million and they aren’t exactly crippled by the debt and losing all their players. Spurs can perfectly well flourish at White Hart Lane but ENIC will make a much better profit in Stratford. If Spurs history etc means nothing to you then it’s a no brainer, but to a lot of people it means a hell of a lot.

COYS!

You can follow me on Twitter for Spurs news and opinion @ RobertReedUK

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Category: Team News

Tags: DANIEL LEVY, enic, fans, northumberland development project, olympic stadium, stratford, Team News, white hart lane
Tweet « Pelé, Keep Your Highly Respected Nose Out Of Spurs’ Affairs | Home | Comments | Add your comment DJ Spurs | January 22nd, 2011 at 11:00 am

Firstly, my opinion is £200million shouldn’t be written off so lightly. The extra money could be re-invested in the squad. Secondly, the scum built their stadium unfortunately off the back of a consistent champions league run, league and cup success! Ok it was a while ago but it laid foundations and since they haven’t broke the bank on transfers!

Thirdly, if we did re-develop WHL as £200million more than Stratford who absorbs this cost? Us! The ticket buyers! So those same people moaning about moving will still boycot the games when the prices of everything goes up. Then what happens if we don’t get fourth? Or a cup? Or anything! Do we end up like Leeds?

We have to move. Financially it makes sense, allows us to progress and let’s face it we are a London club yes North but four miles isn’t that bad when you consider Bolton Wanderers aren’t in Bolton as alike to a lot of clubs and MK Dons went 60 miles away. No offence but N17 isn’t really a nice area and to develop the lane also means developing the area.
It simply makes little actual sense when the only argument to the contrary is sentimentality and history!

Will those same arguments hold strong if we slip down the league sell our players and end up another West Ham or Leeds. Let’s move and become the biggesst club in London not just North London!

Stratty | January 22nd, 2011 at 11:01 am

Will West Ham have to change their name to STRATFORD UNITED if they get it?

Ian K | January 22nd, 2011 at 11:03 am

You aren’t being realistic when comparing the Emirates to NDP. When Arsenal were constructing their new stadium they were the best team in England and were guaranteed Champions League football and the money which goes with it every season to pay their stadium debt- as you know, Spurs are neither of these so we cannot compare our revenue streams to Arsenal’s.

If both options were both available for the same price then nobody in their right might would consider looking at moving to East London, but for a saving of £200m? You’d be mad to want to stay in Tottenham for that!

ed | January 22nd, 2011 at 11:06 am

You mention about songs mentioning WHL, have you read the plans about staying in N17? I’m pretty certain there is something about a change of stadium name, in the near future there will be no WHL stadium whether “spurs” are playing in N17 or stratford.

The new UEFA financial fair play rules means that the amount we can invest in the playing team will be directly linked to the amount we can generate in revenue. Therefore the higher the revenue the bigger the potential transfer fees, and wages we could offer. Stratford will allow us to generate greater revenues than staying in N17, I do realise the grounds will have very similar capacities if not identical, but Stratford will allow us to generate more revenue from concerts, and other sporting events.

Robert Reed | January 22nd, 2011 at 11:13 am

Good points, although it would seem to me then that if we save £200 million on the ground the fair play rules mean we could not invest that money in the squad anyway and it would remain in ENIC’s coffers.

AS for the name change, didn’t Wimbledon change their name to MK Dons? Also the stadium would be renamed due to naming rights being sold but it would still be in the White Hart Lane area. Nearest station, White Hart Lane. West Ham are basically staying in the same part of London.

steve d | January 22nd, 2011 at 11:18 am

at first i was completely against the idea of moving.
then if you look beyond the fact we are moving a few miles and take into account the transport links plus money which will be saved anyone who is against the move in my opinion is a brainless idiot. plus the fact if we redevelop white hart lane it will cause disruption as we will still be playing games there. this option is perfect, continue playing at the lane until the new stadium is finished then sell an extra 30,000 season tickets…easy. oh and you mentioned songs with white hart lane in it? hardly many is there!

ed | January 22nd, 2011 at 11:19 am

Last time I looked milton keynes was about 50 miles north of wimbledon, I think retaining the name of the club for that sort of move is a bit unrealistic. The MK dons seems to be the best name change example the N17 group / Lammy can come up with and it doesn’t cut it for me. I think most of us will remember the welcome to manchester sign when Tevez signed for man city, old trafford is in Salford, the man city regime clearly like to play on this but have never even bothered trying to geet united to change their name because it is a non-starter. I don’t think our club would ever be called stratford hotspurs, clearly this would just be a stupid idea.

Burt | January 22nd, 2011 at 11:42 am

But your all missing the point, Bromley council is keen in Crystal Palace rejuvenating Palace park and the Spurs bid is dependent on redeveloping that to keep the Olympic legacy.
In this instance then all arguments are irrelevant as West Ham will keep the running track and therefore now are the attractive option.
Goodluck redeveloping Shite Hart Lane, with all the amazing transport links…

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