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Yes, I know it's another thread started about Stratford but there are some good points and the article is a long read but worth taking the time to read it. If I hadn't made it a new thread I feel it would have been overlooked by many posters.
Dear Mr Tottenham supporter,
Regarding Stratford.
It’s a
reoccurring discussion point this, one that will soon go beyond protests
and arguments once a decision has been made by those with the power to
do so. The question being; Stratford? Potentially the new home of the
world famous Spurs?
Fancy some of that? Personally, I’d like to reiterate once more; thanks but no thanks.
And
yet many amongst us, in a blink of an eye, would be happy with this.
It's in our catchment area, it's only a few miles up the road they say.
And that we need to make the move otherwise it will cost us a couple of
hundred million more, resulting in masses of debt if we proceed instead
with the Northumberland Development Project. Haringey and Levy are
playing a game of political mug-off, all with their own bluffs, double
bluffs and agendas. They’re broke and want to use Spurs for the
redevelopment of the area and Levy is using this excuse in addition to
lack of public sector funding as a platform and easy way to push the
Olympic Site as the only feasible alternative otherwise THFC's very
future would be under threat. I call bullsh*t because if the OS is given
to West Ham then what of a contingency plan? What do we do then? By
definition, there has to be an alternative. Mainly because, Daniel Levy
is no fool – and is hardly naive. So even though Wembley and Arsenal are
tagged with receiving public sector money in every other complaint
article you may have read, to base all hope on the NDP being manageable
for the club on those extra funds...well, it seems very very flimsy and
clumsy if to be believed.
It's not like Levy is going to shrug
and give up on the vision if the OS goes to West Ham. He'll work towards
a resolution. To appease us and to appease ENIC. And to fulfil the
promise and the next stage. We have planning permission for N17, so if
it’s vital for us to have a 50K+ ground - he will find a way. Unless all
eggs have been placed in the Stratford basket from the very beginning.
Either that, or he only recently gave up on N17. Which again, seems an
improbable thing to do considering how difficult it is for anyone to get
through the red tape of development to achieve their final goal.
It's
just far far easier to opt for Stratford. No crippling debt we are told
and then he can build a stadium and eventually sell the club for untold
millions to someone like AEG (who have a habit of getting involved in
this type of thing) and could soon be partners in crime if the bid is
won. But what of the advantages of moving there I hear you ask? A
stadium with a ready-made infrastructure of travel links, the rich in
the City a short distance away and countless corporate t*ssers and day
tripping tourists. Revenue, it's the new Promised Land. Levy is serious
about it, you only have to look at the people he's appointed to talk up
the OS bid and the statements they have made. Eggs firmly in that basket
then – and if the bid fails, then onwards (back to) North London to
make that work.
What some of our faithful are failing to see is
that it's hypocritical to move onto someone else's patch. Imagine
someone moving into North London. Oh hold up...wait...
It's also
quite lazy to believe this is the only viable alternative (I’m going to
keep on repeating this) and we'll stagnate if we don't move to
Stratford. Moving would also make as a franchised club. Five miles or
not. That might sound overly dramatic, but it's fact. If the project in
N17is complicated and will take longer in terms of building it (having
to knock down parts of WHL – playing with a reduced capacity etc), what
is ‘longer’ when the end result is to retain our home and a ground in
our area for another 130 years or so? We're not going anywhere, are we?
Or perhaps, we are.
There has been no final ‘we are so so sorry’
statement to explain that staying in North London is not, unequivocally
not, an option because of the debt we would inherit during the
redevelopment. If, 100 per cent without a shadow of a doubt,
if...remaining in N17 would cripple us for a decade or so, then perhaps
we need to revisit and understand how viable redeveloping White Hart
Lane itself would be. If we have to move to survive, it would change
perspective. But it's hardly that is it? Is it? If it was,
unquestionable, they’d hardly be any debate just more questions about
other potential options. Are we staring into oblivion? Are we?
How hard is that gun pressed to the back of your head?
I
appreciate Levy is a very shrewd chairman, a good business man and in
recent years (finally) a good leader with regards to the actual football
(appointing a back to basics manager and letting go of the D.o.F
system). He runs the club brilliantly. It's what we expect. It's his
responsibility. And even if you might not get the impression from this
letter, he does ‘care’. But he’s still a business man who uses business
to drive the club forwards. I do get that. But to ignore all of the
footballing sentiments? Sometimes, those intangible elements – they
speak far more loudly than pennies under the bed.
Levy has a
responsibility. To us. And everyone else who has a (different type of)
share in the club. ENIC are an investment company and their main
priority above all will always concern the money they can make back from
their investment. They have an end game. They will be long gone and our
legacy will be stuck in East London - making us a club with a history
detached back in North London.
Again, I get told countless times
'this is progress' and that I should ‘allow us to create new history’
and that if it's good enough for other clubs why should we bother
attempting to define ourselves by citing North London derbies and
rivalry and passing judgement on other clubs on what they have done or
are doing to be the very best? We should be selfish I'm told and we
should focus on making as much money as possible to be able to challenge
top end season in and season out. Money, money, money. Its progress.
Spare ribs and prawn sandwiches dished up at half time so we can afford
the bills to sign and keep world class players.
I guess football
has changed. But once more, it’s not do or die until I see it written in
blood. That gun, it’s nowhere near the back of my head. Can you feel
anything at the back of yours?
Apparently all this money will
also guarantee success. May as well invite a billionaire to buy us out
and invest £500M in players. If we are that desperate. Okay, being
pedantic a little there. Money will aid with remaining competitive. But
no guarantees. We’ve been high spenders for years and years. It’s not
worked out that well for us until we sat with two points from eight
games.
The football. The kicking and pushing of the ball. On the
pitch. That has led us to fourth spot. That has allowed us to dream and
want for more. It should always – always – be about the football and
the desire to succeed. It’s hardly down to the money spent. Sure we
spent some, within our current means. And the other superpowers around
us, not all of them are in a position to compete with us in the transfer
market. But let’s move on from this.
Tottenham the area is a
toilet and we’re not the only club whose ground is sat in a toilet. It
could become less of one if people started to play ball. That includes
you Lammy. People supporting the move are not considering how much the
Spurs match day landscape in terms of support and vibe will change. New
chapter, I'm told, stuck in the past, I'm accused of. History is
relative. It sure is. I hope you enjoy chatting about it in a pub or
cafe in Newham which is draped with Claret and Blue colours or Orient
colours.
Imagine us winning a Cup. Open bus parade. Through the
streets of East London. Stratford, Leyton etc. I don't know about you,
but that would be like waving your willy around in the front garden of
your girlfriends ex-boyfriend. All a bit unnecessary and avoidable, when
waving it around in your own bedroom is far more applicable to the
occasion. Call me sentimental.
Sorry for thinking football was
about moments, about games, about having a drink pre and post match and
making a go of it on the pitch without sacrificing and boxing up your
heritage and traditions and replacing emotions completely with harsh
economics that instruct us to move now or perish. You know, we've got
where we are today by bucking the trend.
I want what is best for
the club. And competing at the highest level is what we can all agree
on as an ambition although some of us are fine with us just being
Tottenham. Regardless, let's try to remain anchored to the place that
gives us our name. Try a bit harder. Much harder. Without going weak at
the knees at something we are only bidding for because of the apparent
commercial support we have backing us - allowing all involved to swim in
the quick fix, no matter the consequences.
They say, N17 is but a
post code. It doesn't mean anything, not really. The club, its history
and traditions - these will remain forever with us and can't be pinned
down geographically. Honesty and integrity and Innovation, free flowing
football, flair players. Glory nights. This is Tottenham. The fans and
the fans expectations of what the club should be. It's not a post code, I
agree. But it’s what the post code stands for, what it should stand
for. And it should not be replaced by one starting with the letter 'E'
and representing a by product of commercialism first and a football club
second.
It's consumed the Prem League. Let's not let it consume us completely.
I
should not even be bothering to quantify all this. Home is where the
Hart is. We are the one constant that will always remain ever present.
We, the fans. And all the romantic notions should not be dismissed
because they can't produce profit. And they should not have to be
packaged up and sent to another part of London for the sake of said
profit.
You might not agree, you might cite what I’ve already
stated that history is pinned to you, on you – the Spurs fan. Where you
go, Tottenham goes. Football (and fans) are fickle, rule changing to
suit their preference. I refuse to change the rule.
North London is ours.
We
should not even be considering Stratford and I can only hope this is
part of some Machiavellian strategy by the chairman. Because the
alternative is Tottenham Hotspur without the Tottenham. Perhaps in ten
years we'll up and move from East London to the Midlands for easier
accessibility for the rest of the country to the brand new home of
Sportstainment.
In conclusion - We as fans and as a club have
retained plenty of pride in old skool integrity. You know, traditional
values pertaining to heritage and history. The type of things you can't
slap a price on because, let's face it, its priceless stuff.
We've
struggled, no doubt, in the past, but recent management on the pitch
has gone some way to repairing the damage. It's a quick fix to accept
the OS as the only way to consolidate. And God have mercy on all
involved if the Sky Sports money making machine stops printing the
notes. It's a risk either way. But it’s a soulless one to the East.
And
if we go to the East, there will be no national Olympic Stadium. No
running track or obvious legacy paid for by tax payers. Keys to be
handed over to a football club for them to demolish a stadium built at a
cost of £500M for a few weeks worth of athletics. East London will lose
out on the regeneration project in and around Upton Park. West Ham
won’t have a new home. What a shame their bid is so weak in impact, hey
Karren? And let's not forget Orient. Or have we already? And then
there's White Hart Lane, home of many Glory Glory nights which will
probably be turned into a massive housing development, flats for the
locals, concrete where once Dave Mackay and Danny Blanch flower stood
with studs on ball. A car park where Bill Nicholson’s ashes rest.
It's our club. It was our club. It will hardly be our club. Say no to Stratford.
Regards to all. And...
Come on you Spurs.
Dear Mr Tottenham supporter,
Regarding Stratford.
It’s a
reoccurring discussion point this, one that will soon go beyond protests
and arguments once a decision has been made by those with the power to
do so. The question being; Stratford? Potentially the new home of the
world famous Spurs?
Fancy some of that? Personally, I’d like to reiterate once more; thanks but no thanks.
And
yet many amongst us, in a blink of an eye, would be happy with this.
It's in our catchment area, it's only a few miles up the road they say.
And that we need to make the move otherwise it will cost us a couple of
hundred million more, resulting in masses of debt if we proceed instead
with the Northumberland Development Project. Haringey and Levy are
playing a game of political mug-off, all with their own bluffs, double
bluffs and agendas. They’re broke and want to use Spurs for the
redevelopment of the area and Levy is using this excuse in addition to
lack of public sector funding as a platform and easy way to push the
Olympic Site as the only feasible alternative otherwise THFC's very
future would be under threat. I call bullsh*t because if the OS is given
to West Ham then what of a contingency plan? What do we do then? By
definition, there has to be an alternative. Mainly because, Daniel Levy
is no fool – and is hardly naive. So even though Wembley and Arsenal are
tagged with receiving public sector money in every other complaint
article you may have read, to base all hope on the NDP being manageable
for the club on those extra funds...well, it seems very very flimsy and
clumsy if to be believed.
It's not like Levy is going to shrug
and give up on the vision if the OS goes to West Ham. He'll work towards
a resolution. To appease us and to appease ENIC. And to fulfil the
promise and the next stage. We have planning permission for N17, so if
it’s vital for us to have a 50K+ ground - he will find a way. Unless all
eggs have been placed in the Stratford basket from the very beginning.
Either that, or he only recently gave up on N17. Which again, seems an
improbable thing to do considering how difficult it is for anyone to get
through the red tape of development to achieve their final goal.
It's
just far far easier to opt for Stratford. No crippling debt we are told
and then he can build a stadium and eventually sell the club for untold
millions to someone like AEG (who have a habit of getting involved in
this type of thing) and could soon be partners in crime if the bid is
won. But what of the advantages of moving there I hear you ask? A
stadium with a ready-made infrastructure of travel links, the rich in
the City a short distance away and countless corporate t*ssers and day
tripping tourists. Revenue, it's the new Promised Land. Levy is serious
about it, you only have to look at the people he's appointed to talk up
the OS bid and the statements they have made. Eggs firmly in that basket
then – and if the bid fails, then onwards (back to) North London to
make that work.
What some of our faithful are failing to see is
that it's hypocritical to move onto someone else's patch. Imagine
someone moving into North London. Oh hold up...wait...
It's also
quite lazy to believe this is the only viable alternative (I’m going to
keep on repeating this) and we'll stagnate if we don't move to
Stratford. Moving would also make as a franchised club. Five miles or
not. That might sound overly dramatic, but it's fact. If the project in
N17is complicated and will take longer in terms of building it (having
to knock down parts of WHL – playing with a reduced capacity etc), what
is ‘longer’ when the end result is to retain our home and a ground in
our area for another 130 years or so? We're not going anywhere, are we?
Or perhaps, we are.
There has been no final ‘we are so so sorry’
statement to explain that staying in North London is not, unequivocally
not, an option because of the debt we would inherit during the
redevelopment. If, 100 per cent without a shadow of a doubt,
if...remaining in N17 would cripple us for a decade or so, then perhaps
we need to revisit and understand how viable redeveloping White Hart
Lane itself would be. If we have to move to survive, it would change
perspective. But it's hardly that is it? Is it? If it was,
unquestionable, they’d hardly be any debate just more questions about
other potential options. Are we staring into oblivion? Are we?
How hard is that gun pressed to the back of your head?
I
appreciate Levy is a very shrewd chairman, a good business man and in
recent years (finally) a good leader with regards to the actual football
(appointing a back to basics manager and letting go of the D.o.F
system). He runs the club brilliantly. It's what we expect. It's his
responsibility. And even if you might not get the impression from this
letter, he does ‘care’. But he’s still a business man who uses business
to drive the club forwards. I do get that. But to ignore all of the
footballing sentiments? Sometimes, those intangible elements – they
speak far more loudly than pennies under the bed.
Levy has a
responsibility. To us. And everyone else who has a (different type of)
share in the club. ENIC are an investment company and their main
priority above all will always concern the money they can make back from
their investment. They have an end game. They will be long gone and our
legacy will be stuck in East London - making us a club with a history
detached back in North London.
Again, I get told countless times
'this is progress' and that I should ‘allow us to create new history’
and that if it's good enough for other clubs why should we bother
attempting to define ourselves by citing North London derbies and
rivalry and passing judgement on other clubs on what they have done or
are doing to be the very best? We should be selfish I'm told and we
should focus on making as much money as possible to be able to challenge
top end season in and season out. Money, money, money. Its progress.
Spare ribs and prawn sandwiches dished up at half time so we can afford
the bills to sign and keep world class players.
I guess football
has changed. But once more, it’s not do or die until I see it written in
blood. That gun, it’s nowhere near the back of my head. Can you feel
anything at the back of yours?
Apparently all this money will
also guarantee success. May as well invite a billionaire to buy us out
and invest £500M in players. If we are that desperate. Okay, being
pedantic a little there. Money will aid with remaining competitive. But
no guarantees. We’ve been high spenders for years and years. It’s not
worked out that well for us until we sat with two points from eight
games.
The football. The kicking and pushing of the ball. On the
pitch. That has led us to fourth spot. That has allowed us to dream and
want for more. It should always – always – be about the football and
the desire to succeed. It’s hardly down to the money spent. Sure we
spent some, within our current means. And the other superpowers around
us, not all of them are in a position to compete with us in the transfer
market. But let’s move on from this.
Tottenham the area is a
toilet and we’re not the only club whose ground is sat in a toilet. It
could become less of one if people started to play ball. That includes
you Lammy. People supporting the move are not considering how much the
Spurs match day landscape in terms of support and vibe will change. New
chapter, I'm told, stuck in the past, I'm accused of. History is
relative. It sure is. I hope you enjoy chatting about it in a pub or
cafe in Newham which is draped with Claret and Blue colours or Orient
colours.
Imagine us winning a Cup. Open bus parade. Through the
streets of East London. Stratford, Leyton etc. I don't know about you,
but that would be like waving your willy around in the front garden of
your girlfriends ex-boyfriend. All a bit unnecessary and avoidable, when
waving it around in your own bedroom is far more applicable to the
occasion. Call me sentimental.
Sorry for thinking football was
about moments, about games, about having a drink pre and post match and
making a go of it on the pitch without sacrificing and boxing up your
heritage and traditions and replacing emotions completely with harsh
economics that instruct us to move now or perish. You know, we've got
where we are today by bucking the trend.
I want what is best for
the club. And competing at the highest level is what we can all agree
on as an ambition although some of us are fine with us just being
Tottenham. Regardless, let's try to remain anchored to the place that
gives us our name. Try a bit harder. Much harder. Without going weak at
the knees at something we are only bidding for because of the apparent
commercial support we have backing us - allowing all involved to swim in
the quick fix, no matter the consequences.
They say, N17 is but a
post code. It doesn't mean anything, not really. The club, its history
and traditions - these will remain forever with us and can't be pinned
down geographically. Honesty and integrity and Innovation, free flowing
football, flair players. Glory nights. This is Tottenham. The fans and
the fans expectations of what the club should be. It's not a post code, I
agree. But it’s what the post code stands for, what it should stand
for. And it should not be replaced by one starting with the letter 'E'
and representing a by product of commercialism first and a football club
second.
It's consumed the Prem League. Let's not let it consume us completely.
I
should not even be bothering to quantify all this. Home is where the
Hart is. We are the one constant that will always remain ever present.
We, the fans. And all the romantic notions should not be dismissed
because they can't produce profit. And they should not have to be
packaged up and sent to another part of London for the sake of said
profit.
You might not agree, you might cite what I’ve already
stated that history is pinned to you, on you – the Spurs fan. Where you
go, Tottenham goes. Football (and fans) are fickle, rule changing to
suit their preference. I refuse to change the rule.
North London is ours.
We
should not even be considering Stratford and I can only hope this is
part of some Machiavellian strategy by the chairman. Because the
alternative is Tottenham Hotspur without the Tottenham. Perhaps in ten
years we'll up and move from East London to the Midlands for easier
accessibility for the rest of the country to the brand new home of
Sportstainment.
In conclusion - We as fans and as a club have
retained plenty of pride in old skool integrity. You know, traditional
values pertaining to heritage and history. The type of things you can't
slap a price on because, let's face it, its priceless stuff.
We've
struggled, no doubt, in the past, but recent management on the pitch
has gone some way to repairing the damage. It's a quick fix to accept
the OS as the only way to consolidate. And God have mercy on all
involved if the Sky Sports money making machine stops printing the
notes. It's a risk either way. But it’s a soulless one to the East.
And
if we go to the East, there will be no national Olympic Stadium. No
running track or obvious legacy paid for by tax payers. Keys to be
handed over to a football club for them to demolish a stadium built at a
cost of £500M for a few weeks worth of athletics. East London will lose
out on the regeneration project in and around Upton Park. West Ham
won’t have a new home. What a shame their bid is so weak in impact, hey
Karren? And let's not forget Orient. Or have we already? And then
there's White Hart Lane, home of many Glory Glory nights which will
probably be turned into a massive housing development, flats for the
locals, concrete where once Dave Mackay and Danny Blanch flower stood
with studs on ball. A car park where Bill Nicholson’s ashes rest.
It's our club. It was our club. It will hardly be our club. Say no to Stratford.
Regards to all. And...
Come on you Spurs.
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