The Olympic Stadium. A fan's perspective.

What a mess. Farce. Joke.
Embarrassment. If this is the victory sought by Daniel Levy and Barry
Hearn when Tottenham Hotspur and Leyton Orient challenged the OPLC's
decision to award the Olympic Stadium to West Ham United, it doesn't
feel much like one. West Ham won't be able to get their grubby hands on
the stadium in terms of owning it - or, more pertinently, Newham council
owning it - but they're still going to move there, pay £2 million a
year in rent, and probably leave us mug tax payers to cough up the
remaining £3 million it will cost to fund a venue that already smacks of
being the whitest of elephants.

This was a battle neither set of fans, claret and blue, or blue and
white, wanted to win. From the West Ham perspective, it meant playing in
a stadium too big for the club to fill, with an athletics track keeping
fans well back from the action. This is a time when clubs throughout
Europe, most notably Juventus, have realised that multi-purpose stadiums
don't work, detract fans from attending, and leads to a distinct lack
of atmosphere at the stadium. Ask Brighton and Hove Albion fans if they
prefered their temporary Withdean home - complete with track, or their
brand new, football-only Falmer Stadium. There's no comparison. The
Hammers will be giving up one of the most intimidating grounds in the
country for a souless bowl that's not fit for purpose.

From a Spurs point of view, the issue was a simple one; Tottenham
Hotspur belong in Tottenham. Their White Hart Lane ground sits directly
across the road from the old gaslight on the corner of the High Road
and Church Road where the Hotspur Cricket Club, as the legend states, in
1882 decided to keep fit in the winter months by forming a football
club. This is the original North London side, the only North London
side, until Woolwich Arsenal invaded their territory in 1913.

Daniel Levy's motivation behind pushing for the Olympic
Stadium site was both for financial reasons, and an attempt to move to a
more desirable location. His motives here are nothing new, for it was
an option seriously considered by Alan Sugar back in the 1990s.
Tottenham, it is true, is not the best situated of London locations.
Badly served by local transport, with parking restrictions in place to
try and prevent fans from driving in on matchdays, Tottenham on a
Saturday afternoon is an absolute nightmare to get to, and even worse to
get away from. The area, as Levy is more than keen to point out, is in
serious need of regeneration. Yes, it's a dump, but it's OUR dump.

Financially, the new White Hart Lane stadium will cost upwards of
£400 million to build, before factoring in the money the club will have
to invest in the surrounding area. The biggest cost of moving to the
Olympic Stadium would have been removing the track, saving them hundreds
of millions of pounds. Which, it is clear, will not happen, as the
track must remain.

West Ham will still leave Upton Park to move to Stratford. Only they
will have to pay rent, which will be further subsidised by taxpayers. It
is hard to see the Stadium ever becoming a self-funding building.
Especially one with the dreaded running track still in place. Spurs,
thankfully, will remain in Tottenham, but with their bargaining position
to get as much money out of Boris Johnson for regeneration now
weakened. But our identity, for what it's worth, will remain. We'll
still be Super Tottenham From The Lane. And for that, I, along with tens
of thousands of others, will breathe a sigh of relief.

Posted on Gigwise.