Hello viewers.
It appeared at first glance to be just one of those Fridays that inevitably fall just before you get paid. At first glance you’d put your impending wages on it being one of those Fridays when you know with a burning certainty that Diego Forlan wasn’t really at the Lodge being asked to provide a urine sample. And him responding, perhaps in Spanish, ‘What, from over here?’
But it all got quite feisty. I can assure you of that. It took a turn for feistyness.
I was having a having a conversation with the highly esteemed and prolific author Norman Giller and the much respected media all rounder, Martin Cloake.
It was essentially that Norm and Martin both have faith in the notion, the idea of a coming together of all parties involved in the NDP now in the wake of Judicial Review having now been vetoed.
That a meeting of minds featuring involved parties in Haringey, THFC, Boris, Lord Coe, Mr Lammy etc could somehow thrash out a viable path to WHL being updated and upgraded for the 21st century and beyond.
My view was that this was a commendable, even noble but ultimately deluded view.
The decision to gift the stadium to a pair of Porn Barons running a Championship football club with enormous debts was in essence corrupt in so much that those wanting the stadium to remain after the Games merely wanted a monument to their achievements there forever for all to coo over.
I also suggested that given the surreal costs of expanding at the present location ie continuing with the NDP, that the Club would either need to put itself in hock to Bond villains/foreign investors or resign itself to working off it’s debts and not spending any money on players for a generation.
Before I ask you what you think, can I ask for something more sophisticated than either ‘let’s move in to Wembley’ or ‘I’d rather watch us in the Championship than leave N17.’ I would regard both of those sentiments as being as equally unbalanced.
So, what do you think?
I think the NDP is not viable for Levy anymore because as some have said, to actually pay off the costs will take years. The Olympic stadium move would have made Spurs a much more suitable club for a takeover and much bigger profit for Levy. Im sure any future decision will be based on how much Enic/Lewis can make on the future sale of the club.
Dont see the transport links being such an issue, more a red herring. I used to go to Spurs alot in the 80’s and Im sure there was 45,000 plus supporters in those days. Surely transport links have improved ?
Its all about the money.
What about Upton Park, that will be empty soon :winke:
Its been earmarked for a lavender field for the local pikeys to sell.
I think the plans ARE viable and the money has already been raised (IIRC) by the share re-issue a year or two back.
The need is clearly there; the stumbling block is Council (and Lammy) because they perceive we have no choices and they have the power to dam the stream and extort us for the water. Levy has demonstrated many times that he is by and large, reasonable and fair: but he is also very tough when people are trying to be unfair to him. I think that the positions taken by the various authorities in this saga are frustrating him and he is reluctant to just roll over for a bully and he has a point.
Arsenal got local authority assistance and its clear that the develpment will reinvigorate a depressed area; its all upside for Council, but still they want to stiff us at each and every turn. I hope we lend serious support to their opponents at the next local elections.
The appeal has been turned down based I can only assume, on there not being “grounds” to support a review of the decisions, ie no evidence of corruption or procedural malfeasance: sadly incompetence, arrogance and egotism are not illegal. However the pursuance of the appeal may have been for cost recovery or perhaps to emphasise our stance that we are willing to look elsewhere for a development friendly home site.
I sense the appeal and the stance of “not at this price” is also geared far more to try to convince Council and Lammy (and possibly any third party influences like Boris), that they have killed the Golden Goose and won’t get anything from the revenue landslide that the NDP is/will be. If they blink, then Levy can start to gauge the level of their need for the project to go ahead and start to leverage that in return, which if nothing else might at least level the playing field.
However whilst there is no other reasonably viable site and we HAVE to get a bigger stadium, Council and Lammy will hold out till we are so thirsty we will pay whatever they charge for the water from behind the dam.
Arsenal got local authority assistance and its clear that the develpment will reinvigorate a depressed area; its all upside for Council, but still they want to stiff us at each and every turn.
Our planning permission was granted within 2 years. Islington council took 4.
The cost of our section 106 agreement is £15-17m.
The scum’s was the highest cost (proportionally)for any project in the country; they had to pay £60m for a new waste incinerator alone.
Levy and co. have never made a formal request for public funding for the NDP. The scum didn’t ask, and didn’t get any either.
The cub didn’t tell the council that the NDP had become unaffordable until after receiving planning permission and submitting the bid for the OS. There were no extra unknown costs added by the local council, TFL, CABE or English Heritage after the amended NDP was agreed to by the club.
Until Levy and co drop all interest in the OS and commit to staying in Tottenham, it’s unlikely anything will get done. Council’s and MPs in the main are obviously incompetent, but let’s not pretend Levy and co. have played with a completely straight bat in all this, and it’s entirely the fault of evil Haringey council and Lammy.
Well fair cop, that’s what you get from listening to other bloggers rather than checking the facts. However having done so, there are few things that you might have phrased a different way, such as the “incinerator” actually being the complete site relocation of the Islington recycling plant; which I’m sure included an incinerator!
I am not sure either if the Section 106 has been agreed yet; is this not what the shit-fight is about?
The cost in terms of affordability is relative to what else is avialable: if a top notch telly cost 1500 quid and is seen as good value all’s well, till you see the same thing at 1200 quid down the road. Then it becomes (relatively) too expensive. The club didn’t tell Haringay about the OS bid before the planning was approved: the financial arguments came later.
Whilst the Arse did not get financial assistance, some budgetted and quoted burdens were removed from their #106 process. At this point we have estimates based upon known property, building aquisition and development costs and some associated costs known or expected as part of Section 106.
I may be incorrect (again) but I thought the costs being discussed in relation to #106 were the problem, as the contributions to Haringay Council to get better access, transport etc were proving to be onerous.
Back in 2008 I was SOOO excited about the new stadium! We assumed Levy had it covered financially. The North stand would be the first to go. The homely East stand (still with silly pillars), the noisy Park Lane end (with gruesome invaders in the corner) and West stand (along with corporate shit) would remain to fight the cause, whilst the massive new stand emerged in the gap at one end. The atmosphere would have been electric! Reduced capacity but full of hope for the future emerging in front of us. What happened? Somehow that dream turned to shit.
The result of this poll actually surprised me http://www.spurscommunity.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=70543