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?
Whilst I was pro-Stratford, I now believe that the club have to accept that it is a battle that we have lost and move on to look at the alternatives.
I don’t like to say it, one has to admire that Arsenal model here. They have built a fantastic (albeit very quiet) stadium whilst staying competitive for the PL & continually qualifying for the CL. In addition, the debt incurred in building the new stadium are nearly paid off.
We, as a club, should be looking very closely at how they have achieved that.
Without Joe Lewis injecting a load of his own money, we will have to borrow. However, we aren’t in the CL at present and therefore and take will take longer to pay off (Europa League revenue only works out about a third of CL I believe).
A massive decision for the future of the club has to be made. How can we raise additional revenue without the regular CL money? The only way is to decide to bite the bullet & decide to build the NDP coupled with a temporary move to Wembley. This gives us an immediate increase in matchday revenue & time to consider & build the NDP properly.
And if we could achieve CL qualification next season, we then have to spend on the team at the same time.
The problem is, if it all goes wrong, we could be f*cked for years to come.
Some really good considered comments. Thank you. I am just in the process of ‘creating’ a survey for THFC fans. It has a few obvious topics NDP, Transfers etc but if anyone can think of anything that ought to be considered. Speak now or forever hold thy season ticket.
If we all lost weight more of us could fit in the WHL.
Transport ? Erm end of Park Lane is the shunting shed for Tottenham Hale, redevelop part of the area put in a new station that links over ground & underground. Still use Hale, 7 Sisters etc. Rent the supermarket space to Sainsburys, Knock down the current store 200M up the High Road & turn it into a Super-Car-Park. Run a dual level road form the A406 above the A1010 that goes to the car-park & filters further down with 1 route going down the High Road & the other (larger) down Northumberland Park road leading to the A1055, which itself has a dual road (from A406 further down, creating a ring road) leading all the way to the Tottenham Hale junction. On match days these dual roads carry all traffic from North Circular & or M11/A503 (ferry lane) & northbound A10 traffic to said Super Car Park, therefore freeing up traffic in the local area. On NON-Match days use it as either a automated toll road & also have the Super Car Park as a commuter port for the City. The revenue from the toll road & car park & advertising & or sponsorship (naming rights) shall pay for itself in due course. Once achieved the Club & any private investors have a cash cow for life. In turn these better transport links & the redeveloped local area through Stadia & amenities will increase the market value of the land and therefore considering the Tavistock Group & THFC Plc own a substantial area of Tottenham & Tottenham Hale they shall see a significant capitol growth. Yes this will cost a great deal BUT construction is nigh on dead so companies will become VERY competitive in price, we shall also increase the employment of the local area substantially therefore the local authorities are hardly going to turn their noses up re: planning (or are jobs not required in the current market, I gorget now !). Mini wind turbines & water collecting technology can be installed on top of the dual road system as could solar panels. & most importantly of all (use the joke of the guided busway for Cambridge thats only a few years late & a few hundred million over budget) INSTALL A TARGETED PENALTY CLAUSE INTO THE CONTRACT ! Therefore protecting the Club & any PRIVATE investors. This means each stage MUST be completed to the highest standard at the correct date, theoretically the best way to achieve this would be to have 1 Project co-ordinator & Architect & have different construction companies completing different parts of the construction at the same time. If 4 different works are ongoing at the same then the work is achieved quicker. Not only will this secure the financial stability of THFC FOREVER it will also help sort major congestion in & around London, therefore saving the British taxpayer. The Government & local authorities have dragged their heels & made the Club jump through hoops, well if we do all this then we WON’T be restricted 50K stadium we can build a 65K with potential to reach 100K+. Why doesn’t Lewis, Branson & a couple of other British Billionaires put their heads & pockets together & prove what British initiative & cunning can really do ? At the risk of having an opinion ! COYS
Wow !!! Sounds like a plan to me.
What is the current state of play with the Meridian Water site we were looking at a few months ago? Last I heard there were concerns over flooding in that area, but I don’t know how closely we have looked at the site – it is in N17 and only 1.5 miles from WHL