Good morning members of the jury.
You’ll recall Sunday Times a while back exposed the fact that West Ham and the OPLC were accused of shall we call it a conflict of interest. Specifically that WHFC they had commissioned the paid services of an OPLC employee to assist with their application to win the Olympic Stadium Raffle.
The Sunday Times were led to believe by the ‘investigators’ that they spoke to that payments were made into the back account of the OPLC employee, Dionne Knight. The payments came from an account operated by Naughty Knickers Of Newham Ltd T/A West Ham United Football Club.
The best bit was that the OPLC employee, Dionne Knight was in a relationship with… a Director at West Ham.
“My board were put under surveillance by Tottenham Hotspur and the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur felt confident enough to say that in the Sunday Times several months ago, that all 14 members of my board were put under surveillance. The Metropolitan Police are now conducting an investigation into that surveillance.” Baroness Ford
Now, due to old Rupe’s pesky pay wall and a poor memory I cannot cut and paste the admission by Levy & Co that Baroness Ford is insistent the article contains.
The Baroness needs to get a good solicitor. The issue of the law being broken by private eyes is likely to be pretty black and white. If bank statement information has been obtained it is vital to establish precisely how this was done. The issue of the OPLC process having been corrupted is already proved. Dionne Knight admitted the payments when doorstepped by a Sunday Time journo.
I question as to what the Baroness actually has to throw at Levy & Co. If someone had put me under surveillance I wouldn’t be delighted about it, but I would be stark raving outraged if my bank account activity was leaked or stolen. And it wasn’t the Baroness’ account remember. So she’s getting very shirty whilst we hear zip from Ms Knight.
Perhaps the Baroness has been so immersed in Birtspeak she is incapable of speaking normally anymore. If bank statements or whatever were unlawfully obtained, then why not say so? Why whine about ‘surveillance?’ This is like people who wander around decrying things as being ‘inappropriate’ what they are actually doing is masking what they really want to say.
“Our job now is to narrow, as far as we possibly can, the scope now for legitimate legal challenge in this next process. That is all that we can do. If people want then to be vexatious, frivolous and vindictive or whatever they want, they will do that.” THFC
What the hell is she on about? I thought her job was to weigh up bids and pick the best one. It seems I was wrong. It’s her job to make a fist of everything she touches and speak like a magic eight ball that was programmed by a half cut public school boy.
So what have Levy & Co to say from deep within the bowels of their volcano lair? Well they are denying involvement in any law breaking. They are quite specific saying that THFC:
“…did not undertake, instruct or engage any party to conduct surveillance on any member of the OPLC committee”
All that remains is the glaring fact that somebody blew the whistle on the West Ham manipulation of the OPLC process. And I wonder if the damning information wasn’t simply tossed into to the public domain by someone who simply couldn’t resist sitting on it any longer. Which would be ironic of course. Don’t forget that the Porn Barons suffered from a similar fit of being unable to keeping schtum when they began celebrating their success in landing the OS the night before the decision was formally announced.
Let’s hope that all the useless players and all the crooked players in this farce are removed from the field of play as swiftly as possible and common sense is given an opportunity to elbow its way into proceedings. When Baroness Birdbrain has finished clucking the entire future of the stadium needs to be reevaluated.
The vanity of Lord Coe and his cronies in wanting this ridiculous structure to be kept going after the games is breathtaking. Trying to pass off a Championship football club plus a few dozen folk running, leaping over things , jumping and chucking stuff about as a legacy is a joke and a not very funny one. Has the OPLC been guilty of collusion? Did West Ham rig the deck? Was Daniel Levy the bloke from the 1970’s Milk Tray adverts? What we do know is that so far stupidity has been the OS’ first tenant and maybe, just maybe this is a good opportunity serve it an eviction order.
I love the idea that my football club may have spy’s working for it……but unfortunately, I think its complete and utter b*llocks…
Shaken not Spurred?
We hired investigators to look into the circumstances surrounding the decision to award the stadium to Wet Spam.
Nothing was ever said about us putting OPLC board members under surveillance.
Jesus wept, what a melter.
The statement by Spurs was expected, because they aren’t going to come out and admit it, nor will they stay silent (which makes them seem guilty). The fact that they have denied it means very little at this stage.
With both the OPLC and West Ham making the same accusations, the chances are there is some truth in it, which has been (kind of) backed up by the recent arrest.
Spurs had no need to get involved in this whole process, because they knew they weren’t going to get the track removed and, in all honesty, they never wanted to move to Stratford. They may well come to regret sticking their noses in.
But, the fact that Levy has pulled out, and tried to quietly slip into the distance recently, says to me he’s worried.
Hammer make feckinel, shut the face make.
???
If her worship is lying then it shows the twisted mentality the OPC had in “choosing” the winning bid, if she is lying the whole lying pack of dogs need to be replaced. If they are replaced then the best bid in terms of a sustainable future would be spurs. Fact. The porn barrons are the ones who have the dirty tactics, levy isn’t your normal weak willed opponent and the dirty chav spams really are a disgrace to our national game, pride and all things good and decent. Make.
I agree with you. Spurs are going to be more successful in the short/long term (and it pains me to say that) and they have some real quality players. Spurs would be the better bid in terms of sustaining the stadium, as you say.
Our owners aren’t perfect, but nor is Levy.
It was made clear that Spurs needed to keep the running track, because the OPLC said that to all potential bidders. Yet, despite that, Spurs still put forward a bid to stop West Ham getting the stadium, which would see the running track ditched, and then complained as if it was a surprise that they didn’t get it. Keep the running track or no deal. It wasn’t that hard to understand.
The OPLC are muppets though, and have a lot to answer for. The OS will end up sat there, doing nothing. There may be the odd two week athletics event every few years though.
Personally I don’t want to leave our ground, and I doubt many Spurs fans do either. Would you rather stay at WHL?
The track was not a stipulary. It was made so when the bid collapsed. If you look at it from our point of view (and i would say most don’t want to move) to lose 12-0 whilst someone on the decision making board is being paid by a WHFC, and someone else is in a relationship with a director of the same club, the process loses its dignity at best. At worst, it’s outright corruption. I agree, no one will get it now. But once they realize its drain on the tax we all pay, that will change.
The track was not a stipulation – but it was damn blatantly obvious that it was going to go to the bid that retained the track! The track + stadium were built by Athletics people. The facilities and transport were built by athletics people. And most importantly, the decision on who takes over the stadium was made by athletics people. As a Spurs fan, I do not want to watch our games with a track around it (WHU have no choice). I also do not want our team to move away from the fan base. So not unhappy about it at all.
exactly Jim.
The OPLC halting the whole sale process is hardly the actions of a Board confident that their actions in reaching the decisions are beyond doubt.
They blame the plug being pulled on the legal delays but really they knew that WHU’s bid with the £40m loan would not stand up. All 14 voted for WHU and all were wrong because their judgement on the basis of WHUs bid was flawed.
Baroness Gobshite now deflects all the criticism they should get for fucking up an expensive bidding process by accussing Spurs of spying. The spying is not the issue because ultimately that resulted in a conflict of interest being unearthed. The issue is the grand balls-up the OPLC have made of this stadium from the moment they decided they wanted an athletics only stadium
@Hammer
You’ve actually made possibly the best point of all. If you ask the majority of fans on either side, neither of us want it. Several years ago when Spurs first hinted at interest in the Stadium, Coe stated categorically that no team would be allowed in there. Now it is rapidly turning into a White Elephant that is going to make the Millennium Dome look like a brilliant idea.
As soon as I saw the story about the £40 mill loan,I thought it was probably a breach of EC law, and I am no Lawyer/Civil Servant etc. If I could have spotted that, why could none of the so called professionals associated with the OPLC, GLA, WHU or LBN not have raised this issue?
I am one of several people on these forums who thought the loan might be illegal, so it’s fair to assume, there were probably hundreds of people who had a similar view.
It is noteworthy that she criticises those who wrote to PC’s Plod and Poirot in Brussels, but she doesn’t criticise the Brady Bunch or LBN. That in itself speaks volumes about this whole process which has smacked of maladministration from start to date, and looks likely to continue even after the judicial review is concluded. I think there will be another Judicial Review before we see the end of this matter.
For reasons best known to themselves, they are desperate to fix the result in favour of West Ham, and Spurs are entitled to argue that with the exception of the illegal loan, the decision has to be taken on the original criteria which did not make the retention of a running track compulsory.
On that basis, the OPLC can still award the OS to West Ham, but only if they can do without the £40 mill. If they can’t do without the loan, West Ham have to be disqualified and the bid process recommenced based on the original criteria.
So a statement from Tottenham that it “totally rejects the accusation in the strongest possible terms.” means very little to you. Because both the guilty parties in the Olympic Park Lease fiasco make the same noisy claims, there must be something in them? Both Goebbels and Hitler stated categorically that Poland invaded Germany. By your putrid logic, there had to be something in that as well.
Spurs were invited to bid for the Olympic Stadium on the understanding that the running track requirement, which both they and West Ham had previously rejected as unworkable, was no longer a criterion. That was the only reason that Spurs applied, as anyone with a modicum of intelligence would have realized long ago. Both Spurs and Leyton Orient became so incensed with the underhandedness of the whole process that they took the OPLG to the High Court, despite being warned off and told they had no case. The inescapable fact is that they had a case, which is why some anonymous person conveniently by-passed the High Court and took it too what would have been the inevitable next stage in any event, the European Court, the final arbiter. This allows the OPLG to hand the Olympic Stadium to West Ham with no capital commitment, which they could not afford in any event. However the sting in the tail is the 99 year lease for athletics and priority for athletics use. So West Ham after all their shenanigans will be left with exactly what they don’t want, a totally inadequate athletics stadium, which no one in their right mind would want ot watch football in. Still I’m sure you’re pleased that West Ham will have something they don’t want and can’t really use, just to gain a legacy for Newham. Well done. Very publicly spirited!
I didn’t say it meant very little to me, I said it meant very little at this stage, in general.
I also didn’t say there MUST be something in the claims, I said the CHANCES are there could be.
I’m trying to keep a balances argument, and not be clearly biased towards my own side.
The running track was a key factor in which club would be awarded the stadium, hence Spurs didn’t get the initial decision. Spurs have now been invited to bid again (along with Orient and West Ham), which they are possibly going to decline, with a new bidding process in place, to appease both Spurs and Orient.
Perhaps if many Hammers fans didn’t see this as a contest between our clubs, then would they have been pleased with the outcome? This move (West ham to the OS) will not happen,listen again to David Sullivan’s answer and how measured it was. Remember Brady, Sullivan and Gold’s words and photo-shoot when West Ham won the original bid-and listen to Sullivan’s words now!
The woman who was paid by WHUFC had no role in the voting process and it was completly unrelated it was no secret and publicized by WHU that they had paid her and what for. This whole thing is becomeing a joke.
Please use paragraphs
Hammer, first off, congratulations. And not the sarcastic kind. You are far and away the most reasonable and literate spammer we have ever had on here.
Second of all, when we sent in our bid it was clear that an “athletics legacy” was a requirement. “A running track at this location, in honor and memory of Lord Coe” was not. We patently did include an athletics legacy in our bid, by offering to refurbish a 25 000-seat athletics stadium (was it at Crystal Palace? Forgive me if I’m wrong).
That was not what eliminated us. Where we fell short, in the eyes of all twelve board members was a failure to jerk off the egos of the Olympic power-mongers, and of course failure to “grease the wheels”.
How do you explain the fact that your sleazy owners started celebrating having won the vote before the vote had taken place?
Hammer, you either read too many comics or watch too much second rate spy movies on TV.
No, I’m just not blinkered.
@Hammer:
Let me see if I’ve got this right? If they stay silent, they are guilty, and if they don’t stay silent, they are guilty?
That should cut down on the workload of the judiciary.
Spurs may not be guilty at all.
I didn’t say that they are because they didn’t/did stay silent.
What I’m saying, is the statement doesn’t have much foundation or meaning, because it is standard for a club/business/organisation to come out and deny any wrongdoing, to cover their backs in the short term.
I am not saying Spurs are guilty (although I think they could well be), just that the fact that Levy has denied all accusations doesn’t mean he’s not lying.
It still amounts to the same thing, because nowadays, you are allowed to draw whatever inferences you choose if someone invokes a right of silence.
I recall the days of a certain health minister, and whenever she was in the news, the item always ended “Health Minister Virginia Bottomley refused to comment”. I began to think that was her full name.
But I digress. We have a gov that changes the law to allow people to think you are guilty if you keep quiet, and then resort to “no comment” when faced with a hard question.
During the meantime, what do you think “they could well be” guilty of? Surveillance isn’t illegal.
Hammer make feckinel shut the face make.
Try speaking in English you inbred retard
The Rev is speaking in mus-speak. This is a special HH dialect given to us by mus.
Mus tee shirts are available at Reception. Fakinel make.
People need to learn Mus-speak and fast. I predict it will be the native tongue on this site within a year!! :daumen:
Shut the face, look the table……… make.
It makes it even funnier that you don’t get it my dear cb. Make. Lol
Damn right! I hooted with delight at Hammers triple question mark earlier.
I still remember coming home from work late one night and checking the blog. I came across the mus for the first time. I roared and then wept with laughter for the rest of the journey.
I am proud to say that in addition to English and the tongues of angels I am becoming proficient in musglish.
The OPLC, Ms Ford and wet spam remind me very much of my little boy when I catch him out doing something naughty, which to be honest is quite often! He shouts and raves about it not being fair, I am not being kind to him, I shouldnt be watching him etc. (Blimey as I write this the similarity is even more apparen that I thought!) This ‘orrible lot have all been caught out doing things they shouldnt be doing and they think that the best form of defence is attack… but they are wrong because there is no defence for the corrupt balls up surrounding the OS and the bidding process.
Sega is still shit by the way Harry!