This story comes from two source (who shall remain nameless). You can believe it or no, although unlike tales of Atlantis, alien invasions covered up by government and the Chinese discovery of America in the 15th century, at least this time you will be able to see if this is right or not. Time will certainly tell.
This story concerns Levy – the chair of Tottenham. Behind the story is the supposition that the owners are getting frustrated with years of promises of top four finishes and nothing to show save a lot of payouts to managers who go on to have success elsewhere. Indeed Levy watchers particularly noticed that at the last sacking (Ramos) he said that he couldn’t let Ramos ruin the club after all that had been achieved. He then cited their achievement: two years in the UEFA League and planning permission granted for the training ground. If ever there was a speech that should have been better planned it was that.
So, to rescue his position Levy brought forward the new stadium idea. 60,000 people (then reduced to 58,000), and a sell out for every game.
But there is a problem – as we have covered many times (and I am most grateful to everyone who has supplied the devil in the detail) Tottenham count their “members” twice – once as members and once as the season ticket waiting list. People are on that waiting list whether they want a season or not.
This means that we have a promise of a new ground to keep to boss in Barbados happy, but it comes with the knowledge that it is a promise that will unravel. By which time who knows, maybe by a fluke the Totts will have won the Diddly Cup again.
To overcome this Levy-Owners problem, Tottenham have got a piece of land for a ground that will house 58,000 people but only if the crowd is as close to the game as we were at Highbury. So that is the application that is going in.
But this application will be turned down – everyone knows that. There must be the fire engine entrance inside new grounds and there must be room for emergency vehicles to circulate around the ground between pitch and crowd. What’s more the number of entrance and exit points has been raised and the the EPL and FA insist that new grounds have sufficient distance between crowd and playing area so that anything thrown does not reach the pitch. (It also stops Carragher throwing things from the pitch at the crowd).
Inevitably the planning application will fail. Tottenham are used to this game and will then blame “Arsenal supporters on the planning committee” for scuppering their plans. They will build a smaller stadium (“not what we wanted, but with this level of corruption in local government there is nothing we can do”), and so avoid the problem with not being able to fill the theoretical larger stadium.
This sort of thing has happened before. Everton were recently refused planning permission on their new training ground, both locally and on appeal. They then went public and blamed corruption locally – ignoring the fact that it was locally elected people who were following the rules, while they (who no one elected) weren’t.
Tottenham played the same hand with the league cup game at the Ems in the first season there. They wanted a full allocation across the south end lower, but only got a fraction of this, and blamed Arsenal. In fact police and local authority regs required that the away support was increased slowly to ensure local services could cope and this was the first game where there was a demand for tickets beyond the normal corner.
So there it is: the Tottenham ground will be smaller, and will have the gap between players and crowd. Everyone knows it, but there is a ritual to be gone through. And that is the story of the Woolworths Stadium (ok that isn’t the actual name, but when I was told it, it gave me a laugh.
(c) Tony Attwood 2009
Ok, we need ten more points (and Villa would have to win 6 out of 6) to get that 4th spot. You would have to assume that Villa’s luck has to turn soon, and it is possible they go on a run (after losing and drawing in their last five games). It seems like we are in the front seat, but the reality is that in our last 6 games we are going to have to improve compared to last year’s form, where we drew with Boro at home and Pompey away, games we have to win this year! It’s not going to be that easy with the additional games from the FA Cup and the ECL. Not that clear cut, especially with our injuries in defense.
Whilst not given to habitual optimism, I feel quite comfortable about our upcoming fixtures across the board Justin. We have so many games against serious teams, I believe that it will keep us not only focused but also determined to win.
Momentum is everything in football. we have it and we don’t look like surrendering it. Martin O’Neill traded Aston Villa’s away in Europe in exchange for some Champions League magic beans. I agree we can take nothing for granted but at this stage, it is highly unlikely that we will lose sufficient ground to either Everton Or Villa to cause any undue concern.
I read a story somewhere recently about the proposed new Totteringham Lukewarmspur stadium. I believe the author was Hans Christian Anderson……or was it The Brothers Grimm? 😉
i think adeybayor is under estimated. how many have or can 23/24 year olds bang in 30 goals a season in the premiership.? the guy was a nobody at monaco he scored like 2 gols in 20 games. and the main reason for this post is he actually scores quite alot of really spectacular goals. tottenham goal, newcastle , villareal are just a few. if he can score 30 in one season he can do it again and i think he will. ok this season wasnt his greatest but it was always obvious he worked best with hleb and fabregas. the first leaving and the scond missing four months . the hard things to do in football in my eyes are all there. all he needs to do is learn how to beat the offside trap.
I posted this on another site. Not exactly related. But why not.
Nominations for PFA Player of the Year and Young player of the year just announced.
PoY
Ferdinand
Vidic
Van de Sar
Giggs
Ronaldo
Gerrard
YPofY
Evans (MU)
Rafael da Silve (MU)
Agbonlahar
Young
Ireland
Lennon
7 of 12 from Man U!!
Giggs – appearances 23 (11 starts, 12 as substitute) 1 goal, 6 assists.
Even Denilson the Arsenal def midfielder has more goals and assists than that! (3 and 7)
The PFA in its wisdom has not managed to find even 1 place for any of the young talent at Arsenal. No place for Samir Nasri, Walcott or Denilson. Challenging for major silverware with an avg 21 yr old midfield yet no nominations!
Rafael da Silva has made 11 appearances (2 as sub).
What a joke.
Are you kidding me?!!!
If those are the only nominations,that is not only disgraceful but in fact retarded.
I hope nobody bothers attending the awards ceremony except the UTD squad.
The FA should be ashamed of themselves.
Lampard has been the most consistent player but the biggest problem is people only watch live games of either the club they support or the ones shown live by Sky or Setanta.
Also we are heavily influence by media opinion, i.e Steven Howard (well the lower opinionated people; incidentally that means those at the PFA).
Nasri should definitely be on the young players and maybe Walcott too. I understand Denilson’s exclusion; not many have seen his improvement.
I heard an absurd theory that the shortlist was drawn up in January hence United’s dominance. However that’s when Lennon hit form meaning they based his performance on one or two games.