Spurs’ new stadium

[JimB]

I’m sorry but frankly that’s utter nonsense The seats weren’t in, the pitch wasn’t layed the area around the stadium was still a building site, there was no chance the stadium would be ready for the City game never mind the Liverpool one. Five cranes we’re still on site until recently. It’s an utter disgrace the way Spurs have treated the rest of the league and rival fans. If there were problems with safety systems so be it but ultimately there were plenty of other reasons that the stadium was not ready. Primarily it boils down to there being absolutely no chance that a project of that size could be completed in the time scale and Spurs and their contractor knew it. Not offering to pay compensation to the City fans is just plain wrong. Oh and probably dropped the overtime due to the costs spiralling out of control. Anyway Daniel hope you don’t enjoy the game this evening and in fact the rest of the season

True, not all the seats were in; the pitch wasn't laid; and the area around the stadium was still a building site. But......

The seats are on a rail system. And the rails were installed. And once that is done, seats can be installed incredibly rapidly. At the time that the decision to delay the stadium opening was made, there was still a month before the Liverpool game. Had Mace needed to, they could have installed the remaining seats in a week or less.

It took three days to lay the pitch. And it was a further 1-2 weeks before it was playable. Once again, had it been necessary, the pitch could have been ready for play within two weeks of the announcement to delay.

The original, temporary plan for the area around the stadium was for it to be a tarmac finish - again, a procedure that could have been completed in a matter of days. The delay has, however, afforded Mace the opportunity to complete the permanent surfacing and landscaping now rather than next summer.

This. But without I'm sorry.

He talks like a reporter putting a positive slant on a bad story.
Crestfallen my arse, their lottery numbers came up when the "safety issue" was found.

Sorry, mate, I don't mean to come across like that. It's just that I have followed this project in minute detail for ten years and I have a number of contacts who are very close to it at a high level. My only intention is to inform those who, understandably as non Spurs fans, aren't as familiar with the project.

As to Spurs welcoming the delay, let me ask you the following:

- If Spurs had known for months (or even from the outset, as some are claiming) that they wouldn't be able to finish the stadium until next year, why would Levy (not a man known for casually throwing away money) have spent (tens of?) millions on having big crews working through the night right up until the announcement of the delay?

- Why would Levy want to pay Wembley a huge amount to stage home games while simultaneously losing money on ticket and corporate sales because Spurs fans are sick of going there?

- Why would Levy want to piss off Spurs fans?

- Why would Levy want to let down a hugely important partner in the NFL?

- Why would Levy want the bad publicity that has come from the delay?

- Why would Levy want to halt the momentum of the goodwill that has flowed through the club over recent seasons?

- Why would Levy want the team's performances to suffer, as they undoubtedly have this season - partly as a consequence of the stadium delay?

Seriously, the conspiracy theories I've read on here don't even bear distant scrutiny! This delay has been a huge blow to the club. 100%.

 

[JimB]

Which ultimately will fuck them up financially.
White Elephant.

Go on....I'm intrigued!

 

[blueinsa]

Go on....I'm intrigued!

Regardless of the money awash in football mate, the cost of your new ground is staggeringly eye watering.

To pay for it its clear that Poch or whoever is in charge will not be backed to make a serious tilt at the title and if there is no success on the pitch, it wont be long until there are empty seats in the stadium.

Like it or not you now have one hell of a debt around your necks, granted for a world class stadium but sooner, rather than later its going to need a world class side in it every other week and that too is going to have to be paid for.

The margin for success or failure right now for Spurs is very fine and what Poch said this week should set alarm bells ringing for all Spurs fans.

 

[St.Pauli support]

Regardless of the money awash in football mate, the cost of your new ground is staggeringly eye watering.

To pay for it its clear that Poch or whoever is in charge will not be backed to make a serious tilt at the title and if there is no success on the pitch, it wont be long until there are empty seats in the stadium.

Like it or not you now have one hell of a debt around your necks, granted for a world class stadium but sooner, rather than later its going to need a world class side in it every other week and that too is going to have to be paid for.

The margin for success or failure right now for Spurs is very fine and what Poch said this week should set alarm bells ringing for all Spurs fans.

I get your point.
But if a half a million city like Dortmund can fill an 80,000 ground on a regular, why not spurs?

Copy paste.
Make it an event, people will come with and without success.
But: you need atmosphere and a strong and loud fan culture.

Spurs business model is working without titles.
Just no titles. They got used to it.

 

[TheRemainsOfTheDave]

Was the Wembley grounds man in charge of the pitch? Or the spurs grounds man?

Cuadrilla by the look of it.

 

[waspish]

I get your point.
But if a half a million city like Dortmund can fill an 80,000 ground on a regular, why not spurs?

Copy paste.
Make it an event, people will come with and without success.
But: you need atmosphere and a strong and loud fan culture.

Spurs business model is working without titles.
Just no titles. They got used to it.

Is Wembley capped at 56k when spurs play?

 

[blueinsa]

But if a half a million city like Dortmund can fill an 80,000 ground on a regular, why not spurs?

Ticket prices.

The German model is superb whilst here in the PL its a race to the top for who can fleece the fans the most and unfortunately for fans of London clubs, they really do get the shitty end of the stick.

People will not pay it for a side winning nothing.

 

[waspish]

Ticket prices.

The German model is superb whilst here in the PL its a race to the top for who can fleece the fans the most and unfortunately for fans of London clubs, they really do get the shitty end of the stick.

People will not pay it for a side winning nothing.

Ticket prices plus transport around those grounds also.

 

[JimB]

Regardless of the money awash in football mate, the cost of your new ground is staggeringly eye watering.

To pay for it its clear that Poch or whoever is in charge will not be backed to make a serious tilt at the title and if there is no success on the pitch, it wont be long until there are empty seats in the stadium.

Like it or not you now have one hell of a debt around your necks, granted for a world class stadium but sooner, rather than later its going to need a world class side in it every other week and that too is going to have to be paid for.

The margin for success or failure right now for Spurs is very fine and what Poch said this week should set alarm bells ringing for all Spurs fans.

No doubt Spurs are taking on a huge amount of debt. Net debt now stands at £365m according to a recent statement by Levy. That's with most of the stadium's big ticket items paid for. Who knows.....maybe it will eventually rise to as much as £500-600m?

But on the flip side, profits for the past financial year were £160m. Which would suggest that, over a 20 year period, say, the debt should be manageable.

Agreed that Poch doesn't sound happy. And that is a worry. But I should add that Spurs have been operating on a near zero net spend policy for years now. The only thing new about this summer's failure to sign any players was the Premier League's shortsighted, unilateral decision to bring forward the end of the transfer window to early August. It put PL clubs in an impossibly weak position when negotiating with continental clubs. Spurs couldn't, therefore, sell the players they wanted to sell for what they should have been worth and so were not able to buy the players they wanted to buy. Thankfully, we won't have the same problem next summer.

 

[blueinsa]

Ticket prices plus transport around those grounds also.

Indeed.

These fans very quickly think Sky and BT are much better value for money.

Levy is walking a tightrope.