A Spurs Olympic win would be a disaster for Crystal Palace (From Your Local Guardian)

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A Spurs Olympic win would be a disaster for Crystal Palace

1:10pm Thursday 27th January 2011

By Nick Gentry »

The Olympic Park Legacy Company’s decision to delay the announcement of their preferred bidder is worrying me.

The decision was supposed to be made this Friday with West Ham’s bid expected to come out on top.

This, of course, would have profound effects on Crystal Palace as the Hammers have pledged to keep the running track in place, therefore removing the necessity for a high-quality athletics stadium at the National Sports Centre.

This will leave CPFC 2010 to plough on with their ambitious plans for a brand-new purpose-built home for the Eagles; and with their drive and attention to detail you can see this move actually coming to fruition.

But then comes the big Spurs-shaped-spanner in the works that could be set to crash everyone’s meticulously planned party.

Tottenham have seemingly decided that the lure of a lucrative sponsorship deal on a brand new stadium was so difficult to resist that they’re willing to discard 129-years of history and become an east London club.

Queue anger from not just fans but Tessa Jowell, Seb Coe, the IAAF president Lamine Diack (who said our sporting reputation and credibility would be dead if Spurs got the stadium) and journalists across the board.

Unfortunately, none of these discerning voices are from the present government or the Mayors office - i.e. the people making the decision. And you can’t help but feel that this delay will only be good for Spurs’ big money bid.

The longer they delay the more the criticism and media spotlight will die down and divert away from the decision and the easier it will be to award the bid to Spurs with the minimum of uproar.

This would be disastrous for London but more importantly it will be disastrous for Crystal Palace; both the club and the park.

In an attempt to appease the OPLC Spurs intend to spend £35m on the Athletics Stadium at the NSC.

Firstly, this isn’t nearly enough to develop the crumbling stadium into a world-class athletics arena.

Secondly, what is the point in having an arena capable of holding IAAF World Championships if the IAAF has blacklisted you?

And lastly, it would leave Steve Parish and co with the unenviable choice; whether to find an alternative site or to negotiate with Spurs (probably at great cost to us) and end up with a stadium that is flawed from the outset.

Spurs can’t be allowed to take-over the stadium, no matter what Pele might have told you.

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Comments (1)

2:01pm Thu 27 Jan 11

kimba29 says...

I've got to say I completely agree with this blog. While I appreciate that Tottenham may be being fleeced by Haringey council however I do not see why there bid should even be considered! Why build a multi million pound stadium to have it knocked down especially considering how fragile our economy is at the moment. Also Spurs would be upping sticks and moving to a completely different part of London in order to do this where as West Ham's Bid is the most geographically viable and the best to continue the Olympic Legacy.
Putting that aside from an Ethical point why should Tottenham have the ability to impinge upon Palace's proposed move back to their original home which was kept under wraps and only revealed as CPFC2010's hand had been forced with Totenham's ambitous proposed plans for the Olympic Stadium. I Just hope this comes out in ours and West Hams favour as we should not be in the position that a North London club can have this bearing upon our future. If this does go against us the only thing I could presume is that money has come into play!

I've got to say I completely agree with this blog. While I appreciate that Tottenham may be being fleeced by Haringey council however I do not see why there bid should even be considered! Why build a multi million pound stadium to have it knocked down especially considering how fragile our economy is at the moment. Also Spurs would be upping sticks and moving to a completely different part of London in order to do this where as West Ham's Bid is the most geographically viable and the best to continue the Olympic Legacy. Putting that aside from an Ethical point why should Tottenham have the ability to impinge upon Palace's proposed move back to their original home which was kept under wraps and only revealed as CPFC2010's hand had been forced with Totenham's ambitous proposed plans for the Olympic Stadium. I Just hope this comes out in ours and West Hams favour as we should not be in the position that a North London club can have this bearing upon our future. If this does go against us the only thing I could presume is that money has come into play! kimba29