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Half-time Hairdryer - February 10, 2011
Surely West Ham should be the only logical choice to win the right to takeover the Olympic Stadium?
I was in conversation with someone the other day about how deceptively small London actually is.
On a good day, you can zip from one side to the other in little over half an hour given the right mode of transport. I regularly used to travel from Canary Wharf in the east to Fulham Broadway in the west to watch mid-week Chelsea games in around 40 minutes.
But that doesn’t mean the decision by Tottenham to bid to use the 2012 Olympic Stadium for a new ground should be acceptable. Tottenham are a North London side, with a close rivalry with Arsenal that matches up to many of the other great local derbies, such as Liverpool and Everton.
Let’s not forget that London is home to many, many football teams, each with their own area-specific history and heritage. Chelsea are synonymous with the King’s Road for instance.
So to move from north to east, although not a huge shift in distance, would be deemed by many to be a cultural shift too far. Many people associate themselves with their location and their local football team, and to uproot and move would be foolhardy in my opinion.
Look what happened to Wimbledon. They were a hugely popular top-flight team in the 1990s, and well-liked by many fans of other teams for a ballsy attitude that earned them the nickname ‘Crazy Gang’.
When they moved to Milton Keynes, fans were so incensed that they set up AFC Wimbledon, a non-league team who is slowly but surely climbing the league tables and breaking attendance records all over the place with an avid following.
Meanwhile, MK Dons as they are now known have become much less of a force in football than they once were.
Could we see Tottenham fans breakaway and set-up their own team if Tottenham are granted the right to takeover the Stratford site? More than likely if you ask me.
This, of course, is forgetting the futility in that Tottenham want to knock down the stadium and start from scratch. As an inhabitant of Old Ford for many years, quite literally a stone’s throw from the Olympic Stadium, and someone with family and friends still living through the East London, it would be somewhat a kick in the teeth to watch what has been built knocked down so quickly to make way for Spurs.
Furthermore, there’s the question of Leyton Orient. Although a small team in comparison, their ground is within eyesight of the Olympic Stadium and the knock-on effect on them should a Premier League big gun like Tottenham, with Champions League football as a draw, move down the road is sure to be massive. Gates and revenue will no doubt tumble and it wouldn’t be too long before it was in trouble I’m sure.
West Ham are unlikely to be such a threat to Orient, forgive me Hammers fans, so it’s probably the lesser of two evils in the eyes of those inside Brisbane Road.
Until next time,
David Pittman, editor, SGB Sports
E: dpittman@datateam.co,uk || Twitter: @mrdavidpittman || Skype: davidpittmanreporter
