Tottenham have turned to a man who played a major role in
the development of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium to help them build a
venue of similar quality.
Tony Winterbottom, formerly of the London Development Authority, is
now masterminding plans to expand Spurs' White Hart Lane ground to
about 52,000.
The project would cost in the region of £300m of which £150m would
be borrowed.
But it would mean Spurs vacating White Hart Lane for two seasons,
prompting a possible ground share with West Ham.
A couple of years ago Tottenham were very keen to become permanent
tenants at Wembley but the Football Association did not want
that.
Now Tottenham have again approached Wembley to inquire about
playing some of their matches there while they rebuild White Hart
Lane.
But Wembley want a lot of money to hire the stadium and Tottenham
may only consider it worthwhile that top matches, such as the derby
with north London rivals Arsenal, are played there.
So they have also spoken to West Ham, with a view to playing the
less high-profile matches at Upton Park.
The problem with West Ham is that the Hammers are themselves
thinking about building a new stadium, so that might complicate
things too.
Sharing the Emirates Stadium with Arsenal is a non-starter given
the rivalry between the fans.
Consequently, there is also talk of Tottenham playing some matches
at a ground outside London.
But while rebuilding White Hart Lane is the preferred option for
Spurs, there are two other alternatives that are being
considered.
One is to develop some land just north of White Hart Lane.
This would mean Tottenham would continue to play at White Hart Lane
while the new stadium was built.
Or they could develop one of a couple of possible sites in Enfield,
but that would mean a new stadium quite some distance from their
current ground. Redeveloping White Hart Lane is definitely the
number one choice and Paul Phillips, a project manager at Emirates,
is also helping Tottenham.
Spurs have also got high-powered architect Ken Shuttleworth, who is
the right-hand man of Norman Foster, whose company designed the new
Wembley, on board.
