Levy: No going back with track

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy says Spurs would not have bid for Olympic Stadium tenancy had they known that the running track would stay.

Following a lengthy bidding process earlier this year, city rivals West Ham were named as the successful candidates. The Championship club’s move eventually collapsed amid doubt over loans, but the Hammers remain favourite after the bid process was re-tendered – this time, with an edict that the running track must definitely stay.

But Levy has since revealed the club were led to believe the running track around the edge of the pitch would be removed, which has now turned out not to be the case.

Speaking at the club’s annual general meeting on Tuesday, at which he was asked if Tottenham had been duped into bidding for the stadium, Levy replied: “We were certainly encouraged to bid for the stadium.”

“Knowing what we know now about the terms of the government’s requirement to retain the track, had we known that at the beginning we would never have bid.”

Keith Mills, a Tottenham director as well as deputy chairman of LOCOG – the London 2012 organising committee – backed up Levy’s comments, also claiming the club had been encouraged into the bidding process: “We were encouraged by the mayor, government and the Olympic Park Legacy Company to bid for a stadium that did not require a track,” he said.

“What became apparent through the bid process was that actually a track was a pre-requisite.”

Despite the setback, Levy remains adamant the club will have a new ground in the near future and will look to stay in the N17 postcode.

He continued: “Failure is not an option, we will find a way to get this stadium built.”

“We don’t have a time limit because we have to be realistic. We are operating in an exceedingly difficult financial conditions both in the UK and globally, and it we are putting a jigsaw together.”

“We are in the process of talking to the mayor, and we have various ideas about how we can improve the viability of the overall scheme.”

“Hopefully we can find a large sponsor for naming rights and once we have done that we will be in active dialogue with the banks.”