West Ham 2012 stadium plan 'would not work'

Posted Thursday, January 20, 2011 by BBC.com

"Is there any capital in Europe that can't do this? Even Vilnius or Tallinn (the capitals of Lithuania and Estonia) can do that.

"Maybe the capital of Albania doesn't have a stadium, I don't know.

"I'm astonished when I see all these articles that there's even a discussion, when a promise is made at the time that we made the bid."

Premier League clubs Tottenham and West Ham are competing against each other to become the tenant of London's £527m Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games, with the deadline for all bidders on Friday.

Spurs are bidding in collaboration with entertainment and sports giants AEG, which runs the O2 Arena beside the Thames in Greenwich, south London.

The club want to demolish most of the stadium, removing the track to ensure fans are close to the pitch.

Tottenham have promised to invest in London sport as part of their proposal to take over the stadium, pledging to contribute to the refurbishment of the National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace.

West Ham say they will retain most of the structure, although they will reduce the venue's 80,000 capacity by 20,000 to create a multi-purpose arena in a collaboration with Newham Council.

Clegg said: "It is quite obvious that the only viable model for the stadium is to have a football club as an anchor tenant.

"But football fans in this country want to be as close to the action as possible.

"I articulated this to Sebastian Coe a couple of years ago but the issue has become even more acute for me since I have been involved in a club.

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