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Spurs hit by stadium saga

The delay in Tottenham Hotspur moving to White Hart Lane is hitting the club on a number of fronts. One concern is that Mauricio Pochettino, who is clearly exasperated, may accept one of the offers to move elsewhere he will inevitably be made, although probably not until the summer.

Spurs were right to rebuild their stadium in the way they have because it offers them a better future. However, they should have been more realistic about the delays that inevitably occur in complex construction projects on brownfield sites - and whatever their apologists say, this one does not seem to have been particularly well managed. Having run into difficulties, they should have been more honest with the fans.

The club has now had to extend its borrowing facility from £400m to £637m which will cost them approximately £10m more pounds a year in interest payments alone. They will have to pay rent at Wembley until the end of the season, even if they only use it for a short period in the New Year. It took Arsenal six years to recover from the move to the Emirates, with inevitable knock on effects on the pitch.

Attendances at Wembley have been falling, even before Monday's farcical game against Manchester City on a NFL pitch. The disappointing figure of 56,854 for the City game was the third time in four Premier League matches this season that the crowd has been less than 60,000. There will be run of games against mid-table opponents after next month's clash with Chelsea. Last year good attendances at Wembley enabled Tottenham to increase their revenue to £381m in the year ending June 2018. As the novelty wears off, inconvenience is becoming more of a consideration.

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