What Do We Do With the Olympic Stadium?
The row about what to do with the Olympic Stadium in Stratford after the Olympics rumbles on apace.
The original plan to turn it into a smaller 25,000 seat stadium might be a wonderful legacy for athletics, but would it be the best use of it after the Olympics. There are perhaps a couple of meetings a year that could fill such a stadium, unless the World or European Championships are held in London. And knowing London and Londoners like I do, 25,000 seats would probably be too small. So we might have a white elephant that would require lots of continuing funding.
To have a dual-use stadium as West Ham propose may not be a good idea. Fans don’t like watching football over an athletics track and I can understand why. I watched Ipswich play in the old Olympic Stadium in Moscow and the view was atrocious. Especially, as I had forgotten my binoculars. I also went to Stamford Bridge, when it still had the dog track in place and that wasn’t good either. So I can understand the views of fans and Harry Redknapp, when they say football and athletics don’t mix.
But there is a more fundamental problem and that is that football (and cricket and rugby for that matter) rely heavily on providing a lot of corporate entertainment with boxes, restaurants and fast food bars. Athletics crowds are different, probably more knowledgeable and have different and conflicting needs. They also stay longer making a whole day of the trip.
There is probably only one mixed use stadium that works and that is the Stade de France in Paris. In some ways this illustrates the problems, in that the French stage football, rugby and athletics, whereas, in England, rugby has Twickenham and football has Wembley.
The question has also to be asked if athletics wants a spiritual home like football, rugby and cricket.
It probably does, but a 75,000 seater stadium would be a white elephant, costly to fund.
It could also be argued that it has a spiritual home at Crystal Palace, which has been the scene of some great days of athletics. But it needs to be knocked down and rebuilt, preferably to a size of 30,000 seats that could be temporarily expanded to stage World or European Championships. One of the other problems of the stadium, was that it didn’t have good transport links direct from North and East London. But this has been partly solved by the new East London Line.
In fact, it would be good for South London if the whole Crystal Palace site was properly developed as a sport and leisure park, to compliment Stratford. Very little has been done since the original palace burned down before the Second World War. And if Crystal Palace is properly redeveloped, why not do the same at Alexandra Palace? The famous race course is still there.
What we need is a proper strategy for London, that is properly thought through. In fact this is the main problem with the Olympic stadium in that it was built to a cost for a limited life, rather as part of a whole strategy.
I have just Karen Brady, the West Ham, Vice Chairman, on BBC Breakfast and she put a convincing case for their mixed-use plans, which would include cricket. So is this just one part of a strategy, which should include plans for North, South and West London as well.
And then there is the elephant in the room; Chelski. Arsenal have a 60,000 seat stadium and Tottenham will have one, whether they move to Stratford or not. They wouldn’t be able to develop at Stamford Bridge, but what about a new stadium, where HS2 connects to Heathrow at Old Oak Common?
So the problem is a lot bigger than just what you do with Stratford.
Could Chelski End Up Fifth in the Premier League?
That’s where they are this morning and they look good to me in that position. Hopefully, the two Manchester clubs, Tottenham and Arsenal will keep them there!
Let’s hope so and perhaps Chelski’s dip in form will give Ipswich a chance in the FA Cup.
New Year Football is Going to be Fun
Over the last twodays, I have watched two of the best televised matches from the Premier League, that I’ve seen in a long time. On Sunday, Spurs beat Aston Villa at Villa Park by 2-1, playing with ten men for a lot of the match and scoring two of the best goals I’ve seen this season. Not to be outdone, their arch-rivals, Arsenal, took Chelsea apart by 3-1 last night.
Could the Premier League title be going to North London? Remember as I said here, the year ends in one.
And then there is the small matters of Ipswich’s two cup ties; the two-legged one against Arsenal in the Carling Cup and the Third Round of the FA Cup against Chelsea.
I don’t hold out much hope in the Carling Cup for Ipswich, but who knows what will happen at Stamford Bridge, when a demoralised Chelski face a fresh Ipswich side, who’ve haven’t played since the heart warming Leicester match.
The FA Cup is getting to be a great leveller, especially when mollycoddled millionaires come up against supposedly inferior, but more enthusiastic players, who want to prove they deserve their day in the limelight.
We live in interesting times.
Another Game in the Snow
After yesterday’s entertaining but cold match at Ipswich yesterday, I’m reminded of another Ipswich game in the snow.
It was probably in about 1962 or so and I supported Spurs at the time, although my parents had a house in Felixstowe and the next door neighbour used to give me a lift to Portman Road.
White Hart Lane was covered in snow and it was snowing hard on possibly Boxing Day in 1962 and after a virtuoso display by Jimmy Greaves, Ipswich lost 5-0.
The referee was Denis Howell, who was a Labour MP and not liked by the crowd. We all thought that he got his just desserts, served very cold.
The End of the Season Ends in One!
This football season ends in 01 and what does that mean?
Look at 1901, 1921, 1951, 1961, 1981 and 1991!
These were the years that ended in one, where Tottenham Hotspur won something.
So are they going to win something this season?
The way some of the other fancied teams are playing, I wouldn’t say that Spurs won’t win something this year!
Memories of Some Late Goals
On the coach to Ipswich today, we were thinking that no-one could ever remember Ipswich scoring any late goals. They certainly could have done with a couple today!
In the 1960’s I used to cycle from my home in Sussex Way, Cockfosters to White Hart Lane, parking my bike in a garage near to the ground, that charged a half-crown. My father always said that he went to Spurs before the First World War with his father and they used to give a kid, a shilling to hold the horse’s head for the duration of the match. It seems that nothing has changed except the price and parking costs near Portman Road is now about a fiver.
I think that on the day of my tale, I must have gone to see Spurs entertain Manchester United on the bike as I got back fairly quickly and the alternative of the train from White Hart Lane to Enfield Town and a 107 bus, always got me in quite a bit later.
In this match, which according to this page, most probably was on the 10th September 1966, I was home reasonably early and met my next door neighbour, a Mr. Gibbon, who had been to the same match, but had driven in his car. Note that I never had a lift.
He was a Mancunian, who supported United, although he had season tickets at both Spurs and Arsenal, and went to each when they were at home. They alternated home matches in those days, so you could do this.
He said that it had been a great match especially as United had won by the only goal. I also knew that he always left with about ten minutes to go, so I said that I thought it had been a good game too, especially as Spurs had won 2-1 with two goals by Greaves and Gilzean in the last few minutes. He obviously missed them and as he didn’t have a radio in his car, it was myself, who had given him the news.
They Weren’t Pansies in the 1950s and 1960s
Bobby Smith was one of those real hard bustling centre-forwards of the 1950s and 1960s. I saw him play many times for Spurs at the time, and when he was on song he was very good, striking fear into opponents. But he was skillful too and in addition to scoring a lot of goals, he made many for those players around him. Sadly he has died at the age of 77.
This extract from the obituary in The Times today, sums up Smith’s style and attitude.
His bustling style came in for particular treatment from foreign players in European matches such as Spurs’ 5-1 win in the 1963 Uefa Cup Final against Athletico Madrid.
Smith recalled: “Bill Nick told me that their centre half would come up and hit me hard the first time. And he did. The second time he tried it, I elbowed him in the gut. The ref came up to me and said ‘Well done!’ ”
The tale typified Smith’s willingness to take punishment for the team from opposing centre halfs, which made him so popular with the fans and team-mates. His battles with players such as Leeds’s Jack Charlton freed up space for players such as Jimmy Greaves and created marvellous theatre for the fans as he and his marker traded blows, at varying degrees of legality, usually mixed in with plenty of banter and all tolerated by the referee who would often volunteer a few humorous remarks of his own.
But he was not alone in taking and giving punishment. Nat Lofthouse, Stan Mortensen and others could be equally abrasive in those days, when referees were far less strict and goalkeepers were fair game for a hard shoulder charge.
Return to White Hart Lane
The last time I went to White Hart Lane to see Spurs play was when my two eldest children were perhaps eight and seven. I spoke to the younger today and he didn’t remember, and as I can’t recall who Spurs played that day, it must have been a truly memorable match.
Last night, as I was in London, I decided to get a ticket for the FA Cup replay against Bolton. I deliberately chose to sit in Block D of the upper deck of the East Stand, as that was where my father used to take me as a child.
The View from Block D in the Upper East Stand
I can remember a few matches from those years in the mid-50s, but one in particular stands out. It was against Newcastle, for whom the formidable Jackie Milburn was playing up front. The first half was very one-sided with Spurs being completely outplayed and if it hadn’t been for the heroic goalkeeping of Ted Ditchburn, the match would have been all over. He was so dominant, that Milburn actually missed a penalty. Since then, I’ve seen a lot of good goalkeepers, but never a display to match. In the end Spurs got their act together and won 3-1.
Little has changed in that East Stand over those fifty and more years. The views are still good, as they would be because the stand was designed by Archibald Leitch. In fact, they have probably improved, as the roof has been remodelled. But the stairs are still the same as as this picture of the back of the stand shows, it’s still as it was built well before the Second World War.
White Hart Lane, East Stand
I can remember queueing behind that stand to get tickets for European matches in the early 1960s.
Those were the days for Spurs.
I probably went and stood in the bottom of the East Stand about fifty times.
I’d usually cycle from where I lived at Cockfosters and park my bike at a garage near by, for a charge of a shilling or so. I remember, I could usually get home quicker than someone who braved the horrendous jams in a car. Sometimes though I’d take a bus to Enfield Town and then take the train to White Hart Lane. That was great fun, in that to avoid the bus queues coming home you’d alight from the train at your fastest running speed, so that you overtook everyone as the train slowed. The joys of slam doors.
I saw the famous double side of 1960-61; Brown, Baker, Henry, Blanchflower, Norman, Mackay, Jones, White, Smith, Allen and Dyson, Jimmy Greaves in his pomp, the antics of Tommy Harmer, the emergence of Pat Jennings, as after that one performance of Ditchburn, the best and most consistent goalkeeper I’ve ever seen, Terry Venables, who we always slagged off for some reason, Ron Henry’s only goal against Manchester United and many other great players and incidents of the 1960s.
Those truly were the days for Spurs.
And to complete a good evening Spurs won by four goals to nil.
The Anonymous Widower 