Just had a very interesting chat with a clearly irate Antony Spencer, the head of Stadium Capital Holdings, the group that was instrumental in Arsenal's Emirates Stadium scheme and the redevelopment of its famous Highbury Ground.
His view for some time on the Olympic Stadium is that the initial spec for its construction was fundamentally flawed because it was designed for two weeks in the summer rather than for legacy.
Spencer claims that all along the government has know of the interest of Premiership clubs and should have designed the stadium with this in mind rather than spending more than £500m on a stadium that Tottenham now claim is not fit for purpose for a professional football club. It's a serious point I think.
Anyway this is what Antony had to say: "It is always necessary for the triumph of stupidity that good men do nothing. The original spec was fundamentally flawed as the interest of West Ham and Tottenham has always been known about.
"The question that needs to be asked is why was a stadium built for two weeks in the summer rather than for legacy? The Emirates stadium itself cost around £180m and that included in its spec those elements Spurs say the Olympic stadium is missing - air conditioning, toilets, an appropriate roof. The stadium would not need to be demolished if it had been built to the correct specification in the first place."
This story is going to run and run I think.
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