Milton Keynes eh?
The initial response from fans who have expressed an opinion so far was pretty close to outrage. A muffled outrage.
My guess is that most supporters like The Lane how it is and where it is, but in particular those who find it geographically handy are amongst those particularly aggrieved.
What I found amusing was the sudden condemnation of MK Dons for symbolising all that that was wrong and evil in the modern game. This denouncement by Spurs fans was a new one on me. But I desperate times call for desperate measures.
If I was looking for something to bitch about, MK Dons probably wouldn’t top my list. In fact, my list would be comparatively long, yet I don’t think some shenanigans in Milton Keynes would make it on the list. Not even three quarters of the way down on the second page.
I’d be looking at stuff like annual union subs: Nurses. £196.95; Teachers £173; UNITE £163.08; Journalists £180-£300; Premier League footballers £150, situations where women find themselves essentially being gang raped by predatory players.
Stuff like that.
Now you’ve been offered some context, you need to look at the reality of the options facing Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.
The politics (a metonymy for childish squabbles and aggressive pride) of the situation make it impractical for common sense to prevail. The most obvious solution would be to look for a ground that was practical enough to do suit us for a season that wasn’t too far from our existing locale.
The problem with that is that we don’t have a decent relationship with anyone that might tick either of those boxes in London.
Also, it is equally possible to believe that the Premier League would unlikely to want to assist in configuring fixture schedules to avoid 4 teams all turning up to play on the sam pitch on the same day at the same time. They aren’t renowned for their ‘can – do’ approach.
Wembley isn’t a bad next best bet. Plenty big enough and one could argue that it would add a dash of extra prestige to proceedings.
I take a view that it would make us look small time beyond compare and that should we manage to thrash out a deal whereby we only secured access to the national stadium for say category A games, we’d look even more daft.
Every game would be a barrage of piss taking, from ‘You’re ground’s to big for you!,’ to ‘Squatters rights for Tottenham!‘.
There are more obvious issues with Wembley. The first £800,000 of the gate goes to the house being one, and there will be little to no corporate facility as it’s all pre-sold to Club members. By far the greatest obstacle though is Brent Council.
Wembley is hosting just 18 on field events for the entirety of 2015. So the argument that Wembley need the money doesn’t apply. They are constrained in what they can do by the people that issue the licences.
So to Milton Keynes and my belief that this could actually be Levy & Co’s unwitting meisterstück.
Once we get past the Season Ticket holders bemoaning that it’s a bleeding’ disgrace to move our spiritual home from the end of their street, and begin to look at the practical implications, it’s the very opposite of a bad idea.
For every disgruntled Spurs fan bemoaning this abomination, there will at least two others that are pleased with the situation.
Not everyone lives in London. This breaking news is also where events could take a much needed and much welcomed turn.
If Levy & Co play this right, then what looks like a short straw, good in fact, turn out to be a coup.
Before we get it the whys and the wherefores, let’s not lose sight of who we’re dealing with. Wembley, or indeed just about anyone else in London would be inviting into their boardroom a negotiator that would give the proverbial Aspirin a headache.
What could possibly motivate a larger or even comparable sized competitor to invite Spurs in and accommodate them ion their hour of need? Money? Pffft pull the other one, it’s got a convoluted staggered payment plan 0n it.
Whereas MK Dons are going to be a lot more amenable.
Stadiummk™ is not a runaway success story in terms of bums on seats. Whilst 26,969 turned up to watch Milton Keynes Dons beat Manchester United in the League Cup, and their league game attendances are better than many other clubs in the same league, their routine 8-9,000 leave the arena looking what it is. Half empty.
The League One side will have its capacity increased in time for the 2015 Rugby Union World Cup. The Populous designed stadium is scheduled to host 3 matches during that tournament.
The plan is clearly to do more business, and the stadium was one of those included in England’s unsuccessful World Cup bid, with the threat of an ultimate increase to 44,000
Wikipedia (hopefully not a Grant Shapps edit) says:
The current configuration of the stadium uses two tiers which hold a capacity of 30,500. Should it be required, there is the option to increase the capacity of the stadium again to 45,000 with the addition of a third tier, hence the high roof. The design will comply with UEFA’s Elite Stadium specifications and includes a Desso GrassMaster playing surface.”
Looking at the financials alone, it would be a good fit for MK Dons. And a good fit for Spurs.
I don’t believe it’s oversimplifying matters by suggesting that hosting Spurs for a season would be a massive shot in the arm. MK are in the playoffs this season – sitting in 3rd spot, some 9 points ahead of the side in 4th – and they will be hoping to be a Championship side before Spurs come to town.
For Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, instead of squatting under duress, are staring at a unique opportunity for some serious marketin
The take up of new support within the M25 for Spurs these days, has to be negligible. Laugh it up all you want, but whilst we sell most seats, there are still plenty on Stubhub and empty seats for every game. Spurs are nowhere close to operating over capacity.
Face it, we don’t win anything. Aside from those shown the pathway to a lifetime of misery from an early age, what possible reason would someone ‘decide’ to support us?
We are jam! We are jam! Jam tomorrow, from The Lane!”
Anyone who has braved a trip into Essex recently will be aware of the colossal London overspill, comprised in the main of people that appear as guests on the Jeremy Kyle Show, and think that Eastenders is a documentary.
Fighting dog toting, West Ham supporting, subhuman scum
The Spurs shop in Chelmsford closed some time ago and despite threats to re-open in the town, it hasn’t.
The opportunity a season (maybe two) long stay in Buckinghamshire would present would make Spurs very accessible for a lot of people. Swindon. Slough, Reading, Newbury, Oxford, High Wycombe, Northampton, Stevenage and Cambridge all suddenly become viable satellites for producing new interest.
This area of the home counties ought to be rich picking for your at a loose end middle classes. A foot in the door of being able to watch a Premier League side, on your doorstep, has to be a good thing.
Fresh meat, once enticed into stadiummk™ could well end up fancying a spin into the smoke to watch ‘their team’ play, especially when it is newly housed in a swanky new UEFA 4 star stadium.
With Haringey trousering half a billion from the government, plus whatever additional cash they can stuff into their socks and bras by flogging off N17 by the yard to developers, the area would be perceived as one worth braving as an actual destination.
If THFC get their act together, they could do well out being in limbo. Open training days, a short term lease on a decent retail unit so merchandise can be sold, and the ability for people in Milton Keynes to buy Spurs tickets locally are all simple, achievable ways of marketing the brand to new fans.
This would mean a determined effort to be inclusive, and not just point people to the official site. You won’t win over new business by making demands of people.
I’d offer a Season Ticket amnesty to those who don’t want to go and focus on new, less complicated business.
I’d advocate stadiummk™ memberships together with one season long stadiummk™ season tickets. There would be no better time to trial run an offer on cheap family tickets and tickets for accompanied kids.
We don’t want the brand to suffer anymore than it will while out of London, and we don’t want the brand undersold once we are back in Haringey.
I remain unconvinced that the take up on those on the existing season ticket waiting list will be 100% or anywhere close to it. Maybe, I’ll be pleasantly surprised. If we were playing something even vaguely resembling good football, then THFC would have a case for enthusiasm.
We aren’t. They don’t.
So what has been met with groans in many quarters, could well turn into something positive.
Let’s see what the club can do.
