ground force

Tottenham race to complete new stadium in time for the start of next season

Duncan Wright

Published: 11:58, 15 Oct 2017
Updated: 14:22, 15 Oct 2017

TOTTENHAM face a race against time to complete building work on their new stadium in time for the start of next season.

Spurs are spending a year playing home matches at Wembley while construction is carried out on their stunning new 61,559-seater ground.

Tottenham are in a race to get building work finished on their new stadiumCredit: Twitter@SpursOfficial

The plan has always been to be back in White Hart Lane for the opening day of the 2018-2019 season.

But the club are now consulting the Premier League about what will happen if they cannot move in by the time the campaign kicks-off next August.

Chairman Daniel Levy and manager Mauricio Pochettino visited the site last week to get a detailed look on how building work is going.

And while it s coming on at some pace at present, there are concerns that it may just miss the deadline of being ready to stage a match on the opening day.

Daniel Levy and Mauricio Pochettino visited the new stadium last week to check on the progressCredit: Twitter@@SpursOfficial

The shell of the new stadium towers over houses close to White Hart LaneCredit: Twitter@SpursOfficial

Much will depend on what kind of weather the area experiences over the winter, when the finishing touches will need to be done to the exterior of the new arena.

If there is a bad spell of weather, the works may be delayed by a week or two and could affect their ability to play matches there next August.

So Spurs are in dialogue with the Premier League just to discover what flexibility there will be when the new fixture list is drawn up next summer.

It could be that the club may have to face playing their first three or four league matches away from home while work is completed.

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They would not be the first top flight club to reach such an agreement with league bosses - with West Ham and Liverpool both doing so in recent season.

Earlier this year the Hammers were forced to play their first three fixtures away from the London Stadium because of the World Athletics Championships.

And when Liverpool were completing construction of their new main stand in 2016 they didn't play at Anfield until September 10.

The World Athletics Championships meant the London Stadium wasn't ready for West Ham to use at the start of this seasonCredit: Alamy Live News

Spurs remain relaxed about the speed of the building work, and there are no suggestions there will be any major delays.

But chairman Levy has always had a back-up plan of using Wembley for a second season should a major hitch arise, with an agreement in place for such an event.

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