English Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur has maintained that work on its new stadium is on schedule, although it is a possibility that a number of home games at the start of next season will be played away from home to allow for finishing touches to be made.
Tottenham is currently in the process of building a new state-of-the-art stadium across the road from its old ground, White Hart Lane. The club is playing its home games at Wembley Stadium this season while work is ongoing. The facility is due to be ready in time for the start of the 2018-19 season.
The Tottenham Hotspur Supporters’ Trust (THST) has been in touch with the club to receive updates on a range of topics, including the progress of the new stadium.
The club told the THST: “The stadium is progressing and at this stage is on schedule. Key milestones coming up include the closing of the bowl and the raising of the roof. We shall be releasing internal photographs as and when areas start to complete. We envisage the sale of season tickets being broadly in line with the usual timings every season although we are considering bringing them forward slightly to facilitate what will be a longer process.”
Tottenham does hold the option to play next season’s games at Wembley should work on the new stadium fall behind schedule, although it is not envisaged that such a back-up plan would be needed.
However, it is possible that Tottenham will play its first few games away from home while work on the new stadium is finalised. West Ham United had a similar start to this season after the London Stadium was used to host the World Athletics Championships, while Liverpool also played away from Anfield for the first three games of the 2016-17 campaign while the stadium’s main stand was expanded.
Tottenham told the THST: “It was always envisaged in the construction plan that it may be necessary to play early games away from home. However, it is too early to be certain.”
The club added: “Elements are ahead of schedule, elements are on schedule and a small number of elements are slightly behind. Perfectly normal on a project of this size and complexity.”
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