Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium may not be ready until the first week of January, according to a report from Construction News.
The website reported that the workforce on the project has been reduced and work has been slowed after it emerged that the stadium would not open as originally planned this month.
The stadium had initially been due to host Tottenham’s Premier League match against Liverpool last Saturday. That match was played at Wembley, and the club’s league games against Cardiff City on October 6 and Manchester City on October 29 have also been moved to the national stadium. Tottenham’s three home UEFA Champions League matches against Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven and Inter Milan have also been confirmed for Wembley.
It is not yet clear when the stadium will open, with Spurs having cited problems with its critical safety systems as a reason for the delay.
Citing an anonymous source working on the project, Construction News said the stadium will not be ready until the start of 2019. The source added that they would not be surprised if Tottenham “wrote off the season” and played the whole 2018-19 campaign at other venues.
The source said: “The numbers have been cut significantly. Lots of the companies on there have sent their people to other projects. But the job is coming along at a good pace now.
“It’s gone from about fourth gear down to about second gear, now it’s just idling. But it’s ticking along. The pace has come down, but the right areas are being focused on to get it finished.
“There was a lot of corner-cutting (before the delay), but it’s definitely gone the opposite way now. It will take a bit more time, but I think Tottenham realise that, and they’ll get a better product at the end of it instead of something that’s just rushed.”
A club spokesman moved to play down concerns, stating: “We have always said that we would issue updates for test events and official opening as soon as we have confidence in our project managers’ and contractors’ ability to deliver against the revised scheduled of works.
“This remains the case and speculating on unsupported dates such as this is irresponsible.”
Image: Tottenham Hotspur
