Karren Brady has not too subtle dig at Tottenham fans
By Harry Sykes
Karren Brady has delivered a not-too-subtle dig at Tottenham for using acoustic technology to crank up the noise levels in their new stadium.
Spurs hope to move into the new White Hart Lane at the start of the 2018-19 season when work is completed on a venue the club have promised will be the best ground in the Premier League.
The new stadium is expected to cost between £400million and 450million and will feature state-of-the-art facilities, a huge single-tier stand and industry leading corporate hospitality.
It also emerged this week that Spurs will install technology to ensure the famous White Hart Lane atmosphere can be replicated at the new 61,000-capacity site, which will be immediately adjacent to the famous old ground.
West Ham vice chairman Brady gave her take on the revelation, as she insisted that West Ham did not require such additions when they moved to their new home this season, suggesting Spurs fans are not able to create the same atmosphere.
“Three cheers for Spurs who announce that the crowd in their new stadium will be extra-loud due to acoustic technology involving an aluminium-lined, curved roof and padded seats,” wrote Brady in her Sun column. “We didn’t consider such additions at the London Stadium. And, anyway, we like to think Hammers fans can make enough noise to raise our own spectacular roof.”
Tottenham are set to move out of their longstanding home at the end of the season so that work can be completed on the new site.
Work on the rest of the scheme – including 585 new homes, a 180-bedroom hotel, offices, a health centre and a club museum – will take the total cost of the project to more than £700million.
Tottenham are playing all their European home matches at Wembley this season and are are in talks with the Football Association about playing all their fixtures in all competitions at the national stadium in 2017-18.
Brady’s criticism is unlikely to go down well with Tottenham fans, who will remember who dig at talisman Harry Kane only a fortnight ago.
Relations between London rivals Spurs and West Ham have taken a nosedive in recent years, partly due to the east Londoners winning the race to rent the Olympic Stadium at a peppercorn price.
That deal was secured by Brady, much to the chagrin of Spurs’ long-serving chairman and negotiator-in-chief Daniel Levy.
Spurs fans can at least take heart from their side’s league position, with the team third in the table and looking forward to an FA Cup fourth round clash against Wycombe this weekend.
By contrast, West Ham are 18 points behind in 10th in the league, have already been eliminated from the FA Cup and face a mammoth fight to hold on to prize asset Dimitri Payet.
In other Tottenham transfer news, a striker has signed after Spurs agreed terms.
We’ve launched an << EXCLUSIVE TRANSFER WINDOW NEWS FEED>>. ‘Like Us’ on Facebook by clicking here if you want 24/7 updates on all Tottenham transfer news