Spurs sorry over new stadium delay

LONDON: Tottenham have apologised to their supporters after the “unavoidable” delay to the opening of their new White Hart Lane stadium. The Premier League club have been forced to postpone the scheduled opening of the rebuilt area next month due to safety issues.

Tottenham spent last season playing their home matches at Wembley while White Hart Lane was completely knocked down, with the new arena rising in its place. But the north London club were unable to complete the building work in time for the start of this season, meaning their home opener against Fulham on Saturday will also be staged at Wembley. On Monday, Tottenham revealed problems with “critical safety systems” meant the new stadium would not be able to host Liverpool on September 15, Cardiff on October 6 or the NFL clash between the Seattle Seahawks and the Oakland Raiders eight days later. They have now released details of refunds and ticketing for fans in a further statement yesterday, which included an apology. “Delays are common, certainly for builds of this size and complexity, however we are hugely frustrated that this has occurred with these systems at such a late stage,” Spurs said in a statement. “Whilst we would have been able to mitigate other areas, we simply cannot compromise safety. This decision was unavoidable.

“We should like to apologise to supporters for this delay. We are acutely aware of the disappointment this may cause supporters and shall now look to ensure that we minimise any inconvenience.”