Spurs set for crunch Wembley meeting
Tottenham Hotspur are expected to take another crucial step towards playing at Wembley next season in a decisive Brent Council meeting on Thursday night.
The borough will decide whether Spurs can play as many as 27 ‘home’ games in front of the full capacity of 90,000 people next season. Under the current terms of Wembley Stadium’s planning permission, Spurs could only have five games at full capacity next year.
Tottenham initially asked the borough to be able to hold 31 additional full capacity events at Wembley next season although they have now agreed to reduce that number to an additional 22. Those 22 games, added
to a maximum of five from within the current cap, would mean a maximum total of 27 full-capacity ‘home’ games next season.
That raises the slim possibility of Spurs not being able to play all of their games in front of 90,000 people, if they progress so far in the cups that they play more than 27 home games. Matches beyond the quota of 27 home games would have to be played in front of the reduced 51,000 capacity instead. Spurs have played more than 27 home games in just three of their last 11 seasons.
Brent Council officers have recommended that the planning committee accept the proposal despite vocal public opposition to the plans, which cited travel disruption and anti-social behaviour.
Brent Council received 164 representations concerning the plans, 156 of which were opposed and one was neutral. Local MPs raised concerns about the plans. Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North, asked “whey there is a need for Tottenham to play games at Wembley’s full capacity”, while Bob Blackman, MP for Harrow East, wrote to the borough concerned that this would “set a precedent for Chelsea FC to use the stadium for a further three years”. The British Transport Police said that policing the extra full-capacity games would cost an additional £583,000.
Despite the concerns, borough officers have recommended the changes be adopted because of the “mitigation measures” they have secured to guard against disruption the additional crowds will bring. The meeting will take place at Brent Civic Centre at 6.30pm on Thursday. The planning committee is expected to agree to the plan, but if it does not Spurs will be forced into what the borough describes as the “legitimate fall-back option” of playing in front of the bottom two tiers, and a capacity crowd of 51,000 people.
Spurs are yet to finally commit to playing at Wembley next season as they wait to learn if the White Hart Lane re-building programme is sufficiently on track. If it is not then Spurs will play at White Hart Lane in 2017-18 then move to Wembley for 2018-19 instead. Spurs must make a final decision on whether they will play at Wembley or White Hart Lane next season by the end of this month.