Tottenham delay move to new stadium over ‘safety issues’

LONDON: Tottenham’s move into their new stadium has been put back until the end of October at best after problems with the £850 million (RM4.4 billion) ground’s safety system.

Spurs admit they do not know when their 62,062-seat home will be ready and on Monday night they switched two more games — against Liverpool next month and Cardiff City in October — to their temporary home of Wembley.

The NFL fixture between the Seattle Seahawks and the Oakland Raiders has also been moved and the venue for Spurs’ match with Manchester City on Oct 28 is uncertain too with another NFL game taking place at Wembley that day.

Spurs chairman Daniel Levy said on Monday night: “We know this will be disappointing for all our season-ticket holders, premium members and our fans worldwide. We appreciate the support our partner the NFL has shown since the extent of this issue became evident on Tuesday.

“At the start of the project we asked for your support during what we knew would be a complex and challenging build and now we ask for your continued patience and forbearance.”

Spurs had hoped to open the stadium’s doors for the first time for Liverpool’s visit on Sept 15, with work going on around the clock in an effort to ensure they hit their proposed date.

But on Monday they revealed ‘recent testing and commissioning has now shown issues with the critical safety systems’.

Tottenham are meeting construction partners Mace and contractors working on the stadium to work out a new timetable for opening.

Their next home match after the City game, for which Spurs say the venue is ‘to be decided’, is a London derby against Chelsea on Nov 24.

At least one Champions League home game will also have to be moved. Spurs could play their group games at Wembley before moving to their new stadium if they qualify for the knockout stages.

Domestically, the EFL are set to allow them to switch their League Cup ties to away matches if they are drawn at home in the early rounds.

Tottenham will face Fulham at Wembley this weekend but it was hoped that would be the only home game Mauricio Pochettino’s side would have to play away from their new home.