Tottenham is "reluctantly reaching the conclusion" it will be unable to play at White Hart Lane during the final season before its planned move to a new ground, according to Tom Collomosse of the London EVENING STANDARD. The club hopes to be in its new £400M ($687M), 56,000-seat stadium in time for the start of the '17-18 campaign and its first choice had been to "continue at White Hart Lane during the previous season, even against a backdrop of heavy building work on the new arena." But the club’s hierarchy is starting to believe such a project "might be too difficult to realise." As a consequence, Tottenham is looking at alternative venues for "home" matches during the '16-17 season. Wembley, as well as the Olympic Stadium and stadiummk, the home of Milton Keynes Dons, "were under consideration." It is now thought Ipswich’s Portman Road ground and The Amex, home of Brighton, "are on the list of possibilities although these plans are at an early stage." The necessary funds to finance the new stadium "are said to be in place" but the club is growing frustrated at the length of time it is taking to learn whether it will be granted a Compulsory Purchase Order by Secretary of State for Communities & Local Government Eric Pickles. The club has been waiting 15 months for a decision it thought "would take three months" (EVENING STANDARD, 7/2).
