Tottenham fears it will not be able to move into its new stadium "until mid-March at the earliest," after announcing further delays to the late-running £1B ($1.3B) project, according to David Hytner of the London GUARDIAN. The club has used Wembley as a "temporary home" since the start of last season and on Wednesday it confirmed it will "play another sequence of fixtures there" -- namely the Premier League games against Watford (Jan. 30), Newcastle (Feb. 2) and Leicester City (Feb. 10), together with the first leg of its Champions League last-16 match against Borussia Dortmund (Feb. 13). If Spurs win at Crystal Palace in the FA Cup fourth round at the end of this month, there is the possibility the club could get a home match in the next round on the weekend of Feb. 16-17. That would also be staged at Wembley. The club’s subsequent home game would be the derby against Arsenal on March 2 and "there is no chance" of the club "being allowed to open the stadium that day." Tottenham wants the grand opening "to go smoothly" and the Metropolitan police and security personnel "made it clear that the most troublesome fixture of the season would be too great a risk." All of which leaves the home league game against Crystal Palace on March 16 as the "best-case scenario," although that would clash with a possible FA Cup quarterfinal (GUARDIAN, 1/9). The BBC reported Tottenham was originally scheduled to move into the new White Hart Lane Stadium in September. The club took its latest decision "after an update from contractors." Chair Daniel Levy said, "I should like to apologize to our fans and thank you for your continued patience." In December, several thousand season ticket-holders were allowed to explore the South Stand during a fan familiarization event. Levy: "The response from those who attended the familiarization event was great to hear and reinforced our commitment to deliver an exceptional matchday experience for everyone" (BBC, 1/9). REUTERS' Martyn Herman reported the north London club again apologized to fans in a statement on Wednesday. The statement said, "The past month has seen remedial works take place, software issues resolved and corrected safety equipment installations increase. Testing has also continued. We are now liaising with the contractors and building control at Haringey Council to determine a schedule of commissioning, building test dates and building control sign-offs, along with formal test event dates" (REUTERS, 1/9).
