The Minister for Sport has 'advised' Tottenham Hotspur to ditch plans to challenge the decision to award preferred bidder status to West Ham.
Despite having admitted corporate subterfuge in their attempts to undermine both the OPLC voting committee and members of West Ham United's staff, Tottenham have maintained that they will seek legal recourse - despite having lost the vote to win tenancy of the £500million stadium by 14-0.However that could be set to change after the Conservative Minister Hugh Robertson warned the north London club that their plans to press on with legal action could destroy the capital's bid to host the 2017 World Athletics Championships.
Speaking to the media yesterday, Robertson insisted that Tottenham should think very carefully before proceeding. "I would hope Tottenham would see the greater good to London; maybe it's a fond hope," he said.
"The initial economic planning tells us it will be a £100million boost from hosting a World Athletics Championship. I hope anyone involved in sport would see the greater good, whatever their feelings about the stadium process.
"I find it frustrating that having been through the process we are now being dragged through the High Court, having won the first round we have the appeal to come.
"If we win that we will bid [to host the Championships], but I will not let the country bid if we have not got a locked-down secure venue, given the backdrop of previous bids."
Tottenham recently announced that they were seeking public funding after revealing plans to build a new stadium within their current borough of Haringey.
Mr Robertson's warning could be seen as the first indication that should they refuse to play ball and back down over the Olympic Stadium issue, any such funding could be extremely unlikely to follow.
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