Rival bidders finalise 2012 plans

Last updated : 21 January 2011 By BBC Sport

The supplementary information will be used by OPLC chief Andrew Altman to make a recommendation to the OPLC board ahead of a meeting on 28 January.

Tottenham plan to remove the athletics track if their bid is successful while West Ham have vowed to keep it.

Both clubs' plans have come in for criticism

with the head of world athletics Lamine Diack telling BBC Sport that London will have told a "big lie" to get the Olympics if the main stadium is converted into a football ground without a running track.

Diack, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee went on to suggest that Britain's chances of hosting future events would be severely compromised if the athletics track was scrapped.

The International Association of Athletics Federations president later added: "While concerns have been raised about sightlines for football we should recall that football has often shared with other sports.

UK reputation 'dead' without 2012 legacy

"The old Wembley Stadium had a track around the pitch which was not only used for athletics but for speedway and greyhound racing.

"In the history of Fifa World Cup and Uefa European Championships, most matches have been played in multi-purpose arenas. Five out of the last six Champions League finals have been held in stadiums with tracks."

Part of Tottenham's plan involves the redevelopment of the athletics facility at Crystal Palace's National Sports Centre, leading Spurs non-executive director Sir Keith Mills to stress on BBC Radio Four's Today programme on Friday that their bid would therefore not leave London 2012 without an athletics track.

Mills, who is also deputy chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (Locog), said: "Lamine Diack quite rightly wants to see the Olympic legacy left in London and both of the bids on the table provide an athletics legacy.

"The issue here, and the one the OPLC will be looking at in the next 10 days, is what's going to provide the best long-term legacy for London and for the country. And that's all about which of the two bids is going to be economically viable in the long term.

"Someone has to pay for the next several decades for the stadium, and if West Ham have found a way to work that economically, the OPLC will look on that favourably. But I find that difficult to see."

What if West Ham are relegated this season? Half the seats would be empty and it would become a desolate graveyard

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp

Meanwhile, Crystal Palace football club

unveiled plans earlier this week

to move from Selhurst Park back to their original home at the NSC, a decision that could have an impact on Spurs' hopes of moving into a bigger stadium, although they have been given planning permission to redevelop their current White Hart Lane home.

Former British Olympic Association chairman Sir Craig Reedie and UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee have

condemned Spurs' proposal to remove the running track,

although former Tottenham chairman Lord Sugar says their plans for the Olympic Stadium and Crystal Palace make perfect sense.

"To try and run [the Olympic Stadium] as an athletics track and football stadium is technically impossible," he told BBC Radio 5 live.

"It will not give a good experience for football fans because of viewing angles, and basically it's a flawed concept.

"Surely when there is the opportunity of having Crystal Palace completely redeveloped so it's available 365 days a year that's got to be a good thing and you've got to take your hat off to Tottenham to be thinking in that way."

West Ham's plan to retain the running track, has been

described as "madness" and unworkable by former British Olympic Association chief executive Simon Clegg.

And Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp believes West Ham's path could lead to the venue becoming a "desolate graveyard".

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Redknapp, who also managed the Hammers, from 1994-2001, wrote in his column in the Sun newspaper: "Try to mix football and athletics and you end up with a great big bowl of nothing.

"The windblown no man's land between a pitch and the stands can kill football.

"What if West Ham are relegated this season and then find themselves in a 60,000-capacity stadium in a Championship match?

"Can you imagine? Half the seats would be empty and it would become a desolate graveyard for a once-great club."

West Ham

will be loaned £40m by Newham Council

to help with their redevelopment plans if they are chosen as preferred tenants of the Olympic Stadium.

The OPLC is expected to decide on its preferred bidder after a board meeting scheduled for Friday, 28 January, although, with the Crystal Palace FC development, a final decision may not be made until the end of the financial year in March.

Its recommendation then has to be ratified by two government departments - the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the Department of Communities and Local Government - and the London Mayor's office.

Former Olympic javelin champion Tessa Sanderson will not be permitted to play any part in the decision due to a conflict of interest, it was revealed on Wednesday.

Sanderson is an OPLC board member but she also has a contract with Hammers' partner Newham Council.

Source: BBC Sport

Source: BBC Sport