Parliamentary Support Grows for West Ham Olympic Stadium Bid

Support is rapidly growing in the House of Commons for English soccer team West Ham United to be given the opportunity to take over the Olympic Stadium after London 2012 ahead of Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Mark Field, the vice-chairman of the All-Party Group on Football and the Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster is leading the backing for the current Premier League struggler’s to obtain the rights to move in to the stadium.

“I believe that it would be right for West Ham to have the stadium, rather than it going further afield to Tottenham Hotspur,” he said during a debate in the Commons.

Field suggested that the slightly longer distance of relocation involved if Tottenham were to succeed in their attempts would be an unpopular move with their fans many of whom are keen to develop their current ground at White Hart Lane. 

“In 1997, I was my Party’s candidate in Enfield North, where I reckoned at least two-thirds of the football fans were Spurs, rather than Arsenal supporters,” he told the Commons. 

“I remember that in the Lea Valley area of the constituency there was a great passion for and pride in Tottenham Hotspur. 

“For many football fans across the country, the notion of Tottenham Hotspur moving four or five miles away might seem to involve a small distance, but in the context of the villages that make up London it is very important.”

Stephen Timms, Labour MP for East Ham, whose constituency includes West Ham’s current ground at Upton Park, is also fully behind the club’s efforts to inherit the Olympic Stadium post London 2012 despite this meaning a short relocation to Stratford.