David Lammy may be the MP for Tottenham but he does not seem very well disposed to the club, as he is threatening to take their name away from them if they move to the Olympic Stadium. This perhaps should not come as a great surprise as we have already seen comments from Spurs fans suggesting that he is not a great friend of the club.
David Lammy may be the MP for Tottenham but he does not seem very well disposed to the club, as he is threatening to take their name away from them if they move to the Olympic Stadium. This perhaps should not come as a great surprise as we have already seen comments from Spurs fans suggesting that he is not a great friend of the club.
Usually the problem with politicians is that they take a sycophantic interest in their local club without knowing the name of the left back. There are exceptions, of course: Jack Straw seems to be genuine in his support of Blackburn Rovers. However, it is unusual for a MP to open hostilities against a club, although undoubtedly most Spurs supporters do not live in Mr Lammy’s constituency.
Lammy has taken legal advice on the possibility of winning an action preventing Tottenham from using the name if they move from the borough. They could, of course, just become Hotspurs, shortened to Spurs, which is how people refer to them most of the time.
Lammy argues that ‘In the event that the current owners of Spurs take the club to Stratford, a new club will emerge. That is no different from the situation tht emerged with MK Dons and AFC Wimbledon.’ Well, excuse me. What happened with Wimbledon is that the ‘franchise’ was transferred from South London to a city some distance to the north. I haven’t calculated the distance between White Hart Lane and the Olympic Stadium, but it’s not massive.
However, Lammy has consulted Alexander Carter-Silk, head of intellectual property at the law firm Speechly Bircham. It is not known what football club, if any, he supports or whether it is located elsewhere in North London. He considers that there is an arguable case on the ground that anyone could apply to the trademark registry and say the move made it misleading or deceptive. Clubs need to register their trademark to have a legal basis for dealing with counterfeit goods.
Not content with this, Mr Lammy has asked the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee, the most formidable committee in the House of Commons, to investigate whether public money has been misused should Spurs be selected as the preferred bidder for the Olympic Stadium.
Lammy’s argument is that the departure of Spurs after 127 years would leave a ‘massive hole’ in the fabric of one of the poorest communities in London. He argued that poverty in Tottenham is worse than the five Olympic boroughs.
If Haringey Council had been more helpful, this situation might not have arisen. They do, of course, stand to lose a tidy sum in business rates. Perhaps Mr Lammy would like to instigate a review of how Haringey Council have dealt with the re-development of White Hart Lane and whether they are fit for purpose.