Tottenham plan stadium expansion

By Mihir Bose
BBC sports editor

White Hart Lane's current capacity is just over 36,000

Tottenham have turned to a man who played a major role in the development of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium to help them build a venue of similar quality.

Tony Winterbottom, formerly of the London Development Authority, is now masterminding plans to expand Spurs' White Hart Lane ground to about 52,000.

A final stadium decision is expected in the first six months of next year.

"The club is reviewing its options and will commit to one option in the first half of 2008," said a Spurs statement.

The project would cost in the region of £300m of which £150m would be borrowed.

But it would mean Spurs vacating White Hart Lane for two seasons, prompting a possible ground share with West Ham.

A couple of years ago Tottenham were very keen to become permanent tenants at Wembley but the Football Association did not want that.

Now, as revealed on Monday's Inside Sport, Tottenham have again approached Wembley to enquire about playing some of their matches there while they rebuild White Hart Lane.

But Wembley want a lot of money to hire the stadium and Tottenham may only consider it worthwhile that top matches, such as the derby with north London rivals Arsenal, are played there.

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So they have also spoken to West Ham, with a view to playing the less high-profile matches at Upton Park.

The problem with West Ham is that the Hammers are themselves thinking about building a new stadium, so that might complicate things too.

Sharing the Emirates Stadium with Arsenal is a non-starter given the rivalry between the fans.

Consequently, there is also talk of Tottenham playing some matches at a ground outside London.

But while rebuilding White Hart Lane is the preferred option for Spurs, there are two other alternatives that are being considered.

One is to develop some land just north of White Hart Lane.

This would mean Tottenham would continue to play at White Hart Lane while the new stadium was built.

Or they could develop one of a couple of possible sites in Enfield, but that would mean a new stadium quite some distance from their current ground.

Redeveloping White Hart Lane is definitely the number one choice and Paul Phillips, a project manager at Emirates, is also helping Tottenham.

Spurs have also got high-powered architect Ken Shuttleworth, who was formerly the right-hand man of Norman Foster, on board.