Tottenham hit back at Karen Brady 'scaremongering'

The contest to take over the Olympic Stadium broke out into a war of words last night with Tottenham launching the first image of their design and chairman Daniel Levy condemning remarks by West Ham's Karren Brady as "scaremongering and highly irresponsible".

Spurs' proposed 60,000-seat new home would be built in place of the Olympic Stadium if their bid is successful, with Hammers' vice-chairman Karren Brady claiming it would be a "corporate crime to bring the bulldozers in".

Levy said: "We are proposing one of the most advanced, state-of-the-art stadiums in Europe that will deliver an exceptional spectator experience.

"Fans will be closer to the pitch than at any other comparable size stadium in the UK, while its acoustic design will ensure that the noise from spectators remains within the stadium.

"Accusations that we would 'demolish' £500million of stadium are hugely inaccurate and highly irresponsible and I want to be very clear on this issue.

"Our proposal will retain around £420million worth of the Olympic Stadium, and we will re-use or recycle the £80million that will be dismantled with zero landfill.

"It is also important to remember that two thirds of the Olympic Stadium, under the original legacy plan, was to be dismantled - it was not designed to be a permanent structure.

"Recent scaremongering conveniently forgets this fact."

The differences between the bids centres on the running track - Tottenham would not retain it, but West Ham would.

Brady claims that tearing down the stadium does not make sense.

She said: "It's a corporate crime to spend £500million on a stadium and, just four weeks after the Games have finished, bring the bulldozers in.

"The Olympic Stadium was built on a promise, made in the Queen's name, to have a legacy for athletics.

"Through [West Ham's] design there will be over £90million spent on reconfiguring the stadium so it sits perfectly for athletics and football and cricket and major events.

"Once the conversion is done, with the roof and some of the seats, there won't be a single seat within that stadium that has a worse view of the pitch than Wembley."

If successful, Tottenham, joint bidders with sports and entertainment company AEG, intend to refurbish the old athletics centre at Crystal Palace as a 25,000-capacity venue for that sport.

Levy added: "We would increase the current capacity of Crystal Palace by 9,500 to 25,000 and a new four-lane warm-up track and all weather hockey pitch would also be built.

"With these proposals, Crystal Palace would become a re-invigorated dedicated facility, bringing more activity to the area and be available to the athletics community every single day of the year."