The club confirmed what many fans already knew well – opening the new stadium in time for the 2017/18 season is “extremely unlikely”. Archway again refuses to relocate.

Archway, local business reportedly ran by fans of the Spurs, has been standing in the way of Tottenham’s stadium revamp for the last 7 years. While Hotspur were able to reach an agreement and buy out 70 other businesses, it proved impossible with this one.

And the company wants to stay at the soon-to-be construction site a bit longer as they challenged the compulsory purchase order by Secretary of State. One Tottenham had been waiting 93 weeks for, nearly ten times the regular decision period. With no date for first hearing set by the High Court, it’s clear the new stadium scheme is in for further delays.

That’s why the club issued a statement yesterday, apologizing fans for the prolonged wait. “Given the lengthy period of time taken to reach the CPO decision in the first place, we should like to advise supporters that it is highly unlikely we shall be able to open the new Stadium at the start of the 2017/2018 season.”

Worth keeping in mind, Tottenham had already changed the construction scheme from two phases to demolition of White Hart Lane altogether, all in order to speed up the delivery of their desired 56,000-seater.

Now Spurs are looking for an alternative venue to play games in throughout one season. Three stadia are named in press speculations: Wembley, Olympic Stadium and Stadium:mk. None is perfect – first one too big, third one too small and far away, while the Olympic giant is still under redevelopment.