‘Critical safety’ issues force Tottenham to delay new stadium launch

Tottenham Hotspur have pushed back the opening date for their new stadium, citing problems with the development’s “critical safety systems”.

Spurs were due to play Liverpool on September 15 and Cardiff on October 6 at the new 62,062-seat arena, but both matches will now take place at Wembley.

The venue for their game with Manchester City, scheduled for October 28, is yet to be confirmed.

A statement on the club’s website read: “Recent testing and commissioning has now shown issues with the critical safety systems.

“We are reviewing the situation and planned timetable to rectify and re-test, after which we shall be in a better position to outline a revised timetable.”

It continued: “The delays created by these difficulties mean that we can no longer hold the necessary test events on 27 August and 1 September. These will need to be rescheduled to take place ahead of any first official match at the new stadium in order to achieve the safety licence.”

Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy acknowledged the news would “disappointing” for all Spurs fans.

He commented: “At the start of the project we asked for your support during what we knew would be a complex and challenging build and now we ask for your continued patience and forbearance.”

The news follows yesterday’s announcement of a new tech partnership between Tottenham and HP.