Daniel Levy Apologises to Tottenham Fans as Further Stadium Delay Confirmed

Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy has issued an apology after the club confirmed their new stadium will not host its first match until March at the earliest.

It is the latest blow for Spurs concerning the new White Hart Lane, which they had hoped to be ready early in the 2018-19 season.

The north London club confirmed in a statement on Wednesday that the scheduled home games against Watford (January 30), Newcastle United (February 2), Leicester City (February 10) and Borussia Dortmund (February 13) will all take place at Wembley Stadium.

A potential FA Cup fifth-round tie on the weekend of February 16/17, should Spurs progress that far and be drawn at home, will also be at Wembley.

In the statement, Levy apologised for the ongoing delays:

"I should like to apologise to our fans and thank you for your continued patience. The response from those who attended the familiarisation event was great to hear and reinforced our commitment to deliver an exceptional matchday experience for everyone. We shall now seek clarity in respect of building test schedules and test event dates and provide further information on these in the next two to three weeks."

Tottenham's first scheduled home game in March is the north London derby against Arsenal on March 2.

That would be a fine curtain-raiser for the new stadium should it be ready, but Jack Pitt-Brooke of The Independent reported on Wednesday that the club are reluctant to mark the new stadium's opening with such a big game due to "security and logistical concerns."

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Per Pitt-Brooke, the March 16 clash against Crystal Palace is the fixture the club are aiming for.

If the match against the Eagles is Tottenham's opening game at their new stadium, it will come six months later than originally hoped.

After spending 2017-18 playing at Wembley as scheduled, Spurs' start to the 2018-19 campaign was front-loaded with away matches in the hope that the fixture against Liverpool on September 15 could be the first at the new stadium.

When that date came and went due to issues with the stadium's safety systems, December 15's clash with Burnley and January 13's visit of Manchester United were both mooted as possibilities.

Now, even if Spurs are in their new stadium for the Palace game, they will play only five of their 19 home Premier League games there in 2018-19.

For many of the fans reacting to the news, there seemed a resignation that the most likely outcome is it will not open until 2019-20:

The players are also likely to be frustrated with the situation.

Danny Rose revealed back in December that the team were "itching" to get into the new stadium as Wembley had lost its appeal.

It has not prevented Spurs enjoying an excellent season, though. 

Mauricio Pochettino's side currently sit third in the Premier League table, six points back from leaders Liverpool, and they are back in action at Wembley against Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's in-form United side on Sunday.