Tottenham had bitter battle over the Olympic Stadium with West Ham but had shock alternative plan

Tottenham played host to 61,726 fans in their wild 4-1 defeat against Chelsea on Monday night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It's regarded as one of the most impressive stadiums in not just the Premier League, but in world football and sport in general.

The stadium sits on the site of their iconic White Hart Lane ground, which was knocked down and redeveloped from 2016 to 2019.

However, Spurs could very well have played outside of north London and instead in the east-end of town at the Olympic Stadium.

The 2012 Olympic Games were centred in the English capital and saw the main arena built in Stratford as part of the area's redevelopment.

Usain Bolt won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay there but even before the games started, Spurs eyed the stadium as their new home.

With White Hart Lane only having a capacity of 36,284, the Olympic Stadium was sounded out as a potential new location for the club, but London rivals West Ham were also keen on moving there.

In 2011, The Guardian reported that Spurs tried to make the case that the Hammers would not be able to fill the stadium if they moved.

West Ham's planned involved reducing the capacity from 80,000 to 60,000, with the running track staying put, although Spurs also tried to argue that such a proposal would leave fans too far away from the pitch and make them struggle to actually see the ball.

They instead proposed to knock down the stadium entirely and rebuild it as a football ground and refurbish the National Sports Centre in Crystal Palace to compensate for removing the athletics track in plans that would have costed around £250million in total.

Such a site is where the south London club played from when they were founded in 1905 to 1924, the year they moved to Selhurst