Do Tottenham really want to move to the London 2012 Olympic Stadium?

"SPURS are on their way to the Olympic Stadium" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it?

DECISIONS DECISIONS: Tottenham may yet move to the London 2012 Olympic Stadium (R) or to the new White Hart Lane (L)

Tottenham Hotspur this week confirmed they have lodged a formal bid to move into the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Games and have teamed up with AEG - the American sports marketing giant behind the o2 arena.

Outwardly at least, it appears they mean business.

Few Tottenham fans would back the move - even if it would mean getting one over the Hammers - but we are not talking about hot air, Spurs have made an official approach to the Olympic Park Legacy Company - the organisation charged with resolving the long-term future of the 2012 Olympic Park.

But if Tottenham do have genuine interest in becoming tenants of the stadium, they have a strange way of showing it.

The future of the Olympic Stadium has been a contentious issue for long enough and the crux of the matter is the athletics track.

The London 2012 organising committee are adamant it will stay. West Ham - the first Premier League [for the time-being at least] club to register their interest and the current frontrunners hated the suggestion at first.

David Gold and David Sullivan were not particularly charmed by the idea of keeping an athletics track should they take their beloved Hammers to Stratford, but they've since come round.

In fact they've teamed up with Newham Council - the mayor of which, Sir Robin Wales, is a lifelong Hammer - and produced a bid that commits to keeping the athletics track.

Music to the ears of London 2012 chairman and avid Chelsea supporter Lord Sebastian Coe who promised the International Olympic Committee that the track would stay, back in 2005 when London was awarded the Games.

However, those behind Tottenham and AEG's bid have this week come out all bold as brass and said they don't want the track and they'd be getting rid of it.

Revealing details of the bid for the first time on Tuesday, AEG president Tim Leiweke said it would not make sense to keep the stadium geared for athletics after the Olympics because of a lack of major track and field events that could be staged at the venue.

"I think it's a crime if you sacrifice having a perfect football stadium for convincing yourself you are going to do a track and field event every ten years that can't stand on its own two feet," said Leiweke.

"There are very few stand-alone track and field events that pay for themselves to use a whole stadium.

"With football you're going to get 30-plus matches a year and you'll be able to talk about naming rights and founding partners and suites and the revenue streams to make these kind of venues work."

And after all, what Tottenham fan wants an athletics track lying idle in between them and his Spurs every week?

Anyway, time to throw another spanner in the works. UKA have tabled a bid for the 2015 World Athletics Championships and are not afraid to play the London 2012 legacy card in their bid to convince the IAAF to get it.

The IAAF - where Lord Coe happens to be vice-president - of course want assurances that the athletics track will be definitely staying, and fast.

They will decide the 2015 hosts in November but the legacy company do not expect to have signed on the dotted line with a long-term tenant until the end of next March.

And all parties concerned are desperate to avoid another Picketts Lock fiasco.