A High Court judge ruled there are sufficient grounds for a review into the process by which West Ham were unanimously chosen as the preferred bidder to take over stewardship of the arena by the Olympic Park Legacy Committee (OPLC) ahead of Tottenham Hotspur.

The date for the hearing has been set for October 18, only three weeks before the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) are due to choose the host city for the 2017 Championships.

It means London's bid, which is being led by Coe, faces the prospect of being overshadowed for most of the campaign by uncertainty over the future of the Olympic Stadium.

But Coe believes that the situation can be managed effecitvely, especially as the bid has the full support of London Mayor Boris Johnson and Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson. 

"As far as I'm concerned this doesn't change very much," Coe told insidethegames here where he has been attending the IAAF Congress. 

"We know the Mayor and the Minister are committed to both the Olympic legacy and to the bid for the World Athletics Championships.

"We remain committed to delivering the Stadium to host the World Athletics Championships."

London's main rivals are expected to be Doha and their campaign received a boost when Qatar's Dahlan Jumman Al Hamad finished ahead of Coe in the voting for the four IAAF vice-president positions yesterday.

"This is a strong indication that people around the world are appreciating Qatar's sports promotion," said Hamad.

"And I'm looking forward to the bid battle with London."

Senior officials are optimistic that the row over the future of the Stadium will be settled well advance of the scheduled date for the judicial hearing.

They claim that Johnson is continuing negotiations with Tottenham Hotspur to provide £8.5 million ($14 million/€9.7 million) worth of public funding to help them move from their current stadium at White Hart Lane, where they have been since 1899, into a new development nearby at Northumerland Park.

The officials insist that Tottenham continued with yesterday's hearing only to help strengthen their position and that just a few minor details need to be ironed out before a settlement is announced.

But relations between West Ham and Tottenham appear to be growing more bitter.

Following the decision yesterday by Mr Justice Collins ,who ruled that there was an "arguable" case for a legal challenge from Tottenham over a £40 million ($66 million/€45 million) loan provided by Newham Council, West Ham claimed hat the Metropolitan Police were dealing with "a serious matter of private investigators acting unlawfully", reportedly under instruction by their rivals.

They allege reported breaches of Data Protection Act and Computer Misuse Act and the unlawful acquisition of bank and phone records belonging to senior executives at both the club and OPLC. 

"We are advised that if found guilty of these crimes, those responsible can expect to receive custodial sentences," West Ham said in a statement.

"We have full faith in the police investigation into this matter and shall continue to provide the fullest of assistance to them."

West Ham also claimed that Tottenham promised to drop the judicial review if they stopped the criminal investigation.

"We can confirm that West Ham today received a document from Tottenham asking us to give up our claims against them in relation to the above, in return for Tottenham withdrawing their judicial review proceedings," the statement said.

"West Ham naturally refused.

"We look forward to the 18 October and a successful conclusion whereby we can deliver the multi-sport legacy that Lord Coe envisaged for East London and the rest of the nation."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
August 2011: Future of London 2012 Olympic Stadium in doubt after judicial review granted
August 2011: Exclusive - UK Athletics chairman welcomes Tottenham decision to drop legal challenge to Olympic Stadium
August 2011: Independent inquiry approves decision process to award Olympic Stadium to West Ham
August 2011:·Exclusive - Warner confident that continuing doubts over Olympic Stadium future will not harm London 2017 World Championship bid
August 2011: London will bid for 2017 World Championships despite uncertainty of Olympic Stadium