Two Years from the New Home

Chairman Daniel Levy promises a state of the art Stadium for Tottenham Hotspur Football Club.  Finally the construction on the project is finally under-away and for those who suggest that this should have been done years ago, there is much to learn from the Arsenal project to ensure that this stadium build will not end up producing a place that lacks atmosphere.

The size of the stadium is a bit strange because it will accommodate 61,000, because some new projects are either increasing stadium capacity or building new capacity to 70,000+

Tottenham's plan also include hosting NFL games and the club website focuses on the opportunity to host two NFL games at the stadium using a retractable pitch, far more than they enthuse about the new soccer ground.  The question for life-long Tottenham fans is whether this thinking is for supporters or for wider corporate interests, since football now is a billion dollar industry and not simply a symbol and identity for the working classes.

Whatever the eventual scale of the project, it is a welcomed improvement from the existing White Hart Lane ground.  The seating is tight and the washroom facilities undesirable, but the ground has massive memories for the fans and as the new stadium is built around it, it will be a moving moment emotionally as well as physically when the last game is played there.

Ultimately once the goodbye's are completed and the temporary move for a year playing at Wembley Stadium is over, it is time to look forward to a new era for the club.  With the last league title won in the year I was born, that is the next goal because 1961 is a long time ago.  The strange history of Spurs winning in years ending with "1" could well repeat itself in the year 2021.  With a young team, if this team is developed and its core remain, then 5 years from now many of its current squad will be playing in their peak years.

Last year Tottenham was the youngest first team squad in the league, so the future looks much better with this young talent at hand.  The stadium build affected cross-town rivals Arsenal greatly, which affected the talent it could buy, but even given that, Spurs have not finished above Arsenal in the league for 21 years - including blowing a massive lead this year and being pipped to second place on a strange final day where Spurs were hammered by relegated Newcastle 5-1 and Arsenal won 4-0 in their game.  

The Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino has told Spurs fans that it isn't important to compare Spurs with Arsenal anymore, even though that is the fixture most Spurs fans relish.  He has brought a tough and hard mentality to the Spurs squad that has never been seen in modern day times, and he wants the club to think bigger than trying to be rivals to domestic competition.

The new stadium puts Spurs back in the status of a big club, but it is winning which cements that status and the long-suffering fans of the club have not seen much of that other than the odd League Cup win.  The 61,000 seater stadium is a good start but what remains to be seen is whether Spurs are progressing because they are really good or whether last season, the leading contenders had really bad seasons.   A stadium is great but Spurs need keep building a mentality that is bigger than any new stadium, and then the future promises to be a good one.

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