Spurs are on their way to Wembley. Or are they?

There has been a quiet understanding around Tottenham this season that it is to be the last at White Hart Lane. Of course it is: there is a big hole in the stadium, and cranes looming over the North Stand’s awnings, brand-conscious blue and white rising above rust brown and tired grey. There are garlands on the street sign in the Match of the Day title sequence. Of course it is.

So it might have come as bit of a surprise be reminded last week that at no point has the Club actually confirmed that we are in fact the last months of an unbroken 135-year-long love affair between Tottenham, N17, and Tottenham Hotspur, association football club. True, the Club applied to play at Wembley next year. And when Brent Council gave the go-ahead first to play there, and then to play there in front of a million fans every week, it sounded a lot like confirmation.

If not when
But 2 + 2 was equalling 5 in the minds of many fans, and comments from Daniel Levy accompanying the financial statement released last week included more ‘ifs’ than ‘whens’. In a nutshell, Levy needs ‘greater certainty’ about the progression and forward planning of the build before declaring that this really is goodbye.

But now is not a time for certainty – quite the opposite, the Brexit-Trump era is more like all the Gods of Uncertainty’s birthdays, Christmases and New Years rolled into one – and this must surely influence matters of such incalculable finance. It’s hard enough trying working out how and when to buy Euros for a holiday. So rather than confirming with Wembley, the FA and Brent Council now, as planned, the Club has asked to be given more time. They have until April 29th, the day before the Last/Second Last North London Derby at White Hart Lane.

But while some will see this as a significant blow, there is reason to believe that a postponed move would not be the end of days, and in fact might even bring outwardly positive results.

Now, no one thinks a season at Wembley will be good. Better than a season in Stadium MK, or in North Korea, but not actually good. So the argument to get it out of the way as soon as possible is a strong one. Hold tight lads, and we’ll be selecting our half-time cheeses before we know it. The Club, too, will be eager to start selling those cheeses. Thousands of unsuccessful ballot applicants will be glad of the extra tickets.

[linequote]There is reason to believe that a postponed move would not be the end of days, and in fact might even bring outwardly positive results[/linequote]

But this stadium has been an exercise in patience, a five-year plan swelled to a decade, and it’d be uncharacteristically reckless to rush the transition now. Imagine if whatever scenario Levy is concerned about with the build comes to pass, and the new stadium is not ready for the start of the 18-19 season, do we extend our lease of Wembley for another year? Urgh. Would that even be possible, with Chelsea also wanting to borrow the national stadium while they rebuild Stamford Bridge into something that looks like a massive anus?

Momentum vs Money
There is another, less angsty angle to why another season at White Hart Lane may actually help the team, even if Levy’s money men will be pushing to get 61,000 bums on seats ASAP. There is something special being built at Tottenham, a young team growing together into a serious footballing unit. Momentum is building, and the title feels genuinely within reach. On top of that, Spurs’ near-perfect home form reaps the rewards of an intimidating bear pit of a stadium, one of the last properly old-school grounds left in the top tier. Even putting debates over pitch sizes aside, it’s hard to suggest neither momentum or ‘home’ form will suffer at Wembley. Could Pochettino deliver the title with another season of uninterrupted progress? You wouldn’t bet against it. And another dress rehearsal for the Wembley season via European games wouldn’t go amiss either.

It’d be a shame for people eager to see the new ground if that’s put off for another year. And I’m not saying I’d necessarily choose it if I had the option. But as compromises go, not destabilising Spurs when they’re at their most stable for decades, and possibly bringing home a title in that time, in our famous old home, isn’t bad, right?