Promising to see a bunch of jobs being advertised, pushing on now Stadium (almost) is ready.
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I would imagine it has to do with it being designed as a true multipurpose venue, but the enthusiasts over at SSC would know better.Was taking the piss out of a West Ham fan just now by reminiscing about this photo of their place over ours and I noticed something about the plans for the new stadium.
Every corner has a doorway or opening. You don't see that with many stadiums, even new builds. Usually there's one opening, two max yet we've got walkways or ways in/out in every corner. The North East corner is for the emergency services and the NFL but does anyone have any idea what the others are, especially the ones where the East & West stands meet the South Stand?
I can't read it as I've reached my article limit.....
Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium should be a source of pride for all of football
Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium should be a source of pride for all of football
You mean I've been worried about nothing for all this time?????
FOOTBALL | HENRY WINTER
march 26 2019, 12:01am, the times
Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium should be a source of pride for all of football
henry winter, chief football writer
The fabled American sporting arena, Candlestick Park, opened on April 12, 1960 in the Bayview-Hunters Point district of San Francisco, a community needing love and investment after travails in local dry-dock and slaughterhouse workplaces. The new home of the San Francisco Giants and eventually the 49ers was open for business with the hope that it would bring business to the area as well as sporting glory.
The greats played there, respective royalty of baseball and gridiron such as Willie Mays and Joe Montana, while The Beatles performed their last live concert together there on August 29, 1966. Candlestick Park even withstood an earthquake that measured 7.1 on the Richter scale on October 17, 1989, just before the third game of the World Series.
The initial demand for staff at Candlestick Park led to housing being built nearbyCAMERON DAVIDSON/CORBIS
One of the very junior architects working on the project was my dad, fresh out of Yale, so I have always read up on Candlestick Park and what it meant to the community. Such was the initial demand for staff at the stadium that housing was built nearby and it seemed a model enterprise.
Sadly, the Candlestick light was snuffed out on August 14, 2014, closing for good. Too much wind off the bay, they said, and also too much collateral damage from the winds of change. Grander, more corporate-friendly facilities were desired. It also required more investment in an area afflicted with socio-economic problems.
It seemed a key point, ensuring a stadium is embedded in its community, helping those around, which is, of course, easier for an English football fan to say with so many grounds central to a town or city’s geography as well as emotions. A stadium is not only for 90 minutes. It’s for every day. It’s for the community.
When new sporting cathedrals throw open their portals, such as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the new Lane, did for a test event on Sunday, fans’ focus is understandably internal, on the atmosphere, the facilities, the rake of the seats, and the cost and speed of service at concessions.
The half-hour rendition of “we’ve got Alli” by Spurs supporters in the 65 metre-long Goal Line Bar, and the bottoms-up beer system, caused more fascination than the impact on the surrounding area. Many of the glowing reviews concentrated exclusively on the inside. The lasting, life-changing effects of Spurs’ magnificent new home will also be felt on the outside. The building of a football stadium is not an exercise that occurs in a bubble.
Spurs fans who live nearby inevitably can see the impact but it is too readily overlooked by others, especially by followers of other clubs too busy sniping, although that might be sheer jealousy as well as textbook tribalism. It is in the nature of many football fans that nobody can have a better stadium than theirs, even when it is patently overtaken by an arena drawing on lessons learnt from theirs and other grounds, and that theirs is by far the greatest team the world has ever seen, even when struggling for form.
The blinkers need removing when Spurs’ new home is assessed. It should be a source of pride, however grudging, for all in the game. It is a reminder of what an obsessed country we are with football that one club can spend £1 billion on the setting for a strip of a grass. It drives the Premier League even further into the besotted thoughts of broadcasters, domestic and global, and that benefits all clubs.
Eight years ago Tottenham was the scene of riots, now the club have helped to improve the areaDAN ISTITENE/GETTY IMAGES
Tottenham’s new stadium throws down the gauntlet from a great height to other elite clubs considering stadium developments, such as Chelsea and Everton, showing them the quality of spec required and the paramount importance of meeting fans’ desires for optimum decibel level. The single-tier home-end stand accommodates 17,500 fans, the lungs of the new Lane as well as the heartbeat. Evertonians have already been tweeting their architects regarding their own Bramley-Moore Dock development.
It is good for the reputation of British architecture (albeit via a very international firm in Populous), provides a must-see stop on those touring London’s architectural splendours, let alone footballing fans on pilgrimages, and also transmits a timely positive message around the world.
Everyone benefits from the centrepiece of the Northumberland Development Project, and self-evidently the local community does. Four months after the riots of August 2011, starting in Tottenham and spreading across the capital and parts of the country, Chelsea fans visited White Hart Lane and loudly mentioned the damage wrought nearby, including the torching of a carpet shop and a double-decker bus. “You stupid bastards, you burnt your own town,” they sang at the locals.
But look at their town now. It is transformed. Stations such as Tottenham Hale, White Hart Lane and Northumberland Park are improved. Meridian Water station will eventually come on track. A sixth-form college, operated with Highgate School, rises up along with two developments of affordable housing. A hotel is planned. A supermarket has already popped up. “Follow the cranes,” as one club owner told me once, talking of his business ventures in up-and-coming areas. Spurs brought their own cranes and hoisted the area up.
Tottenham claim that the development will generate 3,500 new jobs and pour £293 million into the neighbouring economy every year. The club can put a price on how much the local coffers will be boosted but it is impossible to put a value on the psychological uplift. Spurs told local businesses and residents that they want to “showcase” the area, and now they have one of the most talked-about stadia in the world on Tottenham High Road. That spreads confidence and pride.
It is such a cosmopolitan area that when Spurs sent out their plans to local residents and businesses, they made them available in Albanian, Arabic, French, Gujarati, Greek, Kurdish, Portuguese, Romanian, Somali and Turkish as well as English. It is an area of great diversity and even though some small businesses have protested, the community clearly gains overall. Just as a young Raheem Sterling looked at Wembley Stadium being rebuilt and dreamt of playing there, so local children in Tottenham will be inspired by this amazing arena on their doorstep. It sends a message that sport matters, that their area matters.
To appreciate fully the significance of Tottenham’s gleaming palace and enriched hinterland one needs only contemplate the devastation on the community had Spurs moved with the loss of employment and esteem. To suggest it would have become a ghost town is too far, as a strong community heart beats there, but the redevelopment has been an opportunity of a lifetime, a catalyst for change, and the benefits are already manifest. The new Lane has really put Tottenham the area on the map. It’s a destination venue with a world-famous structure in its midst.
A Spurs fan takes a selfie at the new stadium, but its impact will be measured away from footballLAURENCE GRIFFITHS/GETTY IMAGES
Some Woolwich fans carp about the lateness of delivery of their north London neighbours’ handsome project, the increased cost, and the suggestion of similarities with the Emirates. This is the usual inter-club jousting, Derby-day duelling over steel and mortar rather than loose balls.
Woolwich’s own move in 2006, over the road from Highbury, into what is now the Emirates, has revitalised the area. Walk west from the ground, over the Holloway Road, and admire the new developments. The Emirates is a beacon spreading light and belief in the community.
There will always be the issue that facilities within a new ground are so good that fans hurry there early and stay late, and this will clearly occur at Spurs’ new home with the instantly popular Market Place behind the South Stand. This should also ease congestion and strain on local transport hubs pre and post-match, as well as generate more income for the club.
But will it harm local trade? To the layman’s eye, the experience of Woolwich shows that Piebury Corner is booming, new restaurants are opening and local pubs are still rammed on match day. Plus the number of people visiting on non-match days whether heading into the famous Woolwich museum or attending functions has soared.
All of football should admire these buildings, at the heart of their communities, bringing employment and sprinkling stardust on them, lending even more glamour to the English landscape and game.
You missed one out-
They only gave us 2000 tickets!
Blatant "look at me with my proper newspaper subscription i.e. I can read"...FOOTBALL | HENRY WINTER
march 26 2019, 12:01am, the times
Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium should be a source of pride for all of football
henry winter, chief football writer
The fabled American sporting arena, Candlestick Park, opened on April 12, 1960 in the Bayview-Hunters Point district of San Francisco, a community needing love and investment after travails in local dry-dock and slaughterhouse workplaces. The new home of the San Francisco Giants and eventually the 49ers was open for business with the hope that it would bring business to the area as well as sporting glory.
The greats played there, respective royalty of baseball and gridiron such as Willie Mays and Joe Montana, while The Beatles performed their last live concert together there on August 29, 1966. Candlestick Park even withstood an earthquake that measured 7.1 on the Richter scale on October 17, 1989, just before the third game of the World Series.
The initial demand for staff at Candlestick Park led to housing being built nearbyCAMERON DAVIDSON/CORBIS
One of the very junior architects working on the project was my dad, fresh out of Yale, so I have always read up on Candlestick Park and what it meant to the community. Such was the initial demand for staff at the stadium that housing was built nearby and it seemed a model enterprise.
Sadly, the Candlestick light was snuffed out on August 14, 2014, closing for good. Too much wind off the bay, they said, and also too much collateral damage from the winds of change. Grander, more corporate-friendly facilities were desired. It also required more investment in an area afflicted with socio-economic problems.
It seemed a key point, ensuring a stadium is embedded in its community, helping those around, which is, of course, easier for an English football fan to say with so many grounds central to a town or city’s geography as well as emotions. A stadium is not only for 90 minutes. It’s for every day. It’s for the community.
When new sporting cathedrals throw open their portals, such as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the new Lane, did for a test event on Sunday, fans’ focus is understandably internal, on the atmosphere, the facilities, the rake of the seats, and the cost and speed of service at concessions.
The half-hour rendition of “we’ve got Alli” by Spurs supporters in the 65 metre-long Goal Line Bar, and the bottoms-up beer system, caused more fascination than the impact on the surrounding area. Many of the glowing reviews concentrated exclusively on the inside. The lasting, life-changing effects of Spurs’ magnificent new home will also be felt on the outside. The building of a football stadium is not an exercise that occurs in a bubble.
Spurs fans who live nearby inevitably can see the impact but it is too readily overlooked by others, especially by followers of other clubs too busy sniping, although that might be sheer jealousy as well as textbook tribalism. It is in the nature of many football fans that nobody can have a better stadium than theirs, even when it is patently overtaken by an arena drawing on lessons learnt from theirs and other grounds, and that theirs is by far the greatest team the world has ever seen, even when struggling for form.
The blinkers need removing when Spurs’ new home is assessed. It should be a source of pride, however grudging, for all in the game. It is a reminder of what an obsessed country we are with football that one club can spend £1 billion on the setting for a strip of a grass. It drives the Premier League even further into the besotted thoughts of broadcasters, domestic and global, and that benefits all clubs.
Eight years ago Tottenham was the scene of riots, now the club have helped to improve the areaDAN ISTITENE/GETTY IMAGES
Tottenham’s new stadium throws down the gauntlet from a great height to other elite clubs considering stadium developments, such as Chelsea and Everton, showing them the quality of spec required and the paramount importance of meeting fans’ desires for optimum decibel level. The single-tier home-end stand accommodates 17,500 fans, the lungs of the new Lane as well as the heartbeat. Evertonians have already been tweeting their architects regarding their own Bramley-Moore Dock development.
It is good for the reputation of British architecture (albeit via a very international firm in Populous), provides a must-see stop on those touring London’s architectural splendours, let alone footballing fans on pilgrimages, and also transmits a timely positive message around the world.
Everyone benefits from the centrepiece of the Northumberland Development Project, and self-evidently the local community does. Four months after the riots of August 2011, starting in Tottenham and spreading across the capital and parts of the country, Chelsea fans visited White Hart Lane and loudly mentioned the damage wrought nearby, including the torching of a carpet shop and a double-decker bus. “You stupid bastards, you burnt your own town,” they sang at the locals.
But look at their town now. It is transformed. Stations such as Tottenham Hale, White Hart Lane and Northumberland Park are improved. Meridian Water station will eventually come on track. A sixth-form college, operated with Highgate School, rises up along with two developments of affordable housing. A hotel is planned. A supermarket has already popped up. “Follow the cranes,” as one club owner told me once, talking of his business ventures in up-and-coming areas. Spurs brought their own cranes and hoisted the area up.
Tottenham claim that the development will generate 3,500 new jobs and pour £293 million into the neighbouring economy every year. The club can put a price on how much the local coffers will be boosted but it is impossible to put a value on the psychological uplift. Spurs told local businesses and residents that they want to “showcase” the area, and now they have one of the most talked-about stadia in the world on Tottenham High Road. That spreads confidence and pride.
It is such a cosmopolitan area that when Spurs sent out their plans to local residents and businesses, they made them available in Albanian, Arabic, French, Gujarati, Greek, Kurdish, Portuguese, Romanian, Somali and Turkish as well as English. It is an area of great diversity and even though some small businesses have protested, the community clearly gains overall. Just as a young Raheem Sterling looked at Wembley Stadium being rebuilt and dreamt of playing there, so local children in Tottenham will be inspired by this amazing arena on their doorstep. It sends a message that sport matters, that their area matters.
To appreciate fully the significance of Tottenham’s gleaming palace and enriched hinterland one needs only contemplate the devastation on the community had Spurs moved with the loss of employment and esteem. To suggest it would have become a ghost town is too far, as a strong community heart beats there, but the redevelopment has been an opportunity of a lifetime, a catalyst for change, and the benefits are already manifest. The new Lane has really put Tottenham the area on the map. It’s a destination venue with a world-famous structure in its midst.
A Spurs fan takes a selfie at the new stadium, but its impact will be measured away from footballLAURENCE GRIFFITHS/GETTY IMAGES
Some Woolwich fans carp about the lateness of delivery of their north London neighbours’ handsome project, the increased cost, and the suggestion of similarities with the Emirates. This is the usual inter-club jousting, Derby-day duelling over steel and mortar rather than loose balls.
Woolwich’s own move in 2006, over the road from Highbury, into what is now the Emirates, has revitalised the area. Walk west from the ground, over the Holloway Road, and admire the new developments. The Emirates is a beacon spreading light and belief in the community.
There will always be the issue that facilities within a new ground are so good that fans hurry there early and stay late, and this will clearly occur at Spurs’ new home with the instantly popular Market Place behind the South Stand. This should also ease congestion and strain on local transport hubs pre and post-match, as well as generate more income for the club.
But will it harm local trade? To the layman’s eye, the experience of Woolwich shows that Piebury Corner is booming, new restaurants are opening and local pubs are still rammed on match day. Plus the number of people visiting on non-match days whether heading into the famous Woolwich museum or attending functions has soared.
All of football should admire these buildings, at the heart of their communities, bringing employment and sprinkling stardust on them, lending even more glamour to the English landscape and game.
In general a good piece BUT.........FOOTBALL | HENRY WINTER
march 26 2019, 12:01am, the times
Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium should be a source of pride for all of football
henry winter, chief football writer
The fabled American sporting arena, Candlestick Park, opened on April 12, 1960 in the Bayview-Hunters Point district of San Francisco, a community needing love and investment after travails in local dry-dock and slaughterhouse workplaces. The new home of the San Francisco Giants and eventually the 49ers was open for business with the hope that it would bring business to the area as well as sporting glory.
The greats played there, respective royalty of baseball and gridiron such as Willie Mays and Joe Montana, while The Beatles performed their last live concert together there on August 29, 1966. Candlestick Park even withstood an earthquake that measured 7.1 on the Richter scale on October 17, 1989, just before the third game of the World Series.
The initial demand for staff at Candlestick Park led to housing being built nearbyCAMERON DAVIDSON/CORBIS
One of the very junior architects working on the project was my dad, fresh out of Yale, so I have always read up on Candlestick Park and what it meant to the community. Such was the initial demand for staff at the stadium that housing was built nearby and it seemed a model enterprise.
Sadly, the Candlestick light was snuffed out on August 14, 2014, closing for good. Too much wind off the bay, they said, and also too much collateral damage from the winds of change. Grander, more corporate-friendly facilities were desired. It also required more investment in an area afflicted with socio-economic problems.
It seemed a key point, ensuring a stadium is embedded in its community, helping those around, which is, of course, easier for an English football fan to say with so many grounds central to a town or city’s geography as well as emotions. A stadium is not only for 90 minutes. It’s for every day. It’s for the community.
When new sporting cathedrals throw open their portals, such as the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the new Lane, did for a test event on Sunday, fans’ focus is understandably internal, on the atmosphere, the facilities, the rake of the seats, and the cost and speed of service at concessions.
The half-hour rendition of “we’ve got Alli” by Spurs supporters in the 65 metre-long Goal Line Bar, and the bottoms-up beer system, caused more fascination than the impact on the surrounding area. Many of the glowing reviews concentrated exclusively on the inside. The lasting, life-changing effects of Spurs’ magnificent new home will also be felt on the outside. The building of a football stadium is not an exercise that occurs in a bubble.
Spurs fans who live nearby inevitably can see the impact but it is too readily overlooked by others, especially by followers of other clubs too busy sniping, although that might be sheer jealousy as well as textbook tribalism. It is in the nature of many football fans that nobody can have a better stadium than theirs, even when it is patently overtaken by an arena drawing on lessons learnt from theirs and other grounds, and that theirs is by far the greatest team the world has ever seen, even when struggling for form.
The blinkers need removing when Spurs’ new home is assessed. It should be a source of pride, however grudging, for all in the game. It is a reminder of what an obsessed country we are with football that one club can spend £1 billion on the setting for a strip of a grass. It drives the Premier League even further into the besotted thoughts of broadcasters, domestic and global, and that benefits all clubs.
Eight years ago Tottenham was the scene of riots, now the club have helped to improve the areaDAN ISTITENE/GETTY IMAGES
Tottenham’s new stadium throws down the gauntlet from a great height to other elite clubs considering stadium developments, such as Chelsea and Everton, showing them the quality of spec required and the paramount importance of meeting fans’ desires for optimum decibel level. The single-tier home-end stand accommodates 17,500 fans, the lungs of the new Lane as well as the heartbeat. Evertonians have already been tweeting their architects regarding their own Bramley-Moore Dock development.
It is good for the reputation of British architecture (albeit via a very international firm in Populous), provides a must-see stop on those touring London’s architectural splendours, let alone footballing fans on pilgrimages, and also transmits a timely positive message around the world.
Everyone benefits from the centrepiece of the Northumberland Development Project, and self-evidently the local community does. Four months after the riots of August 2011, starting in Tottenham and spreading across the capital and parts of the country, Chelsea fans visited White Hart Lane and loudly mentioned the damage wrought nearby, including the torching of a carpet shop and a double-decker bus. “You stupid bastards, you burnt your own town,” they sang at the locals.
But look at their town now. It is transformed. Stations such as Tottenham Hale, White Hart Lane and Northumberland Park are improved. Meridian Water station will eventually come on track. A sixth-form college, operated with Highgate School, rises up along with two developments of affordable housing. A hotel is planned. A supermarket has already popped up. “Follow the cranes,” as one club owner told me once, talking of his business ventures in up-and-coming areas. Spurs brought their own cranes and hoisted the area up.
Tottenham claim that the development will generate 3,500 new jobs and pour £293 million into the neighbouring economy every year. The club can put a price on how much the local coffers will be boosted but it is impossible to put a value on the psychological uplift. Spurs told local businesses and residents that they want to “showcase” the area, and now they have one of the most talked-about stadia in the world on Tottenham High Road. That spreads confidence and pride.
It is such a cosmopolitan area that when Spurs sent out their plans to local residents and businesses, they made them available in Albanian, Arabic, French, Gujarati, Greek, Kurdish, Portuguese, Romanian, Somali and Turkish as well as English. It is an area of great diversity and even though some small businesses have protested, the community clearly gains overall. Just as a young Raheem Sterling looked at Wembley Stadium being rebuilt and dreamt of playing there, so local children in Tottenham will be inspired by this amazing arena on their doorstep. It sends a message that sport matters, that their area matters.
To appreciate fully the significance of Tottenham’s gleaming palace and enriched hinterland one needs only contemplate the devastation on the community had Spurs moved with the loss of employment and esteem. To suggest it would have become a ghost town is too far, as a strong community heart beats there, but the redevelopment has been an opportunity of a lifetime, a catalyst for change, and the benefits are already manifest. The new Lane has really put Tottenham the area on the map. It’s a destination venue with a world-famous structure in its midst.
A Spurs fan takes a selfie at the new stadium, but its impact will be measured away from footballLAURENCE GRIFFITHS/GETTY IMAGES
Some Woolwich fans carp about the lateness of delivery of their north London neighbours’ handsome project, the increased cost, and the suggestion of similarities with the Emirates. This is the usual inter-club jousting, Derby-day duelling over steel and mortar rather than loose balls.
Woolwich’s own move in 2006, over the road from Highbury, into what is now the Emirates, has revitalised the area. Walk west from the ground, over the Holloway Road, and admire the new developments. The Emirates is a beacon spreading light and belief in the community.
There will always be the issue that facilities within a new ground are so good that fans hurry there early and stay late, and this will clearly occur at Spurs’ new home with the instantly popular Market Place behind the South Stand. This should also ease congestion and strain on local transport hubs pre and post-match, as well as generate more income for the club.
But will it harm local trade? To the layman’s eye, the experience of Woolwich shows that Piebury Corner is booming, new restaurants are opening and local pubs are still rammed on match day. Plus the number of people visiting on non-match days whether heading into the famous Woolwich museum or attending functions has soared.
All of football should admire these buildings, at the heart of their communities, bringing employment and sprinkling stardust on them, lending even more glamour to the English landscape and game.
"Woolwich’s own move in 2006, over the road from Highbury, into what is now the Emirates, has revitalised the area. Walk west from the ground, over the Holloway Road, and admire the new developments. The Emirates is a beacon spreading light and belief in the community".
Fuck off!! They decimated the only pocket of working class people left in that area and replaced it with multi-million-pound flats. That "community" is no more. Outside of that community, this is what was there already....
One of the most expensive residential areas to live in the country!
I've not been yet and its great to see all these touches. All the attention to detail.
When did Dumbledore get a corporate seat? (3rd row)
Hopefully there are those "Beware of Flying Footballs" signs in the top tier too in case Sissoko takes a shot.
Or for Townsend during our opening match when he unleashes his inner Bale :townhmm:
Yeah I forgot about him . Need 'em in the corners too then.
Tottenham’s new stadium is so great that I thought: are they really letting me in?
Spurs supporter David Aaronovitch says the new stadium is better than the Emirates
The new Spurs stadium first comes into sight as you walk northwards along Tottenham High Road, past the outreach district HQ of the Christ Apostolic Church. From a mile away it is a silver cliff face above the distant rooftops. Then it disappears as the road bends a little and then comes back into view.
Several hundred steps later and it sits in a great glass and metal curve above you, dwarfing the old parade opposite. It is as though a spaceship from a benign civilization has put down beside the Abrepo Junction (African-Caribbean groceries), the Koyum Turkish restaurant and the White Hart Lane Jerk Centre. You can imagine the large, glazed curve of the West Stand door folding down and a 15ft tall other-worldly creature walking down the ramp to bring back a kebab sample for his ever-curious species to sample.
From the outside the new stadium, open yesterday for its first test event, is far bigger — far more sudden — than it appears in photographs. Visually it bears no relation at all to the squat, boxy, noisy, loved and obsolete old White Hart Lane. The entire experience of walking to it, entering it, exploring it, is like being upgraded from economy on a Monarch Air charter flight to business class on Cathay Pacific. You almost think: “Are they really letting me in here?”
If Spurs fans are honest, saying that they preferred the atmosphere of their old stadium was akin to citing the glorious achievements of Robbie Keane or David Ginola — consolations in a world of sporting underachievement. Every time I passed the new Emirates Stadium, perched above the main railway line running northeast out of London, it was wormwood. I might have snarked about how our bitter rivals Woolwich had not won much since building it, but I had to concede that, unlike our own place, it did at least belong to the 21st century.
The Emirates was the concrete symbol of the long-term eclipse of our team by theirs. You can say that your old, moth-eaten cardigan is comfortable but, when your rival walks in wearing a tuxedo, it is hard to feel smart.
The new Spurs stadium is beautiful from the outside. From the inside it is extraordinary. I sat for a while in the West Stand and the single-tier expanse of the South Stand, and the place is like an oval Grand Canyon with seats. Dark-blue, elegant, butt-shaped seats.
Its rake is steep, rising back from pitchside. Anything that creates distance between the spectator and the players, such as the walkways and the tunnels, has been shrunk. Even from the highest point there is none of that “pass my opera glasses, Fiona” feeling you get at Old Trafford, the Leazes End at Newcastle or the upper reaches of Wembley. The result is that just sitting there is exciting — somehow sheer and unthreatening, reminiscent of one of the more interesting Disney rides.
The place has famously been built for racket. Noise creators from the world of big concerts were brought into help optimise the aural atmosphere. In the South Stand 17,500 spectators (out of the 62,062 capacity) will sit and a few thousand will, if Premier League rules are changed, “safe stand”, protected by the rails that have been installed. Talking of safety, this was the first time I had ever seen paramedics on patrol through the stands carrying portable defibrillators.
The South Stand is the one that will hold and form the “white wall” of noise, and some of the old Laners were there practising their chants. When the Spurs under-18s took the lead against the youngsters from Southampton after 11 minutes the scorer, J’Neil Bennett, got the most rousing accolade of his career.
He took it in his stride. His goal had also been seen on the four gigantic screens in the corners of the ground. Above me the huge golden cockerel nodded approval at the first goal scored in the new stadium. I have a feeling that every game played here in the Premier or Champions League is going to feel like a cup final.
Bennett made history by scoring the first goal at Tottenham’s new stadiumDAVID SIMPSON/REX
Football supporting is a sentimental business and the old centre spot of the defunct White Hart Lane is picked out in the internal concourse of the South Stand. I couldn’t find it because too many people were standing on it. There is also a wall of blown-up old programme covers and another of Spurs scarves from various far-flung supporters’ associations. We’re a family, we are.
Myself, I don’t go to football to eat and drink. That feels too American and in any case I once bought a cheese bagel at the old White Hart Lane and found on biting into it that it was empty. That seemed to sum up the footballing culinary experience to me — that and discovering that the slush underfoot when walking to my seat was really the remains of someone’s meat pie. I have also always worried that beer consumption by fellow fans would also end up being, one way or another, my problem.
But under the South Stand is a cornucopia of foods, almost reflecting the shops opposite. You can get decent pizza, chicken tikka, there are vegan burgers featuring beetroot and for those who prefer to die early, variations on the health-destroying traditional pie are still available.
There is a huge bar running the length of the stand, and one where they operate those weird new systems where your (plastic) beer cup fills from underneath — not so much pulling a pint as sucking it. The place has its own brewery. So if (God forbid) Woolwich are ahead at half-time, sorrow-drowning is easily achieved. Actually the new place is too beautiful to eat in. Looking at the pristine white concrete beneath the dark-blue seat, I finished my cheese and onion crisps and, for the first time, folded the packet and put it in my pocket.
Finally, the toilets. Gone are the old metal troughs in which you could see whether the man upstream from you was dehydrated. But why is it that even when the urinals are brand new, surrounded by gleaming tiles and never previously used, one in the row is always, always blocked?
Is this a good new stadium, then? No, not good. My instinct — truly — is that it is a great stadium. Sorry, Woolwich fans, but it just is.
Spurs supporter David Aaronovitch says the new stadium is better than the Emirates
The new Spurs stadium first comes into sight as you walk northwards along Tottenham High Road, past the outreach district HQ of the Christ Apostolic Church. From a mile away it is a silver cliff face above the distant rooftops. Then it disappears as the road bends a little and then comes back into view.
Several hundred steps later and it sits in a great glass and metal curve above you, dwarfing the old parade opposite. It is as though a spaceship from a benign civilization has put down beside the Abrepo Junction (African-Caribbean groceries), the Koyum Turkish restaurant and the White Hart Lane Jerk Centre. You can imagine the large, glazed curve of the West Stand door folding down and a 15ft tall other-worldly creature walking down the ramp to bring back a kebab sample for his ever-curious species to sample.
From the outside the new stadium, open yesterday for its first test event, is far bigger — far more sudden — than it appears in photographs. Visually it bears no relation at all to the squat, boxy, noisy, loved and obsolete old White Hart Lane. The entire experience of walking to it, entering it, exploring it, is like being upgraded from economy on a Monarch Air charter flight to business class on Cathay Pacific. You almost think: “Are they really letting me in here?”
If Spurs fans are honest, saying that they preferred the atmosphere of their old stadium was akin to citing the glorious achievements of Robbie Keane or David Ginola — consolations in a world of sporting underachievement. Every time I passed the new Emirates Stadium, perched above the main railway line running northeast out of London, it was wormwood. I might have snarked about how our bitter rivals Woolwich had not won much since building it, but I had to concede that, unlike our own place, it did at least belong to the 21st century.
The Emirates was the concrete symbol of the long-term eclipse of our team by theirs. You can say that your old, moth-eaten cardigan is comfortable but, when your rival walks in wearing a tuxedo, it is hard to feel smart.
The new Spurs stadium is beautiful from the outside. From the inside it is extraordinary. I sat for a while in the West Stand and the single-tier expanse of the South Stand, and the place is like an oval Grand Canyon with seats. Dark-blue, elegant, butt-shaped seats.
Its rake is steep, rising back from pitchside. Anything that creates distance between the spectator and the players, such as the walkways and the tunnels, has been shrunk. Even from the highest point there is none of that “pass my opera glasses, Fiona” feeling you get at Old Trafford, the Leazes End at Newcastle or the upper reaches of Wembley. The result is that just sitting there is exciting — somehow sheer and unthreatening, reminiscent of one of the more interesting Disney rides.
The place has famously been built for racket. Noise creators from the world of big concerts were brought into help optimise the aural atmosphere. In the South Stand 17,500 spectators (out of the 62,062 capacity) will sit and a few thousand will, if Premier League rules are changed, “safe stand”, protected by the rails that have been installed. Talking of safety, this was the first time I had ever seen paramedics on patrol through the stands carrying portable defibrillators.
The South Stand is the one that will hold and form the “white wall” of noise, and some of the old Laners were there practising their chants. When the Spurs under-18s took the lead against the youngsters from Southampton after 11 minutes the scorer, J’Neil Bennett, got the most rousing accolade of his career.
He took it in his stride. His goal had also been seen on the four gigantic screens in the corners of the ground. Above me the huge golden cockerel nodded approval at the first goal scored in the new stadium. I have a feeling that every game played here in the Premier or Champions League is going to feel like a cup final.
Bennett made history by scoring the first goal at Tottenham’s new stadiumDAVID SIMPSON/REX
Football supporting is a sentimental business and the old centre spot of the defunct White Hart Lane is picked out in the internal concourse of the South Stand. I couldn’t find it because too many people were standing on it. There is also a wall of blown-up old programme covers and another of Spurs scarves from various far-flung supporters’ associations. We’re a family, we are.
Myself, I don’t go to football to eat and drink. That feels too American and in any case I once bought a cheese bagel at the old White Hart Lane and found on biting into it that it was empty. That seemed to sum up the footballing culinary experience to me — that and discovering that the slush underfoot when walking to my seat was really the remains of someone’s meat pie. I have also always worried that beer consumption by fellow fans would also end up being, one way or another, my problem.
But under the South Stand is a cornucopia of foods, almost reflecting the shops opposite. You can get decent pizza, chicken tikka, there are vegan burgers featuring beetroot and for those who prefer to die early, variations on the health-destroying traditional pie are still available.
There is a huge bar running the length of the stand, and one where they operate those weird new systems where your (plastic) beer cup fills from underneath — not so much pulling a pint as sucking it. The place has its own brewery. So if (God forbid) Woolwich are ahead at half-time, sorrow-drowning is easily achieved. Actually the new place is too beautiful to eat in. Looking at the pristine white concrete beneath the dark-blue seat, I finished my cheese and onion crisps and, for the first time, folded the packet and put it in my pocket.
Finally, the toilets. Gone are the old metal troughs in which you could see whether the man upstream from you was dehydrated. But why is it that even when the urinals are brand new, surrounded by gleaming tiles and never previously used, one in the row is always, always blocked?
Is this a good new stadium, then? No, not good. My instinct — truly — is that it is a great stadium. Sorry, Woolwich fans, but it just is.
Think I read somewhere he's doing a half and half.