A RARE MOMENT INSIDE THE NOW DEMOLISHED WHITE HART LANE STADIUM, THE HOME OF TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR.
I TOURED the White Hart Lane stadium, the home of Tottenham Hotspur, in Tottenham a suburb in North London, England the second week of May 2001. I lived with my wife Virma just few blocks away from the stadium along Seaton Road in Edmonton, Enfield.
WITH MY FAMILY IN FRONT OF THE SPURS CREST AND THE VIEW OF THE DEMOLISHED WHITE HART LANE STADIUM IN 2012
The guide led us to the entire White Hart Lane stadium for an hour. I was excited as it was the first time I have seen a football specific stadium. The WHL had a capacity of 36,284. It was nice but was tight. I watched few games there when the seasons almost end. The fans were no longer interested and they started selling their season tickets on bargain prizes.
MOTHER AND SON INSIDE THE SPURS STORE AND IN FRONT OF THE WHL STADIUM.
A week after I had that paid tour (we were charged 8 pounds sterling each just to see the facilities of the Spurs stadium), I applied online and went personally to the Spurs ticket office to get a season ticket for the 2002-2003 season.
PINOYFOOTBALL.COM’S MARK DEL VALLE (left) AND I TOOK TURNS IN TAKING SOUVENIR PHOTOS DURING A EUROPA LEAGUE MATCH AGAINST A CYPRIOT TEAM ASTERAS TRIPOLIS.
I was politely told that the waiting list is six years. It was one way of saying sorry our stadium is too small for the Hotspur fans.
After that I did not bother watching any matches unless my friends invited me. I watched few matches when my friends gave me free tickets. Few means two or three. I hated watching the Spurs matches because the seats were too small for me or I was just too big for them.
THE NOW DEMOLISHED WHITE HART LANE (left) WHILE I POSE WITH THE TOTTENHAM CREST
Anyhow, despite of that I became a Spurs fan. What could I do? I was surrounded with Spurs fans and my workmates at the North Middlesex Hospital was 90 per cent Spurs fans and 10 per cent Arsenal fans.
ME WEARING THE HOTSPUR JERSEY WITH MY BEST FRIEND CARLITO AND PINOYFOOTBALL.COM PUBLISHER DAVE PALLASIGUE IN 2010, THE YEAR WE STARTED TO DEVELOP THIS WEBSITE.
When I left England in 2015 to stay in the Philippines for good, the new Tottenham Hotspur was already under construction. Last April 3, the stadium was officially opened. If is far beautiful and bigger compared to the now demolished White Hart Lane. How I wish I was there.
THE BRAND NEW 62,062 CAPACITY TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM
Now called Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it has a capacity of 62,062 making it one of the largest stadiums in the Premier League and the largest club stadium in London.
It is designed to be a multi-purpose stadium and features the world’s first dividing, retractable football pitch, which reveals a synthetic turf pitch underneath for NFL London Games, concerts and other events.
THE NEW TOTTENHAM STADIUM DURING THE OPENING LAST MONTH.
The project was first conceived in 2007 and announced in 2008, but the plan was revised several times, and the construction of the stadium, beset by disputes and delays, did not commence until 2015.
The name “Tottenham Hotspur Stadium” is temporary, the intention being to sell the naming rights to the stadium, so that it will be named after a sponsor. The stadium is occasionally referred to as New White Hart Lane by fans and some in the media.
POCHETINNO HAS LED THE SPURS SINCE 2014
On the pitch the Spurs have been successful and credit goes to Argentine manager Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero. He has led the Spurs to top-three finishes in three of his first four seasons.
In the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League, Pochettino led Tottenham to the final for the first time in the club’s history.
POCHETTINO IN ACTION FOR ESPANYOL IN LA LIGA AGAINST THE LEGENDARY RONALDINHO OF BARCELONA.
As a player he played center back as a professional for 17 years, ten of which were in La Liga with Espanyol where he scored 13 goals in 275 games and won two Copa del Rey trophies. He also played in France for two clubs, Paris Saint-Germain and Bordeaux. He started his career with Newell’s Old Boys in Argentina.
POCHETTINO PLAYED CENTER BACK FOR ARGENTINA IN THE 2002 WORLD CUP IN JAPAN/KOREA
He played for the Argentina for three years, and represented the country at the 2002 World Cup and the 1999 Copa America and was capped 20 times.
Pochettino began his managerial career at Espanyol in January 2009, remaining in the post for nearly four years.
He then managed in the Premier League, first with Southampton where he led them to an eighth-placed finish in the 2013-2014, their highest league position since 2002-2003 while also recording their highest points tally since the Premier League began in 1992-93.
POCHETTINO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR GIVING HARRY KANE THE BREAK.
After one season at Southampton, he was signed by Tottenham.
When I left England in 2015, Tottenham was a club in transition. Pochettino just finished his first season with the club and what a season it was. They just finished 5th with 19 wins seven loses and 12 draws for 64 pts., behind Manchester United, Arsenal, Manchester City and champion Chelsea.
Tottenham just came from a tumultuous 2013-14 season where Gareth Bale’s departure and subsequent £100-million spend resulted in instability.
ANDRE VILLAS-BOAS TIM SHERWOOD
They had two managerial changes. Andre Villas-Boas, who was replaced by Tim Sherwood who was also fired at the end of the season and was replaced by Pochettino.
High point
Season 2014-15 high point was Tottenham’s 5-3 New Years Day win over champion Chelsea and the beating bitter rival Arsenal, after going a goal behind.
The 1-0 home defeat to Aston Villa however virtually ended their hopes of a securing a top four finish and an entry to the lucrative UEFA Champions League.
SEASON 2014-15 WAS THE SEASON HARRY KANE BECAME A SUPERSTAR
Season 2014-15 was also a turning point for the Spurs as that was the year when Harry Kane became a superstar.
Harry Kane had a breakout season. A season he will never forget. He also became a fan favourite with the White Hart Lane fanatics screaming, ‘Harry Kane, he’s one of our own.’
A YOUNG HARRY KANE (right) WITH DAVID BECKHAM AT THE DAVID BECKHAM FOOTBALL ACADEMY.
Harry Edward Kane was born and raised in Walthamstow, borough near Tottenham and very famous for the Walthamstow Market.
He began his professional career at Tottenham Hotspur, where, after fast progression through the team’s youth academy, he was promoted to the senior team in 2009, at age 16.
Kane did not initially feature for the side, and was loaned out several times to other clubs like Leyton Orient, Millwall, Leicester City and Norwich City.
Kane’s involvement at Tottenham began to increase following the appointment of Pochettino in 2014.
HARRY KANE WEARING THE ENGLAND CAPTAIN’S ARMBAND
In his first full season at the club, Kane scored 31 goals across all competitions, and finished as the league’s second highest goalscorer, winning the PFA Young Player of the Year award.
After the following campaign, at age 23, Kane finished as league’s top scorer and guided the club to Champions League qualification.
In the 2016-17 Kane also completed the season as the league’s top goalscorer, and helped the club finish as the competition’s runners-up, while he won the PFA Fns Player of the Year award.
In the 2017-18 Kane registered his best campaign statistically to date, with 41 goals scored in 48 games in all competitions.
Kane holds the record for most Premier League Player of the Month awards with six (shared with Steven Gerrard and has been selected for the PFA Team of the Year four times.
He established himself as Tottenham’s fourth all-time scorer in official competitions in January 2019, and holds the best strike-rate (0.70 goals per game) in Premier League history.
Kane has scored 22 goals in 37 games for England. He appeared and scored at every youth level, and made his senior debut in March 2015 at age 21, where he scored on his debut.
Kane featured and scored at UAFA Euro 2016 qualifying, before he was selected as the squad’s captain from May 2018, prior to the 2018 FIFA World Cup where he led England to fourth-place, their highest finish since 1990. He also finished as the top goalscorer, winning the Golden Boot award.
BEFORE THE WHITE HART LANE, TOTTENHAM HAD AN ANCIENT BUS AND STADIUM
The Hotspur Football Club was formed in 1882 by a group of schoolboys from Saint John’s Middle Class School and Tottenham Grammar School.
Mostly aged 13 to 14, the boys were members of the Hotspur Cricket Club formed two years earlier. The boys conceived the idea of a football club so they could continue to play sport during the winter months. Club lore states that the boys gathered one night under a lamppost along Tottenham High Road about 100 yards/metres from the now-demolished White Hart Lane ground, and agreed to form a football club.
The Spurs started the 2018-19 UEFA Champions League poorly, gaining only one point in the first three games of the group stage. They managed to qualify for the knockout phase with a late equalising goal against Barcelona.
After beating Borussia Dortmund of Germany in the Round of 16, the team staged a dramatic win on away goals (4–4 on aggregate) against against Manchester City in the quarter-final, followed by a last-gasp victory over Ajax in the dying seconds of the semi-final, achieved with a hat-trick by Lucas Moura to overcome a 3–0 deficit on aggregate in the second half of the return leg.
The Spurs have reached their first ever Champions League final against another English team Liverpool. Expect the Tottenham hoards to invade theWanda Metropolitano stadium (home of the Atletico Madrid) in Madrid Spain on June 2. It will be another night without sleep for the Spurs fans here in the Philippines. (l.biantan@gmail.com)
