Spurs bid farewell to White Hart Lane after 118 years

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White Hart Lane, the home of Spurs for more than 100 years, will be demolished following the game against Manchester United on Sunday.

Tottenham moved to the ground in 1899, taking over a disused nursery owned by the brewers Charrington. A crowd of 5,000 turned up for the first match there, against Notts County.

Soon White Hart Lane had a capacity of 32,000. When Spurs were granted Football League status in 1909, the architect Archibald Leitch helped rebuild Tottenham's home, introducing the cockerel that has overlooked the ground ever since.

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In the century since then the stadium has been redeveloped several times and would be unrecognisable to a fan from the early 20th century. But in order to keep pace with their Premier League rivals Spurs have now decided to rebuild the entire stadium on land next to the old White Hart Lane.

The new 60,000-seater stadium is already well underway and Tottenham will return home in time for the start of the 2018-19 season after one season playing at Wembley.

The move is necessary, says Tom Fordyce of the BBC. The logic of their move is inescapable but so too is "the sadness for an old home shortly to be reduced to rubble"

"The Shelf is long gone, the Paxton Road end transformed, even the new West Stand that once seemed so vast and modern in the 1980s, as you came in on the train or along the High Road, [is] now a little tired and outdated."

However, the memories remain.

"That pitch is the living connection to it all: where the league titles of 1951 and 1961 were finally won, both against Sheffield Wednesday; the left wing where Gareth Bale tortured Inter Milan's Maicon in November 2010; the goalmouth where Tony Parks saved a penalty from Anderlecht's Arnor Gudjohnsen to win the Uefa Cup final in 1984. The penalty boxes where Steve Perryman scored twice against AC Milan in the semi-final of the 1972 Uefa Cup; the little patch where Terry Dyson played a one-two with Danny Blanchflower before lashing in his third goal against Arsenal in August 1961."

Other famous Lilywhites have "enchanted" White Hart Lane says Tom Allnutt of the Daily Mirror. Dave Mackay, Jimmy Greaves, Glenn Hoddle, Ossie Ardiles, David Ginola, Jurgen Klinsmann and Gareth Bale are "just some of those to have made the deepest impressions".

"Tottenham's new 61,000-seater stadium next door to the current White Hart Lane is due to open its doors in August next year, following one season playing at Wembley.

But for all the boosted revenues, retractable turfs and see-through tunnels, the feeling may never be quite the same."

Spurs snub Arsenal heroes for White Hart Lane parade

3 May

Spurs will stage a parade of legends after their final game at White Hart Lane before it is demolished, but appeared to blackball players with close links to local rivals Arsenal.

Next week's event, which takes place after the match against Manchester United, will be missing former captain Sol Campbell and manager George Graham.

"The former Tottenham captain has not been invited back to the ground where he began his professional career, with the club concerned that a day of celebration… could be overshadowed by a backlash from fans," reports The Times.

"They regard Campbell as a hate figure after his decision to join Arsenal, their north London rivals, on a free transfer in 2001."

Graham, who won the League Cup with Spurs in 1999, "has also been ignored because of his association with Arsenal", adds the paper.

When West Ham left Upton Park last season, they invited every single living player to have represented the club to mark the occasion.

In contrast, "Tottenham have invited only 80 former players to take part in a legends parade, with only five of their managers from the past 30 years due to attend the match against United. David Pleat, Terry Venables, Glenn Hoddle, Martin Jol and Harry Redknapp are expected to turn out."

Juande Ramos, the last Spurs manager to lift a trophy, when he guided the team to the League Cup in 2008, will also be absent.

However, Paul Gascoigne will be invited along with more recent White Hart Lane heroes such as Gareth Bale, the Real Madrid star currently sidelined with a calf injury.

"Gascoigne became a Spurs legend during his three years at the club, winning the FA Cup and amassing 112 appearances," says the Daily Mirror.

"The former England international went down in Tottenham folklore after his free-kick against bitter rivals Arsenal at Wembley sent Spurs into the 1991 FA Cup final. He also won the coveted BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 1990 and was named as the club's own Player of the Year."