Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Founded in 1882, Tottenham won the FA Cup for the first time in 1901, making them the only non-League club to do so since the formation of the Football League in 1888. Tottenham were the first club in the 20th century to achieve the League and FA Cup Double, winning both competitions in the 1960–61 season. After successfully defending the FA Cup in 1962, in 1963 they became the first British club to win aUEFA club competition – the European Cup Winners’ Cup. In 1967, Spurs won the FA Cup for a third time in the 1960s. In the 1970s Tottenham won the League Cup on two occasions and were the inaugural winner of the UEFA Cup in 1972, becoming the first British club to win two different major European trophies. In the 1980s Spurs won several trophies: the FA Cup twice, FA Community Shield and the UEFA Cup in 1984. In the 1990s the club won the FA Cup and the League Cup. When they won the League Cup once more in 2008, it meant that they had won a major trophy in each of the last six decades – an achievement only matched by Manchester United.

The club’s Latin motto is Audere est Facere (lit: “To Dare Is to Do”), and its emblem is a cockerel standing upon a football. The club has a long-standing rivalry with nearby neighbours Arsenal, with head-to-head fixtures known as the North London derby.

History

The club was formed in 1882, as Hotspur F.C., and played in the Southern League from 1896 until 1908, when they were elected into the Football League Second Division. Before this promotion Tottenham had won the FA Cup in 1901, making them the only non-League club to (or likely to) do so since the formation of the Football League.

Since then, Tottenham have won the FA Cup a further seven times, the Football League twice, the Football League Cup four times, the UEFA Cup twice and also the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. The Cup Winners’ Cup victory in 1963 made Tottenham the first English team to win a UEFA competition. In 1960–61 they became the first team to complete The Double in the 20th century.

Stadium

Tottenham played their first matches at Tottenham Marshes on the available public pitches and remained there for six years. It was at this ground that Spurs first played arch rivals Arsenal (then known as Royal Arsenal), leading 2–1 until the match got called off due to poor light after the away team arrived late. There were occasions on which fights would break out on the marshes in dispute of the teams that were allowed to use the best pitches. Crowd sizes were regularly increasing and a new site was becoming needed to accommodate these supporters.

In 1898 the club moved from the marshes to Northumberland Park and charged an admission fee of 3d (£0.0125). They only remained at this ground for a year as in April 1899, 14,000 fans turned up to watch Spurs play Woolwich Arsenal. The ground was no longer able to cope with the larger crowds and Spurs were forced to move to a new larger site 100 yards down the road, to the current ground.

The White Hart Lane ground was originally a disused nursery owned by the brewery Charringtons and located behind a public house on Tottenham High Road (the actual White Hart Lane road lies a few hundred yards north of the main entrance). The landlord spotted the increased income he could enjoy if Tottenham played their matches behind his pub and in 1899 the club moved in. They brought with them the stand they used at Northumberland Park which gave shelter to 2,500 fans. Notts County were the first visitors to ‘the Lane’ in a friendly watched by 5,000 people and provided in £115 in receipts; Spurs won 4–1. QPR became the first competitive visitors to the ground and 11,000 people saw them lose 1–0 to Tottenham.

In 1905 Tottenham raised enough money to buy the freehold to the land and became permanent owners of the ground. As the club grew new stands were added. A new main stand was added in 1909, the East stand was also covered this year and extended further two years later. The profits from the 1921 FA Cup win were used to build a covered terrace at the Paxton Road end and the Park Lane end was built at a cost of over £3,000 some two years later. This increased the ground’s capacity to around 58,000 with room for 40,000 under cover. The East Stand (Worcester Avenue) stand was finished in 1934 and this increased capacity to around 80,000 spectators but cost £60,000.

The pitch was thoroughly renovated in 1952. This uncovered a number of items from the old nursery on the site and one year later the first floodlights were introduced. The floodlights were upgraded in 1957 which required the cockerel to be moved from the West Stand to the East and then in 1961 floodlight pylons were installed.

The West Stand was replaced by an expensive (and way behind schedule) new structure. Various developments and upgrades were implemented over the years. In 1992, following the Taylor Report’s recommendation that Premier League clubs eliminate standing areas, the lower terraces of the south and east stand were converted to seating, with the north stand becoming all-seater the following season. The south stand redevelopment was completed in March 1995 and included the first giant Sony Jumbotron TV screen for live game coverage and away match screenings. With this, the capacity of the stadium increased to just over 33,000. In 1997/98 season the Paxton Road stand had a new upper tier added which included the second Jumbotron screen and increased capacity to 36,240 and was funded by a rights issue in 1996.

Minor amendments to the seating configuration were made in 2006 bringing the current capacity of the stadium to 36,310.

As an initial consideration Spurs were reported to have considered the possibility of the post-games use of the 2012 London Olympic Stadium. But as this proposal would involve a move out of the immediate Tottenham area and because ongoing users were reportedly required to retain the stadium’s running track, Spurs dropped the plan in October 2006.

But, on 1 October 2010 Tottenham Hotspur’s chairman Daniel Levy advised that the club had registered an interest in bidding for the stadium in conjunction with AEG (Europe) to keep its options open while there remained uncertainties about the success of the Northumberland Development Project.

On 12 November 2010 the Olympic Park Legacy Company (OPLC) announced that the Tottenham Hotspur / AEG consortium had been shortlisted as one of the two preferred bidders to take over the Olympic Stadium after the 2012 Olympics. Then the OPLC announced on 11 February 2011 that West Ham had been selected as the preferred bidder for the Olympic Stadium, subject to final governmental ratification.

Northumberland Development Project

In 2007 the club stated they were considering options to increase stadium capacity by redevelopment of the current site or a move to a new site. Tottenham Hotspur advised in its 2007/8 Interim Financial Statement that the preferred option would be announced in the first half of 2008, but delayed this decision until the autumn.

In October 2008, the club announced that, if approved, they were planning to build a new stadium just to the north of the existing White Hart Lane stadium, with the southern half of the new stadium’s pitch located on the northwest corner of the Lane. The unique design of the build would allow the new stadium to be built adjacent to White Hart Lane as the old facility continued to be used. The plan was that during the summer close season when two-thirds of the new stadium was complete, the northern and western stands would be demolished and a new pitch laid. The rest of the stadium would be built in the years to follow.

The club submitted a planning application in October 2009. But in May 2010, following adverse reaction, this was withdrawn in favour of a substantially revised planning application. Haringey Council were requested in September 2010 to grant permission for a larger stadium and other associated developments (subject to negotiation of ‘section 106’ developer contributions). The Mayor of London gave his approval to the plans to redevelop the stadium on 25 November 2010. On 20 September 2011, planning permission was granted.

The opening date for the new stadium has been rescheduled on multiple occasions but is currently being aimed for use for the start of the 2018/19 season.

On 7 July 2015, Spurs and the National Football League (NFL) of American football jointly announced that the new stadium would host at least two NFL games each season from 2018 through to 2027.

On 25 February 2016, Boris Johnson continued his support for the Northumberland Development Project by granting Tottenham permission to build a new £400 million stadium.  The Mayor of London showed support for the project and said the new stadium will create new jobs and boost growth of the area.

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source:

https://en.wikipedia.org