A day early, but... CHAIRMAN'S MESSAGE Posted on 7 May 2016 - 10:00 A message to supporters from our Chairman, Daniel Levy, taken from tomorrow's (Sunday, May 8) official matchday programme for the last home game of the season against Southampton. please log in to view this image Dear Supporter We start today's match knowing that a Champions League place is ours to take. Second place would secure our highest league finish since 1963 and mark the culmination of a truly remarkable season. This has been a season when our team has taken to the pitch and reminded us all why we love this game and why we love our Club. A second season under Mauricio and his coaching staff has seen the team achieve far more than we had anticipated. This was a season that saw us go a Club record 14 Premier League games unbeaten and challenge for the title right up until this week. With a blend of youth and experience we have seen a squad built for the future. As you arrived at White Hart Lane for today's match you could not have helped but notice the towering cranes now on the site of the new stadium and, looking up, see our Club emblem proudly displayed on them. They are a clear and distinctive signal of our intent to build for the future both on and off the pitch. please log in to view this image After more than 15 years of land acquisition, nine years in design and planning, we finally have the permissions we need to realise our vision of delivering one of the finest stadiums in the world. We are building what we believe to be the foundations, literally and metaphorically, for the future of our Club. As we move forward we know we shall face challenges and we shall often ask you to support us through these. We are currently progressing the build programme and will share details for the coming seasons with you as soon as we have final clarification. After today's match we shall use the closed period to fast track works on site. Work has commenced on the new Player Lodge at the Training Centre which will provide our players with an exceptional accommodation and recovery facility. This will take around two years to complete. The Club’s First Team and Academy players are our most important assets and this unique and high quality environment will allow us to further improve the care and attention our players receive. Our days have never been busier and we have no intention of standing still. Some days it feels, with schemes of this magnitude, that our battles are off the pitch as well as on. We intend to approach all with sheer determination to deliver the best for our Club. Please take a moment to look around you today and savour the atmosphere of our last home game of a memorable season. Our congratulations go to Leicester City on winning the title. A wonderful achievement and a reminder why the Premier League is the most watched league in the world. It was a thrilling and passionate competition. At times our football has been simply sublime. please log in to view this image A standout feature of this season has been the unity between players and you, our supporters. The players and coaches will take to the pitch after the match today to thank you and applaud you for the immense support you have given them. I shall be proudly applauding you all. I firmly believe that this was a season when so much has come together. Enjoy the Euros and the summer and we look forward to welcoming you all back here next season. Best wishes to you and your families Daniel
Seeing West Ham's Upton Park farewell tonight poses an interesting question as to what we will do when we say goodbye. It's going to be a strange one, as WHL will be semi-demolished already by the time we leave it, so it may be a shadow of its former self already by the time we get to say goodbye. That would be a shame, even if it makes things a little easier emotionally.
I said goodbye to our ground emotionally sometime in the mid '80s when I was going past one day and was mortified to see the East stand being demolished! I could not believe my eyes. I must confess it brought a few tears to them. The ground I had known all my life being desecrated! Well that's how it seemed at the time but of course it was the start of the ground as it is today which in turn is about to undergo the same treatment. The old ground, for all its deprivations and mere basic amenities will always be the most loved in my heart. The excitement of the first floodlights! Early '50s I think. So modern at the time. A post in each corner with about 9 or 12 light bulbs. Another upgrade I recall is when the 4 corners were filled in where the howling draughts blew through on a wild day. Warren Mitchell (Alf Garnet) gave a little speech at half time regarding these and pointed out his seat in one of them "right behind a bloody post" which gave much mirth to everyone. There used to be an alphabet along the middle of the east and west stand and at half time a chap would go along putting numbers in front so A may have a 2 and 1, B a 3 and 0 & so on. Teams from all other matches were listed in the programme with the corresponding letter so at half time we could see at a glance the h/t scores. Now there's technology for you! It worked though. I don't know when the east stand was built but my Dad called it the 'new stand' 'til the day he died in 1992. He used to say he remembered it being built so to him the stadium I knew and loved was very much modernised from his day. The new stadium when its ready may have all the luxuries & high tech gizmos going but I wouldn't swap it for my time at the old place, not for anything. I can still see the band marching round, ending with our then theme tune Mcnamaras Band (where did that come from, anyone know?) I've been trying to recall the words we put to it, something like: "Oh the name is Tottenham Hotspur we're the best team in the land We play the finest football and the spirits something grand We'll win the league we'll win the cup of that there is no doubt And that is the reason why the Tottenham fans all shout La la la for Tottenham Hotspur "etc and of course we did win 'em. I still love my Spurs, that will never pass but I said my emotional goodbye to the ground in the 1980's.
You cannot stand in the way of progress, but similarly you should try and keep some links to the tradition of the past. One of the things that annoyed me about new Wembley is that none of the designs even tried to incorporate a "twin towers" aspect (which was the iconic skyline landmark of the stadium) . Which brings me to the question : what will happen to the gold cockerel when new WHL comes ?? To me that is something that links all the stadium changes across the ages and I want it to remain.
I didn't know that, so pleased that bit of history is still there. It doesn't come over on telly probably adverts on, either that or I'm deafer than I thought! Do you know the origins? It seems odd that an Irish (I think) song has connections to us from way back before Danny's time. I could never understand why Arsenal's song was Anchors Away either. Odd.
I'm sure the cockerel got mentioned in a THST post or a club statement recently. Might be worth rooting around to see if there's anything.
Me too. They said it was not possible, but anything is possible if you spend enough on it so I don't buy that. It's not as if cost was a problem for them, as they seem to have paid vastly over the odds for it anyway (£800 million). The millennium stadium cost £120 million! Don't even think Wembley is anything special and it shouldn't have been built there anyway. Even as a Londoner I would think the national stadium should be roughly where the NEC is. And do you remember the problems they had with the pitch? Anyway, rant over. Oh, one more thing. If Wembley was an American stadium they'd have figured out some way to get a lift or other ride into that arch!
Agreed on the location point. Would it not have made sense for them to build St George's Park and the new Wembley close together? Putting Wembley in the midlands would have been fairer to fans across the country, provided jobs and economic stimulus in an area that needs it, opened up a massive plot in north west London for housing, and probably saved the taxpayer hundreds of millions of pounds. Oh wait though, then it would've been harder to tempt the Club Wembley prawn sandwich brigade
They should put up a giant gold statue of a cockerel taking a sh*t on a giant cannon outside the ground.
Commission a painting of that image. Call it "St Not-teringhams day" . And win the Turner prize in perpetuity.
Q: Cockerels: there are none on view from the inside of the stadium? Imperative we have a cockerel. Already moved the Cockerel clock into reception at Lilywhite house and the original cockerel is now in West Stand reception. Are icons of our history only for VIPs now? A: The clock was actually used to signify the Clubs offices originally so that is in line with its current use in reception at Lilywhite House. The current cockerels will be on show in the museum and accessible to all and the cockerel emblem will be sited at suitable locations in the new stadium. That doesn't sound too promising, to me. Hard to tell though, as it's bloody vague.
