Afraid not. Comic or Northumberland refer to their second name & the back door is a reference to 1908. It should have been us!
I think the penny just dropped?. The club was formed in 1882, as Hotspur F.C., and played in the Southern League from 1896 until 1908, when it was elected into the Football League Second Division. Before this promotion Tottenham had won the FA Cup in 1901, making it the only non-League club to (or likely to) do so since the formation of the Football League. 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 the 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. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tottenham_Hotspur_F.C.
if this is right can someone else have a go as just off too work and dont want to spoil the flow...........cheers guys.
Not quite what I had in mind Kilburn! Northumberland referred to Harry Hotspur, the Duke of Northumberland & the Hotspur was one of the comic's I read as a boy. In 1908 we won the Southern league & it was usual for the champions to then be elected to the Football League. However, that year Tottenham broke tradition & applied for election. What they based their election campaign on I wouldn't have a clue!
Thanks very much for the enlightenment Terry - so much for the alternative theory that I spun together. I too read the Hotspur as a lad and the Eagle I seem to recall?
