Tottenham Hotspur are home. Just under two years ago Spurs fans were waving goodbye to White Hart Lane with bags packed for Wembley, but last night, on the same land as that famous old stadium once stood, the club welcomed in a new era as they hosted their first fixture at the new colossal, state-of-the-art, £1b stadium.
Widely acknowledged already as the best stadium in Britain, and it's very difficult to disagree with that, this is a stadium that will leave every club that built a flat-pack, Ikea-esque bowl in the last couple of decades immensely envious. This is an outstanding arena, with every aspect designed to enhance atmosphere and fan experience while delivering a real club identity. We went from the streets to the seats via the pitch-side path to capture an epic inaugural fixture as Tottenham Hotspur hosted, and beat Crystal Palace 2-0 to follow the script in front of nearly 60,000 fans and twice as many fireworks as Spurs showcased their new residence to the watching world.
A thunderous beginning under a storm of hail only added to the dramatic opening ceremony as Spurs lit up the North London skyline before kick off. You have to go back to May 2016 for the last time Spurs lost at White Hart Lane, and that unbeaten stretch continued as goals from Heung Min Son and Christian Eriksen ensured that the party played out to plan. Rivals of Tottenham will say that it's only a stadium, and that's somewhat true, but what Spurs have here is one of the most desirable places to play in world football. It's even ready to adapt to safe-standing should those plans be given the green light. Take a potential new signing around here and they ain't saying no. This is the future for football stadia, but for Spurs it's the present. They're well ahead of the game.
The front row is no more than five metres away from the pitch to ensure that the stadium's atmosphere is maximised.
The steep rake of the imposing single-tiered South Stand has a capacity of 17,500, making it the biggest single-tiered Kop in England.
One Billion pounds sounds a lot but that's pretty much the same price as a London 4-bedroom-semi these days so all-in-all it's a pretty sweet deal, and not one fan would have left last night thinking it wasn't worth every single penny. Mesmerising empty, powerful full, it's a special place and last night was the perfect start. Is this the year that Tottenham Hotspur established themselves as a leading force in world football? Only time will tell. But for the moment, they're at least living in London's most impressive digs.
