Spurs, Wembley and the Daily Mail

[Martin Lol]

Very well informed, the meeting with Wembley was yesterday afternoon!

 

Spurs open talks to use Wembley while White Hart Lane is redeveloped

By DANNY GRIFFITHS

 

Last updated at 11:15am on 3rd May 2007

 

 

Tottenham have moved a step closer to a major redevelopment of White Hart Lane by opening talks aimed at becoming temporary tenants at Wembley.

 

 

Spurs are determined to cement a permanent place in the Champions League over the next few seasons but are fully aware the 36,000 capacity at their High Road home is just not big enough to pull in the revenue needed to back their ambitious project.

 

The club wants to rebuild the Lane in instalments with the major additions being to the West Stand, East Stand and Paxton Road sections of the ground.

 

New facilities will include restaurants and a museum and shops and businesses on the High Road and behind the north end of the ground have already been bought up and are ready for demolition as soon as final agreements about the building work are signed.

 

There will eventually be enough room for more than 50,000 fans to watch Martin Jol's team in action - and with 23,000 current season ticket holders, 20,000 more on the waiting list and a burgeoning membership scheme, there should not be any problems in filling all the seats on a regular basis.

 

Key to work beginning on White Hart Lane is the redevelopment of the Northumberland Park rail station and an extension to underground services on the Victoria line.

 

But it is believed Tottenham, in partnership with Haringey Council, have successfully petitioned Transport for London and that the work will go ahead.

 

Spurs believe moving to the lavish new Wembley is the best way to overcome the difficulties presented by the major reconstruction works.

 

They have ruled out groundsharing with neighbours Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, even though it is nearer to White Hart Lane and easier for most of their supporters to travel to.

 

The redevelopment work could start as early as next year meaning Spurs would move to Wembley for the 2008/2009 campaign.

 

And if all goes to plan, it will be a major feather in the cap of dynamic Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, who has already turned round the club's fortunes on the pitch with his strong boardroom leadership.

 

A Tottenham source said: "There has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes for a couple of years now and the club are hope their plans will soon come to fruition."

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=452429&in_page_id=1779&ito=newsnow

 

They also said yesterday:

 

Spurs 'agree £7.5m deal' for French centre half

Last updated at 17:51pm on 2nd May 2007

 

 

Tottenham have reportedly agreed a £7.5million fee with Auxerre for French defender Younes Kaboul.

 

The 21-year-old centre back has attracted interest from Lyon, Liverpool and Portsmouth, but reports in France today claimed a deal has been struck with Spurs.

 

Head coach Martin Jol is anxious to bolster his defensive options next season and is understood to have watched Kaboul play for Auxerre against Lyon last month.

 

Club representatives were spotted at Auxerre's goalless draw against Lyon this month and boss Martin Jol is believed to have been one of them.

 

 

Spurs have been short of cover at the back this season with captain Ledley King only recently returned after a long-term foot injury.

 

Fellow centre half Anthony Gardner has not played since breaking his leg against Chelsea in March.

 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/sport/football.html?in_article_id=452224&in_page_id=1779

 

 

Add to that close to signing one of your near neighbour's youngsters and an Icelandic wonderkid coming on trial, it's all very promising right now.

[Guest smoggeordie]

soooooooo not reading that.

[Tooj]

soooooooo not reading that.

 

Then just leave the thread alone.

[Guest smoggeordie]

soooooooo not reading that.

 

Then just leave the thread alone.

 

Why've you turned all plebbish recently?

[Tooj]

soooooooo not reading that.

 

Then just leave the thread alone.

 

Why've you turned all plebbish recently?

 

I'm tribune of the plebs man.

[Guest smoggeordie]

[junkhead]

fucking spurs fucking die

[Baggio]

Spurs couldn't even sell out their semi final against Arsenal.

 

I can't see them selling out a 40,000 seater stadium on a regular basis.

[Guest alex]

Does anyone on here apart from Jol actually give a fuck about this btw?

[Baggio]

From the Express

 

Tottenham fail to sell out North London derby

 

In the days of Jimmy Greaves the North London derby was one of the biggest fixtures on the calendar.  Since 1970 alone there have been 7 gates in the North London derby of over 50,000, prior to that in Tottenham’s double winning season of 1960/1961 saw a massive 65,962 see a 4-2 home win, while 72,164 saw the fixture at Highbury in one early fifties game.

 

For a lot of Arsenal fans the North London derby is still up there as the highlight of the season.  With the influx of new fans since the SKY boom it is fair to say fixtures against Manchester United and Chelsea are as important or if not more so than games against Spurs.

 

However the same can be said of how Spurs view the fixture.  As much as Tottenham fans hold the club in high esteem, the club have only managed to come in the top five once during this period.  It’s fair to say they are viewed as a perennial mid-table club, who have more money than a lot of their counter parts but can’t seem to get it right.  They have a good young squad, Martin Jol has give the masses hope for the future certainly, they’ve even began to sell out their little 36,000 capacity stadium on a regular basis something which was far from evident through-out the 1990’s. 

 

There was a claim recently Tottenham had a season ticket waiting list of 30,000, a quick phone call to the ticket office reveals tickets are actually available for next season.

 

Tottenham’s last silverware was the League Cup in 1999 when an Allan Nielsen goal gave them a 1-0 win over Leicester City at Wembley.  Like a lot of clubs who haven’t had a great deal of success like Everton, Newcastle United, West Ham United and Aston Villa, there’s a great deal of hunger for success.  Or is there? 

 

Surely this seasons League Cup is their best chance in years of winning some silverware.  A semi final at home, surely the biggest fixture for Spurs fans in recent seasons, but not only that, a fixture against the bitter enemy, often described as the “Woolwich refugees”, surely 100,000 would want to attend such a fixture.

 

I think it’s fair to say given the nature of the tie, one step from the final the ticketing demands of Liverpool v Everton, Newcastle v Sunderland, Manchester United v Manchester City or Rangers v Celtic, would surely reach in to six figures.  Not at White Hart Lane.  The self proclaimed best fans in London failed to sell out their biggest game in years.  On advice of the police, the ticket office stopped selling at 12pm yesterday and 800 tickets remained unsold. 

 

You could argue that ticket prices are to blame, some of the seats unsold cost as much as £71, you could argue Arsenal use an under strength team in the Carling Cup, you could even argue, that Tottenham only had 12 days to sell the tickets.  All of these are pathetic arguments, the fact remains the club couldn’t sell out their biggest game in years against their bitter local rivals, with tickets on general sale on the day of the game.  If Tottenham had a ground the size of Arsenal, Manchester United or even Newcastle United, virtually half the ground would remain empty.  Last night proved their little White Hart Lane base is perfectly adequate for a club of their size.

[Baggio]

Does anyone on here apart from Jol actually give a f*** about this btw?

 

Aye, Kingdawson.

[NUFC06]

Im pissed that they are always after good,young players

I hate them for that

[Guest]

Im pissed that they are always after good,young players

I hate them for that

 

Meh, that was us 4-5 years ago although we did actually do something of note. Spurs are still in the mid-table also-rans.

[Martin Lol]

From the Express

 

Tottenham fail to sell out North London derby

 

In the days of Jimmy Greaves the North London derby was one of the biggest fixtures on the calendar.  Since 1970 alone there have been 7 gates in the North London derby of over 50,000, prior to that in Tottenhams double winning season of 1960/1961 saw a massive 65,962 see a 4-2 home win, while 72,164 saw the fixture at Highbury in one early fifties game.

 

For a lot of Arsenal fans the North London derby is still up there as the highlight of the season.  With the influx of new fans since the SKY boom it is fair to say fixtures against Manchester United and Chelsea are as important or if not more so than games against Spurs.

 

However the same can be said of how Spurs view the fixture.  As much as Tottenham fans hold the club in high esteem, the club have only managed to come in the top five once during this period.  Its fair to say they are viewed as a perennial mid-table club, who have more money than a lot of their counter parts but cant seem to get it right.  They have a good young squad, Martin Jol has give the masses hope for the future certainly, theyve even began to sell out their little 36,000 capacity stadium on a regular basis something which was far from evident through-out the 1990s. 

 

There was a claim recently Tottenham had a season ticket waiting list of 30,000, a quick phone call to the ticket office reveals tickets are actually available for next season.

 

Tottenhams last silverware was the League Cup in 1999 when an Allan Nielsen goal gave them a 1-0 win over Leicester City at Wembley.  Like a lot of clubs who havent had a great deal of success like Everton, Newcastle United, West Ham United and Aston Villa, theres a great deal of hunger for success.  Or is there? 

 

Surely this seasons League Cup is their best chance in years of winning some silverware.  A semi final at home, surely the biggest fixture for Spurs fans in recent seasons, but not only that, a fixture against the bitter enemy, often described as the Woolwich refugees, surely 100,000 would want to attend such a fixture.

 

I think its fair to say given the nature of the tie, one step from the final the ticketing demands of Liverpool v Everton, Newcastle v Sunderland, Manchester United v Manchester City or Rangers v Celtic, would surely reach in to six figures.  Not at White Hart Lane.  The self proclaimed best fans in London failed to sell out their biggest game in years.  On advice of the police, the ticket office stopped selling at 12pm yesterday and 800 tickets remained unsold. 

 

You could argue that ticket prices are to blame, some of the seats unsold cost as much as £71, you could argue Arsenal use an under strength team in the Carling Cup, you could even argue, that Tottenham only had 12 days to sell the tickets.  All of these are pathetic arguments, the fact remains the club couldnt sell out their biggest game in years against their bitter local rivals, with tickets on general sale on the day of the game.  If Tottenham had a ground the size of Arsenal, Manchester United or even Newcastle United, virtually half the ground would remain empty.  Last night proved their little White Hart Lane base is perfectly adequate for a club of their size.

 

An article from a newspaper which has a corporate box at the Emirates.  I wouldn't expect anything different from them tbh.

[Baggio]

From the Express

 

Tottenham fail to sell out North London derby

 

In the days of Jimmy Greaves the North London derby was one of the biggest fixtures on the calendar.  Since 1970 alone there have been 7 gates in the North London derby of over 50,000, prior to that in Tottenham’s double winning season of 1960/1961 saw a massive 65,962 see a 4-2 home win, while 72,164 saw the fixture at Highbury in one early fifties game.

 

For a lot of Arsenal fans the North London derby is still up there as the highlight of the season.  With the influx of new fans since the SKY boom it is fair to say fixtures against Manchester United and Chelsea are as important or if not more so than games against Spurs.

 

However the same can be said of how Spurs view the fixture.  As much as Tottenham fans hold the club in high esteem, the club have only managed to come in the top five once during this period.  It’s fair to say they are viewed as a perennial mid-table club, who have more money than a lot of their counter parts but can’t seem to get it right.  They have a good young squad, Martin Jol has give the masses hope for the future certainly, they’ve even began to sell out their little 36,000 capacity stadium on a regular basis something which was far from evident through-out the 1990’s. 

 

There was a claim recently Tottenham had a season ticket waiting list of 30,000, a quick phone call to the ticket office reveals tickets are actually available for next season.

 

Tottenham’s last silverware was the League Cup in 1999 when an Allan Nielsen goal gave them a 1-0 win over Leicester City at Wembley.  Like a lot of clubs who haven’t had a great deal of success like Everton, Newcastle United, West Ham United and Aston Villa, there’s a great deal of hunger for success.  Or is there? 

 

Surely this seasons League Cup is their best chance in years of winning some silverware.  A semi final at home, surely the biggest fixture for Spurs fans in recent seasons, but not only that, a fixture against the bitter enemy, often described as the “Woolwich refugees”, surely 100,000 would want to attend such a fixture.

 

I think it’s fair to say given the nature of the tie, one step from the final the ticketing demands of Liverpool v Everton, Newcastle v Sunderland, Manchester United v Manchester City or Rangers v Celtic, would surely reach in to six figures.  Not at White Hart Lane.  The self proclaimed best fans in London failed to sell out their biggest game in years.  On advice of the police, the ticket office stopped selling at 12pm yesterday and 800 tickets remained unsold. 

 

You could argue that ticket prices are to blame, some of the seats unsold cost as much as £71, you could argue Arsenal use an under strength team in the Carling Cup, you could even argue, that Tottenham only had 12 days to sell the tickets.  All of these are pathetic arguments, the fact remains the club couldn’t sell out their biggest game in years against their bitter local rivals, with tickets on general sale on the day of the game.  If Tottenham had a ground the size of Arsenal, Manchester United or even Newcastle United, virtually half the ground would remain empty.  Last night proved their little White Hart Lane base is perfectly adequate for a club of their size.

 

An article from a newspaper which has a corporate box at the Emirates.  I wouldn't expect anything different from them tbh.

 

Are you denying you couldn't sell all of your tickets?

[NUFC06]

Im pissed that they are always after good,young players

I hate them for that

 

Meh, that was us 4-5 years ago although we did actually do something of note. Spurs are still in the mid-table also-rans.

 

They are going into the right direction and if we continue under Roeder im expecting that in the next 2 seasons they will be well above us.

This season they played some great football and we were playing like crap under Roeder

[Guest Emre05]

If they sign this Kaboul guy for 7.5 million.. I cant see them been after Curtis Davies as well.

 

 

[Thorpinho]

Martin Jol you criticise a quote coming from the Express, but are wetting yourself in excitement about a link with a player in the DAILY MAIL??? You do realise that the Mail lies on a daily basis about most things right?

 

And on the whole spurs to wembley thing, I think that would be an absolute shame and yet another example of the FA whoring their amazing stadium around, when it should be reserved for special occassions. Spurs would be able to fill 50% of it at most anyway.

[Disco]

I hope they are made to pay extortionate fees to rent Wembley by the FA. No team should be allowed to devalue the national stadium after they spunked so much money on it. On a plus side, shud mean we get a trip there in a couple of years and some of the away followings taking there are going to be huge giving the chance.

[Guest kingdawson]

Im pissed that they are always after good,young players

I hate them for that

 

Meh, that was us 4-5 years ago although we did actually do something of note. Spurs are still in the mid-table also-rans.

 

If you call a 5th place finish and a possible top six finish as mid-table then you're right .

[Guest]

And if you finish 8th which is where you are now, then I'm right.

[Cajun]

Bovvered!

[Guest kingdawson]

And if you finish 8th which is where you are now, then I'm right.

 

Actually were currently 9th tbh. Get it right Nit

[Stevie]

Spurs couldn't even sell out their semi final against Arsenal.

 

I can't see them selling out a 40,000 seater stadium on a regular basis.

Exactly. 

 

No-one cares Jol.

[Stevie]

From the Express

 

Tottenham fail to sell out North London derby

 

In the days of Jimmy Greaves the North London derby was one of the biggest fixtures on the calendar.  Since 1970 alone there have been 7 gates in the North London derby of over 50,000, prior to that in Tottenhams double winning season of 1960/1961 saw a massive 65,962 see a 4-2 home win, while 72,164 saw the fixture at Highbury in one early fifties game.

 

For a lot of Arsenal fans the North London derby is still up there as the highlight of the season.  With the influx of new fans since the SKY boom it is fair to say fixtures against Manchester United and Chelsea are as important or if not more so than games against Spurs.

 

However the same can be said of how Spurs view the fixture.  As much as Tottenham fans hold the club in high esteem, the club have only managed to come in the top five once during this period.  Its fair to say they are viewed as a perennial mid-table club, who have more money than a lot of their counter parts but cant seem to get it right.  They have a good young squad, Martin Jol has give the masses hope for the future certainly, theyve even began to sell out their little 36,000 capacity stadium on a regular basis something which was far from evident through-out the 1990s. 

 

There was a claim recently Tottenham had a season ticket waiting list of 30,000, a quick phone call to the ticket office reveals tickets are actually available for next season.

 

Tottenhams last silverware was the League Cup in 1999 when an Allan Nielsen goal gave them a 1-0 win over Leicester City at Wembley.  Like a lot of clubs who havent had a great deal of success like Everton, Newcastle United, West Ham United and Aston Villa, theres a great deal of hunger for success.  Or is there? 

 

Surely this seasons League Cup is their best chance in years of winning some silverware.  A semi final at home, surely the biggest fixture for Spurs fans in recent seasons, but not only that, a fixture against the bitter enemy, often described as the Woolwich refugees, surely 100,000 would want to attend such a fixture.

 

I think its fair to say given the nature of the tie, one step from the final the ticketing demands of Liverpool v Everton, Newcastle v Sunderland, Manchester United v Manchester City or Rangers v Celtic, would surely reach in to six figures.  Not at White Hart Lane.  The self proclaimed best fans in London failed to sell out their biggest game in years.  On advice of the police, the ticket office stopped selling at 12pm yesterday and 800 tickets remained unsold. 

 

You could argue that ticket prices are to blame, some of the seats unsold cost as much as £71, you could argue Arsenal use an under strength team in the Carling Cup, you could even argue, that Tottenham only had 12 days to sell the tickets.  All of these are pathetic arguments, the fact remains the club couldnt sell out their biggest game in years against their bitter local rivals, with tickets on general sale on the day of the game.  If Tottenham had a ground the size of Arsenal, Manchester United or even Newcastle United, virtually half the ground would remain empty.  Last night proved their little White Hart Lane base is perfectly adequate for a club of their size.

 

Good read that, and it sums them up.  Like a Southern Coventry City in effect.