Three points, 773 urinals: Spurs play numbers game on and off the pitch | Barney Ronay


Tottenham’s new stadium is a place of wonder underpinned by a crushing anxiety for team success and the money that brings

Welcome back then, Tottenham Hotspur. If the idea was to create something that felt unmistakably like home then the players did their best in the first half against Crystal Palace, producing a performance shot through with anxiety, met by intermittent waves of dread from the home crowd. Hello darkness, my old friend. You can take the twitchy blue-and-white shirts out of White Hart Lane, but you can’t take the Spurs out of Spurs.

Related: Son Heung-min christens new stadium with first Spurs goal in win over Palace

The journey The old White Hart Lane was hidden from view until you were right on top of it. Now the stadium looms over the skyline nearly all the way up the High Road. It adds to the anticipation and feels like away fans will be impressed, even intimidated by it as they approach. 

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