Tottenham Club Information
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Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is an English professional football club which currently plays in the Premier League. Commonly referred to as Spurs, the club's home stadium is White Hart Lane, Tottenham, in the London Borough of Haringey (N17).
Tottenham were the first club in the 20th century to achieve the League and FA Cup Double, winning both competitions in the 1960-61 season. In 1963, Spurs became the first British club to win a major European trophy - the European Cup Winners' Cup. In the 1980s, Spurs won several trophies: the FA Cup twice, FA Community Shield and the UEFA Cup 1983-84. In addition, they are the current Football League Cup holders, beating Chelsea 2-1 in extra time. This victory means that Tottenham have won a trophy in each of the last six decades - an achievement only matched by Manchester United.
The club's Latin motto is Audere est Facere (lit: "To Dare is To Do"), and its emblem is a cockerel standing upon a football. The club has a long-standing rivalry with near neighbours Arsenal and matches between the two teams are known as the North London derby.
White Heart Lane
White Hart Lane was originally a disused nursery owned by the brewery, Charringtons, and located behind a public house. The landlord realised the increased revenues he could enjoy if Tottenham played their matches behind his pub and the club moved in. They brought with them the terrace 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 bringing 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.
In 1905 Tottenham raised enough money to buy the freehold to the land and became the permanent owners of the ground. As the club grew new stands were added. A new main stand was added in 1909, the East stand was also covered this year and extended further two years later. The profits from the 1921 FA Cup win were used to build a covered terrace at the Paxton Road end and the Park Lane end was built at a cost of over £3,000 some two years later. This increased the WHL capacity to around 58,000 with room for 40,000 under cover. The East Stand development was finishing in 1934 which increased the capacity to around 80,000 spectators and cost £60,000. The pitch was renovated in 1952 which uncovered a number of items from the old nursery on the site and one year later the first floodlights were introduced. These lights were upgraded in 1957 which required the cockerel to be moved from the West Stand to the East and then in 1961 floodlight pylons were installed.
The West Stand was replaced by an expensive (and far behind schedule) new structure and the stadium started its long modernisation process. Various developments and upgrades were implemented over the years and in 1992 the lower terraces of the south and east stand were converted to seating and the whole of the North stand followed to become all-seater the following season. The South Stand re-development was completed in March 1995 and included the first giant Sony Jumbotron TV screen for live game coverage and away match screenings. The capacity of the stadium increased to just over 33,000. In 1997/98 season the Paxton Road stand had a new upper tier added which included the second Jumbotron screen and increased capacity to 36,240 and was funded by a rights issue in 1996.
Future plans of Tottenham
Tottenham are currently seeking a larger stadium. This may involve expanding White Hart Lane or moving to a new site. The club stated in 2007 that it will announce its preferred option in the first half of 2008, however in an update it has stated that it will not be able to make an announcement within that timeframe and that it will notify the supporters of any developments in the coming months. Tony Winterbottom, formerly of the London Development Agency, who worked on development of Arsenal's Emirates Stadium, is reportedly leading the development of the plans for the new stadium. In April 2008 it was revealed in the press that investigations were taking place into the possible use of the adjacent Wingate industrial estate. If planning permission and the agreement of the current businesses there was granted, a 55-60,000 seat stadium could be constructed on the site.
The Tottenham Crest
Since the 1901 FA Cup final the Tottenham Hotspur crest has featured a cockerel. Harry Hotspur (from whom the club is said to take its name) was famed for his riding spurs and fighting cocks were fitted with spurs which can be seen in the crests.[41] In 1909 a former player named William James Scott made a bronze cast of a cockerel standing on a football to be placed on top of the West Stand and since then the cockerel and ball have been the major part of the club's identity.
Between 1956 and 2006 the Spurs used a coat of arms featuring a number of landmarks and associations linked to local area. The lions flanking the shield came from the Northumberland family's arms. They owned large areas of Tottenham and Sir Henry Percy (Harry Hotspur) was a family member. The castle alludes to Bruce Castle located 400 yards from the ground and which now houses a museum. The trees are those of Seven Sisters which were planted at Page Green by the Seven Sisters of Tottenham and after whom a railway/tube station and main road are named. The arms featured the Latin motto "Audere Est Facere".
In 1983 to overcome unauthorised "pirate" merchandising the club's badge was altered by adding the two red lions as heraldic and the motto scroll. This device appeared on most Spurs' playing kits for the next 23 years.
To rebrand and modernise the club's image, in 2006 both this club badge and the coat of arms gave way to a professionally-designed logo/emblem. This revamp features a leaner/fitter cockerel and an old-time football together with the club name. The club claims that the rebranding kept much of the original meaning of the name, and emphasised its originality.
Tottenahm Hotspur Ownership
Since 2001 the key shareholder has been ENIC International Ltd, an investment company established by the British billionaire Joseph Lewis. Daniel Levy, Lewis's partner at ENIC, is Executive Chairman of the club.
By June 2007 ENIC increased its direct holding to 68% by purchasing all of former chairman Alan Sugar's remaining 14.7% holding. Stelios Haji-Ioannou held a 9.9 per cent stake through Hodram Inc in June 2006, but has since either sold all, or at least 70 per cent, of his holding, as ENIC is now the only shareholder with a 3 percent or more stake. In addition the Annual Report for the year ending June 30 2007 also indicates that ENIC now directly holds convertible redeemable preference shares giving it a combined overall 82% beneficial interest in Tottenham Hotspur plc.
Tottenham Fans and Support
Tottenham have a large fanbase in the United Kingdom, drawn largely from North London and the Home Counties, with home matches traditionally attracting very high attendances. In several seasons during the 1950s and 1960s, Tottenham had the highest average attendance in England. There are also Tottenham supporters' clubs located all over the world.
Tottenham supporters have rivalries with several clubs mainly within the London area the fiercest of these being with North London rivals Arsenal. They also share notable rivalries with fellow London clubs Chelsea and West Ham United.
Tottenham has the third-highest all-time average attendance behind Manchester United and Liverpool.
The club, as with many clubs in London, has a large Jewish following and this led to much provocation against Tottenham supporters of an anti-semitic nature. Tottenham supporters, Jewish and non-Jewish, united against this and adopted for themselves the nickname Yids, developing chants to support this. Many of the fans view adopting “Yid” as a badge of pride as helping defuse its power as an insult. Today it is mainly used as to distinguish themselves from other football supporters. Many fans, however, disagree with the use of calling themselves "Yid", and believe it will only attract more racism.
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