The number of authentic football stadiums in England is sadly dwindling. Gone are historic, but antiquated, stadiums such as Arsenal’s Highbury, Man City’s Maine Road, Bolton’s Baseball Ground, Middlesbrough’s Ayresome Park and others.
And now, it seems, that another legendary stadium could be on its way out. This time, it’s the majestic White Hart Lane, home of Tottenham Hotspur.
According to an article in The Guardian newspaper, Spurs are seriously considering moving to London’s Olympic Stadium, which is being built for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. In many ways, though, Spurs would be daft not to consider the move. The club will find it easier to move to a new home than to try to renovate White Hart Lane.
The move, though, would seriously depress many Spurs fans and football stadium lovers. White Hart Lane has been the home of Spurs since 1899. However the capacity of 36,240 prevents Spurs from competing in terms of ticket revenue with Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium (60,000 capacity) and Man United’s Old Trafford (76,000 capacity).
If White Hart Lane does disappear, there’ll only be a few Premiership grounds left that are the older style with their own character that has graced the English game for so long. They include Everton’s Goodison Park, Liverpool’s Anfield, Portsmouth’s Fratton Park and Fulham’s Craven Cottage. I don’t include in this list the following grounds, since they’ve been renovated so much that they’re more modern nowadays: Old Trafford, Villa Park, Stamford Bridge, St James’s Park, and Boleyn Ground. That said, at the end of the day, White Hart Lane itself is pretty modern after some of the redevelopment in the 80s and 90s.
