A Stadium Tour of White Hart Lane

I had promised George a stadium tour at White Hart Lane for his birthday present and after lunch we headed off to Tottenham to go on the 2pm tour. We found our way to the temporary shop along the side of the stadium where I found out that if we had wanted to go on the stadium tour we should have booked in advance. Panic ensued as we waited to hear whether there was space for us to join at the last minute - and forget getting the George's ticket for free (he is a junior member) - you can only get that if you book in advance. I was struck by the difference we experienced at Emirates immediately. Our Junior Gunner friend who did the tour with us at Emirates just showed his card and he was welcomed in. Not at Tottenham. But I didn't let my irritation show as we started the tour.

We saw all the hot spots at White Hart Lane. The stadium is really showing it's age but I was glad to see that there were workman there, hopefully sprucing it up - it needs it. There is still no start date for the new stadium according to the tour guide, but they are going to build it onto the side of the old stadium so that they can build and play concurrently. Highlights of the tour included the ancient communal bath in the away changing room, the diggers re-seeding the pitch, finding out about Body Armour being the new kit sponsor and answering several of the tour guild's trivia questions correctly. All in all, I was a little put off by the guide's near-constant put downs of Arsenal. Advice to Spurs - you only substantiate the point of being the lesser club if you feel the need to belittle your rivals all the time. You are a good club and you don't need to be better than Arsenal to prove it.

We finished at the temporary shop and after a toilet break in their MOST DISGUSTING PUBLIC TOILET I HAVE EVER USED, we bought a football and some shorts (for Toby!). Spurs have changed their kit maker, and the Puma kits were being sold for a steep discount. My neighbour, a big Spurs fan, was surprised to see Toby pairing his new shorts with his favourite Arsenal top.

It was a contrast to the welcome we had at Millwall and Charlton.

Our First Tour and more

We set off early to meet other Gooner friends from Northampton for our tour of Emirates. This time we got there easily and the familiar view of the stadium was a welcome sight. After another extended trip through the shop, we set off on our self-guided tour of the stadium. It was great to go at our own pace, but some of us found the headsets cumbersome and the boys did not want to wear them all the time. We probably missed some important facts but it left us to soak in the sites. It was my first view of an actual ground it I found it surprise by how small it looked. When you watching it on TV, it looks immense, but when you are there, and it is empty, it doesn't look so big. The view from the Executive Boxes was wonderful but getting pitch-side was so exciting. Going through the tunnel, sitting in the players seats, and along the boxes that the managers pace back and forth in was amazing. When you are in the changing rooms you can imagine the buzz of the players before and after the matches - celebrating or commiserating. You can picture the manager shouting at the players (or throwing  hair driers) and soothing sore muscles in the Jacuzzi. Now when we watch games on TV, we can really imagine what it must be like for them as they linger in the tunnel and the cheers they hear as they walk out. It was a wonderful treat, but we had alot of ground to cover so we had to say goodbye to our Northampton friends and carry on with our task. More stadiums!

We then took the tube to Seven Sisters and the bus up to White Hart Lane. This was in part to stop George from having a temper tantrum (he was only 5 at the time) and also because Adam hadn't seen the ground. You don't get a very good idea of what the stadium is like from outside White Hart Lane, but we went back into the shop and had a few minutes walk around the surrounding area. There wasn't much atmosphere and after the friendly people at West Ham, and the tour at Emirates, it was a little bit of a letdown. But we had to keep George happy. After more a pit stop for lunch, we went on to Loftus Road for the final visit.

Maybe we were just tired or maybe the approach to the stadium is not so exciting, but again we were a little underwhelmed when we saw the stadium. The people working in the shop ignored us as well and this was not so nice. One thing we thought of later was that Toby and George had not zipped up their coats and their football shirts from the rival teams were showing. This was something that we had made sure to avoid before, so this could have been why the shop assistants ignored us. We tried to engage them in conversation to no avail. After taking lots of photos of the shop, we went out to see the ground and get a feel for the stadium. One interesting thing we learned was something they mentioned about their Neil Warnock Garden Gnome. Apparently that gnome had won some football club gnome competition. We had noticed that all the clubs sold garden gnomes in their shops. I'm not sure if that was true about that gnome. Maybe they were teasing us? I've tried to google it, but I can't find out anything. What about you?

We headed home after that and happily reflected on our adventures and planned our next outing. Thank you for reading. I'll add some more photos soon. - Ali