“Incredible”, “emotional” and “fantastic” were just some of the words used by Tottenham Hotspur fans as they got their first glimpse inside the club’s new stadium.
The opening of the new venue had been severely delayed due to a number of issues, both building and technical.
The stadium was meant to be completed in time for the Premier League game against Liverpool in September 2018. However, seven months later than originally planned, Spurs fans finally got to see and experience a game in their new stadium for the first time.
The first-ever match was played at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday – an U18s Premier League clash between Spurs and Southampton.
And it is clear that fans were amazed when they first entered the stadium. Here’s what some of them said, according to the Spurs official Twitter account:
"Wow!" 😮
Supporters react to seeing our new home for the very first time.#SpursNewStadium ⚪️ #COYS pic.twitter.com/KJhxnFKkmz
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 24, 2019
The first two test events for the stadium were originally scheduled for August and September 2018. When these were postponed until March this year, the club organised a fan familiarisation event in December 2018 to allow a certain number of fans to get a sneak peek of the stadium.
However, it was on Sunday when history was officially made and it was Spurs youngster J’Neil Bennett who etched his name in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium history books, grabbing the first goal in the new 62,000 seater stadium.
Harvey White scored the first-ever penalty at the stadium, while Dilan Markanday grabbed a third and cancelled out any Southampton hopes after Kornelius Hansens’ goal – as the Spurs U18s ran out 3-1 winners on a memorable day.
Current Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino gave his thoughts on the new stadium during half-time of the game. Talking to Spurs TV, he said: ”This is unbelievable, it is so exciting for all of us. Our dreams have become true.
”I think we need to say thank you first of all to Daniel Levy, he had this dream and made it possible for everyone to be here today. We also need to thank everyone on the board who helped this happen.”
Spurs fans will now be hoping the new stadium helps to bring some long-needed success to the white and blue side and to North London.
