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The Spurs Blog

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Home from Home

November 4, 2016 17:07
3 min read

Each new trip to the Lane this season is that little more special, more poignant - there are an increasing number of 'this is the last time' moments. The last time we played Liverpool at the Lane has been and gone; the last time we'll have a night time cup game might already have happened, the last time.... well you get the idea.

Those heavy emotions are as one both heightened and offset by the ever more imposing skeleton of the new stadium which is no longer emerging from the ground but rather it is now towering over most of its surroundings. It won't be long before the concrete and steel of the new world dwarfs what increasingly feels like the cosy, warm, familiar home of hundreds and thousands of precious memories. The excitement at the future is tangible - every trip to the Lane now reveals staggering progress on the new ground, but it's tinged with very real sadness.

And so it was that before the Leicester game I had the task of articulating those emotions to a camera crew for Chinese TV. The globalisation of the Premier League, AIA as shirt sponsors and a plethora of other Asian facing brands with various corporate partnerships with the Club (some specifically associating themselves because we are the current residence of Son) means that Spurs are worthy of non match day air time in the most populous country on earth. I did chuckle at the task facing the translators as they sought the right mandarin characters to accurately nuance my north west London parlance!

That sense of impending loss of the Lane feels especially heightened after another chastening visit to Wembley - a venue we've lost at every time we've played there since the 2008 League Cup Final win over Chelsea. Whilst I don't blame the size of pitch or the change of scenery for the poor performances (a five-yard pass is still a five-yard pass be it at Wembley Stadium or on the bobbly almost-grass at West Hendon Playing Fields!) it does feel manifestly different in the stands and that is impacting my personal experience as a fan.

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