The Stadium : White Hart Lane

1899 Spurs move to WHL (formerly Gilpin Park)

1934 Building of the East stand was completed

1980-82 The old west stand was demolished, and rebuilt

1994 The 'Shelf' becomes an all seater enlcosure

1995 The new South Stand is completed

1996 £10.9m is raised and the North stand, South stand hospitality and pitch are redeveloped

1998 The new North Stand is completed

White Hart Lane (formerly known as Gilpin Park) has been the home of Tottenham Hotspur football club since 1899 and the Lilywhites played their first game there against Notts County in a 4-1 win for the Spurs.

The biggest ever attendance at White Hart Lane was 75,038 to see a Second Division Tottenham side lose to First Division Sunderland in the FA Cup in 1938.

Today it holds 36,240 fans, quite a drop down from former days where the average attendance was from 50,000-60,000 spectators. The introduction of all-seater stadiums has been the main cause of this.

Whilst White Hart Lane holds a lot of history and has a unique look, which adds to the character of the team, gradually the need to move or redevelop is becoming more and more apparent.

With other clubs expanding and moving, a high source of income is being wasted which isn’t be other big name clubs. For instance in the summer of 2006, 20,000 season ticket applications were turned down meaning that the club could (if they marketed correctly) bring in 55,000-60,000 fans in a brand new or redeveloped stadium.

Plans have been approved by Haringey Council to redevelop the East Stand (the only stand which still has pillars supporting it’s roof) to bring the overall capacity up to 50,000. However the club will not carry out these plans until transport is improved in the area.

Recent speculation suggests that Tottenham may move to the newly built 90,000 capacity Wembley Stadium for a few seasons while they look to knock down the ground and some surrounding area to later rebuild White Hart Lane with an increased capacity.

Such a move is considered by a lot of the Tottenham faithful to be a much better idea than building a new stadium outside of Tottenham itself. The Boards plans are due to be announced in June 2008.