The new Tottenham stadium will not impact heavily on the club’s progress. The £400m Northumberland Park Development Project may put a large dent in the club’s finances, but this may not necessarily put an end to the fans’ hope for glory.
In terms of transfer funds, Spurs will have to cut down on their spending. This means that the youth academy may be of even higher importance to the club. On the one hand, the club’s ability to capture big names will be severely limited. But, taking a look at the current Spurs squad, very few of the players would be considered big names, yet they are currently the second best team in England.
Pochettino and Levy are building solid foundations for the future, a future without abundant finance, with the ability to challenge for some silverware. The main target of the club is stability through this turbulent period. Consistent top four finishes can be met in the next five seasons if young talents such as Dele Alli and Harry Kane are kept and nurtured, but also if key experience players such as Hugo Lloris and Mousa Dembélé remain at the club. After all, it does take a little experience among the ranks to seize upon some silverware.
The new stadium won’t affect the progress of the club if stability in both squad and manager can be met. Pochettino is doing a fantastic job with his current squad and it’s imperative that he stays during the stadium move. He is the manager to provide stability and success to the club, who will be able to continue to develop the young players even with financial restrictions.
Bitter rivals Arsenal have gone through the same stage of the stadium renovation. Their stadium came at a similar cost of £390m after two years of construction. Although many fans have mocked them for being satisfied with the top four in the past, the club stabilised well during the stadium move, and since 2004, they have not fallen out of the Champions League—an impressive achievement.
This shows how the new Tottenham stadium will not affect their progress and may instead allow for consolidation and stabilisation. Building an emphatic 61,000 capacity stadium is a real indicator of the club’s intentions. Small, insignificant teams do not build illustrious, monumental stadiums. Spurs have outgrown White Hart Lane and need this new stadium to move into a new era. A new era that should be filled with trophies and success, at the cost of such a stadium.
The new stadium will bring many benefits to the club. Most significantly, the 24,000 extra seats will provide much greater revenue on the gates. This provides long-term economic sustainability for the club as any club wanting to consistently challenge for titles needs to have a financial base. Take a look at Manchester United, Barcelona or Bayern Munich. All three teams are steeped in success as they all have good financial support. A large part of this is their stadia.
Of course, much of their revenue comes from their global brand, something that Tottenham are working on, especially in the USA and Asia, but a new stadium can act as the flagship for a boost in the promotion of the worldwide image of the club. The NFL deal to host at least two games every year for 10 years could prove to a lucrative and useful deal in Spurs global branding. Undoubtedly this should raise awareness of the club and persuade more American’s to follow the club and invest in some merchandise.
