Tottenham Hotspur fans get first look at £1bn new stadium – and it was built in Sheffield!
Spurs fans finally got to take a look inside the new White Hart Lane stadium for the very first time on Sunday as the club hosted an U18s game.
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Hide AdBut what many supporters probably don’t know is that when the likes of Harry Kane and Dele Alli run out onto the turf for first proper game at the stadium next month, they will be treading on turf with its roots in Sheffield.
And that’s because the stadium boasts the world's first retractable football pitch – which was designed and constructed by Sheffield firm SCX.
The 62,000 capacity ground boasts a dividing retractable pitch – so it can be used for NFL games and music concerts in addition to regular football matches.
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Hide AdSpurs announced in 2017 that the the new stadium would boast the innovative system involving a fully retractable grass pitch sitting above an artificial surface – making it the first in the UK to feature two pitches inside the same bowl.
The grass turf sits in three pitch-long steel trays weighing more than 3,000 tonnes each, allowing it to be slid under the South Stand to uncover the artificial surface in a process that is expected to take approximately 25 minutes.
The stadium, hit by a string of building delays, opened six months behind schedule – but 30,000 fans were there to take the first glimpse inside the state of the art ground, built on the site of Spurs’ old stadium.
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Hide AdThe Under-18s recorded a 3-1 win over Southampton and Inter Milan will visit for a legends game next Saturday.
Then Spurs will take on Crystal Palace in the Premier League on 3 April and Manchester City in the Champions League six days later.
With a capacity of 62,062, it is the biggest club ground in London and second only to Manchester United's Old Trafford in the Premier League.
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Hide AdIt boasts the biggest stadium screens in Europe at 325 sq m, no front-row seat is more than eight metres from the touchline and the acoustics have been taken into account during construction to ensure the atmosphere and noise is kept inside the ground.
The South Stand, which holds 17,500 seats, is more than 34 metres high - around a third of the size of Big Ben and has 223 steps to the top.
There are 65 food and drink outlets – and the stadium is cashless. It even has its own microbrewery which produces craft beer.