When Tottenham finally moved into their new stadium earlier this year, it marked the end of a long, mazy journey that began at the beginning of the last decade. Daniel Levy, the club chairman, had decided the North London club were in need of an upgrade, with White Hart Lane beginning to lack the allure of other stadiums in the league. In 2001, he began the process of building a new home for the club.
One of the first tasks was acquiring the land required to build the current stadium. That became a lengthy process with Levy maintaining around 80 separate properties were purchased. That led to a rather peculiar incident after one particular warehouse was obtained.
The details of the entire process are outlined in the newly-released book, Destination Tottenham, where the cover is drawn on the inner machinations of the club as it set about creating the state-of-the-art, £1 billion project.
Speaking to the Evening Standard, Levy explained how the club found a cannabis farm in one of the properties they acquired in preparation for the stadium's construction.
We discovered [the warehouse] had been bolted shut from the inside and when we finally got in we found three acres of cannabis growing in there.
We obviously had to call the police. The next thing we knew we were victims of a revenge attack when the water pipes on the properties we owned down the High Road were cut, which flooded them all.
The club moved into their new home last season after it was repeatedly delayed due to a number of unforeseen issues with the construction. With the stadium now up and running the stadium is expected to be renamed in a bid to increase revenue.
However, Levy insisted that the club weren't going to rush into any deal.
We are only going to do a naming rights deal if we get the right brand, in the right sector, on the right money.
If we can’t meet those three criteria, we won’t do it. At the moment, we haven’t found a company that meets all three criteria. We are not really close to anything on that at the moment.
