The Football Association have announced that Tottenham will be playing their Champions League matches at Wembley Stadium next season with the additional option of playing all home League and Cup games there for the 2017/18 season.
The move comes after a period of negotiations between Tottenham and the F.A. over use of Wembley, with Tottenham in the initial phases of building a new stadium this would have meant a smaller capacity at White Hart Lane next season as they return to the Champions League for the first time since 2011
The use of Wembley also means that more fans will be able to see their beloved side in action. They won’t quite the full use of the stadium with the capacity set to be capped at 50,000 but that is still a sizeable increase from what would have been offer at White Hart Lane next season
With the option of 2017/18 games being played there as well it takes the proposed move to Milton Keynes off the table which will no doubt delight a large portion fanbase who weren’t too keen of having to go outside of London.
They’ve also seemingly beaten Chelsea to punch, they themselves are looking at expanding their capacity and if that finally does come to fruition then they also are going to need a temporary home. But their plans aren’t at as an advanced stage and they will have to now look elsewhere or hope that the F.A. are willing to lease it out to Chelsea as well.
Of course it’s not the first time an English side has played it’s group games at Wembley. Arsenal were the first side in which to do. They spent the 1999 and 2000 seasons there to mixed results. Was playing at Wembley a help or a hinderance, it’s hard to say really but it would probably point to the latter.
Spurs fans will be hoping that playing elsewhere won’t be an issue but they are yet to win a game at the new Wembley so they will no doubt be looking to break that jinx when they play on the hallowed tuft in the Autumn.