Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Since 2019, the team have played their home matches in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It was built on the same site as their previous home, White Hart Lane, which was demolished.
Formation and early years (1882–1908)
Originally named Hotspur Football Club, the club was formed on 5 September 1882 by a group of schoolboys led by Bobby Buckle. They were members of the Hotspur Cricket Club and the football club was formed to play sports during the winter months. The club was based in the Northumberland Park area of Tottenham, named for the Dukes of Northumberland, and hence took its name from Harry Hotspur, a famous member of the Northumberland family.
Premier League football (1992–present)
Tottenham was one of the five clubs that pushed for the founding of the Premier League, created with the approval of The Football Association, replacing the Football League First Division as the highest division of English football. In February 2001, Sugar sold his shareholding in Spurs to ENIC Sports plc, run by Joe Lewis and Daniel Levy, and stepped down as chairman. Lewis and Levy would eventually own 85% of the club, with Levy responsible for the running of the club. Despite a succession of managers and players such as Teddy Sheringham, Jürgen Klinsmann and David Ginola, for a long period in the Premier League until the late 2000s, Spurs finished mid-table most seasons with few trophies won. They won the League Cup in 1999 under George Graham, and again in 2008 under Juande Ramos. Performance improved under Harry Redknapp with players such as Gareth Bale and Luka Modrić, and the club finished in the top five in the early 2010s.
Stadiums: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
In October 2008, the club announced a plan to build a new stadium immediately to the north of the existing White Hart Lane stadium, with the southern half of the new stadium’s pitch overlapping the northern part of the Lane. This proposal would become the Northumberland Development Project. The club submitted a planning application in October 2009 but, following critical reactions to the plan, it was withdrawn in favour of a substantially revised planning application for the stadium and other associated developments. The new plan was resubmitted and approved by Haringey Council in September 2010, and an agreement for the Northumberland Development Project was signed on 20 September 2011