GOLDEN fireworks lit up the London skyline and illuminated the 15-foot cockerel on the roof.
The Lucianno Pavarotti lookalike from the ‘Go Compare’ adverts belted out ‘Glory, Glory Tottenham Hotspur’.
A brass band played, thousands of white flags fluttered and the Spurs went marching on.
Half an hour before kick-off, a heavy and picturesque hail storm turned the pitch a winter-wonderland white.
There had been a rainbow over the old White Hart Lane on the afternoon they closed it almost two years ago.
The way many of them talk about him around these parts, chairman Daniel Levy probably orders the weather himself. Or at least has a hotline to the bloke who does.
They were back at ‘the world-famous home of the Spurs’, as this place is always referred to on match days. Now those grandiose words no longer sound like hyperbole.
Because, boy, had this place had a makeover.
If they’d been rebranded the team Disneyland Hotspur and had an animated mouse replacing Harry Kane at centre-forward then it wouldn’t have seemed out of place.
This is some football ground. It has more in common with a theme park than the old-school spit-and-sawdust charm of the original Lane.
Spurs will play a Champions League quarter-final here next week and before long they hope to stage the first Superbowl outside the United States here.
SUPERBOWL HOPES
Levy sat proudly alongside Tottenham’s benefactor Joe Lewis, certain that this place will be their monument and legacy.
Even if Spurs never add to the single League Cup they’ve won on his watch, this stadium makes his tenure a success.
Not since old Chrissie Wren had started scribbling out plans for a new dome at St Paul’s had a piece of London architecture been so widely lauded.
Before kick-off it was easy to forget you were about to watch a fairly bog-standard Premier League fixture.
The local Gladesmore Community School choir, led by former X Factor contestant Lanya Matthews, began the singing, before they were joined by Spurs-supporting tenor Wynne Evans – better-known as the nation’s favourite opera-singing insurance salesman.
Crystal Palace’s Michy Batshuayi kicked off to the strains of Barry Manilow, whose tune – I Can’t Smile Without You – is an old Spurs terrace song revived by the club here.
Then, with an emotional home support already out of breath, came the actual football – and a much-needed first win in six League games.
The history books will show that Dele Alli received the first yellow card at this long-awaited and soon-to-be-branded stadium.
Dele might have got the first red too had Andre Marriner punished him for diving and he also played the first pointless Hollywood rabona to an opposition player.
As a barrage of Spurs efforts went begging – many snatched-at by an edgy team, naturally over-eager to impress – you wondered whether the party might fall flat.
But perhaps they’ve had a feng shui expert in to rid this venue of all that Spursy karma.
‘WE’RE WORLD CUP WINNERS’
Christian Eriksen added a second after it appeared as though Kane had been upended by James McArthur.
The England captain was apparently so desperate for an opening-night goal that he was still appealing for a penalty after Eriksen had netted.
Mauricio Pochettino keeps talking up the possibility of not being around next season, but with the Real Madrid and Manchester United jobs taken, and such an arena to play in, the Argentine is kidding no one.
“We are World Cup winners with our facilities, now we need the same level on the pitch,” said Poch last night.
In reality, new stadiums mean financial restraints in the short and medium term but this place feels worth it in the long haul. It possesses what they call ‘wow factor’ in those TV property shows.
Considering Spurs had taken one point from five matches, there had been plenty of wide-eyed excitement on the rattler up to White Hart Lane station.
Going home after a long absence is always a special feeling and the spectacular new place was regarded like a grotto for grown-ups – even though their Christmas had been delayed by eight months.
You’ll doubtless be aware of the main features – the 17,000 single tier ‘White Wall’, the glass tunnel, beer served at the longest bar in England and that giant chicken, twice as big as that which adorned the old Lane.
The architect, Christopher Lee, might have noted how lucky it was that Spurs had failed to get their mitts on the Hammer House of Horrors over at Stratford instead.
This place might never had happened had the bidding for the Olympic Stadium gone differently – but even with a bill of around £1billion it has worked out well.
The road to this night had been long, arduous and, as Levy admitted in the programme, almost overwhelming at times.
At a rare media appearance on the eve of Tottenham’s big night, Levy had described himself as a ‘perfectionist’ and admitted to spying on his overdue builders using CCTV.
He also stated that he was particularly proud of the standard of the toilets at this new gaff.
All this fastidiousness seemed to stand up the story that, when Chas N Dave once visited the old Lane, they were asked by a member of staff whether their hit tune ‘Ain’t No Pleasing You’ had been written about Tottenham’s chairman.
But after years of waiting and months of embarrassing delays, Levy is finally satisfied.
There’s no place like home and, all in all, this was a damned fine house-warming.
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News Photo Disney land of hope and glory as Spurs give Tottenham Stadium a rousing house-warming
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