Manchester United<\/a> visited Tottenham last weekend and I made my first visit to their stadium. I’d been repeatedly told it was the best arena in the country and it didn’t fall short of that billing.<\/p>\nAlthough the security staff took their time to admit the press into the media suite, it was worth the wait, as the press facilities and food offerings are second to none in the Premier League.<\/p>\n
The press food at Stamford Bridge is excellent, but Tottenham edges their London neighbours. The 12.30pm kick-off meant a full breakfast was on offer and the selection was superb for a media suite.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_image0-45jpeg.jpg\")
The food on offer was superb.<\/p>\n
The press room itself was akin to a luxury hotel reception. There was ample working space, comfortable leather-padded seats and Spurs offer lockers for journalists to store bags.<\/p>\n
The walk from the media suite to the press box is sign-posted – you could easily get lost on the way – and the interior of the ground is even more impressive than the exterior.<\/p>\n
Tottenham left White Hart Lane in 2016, spent nearly three seasons at Wembley, and moved to their new 61,000-seater venue three years later. Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to build a new 100,000-seater Old Trafford by 2030 and there are a few lessons to be learned from Tottenham.<\/p>\n
The design of the stadium is outstanding. You feel like you’re working in a special arena throughout your visit, and architecture firm Populous deserved all the plaudits they received.<\/p>\n
From a journalist’s perspective, the press box is spacious and well-positioned, offering a good vantage point, while the media auditorium is a superb space for managers to conduct their post-match duties.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_image0-44jpeg.jpg\")
The media auditorium at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.<\/p>\n
Ratcliffe wants the new Old Trafford, set to be designed by Foster + Partners, to be the greatest arena in the world, and they will deliver if the rebuild is anything like Tottenham’s home.<\/p>\n
Tottenham’s stadium was rebuilt 170 yards away from where White Hart Lane stood, which means the feeling of the old ground hasn’t been totally lost, and the new Old Trafford will seek to retain that ‘feeling’.<\/p>\n
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is designed to maximise supporter experience and it brings fans closer to the pitch than at any comparable-sized stadium in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
The distances from the front row to the touchline range from just 4.9 metres to 7.9 metres, and the single-tier South Stand is the largest in the UK with a capacity of 17,500 people.<\/p>\n
The steep South Stand is remarkable. It was designed with the hope that it would generate an intimidating atmosphere, but no such noise was produced during the game on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Like a lot of big clubs in the Premier League, Spurs have become a tourist attraction, which means there were hundreds of fans with tickets in that stand who did not contribute to the atmosphere.<\/p>\n
That is their prerogative and ‘tourist fans’ are still valued fans, but local Tottenham season ticket holders have argued their South Stand should be a designated area for supporters looking to create noise.<\/p>\n
The Stretford End is currently that stand within Old Trafford, and United should consider introducing a designated singing section to ensure an atmosphere can be created in the new 100,000-seater stadium.<\/p>\n
I was fortunate enough to visit White Hart Lane before it was demolished. It was an ageing ground and Spurs were right to move on, but it could be intimidating for the opposition.<\/p>\n
The Tottenham Hotspur stadium is not intimidating. It feels welcoming. United need to ensure they don’t fall into the same trap.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United drew 2-2 with Spurs in the Premier League at the impressive Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend.United…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,423,101,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-562927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-manchester-united-fc","13":"tag-premier-league","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115529456559887382","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562927","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2_ipiccy_image-43.jpg\")
United visited the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend.(Image: Steven Railston + Getty Images)<\/p>\n