result is a loss of respect - the last thing I would want.” Darren’s integral role in the
Tottenham Hotspur machine has meant he can play a pivotal role in the planning of the new stadium and training facilities. As a part of the multi-million pound redevelopments, the football academy and first team training base will be relocated at Bulls Cross, Enfield, a 20- minute drive from White Hart Lane, with completion of the £30m Green Belt undertaking still two years away. The planning applications for the new stadium, next door to the present one, were processed in May after the club accommodated a number of the listed building issues on the High Road site as
Darren’s integral role in the Tottenham Hotspur machine has meant he can play a pivotal role in the planning of the new stadium and training facilities
well as the appropriate quantity of housing and retail provision. “We’re currently working alongside the
one event in particular that could have stopped it dead in its tracks. It was back in December 1996, in his first season at Tottenham, during the second half of a game against Liverpool. “Steve McManaman fired a shot that hit a divot right in front of our goalkeeper, costing us a goal and eventually the game. I thought my number was up when I got called to climb the seventy- nine steps up to the chairman’s office.” “Luckily, I’d always prided myself on my honesty, and it’s been something
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that’s put me in good stead today. It was an unfortunate set of circumstances back then. A new pitch had been laid in July, leaving us only six weeks to get it ready before the new season. It demonstrates just how important good preparation is.” Darren and the chairman have enjoyed a good working relationship to this day, something he believes is down to his honest approach. “He knows I’m no yes man and always honest on what I can deliver. If you try to cover things up, they always come out in the end and the
architects to resolve some of the lighting issues with the initial plans,” Darren says. “Our problem with having such a big stadium is our ground footprint. We have only a very narrow strip to work with, so the new stadium will have to be built upwards.” A staggering 28m higher than currently, in fact. “The grounds team has been looking into a number of solutions that may help us with some of these high roof issues, with plans to incorporate built-in fans into the track that will replicate a breeze across the pitch, making up of for some of what’s lost naturally. “Disease-wise, fusarium will be our biggest problem,” states Darren, who confirms that the pitch will almost certainly be another Desso. “There will also be environmental issues to take into account such as recycling rainwater and irrigation, which will also help reduce the volume we leach - by creating a mycorrhizal ‘tray’, we hope to create a base of nutrients that will continue to feed the turf.” The Bulls Cross development will see the club take ownership of its training facilities for the first time in its 128-year history. “Over the last fifteen years, things have changed and now top clubs are much more conscious of owning and developing their training facilities to replicate a match day pitch,” Darren argues. “Before this, training facilities
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