Spurs’ announcement this week that they had applied for planning permission to build a new training facility and academy at Myddelton House, Bulls Cross, Enfield brings back fond memories for this writer.
If the application is successful, then Spurs will be making a move nearer a spiritual home, because they used to train at Cheshunt, about two and a half miles north of Myddelton House, just up the A10.
Bearing in mind the fact that Spurs trained at Cheshunt in the hey-day of the sixties and seventies, even into the eighties, then you can understand why I am excited at the prospect of my beloved club training almost next to the A10 again. Mind you, in Bill Nicholson’s day, you could attend training sessions and hear Bill’s assistant Eddie Bailey effing and blinding at the stars that graced the Lilywhite shirt, if they didn’t perform as they should! Nowadays of course, training sessions are closed to the public.
Once upon a time countless Spurs stars lived in the Cheshunt and Broxbourne area. In fact, Ossie Ardiles and Pat Jennings to name but two, still have family homes in the vicinity. Can we look forward to Hertfordshire being graced by future big name players from the mighty Spurs?
Myddelton House just lies in the Enfield, Middlesex area, and is near the junction of the M25 and A10. It is a busy area and certainly not as cosy as Chigwell, where Spurs Lodge is situated.
Spurs are already familiar with the venue, as their schoolboys have played there for quite a while. The club must be hoping that this scheme can go through smoothly, unlike the Abridge attempt a couple of years ago.
Myddelton House is named after Sir Hugh Myddelton, who designed the famous New River, which runs from the top of the Lea Valley between Hertford and Ware. I have to report that it ends in the Borough of Islington and that there is a statue of Myddelton at the junction of Essex Road and Upper Street, which, sadly, is gooner territory. Maybe we’ll have a chance to spill something in the water as it runs past the new Spurs training facility!
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