London Football News

Rose: Magic of playing at Wembley has gone

© Mike Egerton/PA Wire

Tottenham full-back Danny Rose believes the magic has gone from playing at Wembley.

Spurs have been playing at the national stadium while their new home is being built and they have had to endure an extended stay as their stadium has hit frustrating delays.

The Wembley experience has quickly lost its appeal to supporters, with a crowd of just 33,012 watching the 3-1 Premier League win over Southampton on Wednesday night.

That was their lowest league attendance since they have been playing there and Rose says everyone is looking forward to moving out and into their new 62,000-seater home, with an update expected from the club some time this month.

“It’s just not nice any more. I don’t feel it’s an honour to play at Wembley any more,” he said.

“We’re all itching to get in the new stadium and hopefully it’s not too much longer.

“We’re all itching to get in. We’re disappointed it’s taken longer than expected but we know everybody’s putting in the hours to make sure the stadium’s as good as possible.

“It’s not that much longer now, so hopefully over the next couple of months we’re going to be in there and we all sympathise with the fans.

© Adam Davy/PA Wire

“We just have to stick together now. We know it’s not going to be too much longer.

“The atmosphere’s a bit flat. Obviously I sympathise with the fans, travelling a bit further away to come to Wembley.

“It’s the lowest attendance since we’ve been at Wembley and that speaks volumes.”

Rose was making his first start since the start of October against the Saints, having been on the bench for the fiery north London derby at the weekend.

Plenty has been said about Arsenal’s online reaction to the win, where they appeared to goad Tottenham, and Rose is already plotting revenge.

He said: “Me seeing that, the Arsenal players do that after the game, was obviously frustrating and I’m already looking forward to the reverse fixture when we get them back here or at the new stadium.

“I know there was a lot of opinions about Eric’s (Dier) celebration but that’s what derbies are about.

“Even though I was on the bench, it was still nice to be a part of that because when we’ve played at the Emirates before, the atmosphere’s not been like that. It’s special.

“As long as we conduct ourselves in a professional manner, I don’t see anything wrong with what happened last week.

“It’s obviously frustrating when you lose and you see selfies and pictures from the [opposition] changing room being uploaded but there’s our incentive.

“It just shows how far we’ve come in recent years that it looked like it meant a lot to them to get a win over us. We’re looking forward to the reverse fixture.”

Having missed two months through injury, Rose is keen to nail down his spot ahead of next week’s crucial Champions League clash at Barcelona.

“Next week is a massive, massive game,” he said. “It’ll be the biggest of the season and if the manager doesn’t think I’m right then I won’t play.

“All I can do is try as well as I can in the games I’m involved in and try to show him I’m ready in training.

“If I play next week, great. If I don’t, I have to make sure I’m ready for when he needs me to play.”




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