Watch the opening ceremony at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sky Sports Premier League and Main Event, and Sky Sports' digital platforms on April 3
Tuesday 2 April 2019 11:00, UK
On the evening of May 14, 2017, after Tottenham had beaten Manchester United and Spurs fans had said their farewells, Dele Alli was still at White Hart Lane, helping to load a huge picture of himself and Heung Min Son onto a van.
He'd always liked the photo which had adorned the walls of the old stadium and decided it would be his reminder of the place which had been the club's home for more than a century.
Picture secured, he left for what was the final time. And never came back. Not just to White Hart Lane, which of course was reduced to rubble just a few days later, but to the new stadium which soon began to grow in its place.
Through nearly two years of progress and excitement, disappointment and delays, Dele Alli never set foot inside the new stadium.
And if you think that sounds like the cliché of the modern footballer; not interested enough in the heart and soul of his club, not feeling every moment like a fan would, then you couldn't be more wrong.
The man who emerged as a star in Tottenham's colours didn't want the moment spoilt. He didn't want the edge taken off his excitement by seeing it as a half-finished concrete bowl. He wanted to see it completed and ready to play in and not a moment before.
This week that moment came and, honestly, his face lit up like the faces of tens of thousands of Spurs' fans will over the next few weeks when they get to walk inside the stadium for the first time.
"It's amazing," he said, before falling silent and almost giggling in awe as he looked out at the pitch in front of him. "We've been waiting for this for a long time and it's finally come.
"We were invited to come and have a look halfway through the build, but a lot of the lads wanted to wait and see it when it was finished. Now I have seen it in all of its glory and I love it.
"It feels like Christmas. It's such an amazing stadium, a place the players and fans can call home, it's a great place to be.
"It shows what a great club we are and where we are heading. It's a big step and I think the fans will probably be more excited than us, it's like coming home again."
I'm not sure if it's the little heritage signs around the stadium - the programmes from games gone by on walls of the concourse or the replica of the golden cockerel that sits on the roof (complete with a recreation of the dent caused by Gazza's infamous air rifle incident) - but, somehow, it already feels like a home.
"It does, definitely," England international Alli, who is now into his fifth year with Spurs, added.
"They've done an amazing job keeping some of the history of the old stadium. Spurs are such a big club that it's important the fans that have been coming for a long time still feel attached to it."
One part of the stadium particularly caught the eye of Spurs' goalscoring midfielder - the South Stand, which towers over the goal to the right of the dugout.
"I can't wait to see that full and hopefully score in front of it. It would be an amazing feeling [to score a vital goal in front of that] but I'd prefer to be 3-0 up at half-time in the Crystal Palace game and put on a show for the fans than score a last-minute winner."
Talk of the Palace game, Spurs' first at their new home, and the matches that follow brings us to an interesting point. Most teams get to ease their way into a new stadium with pre-season friendlies and early season matches. Spurs start with a handful of games that could define this season and next.
"We've had a few tough games and results, so maybe a change is what we needed at this point of the season," says Alli, who has himself only recently returned from injury.
"It's a difficult point of the season, every game is massive, and you've got to get as many points as you can. Hopefully we can have a positive end to the season in this stadium.
"We definitely feel the club is heading [in the right direction], we're getting better as a team and we have to keep doing that. We've got some great young players and an amazing manager. We're all enjoying playing together and we want to try and create history."
Incidentally, the picture of Alli and Son never made it into the midfielder's house. Too big to fit through his front door, it's currently sat at the training ground waiting for a permanent home. For Spurs and Alli though, the wait is finally over.
