Hurst: Playing at Wembley has become ‘tiresome’ for Tottenham

The World Cup winner knows a thing or two about playing at football's home and believes it's in Spurs’ best interest to move to their new stadium soon

Former England and West Ham striker Sir Geoff Hurst has said playing at Wembley has become ‘tiresome’ for Tottenham.

Spurs first took up temporary residency in the stadium two seasons ago whenthey played their European matches at the ‘home of football’.

Since then, Tottenham’s old ground, White Hart Lane, has been demolished and the north London side have been forced to play their matches at Wembley until a new stadium is erected.

The state-of-the-art ground was supposed to be ready for the start of the current campaign, but with the stadium still not ready Tottenham have continued to play their games at Wembley this year.

Of course, normally a trip to the national stadium only comes as a result of playing in a cup final or semi-final, and Hurst believes that Tottenham’s temporary inhabitance of the ground has detracted somewhat from the trill most players usually receive when stepping out onto the Wembley pitch.

“You could say that playing at Wembley so often has taken away the privilege for Tottenham and their supporters,” Hurst told football.london.

“It’s a fantastic stadium, befitting for big occasions such as England matches, cup semi-finals and finals. But playing there every week has become tiresome for the team.

"Their players have made noises about looking forward to leaving and playing in their own ground, and you can see why as the atmosphere and turnout isn’t what it could and should be for the national stadium.

There has been controversy surrounding Tottenham’s ongoing residency at Wembley, not least when they met Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final last season with many feeling at the time Spurs were effectively playing a home game on a supposedly neutral ground.

However, Hurst sees no issue with Tottenham playing at the stadium.

"Should they have been allowed to have played there? I don’t see why not,” he said.

“It’s important that the FA help English teams when they can, and Spurs have been flying the flag for the country when playing in the Champions League, so it made sense to help them while the stadium was being built.”

The ground where Tottenham current play is slightly different to the one Hurst knew so well as a player, with Wembley being rebuilt just over a decade ago.

The striker made 49 appearances for the Three Lions that included his famous hat-trick at the old Wembley against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final.