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Mauricio Pochettino says he expects Tottenham Hotspur to be playing in their new £850m stadium “by Christmas” – and start winning trophies once they are.
Contractors failed to meet the original opening date of 15 September, forcing Tottenham to carry on using Wembley as their temporary home, or, in the case of tonight’s Carabao Cup game with Watford, hire stadium:mk in Milton Keynes.
Fans have been frustrated that no new date has yet been announced for a long-waited return to White Hart Lane, where they have not played for more than 500 days.
Pochettino, however, said he was confident it would be this year following conversations with chairman Daniel Levy.
“I had some private conversation with Daniel,” he said. “I think they are confident. They are working hard to try to find the solution. I hope before the year, before Christmas, we can play.
“We have conversations every day. He called me this morning before training and yesterday we took a coffee here at the restaurant. Sometimes he tells me, sometimes he opens the conversation about the stadium, sometimes I open the conversation and say “Daniel, how is the stadium?” and sometimes it’s tough to explain.
“But yes we hope and we heard before, I am very confident before the year. I hope that after that comment Daniel say tomorrow ‘why you put this expectation on me?’ He’s going to kill me...”
Pochettino also declared he felt ready to embrace the responsibility of managing a big club with a big stadium, where success is inevitably measured in silverware.
“First of all we need to finish the stadium and build the trophy cabinet,” he said. “And when all is ready and settled now is the moment to say ‘we can win now – of course it will come’.
“There will not be an excuse afterwards, we need to win trophies. It is no use having a massive house but being unable to furniture inside. It is like buying a big car but not being able to put in petrol because you don’t have the money.”
The Argentinian, who baffled people before last week’s Champions League loss at Inter Milan with a reference to cows watching trains, couldn’t help making another bovine reference. “Or if I have a cow and no grass,” he said. “Or I have the grass but no cow.”
Pochettino will rotate his squad for the Watrford game with third-choice goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga set to start.
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