Spurs legend Ledley King surprised local school students this week as they became the first to take part in a free tour of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since pandemic restrictions were eased.

Following in the footsteps of Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son, students from Mulberry Primary School, one of Haringey’s largest primary schools, got behind the scenes access to the stadium, exploring the first team changing rooms, dugout, pitchside and seeing first-hand how players prepare for a match.

The club has restarted free educational stadium tours for local schools, giving students across the area an insight into the engineering and architecture that has gone into making the award-winning stadium one of the best in the world.

In addition to fascinating students with its sheer size, the single-tier South Stand and the ground-breaking retractable pitch, the club hopes that visiting the stadium will open students’ eyes to future career possibilities.

After learning about how the stadium was built, Mulberry students were surprised in the home changing rooms by former Spurs captain and club ambassador King, who answered questions about his career and gave an insight into life as a professional footballer.

Speaking after the tour, Ledley said: “Local school children have one of the best stadiums in the world on their doorstep and it is so important that they get the chance to take a look inside – not just for the sheer enjoyment of it but also from an educational perspective.

“Our stadium has the unique ability to inspire young people and open their eyes to what can be achieved – we look forward to seeing more and more local school groups visiting now pandemic restrictions are being lifted.”

Michelle Akarsu, head teacher at Mulberry Primary School, said: "The children walk past the stadium every day on the way to school, so it was incredible for them to have the opportunity to go inside and learn more about how it was built.

“The children were certainly surprised and in awe of meeting Ledley. He gave our pupils superb advice about working hard and following their dreams. It’s truly a great facility we have here in our local community, and we are very grateful to everyone at Spurs for arranging our visit."