Tottenham Hotspur to recruit Army veterans for new stadium

Tottenham Hotspur announced today that the club is recruiting military veterans to staff its new stadium.

Working-age veterans are nearly twice as likely to be unemployed as their peers who have not been in the armed forces, according to the Royal British Legion — and of 1,110,000 in the UK, 120,000 are under-employed.

The club’s charitable foundation has partnered with military charity Sporting Force for an initiative that will see 50 ex-servicemen and women offered training and hired as stewards, security staff and hosts. A few applicants met players including Harry Kane at their training centre in Enfield this week.

One of them was Daniel Bingley, 33, a “huge Spurs fan” who was discharged in September due to a leg injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Over 16 years, he served two years in Northern Ireland and six months in Bosnia, as well as two six-month stints in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

Mr Bingley, of Milton Keynes, said: “When you have a mental condition such as PTSD, your life changes. You no longer have the freedom to do the things you used to do so having the opportunity to meet Harry Kane and the rest of the squad has made my year. I am still grinning from ear to ear.”

Also there was Davin Burke, 25, of High Wycombe, who was discharged from the Royal Welsh Regiment in 2016 after a cold-related injury that also forced him to give up football. Kane, 24, said: “I am delighted to have had the opportunity to meet Daniel and David today and hear their stories.”

The team, who crashed out of the Champions League last night, are due to play at the new stadium next season. Interested veterans can, from tomorrow, visit sportingforce.org/register.