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The week-long visit by Bengaluru’s Kickstart FC included training sessions, nutrition workshops and a masterclass with Spurs legend Ledley King.

The partnership was set up when Ledley visited Bengaluru with Ossie Ardiles in 2023 to help train local coaches and players.

“You could see how passionate they were about football when I went out to India with Ossie,” Ledley said. “There are some good players so it’s about reinforcing the small details that make a big difference.

“They’re eager to learn. Coming here to these world-class facilities and working with our top coaches is going to bring their game to another level.”

One of the players was 16-year-old Vivek, who is having football trials later in the USA after training in India and hopes to get a place at an American college.

Vivek said: “I was jumping up and down on my bed when I first heard Tottenham were our partners because I would train at these amazing facilities.

“It’s been a tough journey — but I’ve worked hard to get where I am. I started playing football when I was 11.”

This is the second year Vivek has visited to Tottenham, having made a good impression in front of Ledley and the other coaches when he was just 15. The sessions this time have helped him before going on to his college trials in the US.

Kickstart FC co-founder Laxman Bhattarai said: “It has been amazing since we signed the partnership with Spurs, bringing Indian football to another level and getting our talented youngsters to a global platform.”

His club finished runners-up in the Indian Women’s League and is now using the Spurs partnership to develop women’s football in the India’s state of Karnataka.

The partnership is having an influence on the Indian football landscape, especially with Vivek an example of how it’s developing young players.

Tottenham Hotspurs’ Global Development team helps around 45,000 players and coaches a year worldwide, in schools and grassroots youth football clubs.

Mitchells & Butlers Retail (MBR), the restaurant group which owns Toby Carvery, was slammed for the decision to fell an ancient oak tree in Whitewebbs Park on April 3.

The company initially defended the move, saying tree experts assessed the oak as dying and a risk to the public.

However, contractors working for Tottenham Hotspur judged the tree to be a "fine specimen" in a report submitted to Enfield Council last July, as part of the club's plans to redevelop the nearby land.

According to the Guardian, contractors Tree and Woodland Company assessed that the tree could be expected to live for another 50 years and recommended conservation measures as a "high priority".

Spurs' plans to build a women’s football training academy on a 17-hectare section of land in Whitewebbs Park, near the tree, were approved in February.

The proposal includes an access road, later changed to a footpath, from the training ground to the Toby Carvery - which cuts across the site where the oak tree stands, according to the Guardian.

The Woodland Trust objected to the academy plans, fearing the "potential loss and deterioration" of ancient trees as a result of the development.

Spurs also has financial ties with restaurant group MBR, as both are majority-owned by the investment company Enic.

A Spurs spokesperson told the Guardian: "The tree and the decision to fell it has no connection to the club as the tree sits outside of our lease demise for our proposed women’s and girls’ training centre and academy."

The club added that it was "ridiculous" to suggest the tree was felled to make the land easier to develop.

MBR now faces legal action from landowner Enfield Council over the felling of the tree.

Council leader Cllr Ergin Erbil previously told this paper that Toby Carvery had "broken the terms of the lease" by not even seeking advice about the condition of the tree.

He said the destroyed tree showed "clear signs of life" and that the council would do "everything it could" to help the tree grow back.

Mitchells & Butlers CEO Phil Urban did not comment on the breach when approached by this paper.

However in a letter to residents he said he was "very sorry" for all the anger and upset the incident had caused.