Tottenham Hotspur Stadium might not seem like the most romantic place for a wedding proposal.
But for Co Down woman Keira Davidson it was the perfect setting to say 'yes' to partner Jonny Caren, reports Belfast Live.
Love was the ultimate winner when Jonny plucked up the courage and got down on one knee inside Tottenham's home changing room last Saturday afternoon.
For Keira it was a mixture of shock and high emotion as her family are all massive Spurs fans, including her late father Joe who sadly passed away in 2015.
And what started off as a birthday weekend in London quickly turned into the perfect match of the day for Keira.
Jonny said: "Keira thought we were going to London to celebrate her birthday as she turned 40 last year in the middle of lockdown and unfortunately, we couldn’t hold a party for her.
"Keira’s whole family are die-hard Tottenham supporters thanks to her dad, who unfortunately passed away after a very lengthy battle with a rare disease called MSA.
"That’s the reason I chose Tottenham Stadium as I knew it would be in keeping with what her dad would have loved as well as herself, as she was extremely close to him.
"She grew up on the side of a football pitch watching him play and had been one of his carers alongside her mum and brother for many years when he took sick."
Jonny contacted Tottenham to explain Keira's family background with the club and pitched the idea of him proposing inside the home changing room.
He said: "I reached out to Tottenham to explain the history with her family and the club, and the idea of proposing to her in the home changing room.
"I have a running joke with Keira, I always call her a wee 'keeper'. So, the plan was to get the goalkeeper top printed with her surname on the top, the number 2, and my surname on the bottom, the idea being to ask her to marry me and change her surname to my surname.
"The support staff at Tottenham were amazing in helping organise this, especially a girl called Chadia Self who organised the shirt and got her team to organise the logistics on the day.
"I managed to get approval to hang the shirt on Spurs goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris’ locker. As it was her birthday on the Saturday, I had told Keira I had organised a stadium tour and the Dare Skywalk Tour for her.
"We got there at 2pm and started the tour as normal, taking in everything the new billion pound stadium had to offer.
"We got to look at the various corporate boxes, the away changing room and onto the pitch. Whilst this was all happening the staff placed the shirt in the locker in the home changing room for us and when we arrived there, she started to make her way around the different shirts, we got to the last locker and the Spurs staff member told her she could look in Hugo’s spare locker.
"Keira turned to me as she thought I’d organised a cake for her birthday and when she looked back, she saw the goalkeeper shirt. She read it a couple of times and when she turned round to ask me what it was about, she saw me on one knee, ring in hand."
Keira - who has known Jonny for 25 years - was in complete shock after realising what was happening, and the proposal took on extra meaning with the memory of her father close at heart.
"It was perfect as she wasn’t expecting anything other than a birthday cake. The staff captured everything on video for us and the other people on the tour all cheered and clapped," Jonny added.
"She told me later she was just so emotional going into the stadium tour as it reminded her of her dad, so I think this sent her over the edge, hence the tears.
"We finished off the stadium tour getting pictures in the press conference areas with the shirt and her showing off her ring which is so unique for an engagement.
"We then proceeded to the Dare Skywalk Tour which again the club did such an amazing job for us. We got to get pictures with the shirt on the roof and they had organised Prosecco for us at the top. Nothing like a 50m hike on a glass walkway over a football pitch when you’re already weak at the knees!"
And Jonny and Keira's day got even better when they received a special video message from one of Tottenham's biggest stars.
"The day was capped off when a good friend of mine, who works with Manchester City, had organised a personal video message from Heung Min Son congratulating us on our engagement and thanking Keira for her years of support to Spurs," said Jonny.
"The only disappointment from the weekend was that the following day's North London Derby against Arsenal was postponed. We only discovered that when we were on the tour.
"It meant we didn’t get to see the match, which was planned because that was the first fixture I had taken Keira to see at the old White Hart Lane eight years prior.
"We’re keeping everything crossed that the rescheduled date is one that allows us to try and get flights across for the day to still watch it."
Jonny and Keira - who have one son called Carlin, 5 - said there were a lot of people to thank for making their day so special.
He added: "I have to mention the Westin London City whose guest experience manager found out that I was planning an engagement along with Keira’s birthday and he upgraded us to a suite and had his staff decorate the whole room for us returning from the stadium, with balloons, rose petals, Prosecco and over 50 photos of the two of us and our son, setup all over the room.
"It truly was such a special day."
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