Tottenham are close to announcing two test events at their behind-schedule new stadium.

The club’s Under-18 fixture at home to Southampton, originally scheduled for today, has been rearranged for Sunday, March 24, and is expected to be the first event. The club could then host a legends match at a later date, possibly the following weekend.

The stadium must host two successful test events with increasing levels of capacity in order to earn a safety certificate from Haringey Council. Yesterday, the Council gave official notice of traffic restrictions around the stadium, which will come into force from March 16.

The £1billion stadium was originally due to open in September and the initial test events were an U-23 fixture and a legends match against Bayern Munich, which were cancelled. Since then, there have more delays — caused by problems with fire and safety alarms — and Tottenham now face a race against time to play at the new ground before next season.

Standard Sport revealed last month that the Premier League were keen for Spurs to play at least five home games in the new ground before the end of the campaign. If they were unable to do so, the governing body would prefer them to stage home fixtures at Wembley for the remainder of the season. Meanwhile, Uefa are reluctant to allow the first official game in the new ground to be a Champions League tie. Tottenham will discover their quarter-final opponents in next Friday’s draw, with the first leg taking place on April 9-10, and the second a week later.

If Millwall beat Brighton in their FA Cup quarter-final next weekend, Spurs’s first game at the new ground could be against Chris Hughton’s side on April 6-7, but if Brighton win they will play their semi-final that weekend. That would delay the possible opening to April 13, when Tottenham take on Huddersfield.

Meanwhile, Daniel Levy’s show of support ahead of Tottenham’s win at Borussia Dortmund was an important part of the club’s push to join the Champions League elite, according to manager Mauricio Pochettino.

The Spurs chairman joined the Argentine on the pitch at the Westfalenstadion as the players trained in front of the cameras before Tuesday’s 1-0 win.

After last season’s defeat to Juventus, Pochettino said Spurs had received a “massive lesson” from the Italians and pointed out that Andrea Agnelli, the Juve chairman, and director of football Pavel Nedved joined the warm-up and watched the second leg of the last-16 tie from the Wembley tunnel.

“We improved a lot, eh?” grinned Pochettino, when reminded of the comparison. “It is always so important to have the support of the people above you. There’s one game on the pitch, 11 versus 11, and around the pitch you need to manage [things] properly too. If we don’t understand that, we are so naive. To have that support from above — from your chairman, your owner — is so important. Not only for us and for the staff but for the players to see that we are all together there, fighting for one objective.

“It’s not only about the talent on the pitch, it’s how you approach the game. In this type of situation the structure [of the club] is always massive. When a team wins an important trophy, it’s not only because they have good players or manager or coaching staff, it’s having a great board — great people there that are thinking about winning and providing the structure for a winning mentality.”

For Pochettino, who takes his side to former club Southampton tomorrow, Levy’s presence on the pitch was one of the small details he is demanding in his quest to establish Spurs as one of Europe’s biggest clubs. He added that there can be no substitute for Champions League experience.

“That [development] comes through experience, learning, history and competing at that level,” he explained. “To play a semi-final or quarter-final of the Europa League or a quarter-final in the Champions League is completely different. We’re in the quarter-finals of the Champions League but in another club it’s a big party. That is massive, nearly historic and this club, the staff and this group of players deserve credit. All the praise we are going to get from now until the end is never going to be enough.”

The Argentine was due to begin a two-match touchline ban at Southampton tomorrow. Tottenham had until 12pm today to decide whether to appeal against the suspension.