Tottenham Hotspur Women Continue Transformation of Back Room

Tottenham Hotspur Women continue to make changes to their coaching staff as Lauren Smith has been added as an Assistant Coach. Smith joins the staff of Rehanne Skinner who herself just took over in November following the sudden sacking of co-head coaches Juan Carlos Amoros and Karen Hills.

Tottenham Needed Change

The last three matches for Tottenham Hotspur Women under the duo or Hills and Amoros all resulted in a draws. Spurs had drawn with Reading and Bristol City in the Women’s Super League (WSL) and had drawn with Arsenal in the FA WSL Cup. Unfortunately, the FA WSL Cup went to a shootout and Tottenham fell to Arsenal 5 to 4.

Changes have occurred quickly since the managerial move

The penalty shootout loss to Arsenal was on November 18 and less than 48 hours later Skinner was in charge of the squad. Since then the Women have played three matches, winning them all. Spurs beat Brighton & Hove Albion Women, and the Aston Villa Women both by a score of 3 to 1 before the winter break.

Since the winter break, the Women have come back and earned a hard fought 0-1 road win over West Ham. More importantly, Tottenham Hotspur Women have moved up dramatically in the standings, going from 11th just above relegation threatened Bristol City to 7th firmly midtable.

Those nine points are critical given Bristol City have two and Spurs would be in a relegation scrap if the form continued. While the Women did lose Alex Morgan back to the United States, they have kept Shelina Zadorsky and Alanna Kennedy – both of whom are now entrenched as starters for the club.

Back to Building the Back Office

With the ship seemingly righted for the time being and the club’s standing in the WSL no longer on life support, it makes sense to build the staff out. One of the bright pieces of business behind the hiring of Skinner to begin with was her international experience. While there are clearly very successful women’s leagues now, the game has been built on the back of the national teams and events like the Women’s World Cup.

This need for international experience is a big part of what makes the hiring of Lauren Smith perfect for the club. Smith spent the last three years as an Assistant Manager for the Wale’s Women’s National Team. Wale’s is not Germany or France, but they are currently 31st in the FIFA Women’s Rankings and brings that related association experience as well.

Before Wale’s Smith “spent seven years at Bristol City” according to Tottenham Hotspur.com working her way from the youth team up to Assistant Coach of the First Team in her time there. She also has experience serving as technical director for the Bristol City Academy something lost with the release of Hills and Amoros who had been everything to the club for forever.

Smith joins the staff immediately and will be with the team Sunday as they host Everton in the WSL. This is great for the team and shows that the Women have a clear plan and direction, bravo ladies!