Tottenham Women: A Season of Transformation and Identity

Tottenham’s women did more than win football matches last season. They rescued a fanbase.

While the men’s side spent the year shambling towards the relegation trapdoor – not just flirting with the drop but practically picking out curtains for a shared future – the women’s team were busy putting together their best-ever Women’s Super League campaign. Same badge, same colours. Completely different mood.

By the time the men had finally scrambled to safety and supporters were offering hollow applause for mere Premier League survival, Spurs Women had already delivered something far more substantial: identity, ambition and a style of football people wanted to watch.

A season that actually deserved celebration

The numbers were historic. Tottenham recorded their highest WSL points tally, but it was the manner of it that stuck.

There was the 7-2 demolition of Aston Villa, a wild afternoon that felt like a season’s worth of attacking intent condensed into 90 minutes. There was the surreal FA Cup shootout against London City Lionesses, where the first 17 penalties found the net before someone finally blinked. There were the goals that lived in the memory, not least Cathinka Tandberg’s 40-yard thunderbolt, the kind of strike that makes a crowd collectively gasp before it even hits the net.

While the men shuffled sideways around the penalty area and the WhatsApp groups filled with despair – “Are all those passes really necessary?” “Are we actually going to sign anyone?” – the women offered clarity. Purpose. A plan you could see from the stands.

For one family, the shift had started earlier. Three years ago, inspired by England’s run to the World Cup final in 2023, they bought season tickets for Spurs Women. In Brisbane, surrounded by around 2,000 Colombia fans and barely 20 England supporters, they had felt something rare in modern football: warmth, respect, a sense of shared occasion. After England’s 2-1 win in the quarter-finals, Colombian fans diverted from their celebrations to shake their hands. That was the kind of football experience they wanted their son to grow up with.

Tottenham Women, as it turned out, were ready to provide it.

Martin Ho and a team that knows what it is

The turning point came with the appointment of Martin Ho as head coach last year. His CV already carried weight – assistant at Manchester United, head coach at Brann in Norway – but what mattered was how quickly his ideas translated on to the pitch.

Players, by all accounts, like him and respect him. Supporters do too. Ho doesn’t hide away in an office; he occasionally wanders through the “Legends Lounge” at Leyton Orient, where Spurs Women play most of their home games, chatting to fans before kick-off. It sounds minor. It isn’t. It builds a bridge.

On the grass, his impact has been obvious. Tottenham play on the front foot, but with structure. The team looks drilled without being rigid. Each player appears to understand her role and how to help the one next to her. The chaos of previous seasons has given way to something more coherent.

That matters even more in the context of what came before. In 2024-25, Spurs had badly underperformed, staggering to a finish just one place above relegation. Robert Vilahamn departed, and the squad looked short on confidence and direction. Twelve months later, under Ho, they opened the campaign by winning five of their first six games.

Nobody outside the dressing room knows exactly what he said to bring established players back to their best. What’s clear is that this was no Igor Tudor-style demolition job, no dressing room tirade about players who “can’t attack, can’t defend, can’t run”. Tottenham did all three. Often. And well.

Eveliina Summanen’s authority in midfield, Amanda Nildén’s intelligence, Lize Kop’s presence in goal, Drew Spence’s experience, Clare Hunt’s defensive steel – across the pitch, players who had drifted were suddenly central again.

Smart recruitment, sharper edge

Ho’s work was helped by a series of astute signings.

Olivia Holdt, operating from midfield, finished as Spurs’ top scorer last season, adding a cutting edge from deep. At the back, Toko Koga became a rock in central defence, a constant in a side that wanted to push forward but still needed security.

January brought another important piece: Signe Gaupset, a midfielder who loves to drive through the centre with the ball at her feet. Her willingness to surge past opponents gave Tottenham a new way to break lines, a directness that balanced the team’s more patient build-up.

The result was a side that could hurt opponents in different ways, even if they were reminded of the gap to the elite on a couple of bruising afternoons against Manchester City. Then again, City have Khadija “Bunny” Shaw, a striker with a better goals-per-game ratio than Erling Haaland. They went on to win the league ahead of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United – the four clubs that have defined the WSL era.

Spurs finished fifth, just behind those heavyweights. That position, once a dream, now feels like a platform. Breaking into the top four no longer looks fanciful. It looks like a realistic target over the next year or two.

The club clearly thinks so. Within days of the season ending, Tottenham moved decisively in the market. Caitlin Dijkstra, a highly rated Netherlands international, arrived from Wolfsburg to strengthen the defence. Up front, Germany’s Shekiera Martinez joined after proving herself a ruthless finisher in a struggling West Ham side.

More reinforcements followed. Kirsty Hanson came in from Aston Villa, bringing WSL know-how and attacking versatility. Alice Sombath arrived from OL Lyonnes, another sign that Spurs now have the pull to attract players from major European clubs.

Farewells and foundations

Progress always has a cost, and this summer it came with emotion attached. Bethany England, the club’s record goalscorer, departed without being offered even a one-year extension. From the outside, it feels baffling. Players like that do not come around often.

Ashleigh Neville also said goodbye, choosing to move closer to home with a transfer to Leicester. Her decision is understandable; her absence will still be keenly felt. Neville embodied a certain spirit, the kind supporters latch on to.

When the new season kicks off, the team on the pitch will look very different to the one that took the field three years ago. The constant sits in the stands.

Spurs Women’s season-ticket holders have built a small, fiercely loyal community. Many have followed both the men and women for years. They write blogs, record podcasts, and subject themselves to long away days in the rain and wind at places like West Ham. Some were there when the club was still Broxbourne Ladies, climbing the lower rungs of the pyramid in front of a smattering of fans.

Their football knowledge runs deep, but it’s the atmosphere they help create that truly sets these games apart.

A different kind of matchday

At women’s fixtures, frustration still bubbles up. Referees are still asked – with pointed politeness – whether they’ve recently visited a certain high street optician. Yet the fury, the relentless swearing, the simmering anger that often hangs over men’s matches is largely absent.

Instead, there is colour and intent. Before kick-off, fans drape the stands with banners of Spurs players, many overlaid with the Progress Pride flag. It’s not tokenism; it’s a visual statement that everyone is welcome, that LGBTQIA+ identities are part of the fabric of the club, not an afterthought.

For some supporters, that has been an awakening. The women’s game has made them more aware of football’s potential as a force for good, not just a weekly dose of stress and tribalism.

On the pitch, there is another crucial difference: no VAR. The game is fractionally slower than the men’s, but it flows. Decisions are made in real time. Occasionally, a refereeing mistake leaves everyone groaning, yet most would take that over five minutes of confusion, players standing around, fans staring at a big screen waiting for a verdict from a distant bunker.

You leave the ground talking about goals, not lines drawn on a monitor.

The next step

Tottenham Women now stand at a fascinating point in their story. They have a coach who has given them structure and belief, a squad that has been upgraded with serious intent, and a fanbase that feels increasingly attached to this team on its own terms, not just as an offshoot of the men’s side.

Crowds should grow again this season. They deserve to. The football is worth the ticket, and the experience around it offers something modern fans are desperate for: connection.

Spurs, of course, are not the only option. The women’s game is expanding, with stories like this unfolding at clubs across the country. But in north London, one thing is clear.

If you want to know what Tottenham could be – bold, progressive, ambitious – you might find the truest version of that vision not under the bright lights of a Premier League Saturday, but a WSL afternoon at Leyton Orient, watching a team that already looks ready to crash the party at the top.