Why Tottenham had to sack Rehanne Skinner

Tottenham head coach Rehanne Skinner has been sacked following a run of nine consecutive Women’s Super League defeats.

Skinner’s team had been enduring the club’s worst run of form since their promotion to the WSL in 2019, having not won a league fixture since the end of October. Pressure had been mounting on the former England and Wales assistant manager ahead of their latest loss, a 2-1 defeat away at Liverpool on Sunday.

The club decided to take action on Monday, 48 hours before a crucial game in the battle to avoid relegation to the Championship. Tottenham host bottom-club Leicester on Wednesday, only two places and two points above the drop zone. Each year, only one team is relegated from the WSL, which contains 12 teams. Tottenham have eight matches remaining this season, starting with Wednesday’s pivotal fixture.

In Skinner’s 28 months in charge, she led the club to their highest-ever league finish in the women’s game with a fifth-placed finish last term, but this season’s results have proved hugely disappointing by comparison.

Why Tottenham had to act

Skinner was popular with Tottenham’s hierarchy, who had envisaged her being their long-term manager and building a team over many years, but their reluctant decision to act on Monday was recognition of an inescapable fact: Tottenham are in real danger of getting relegated.

Languishing just two points and two places above the relegation zone, with just eight matches remaining and decisive fixtures coming up against the other teams who are at risk of the drop, the north London club are approaching a pivotal time in their women’s team’s history.

Relegation to the Championship is unthinkable, especially at a time when investment into the WSL is ever-increasing and there are extensive discussions ongoing about the future direction of the league.

However, after a nine-match losing run relegation looms large, unless the team can turn things around.

Many of Tottenham’s players have been paying tribute to Skinner on social media since her departure was announced, extending public thanks to a woman they say believed in them like nobody else.

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However, regardless of how well-liked Skinner may have been among some at the club, it is hard to think of many managers in world sport who could oversee nine consecutive league defeats in a top-flight and remain in their position.

Particularly given modern football’s general tendency to chop and change when results are not forthcoming, Skinner was probably given a lot more time to find an elusive victory than most managers would have been given, and in the end, the Tottenham board had little choice but to make a change.

Vicky Jepson, who will take caretaker charge for Wednesday’s high-pressure meeting with fellow strugglers Leicester City, has been in tough spots before, with Liverpool, and has sufficient experience to make the step up.

Whether or not she is seen as being in the running for the job permanently will surely largely depend on whether Tottenham can get anything from Wednesday’s meeting with Leicester.