Tottenham Hotspur are now looking for two head coaches. Days after Ange Postecoglou was relieved of his men’s first team head coaching duties, the club has announced on its website and on social media that Tottenham Women head coach Robert Vilahamn has left the club.
This is hardly surprising. One year after making the Women’s FA Cup final, Spurs Women had a huge backslide, finishing 11th out of 12 clubs in the WSL table and narrowly avoiding relegation. Spurs Women had its own injuries to deal with this season, but they were hugely disappointing. As Abby wrote in her recent “what went wrong” article, Vilahamn’s Spurs team struggled with offensive output, tactics, and player development this season. There were also some suggestions that there were some behind the scenes issues that rankled some within the organizational structure.
Yes, Tottenham Hotspur could do a hell of a lot more to support the women’s team; the amont of money it would take to build a competitive WSL team is a rounding error when compared to the men’s first team. But during his tenure, despite some bright and memorable moments, Vilahamn didn’t really show that he was building towards something, despite the club mining his knowledge of the Swedish league for players.
If you’re a hopeful person, you can hope that the appointment of Vinai Venkatesham, who was a big backer of the women’s team during his tenure at Arsenal, could signal a positive change in the trajectory of Spurs Women. It’s not clear whom Tottenham will target as its next head coach to turn Spurs Women around, but with the new season not starting until September there’s time to do a thorough search and hopefully get things right.