Tottenham Hotspur

The 18-year-old centre-forward joined us from League of Ireland side St Patrick’s Athletic in January of this year after his move was agreed 12 months earlier.

With 25 goals in 98 senior appearances under his belt for his former side, Mason spent the second half of last term with our Under-21s, where he scored three goals in six appearances as we reached the Premier League 2 play-off semi-finals.

He was subsequently part of the travelling squad for our recently-concluded pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia.

A regular in the youth age groups for Ireland, he earned his first two senior international caps earlier this summer when he featured for his country against Qatar and Canada just prior to the World Cup.

Long-term absentee 'Deki' has been out of action since May, 2025 after sustaining an injury to his right patella in a Premier League fixture against Crystal Palace which required surgery and underwent a procedure on 14 May.

In what has been an arduous and lengthy road back for the 26-year-old, the creative midfielder has been working hard on his recovery and took to the training pitches at our Enfield training base alongside Mo.

The Ghana international has been ruled out since sustaining a significant quad injury against Sunderland in January last term and had an unfortunate setback in early April as he neared a return.

The attacking pair were put through their paces with a running session to build up their physical load and finished off with some ball work as they target a return to action at some stage in the 2026/27 campaign.

Here they are at work in the gallery below...

Matt joins us after working as an International Development Coach for the club's Global Football Development (GFD) department where he has led programmes in the United States, Australia and South Korea.

He will be assisted by Stella Calderhead, who has also been part of the club’s GFD Programme, as she takes up a new role as Under-19s and Under-16s Assistant Coach for the new season.

Speaking on his new role, Matt said: “I’m incredibly grateful to have been given this opportunity to lead the Women’s Under-19s team at Tottenham Hotspur. It fills me with great pride to represent this football club in this capacity.

“I have already started to get to know all my players really well over the last few weeks as part of our pre-season programme and I can’t wait to start the season with them alongside the amazing staff I get to work alongside each day.”

Women’s Academy Technical Coaching Manager, Nick Hardy said: “I am extremely proud of the programme we are developing, on and off the pitch, across our Women's Academy and the most recent staff additions are a further example of our ambition as an organisation.

“Matt joins our Academy set up after four years delivering on the Clubs international coaching programmes as part of our Global Football Development team, prior to which Matt's impact in the women's game Stateside spanned almost nine years working across a number of academy set up's before being part of the coaching set up that led Georgia Southern University in the NCAA Division One.

“Stella is embarking on her third season in our Academy set up, but her first in a full-time capacity. An opportunity that will allow her to dedicate time and effort inspiring and developing the next generation as an influential and leading female figure in the women’s game. Stella is no stranger to our pathway having been a participant herself at our flagship college programme at Barnet and Southgate after making the solo move from her hometown in Germany at only 18 years of age.

“I am excited about Matt joining the academy's technical team and so pleased that we have been able to secure someone like Stella, who will continue to be such an incredible role model for our young players. These brilliant staff developments are just a small example of the strides and improvements being made across the department to ensure we can continue to enhance the player pathway and opportunities for young female players at Tottenham Hotspur and throughout the ever-evolving women's game.”

Yet there he was, our former midfielder locked in conversation with Robert De Zerbi, just minutes after Richarlison’s late, late goal beat the Blues.

As it turns out (a) Kevin now lives in Sydney and (b) the pair were together for a short spell during Roberto’s time managing Sassuolo in Italy.

Suddenly, it all made sense...

Now 39 and retired since 2023, we might not have seen the best of a young Kevin in a Lilywhite shirt after he joined us at the age of 20 in 2007, but what a career he went on to have.

Just look at the clubs he played for – Borussia Dortmund, Milan, Schalke 04, Eintracht Frankfurt, Barcelona, Fiorentina, Besiktas, not forgetting 15 caps for Ghana, including appearances at the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.

Approachable as ever, looking at picture of health, here’s what he had to say…

Q1 | I’m sure everyone will want to know what you’re up to Kevin – what are you doing in Sydney?

Kevin: “I came to Sydney in 2023. I was initially invited here by FIFA. I then I fell in love with the country, fell in love with my wife, found God, and now I've been here for three years.”

Q2 | You were with us as such a young man – how to you reflect on your time at Spurs now?

Kevin: “Yes, I was 20 years old. Wow, it was the wildest time of my life. 20 years old, earning a lot of money, being lost in London. It was crazy. Sometimes I can't even call myself a Spurs player because I was more in the nightclubs than I was at the training ground! It was all an experience, and I had a great time. I just hope Spurs can do a lot now with De Zerbi, for me, the best coach in the world. Even today against Chelsea, you could see the quality in the first half. The club did something great to bring him in.”

Q3 | You speak so highly of Roberto – did you spend time with him in your career?

Kevin: “Yes, I was with him in Sassuolo, for six months. He made me play so well that I signed for Barcelona!”

Q4 | That’s fascinating – give us an insight into life under Roberto…

Kevin: “He's the best. It's very difficult to find a manager who is both great on the field, tactics-wise, and as a human. There are a lot of coaches that only have one of those characteristics. He has both, and more. He's like a real, real best friend, like a father to young players and he's just the best on the field. The way he wants to play football and the perfectionism. You can see what it means to him. You can go and ask every single player in the dressing room. They all love him. There's not one who doesn't like him. It's for sure. I guarantee that. We have a strong, strong relationship and a lot of respect.”

Q5 | Finally, how has retirement been for you?

Kevin: “Good! Relaxing, enjoying life. As I said, I serve God. It's a lot of work serving God. It's the biggest job I've had, just coming down from the 19 years of a tornado of my career.”

The 18-year-old right winger has been in our Academy since the age of seven and is now stepping up to Under-21 level after spending much of the last three years playing for our Under-18s, the latter two on a full-time basis.

Miracle was part of our Under-17 Premier League Cup-winning side in 2024/25 and turned professional in the latter months of that season.

Congratulations, Miracle!

Some lapses in concentration allowed the home side to roar into a three-goal lead inside 22 minutes in front of a large crowd at the Queen Elizabeth II Stadium and although we tightened up and got forward on a handful of occasions, we couldn’t find a way past Dylan Thompson, our on-loan goalkeeper producing some good saves against us after his temporary switch to the Isthmian League outfit was confirmed prior to kick-off.

It was always going to be a tricky test for Wayne Burnett’s young side against senior opposition in what is often a popular and well-attended summer fixture just down the road from our Training Centre and so it proved in the evening sunshine, Town’s Amrit Bansall-McNulty in particular a thorn in our side and he scored twice after providing the assist for Ayo Tanimowo’s opener before hobbling off injured at the end of the first period. The second half was a quieter affair as the hosts saw out the win.

After an uneventful start, Max McFadden saw a deflected shot fly wide before Town took a 12th-minute lead. Tom Avgoustides played Bansall-McNulty in down the left, he turned away from covering defender Alfie Dorrington and found Tanimowo and he let fly from the edge of the box, his deflected shot nestling inside the far post.

Three minutes later it was 2-0 as Frankie Domi clipped a great ball forward into the channel from the left flank for Bansall-McNulty to run onto, the attacker clipping it over the advancing Sam Archer and into the empty net, before the same player made it three with only 22 minutes gone, forcing the ball over the line from close range after Billy Leonard pounced on a mistake at the back.

Maxwell Adedeji missed the target with a back-post attempt as we tried to respond before the defender’s left-footed shot was kept out by a superb low save from Thompson on his line seven minutes before the break. Thompson was there again just prior to the interval, diving to his right to beat away a fierce left-footed effort from Ronny Moncur that seemed destined for the back of the net, with Oliver Boast unable to connect with the rebound. Remarkably, it was the second time this pre-season that we’ve found ourselves playing against one of our own goalkeepers after Luca Gunter featured for loan club Boreham Wood against our Under-21s last month.

Thompson went off at the break as the home side made wholesale changes while we also introduced several substitutes, but clear chances were few and far between as the game developed. Miracle Adewole and Ellis Lehane fired wide before late substitute Farren Doran – the hero of Saturday’s penalty shootout win over Algeciras CF in Spain – made himself big to block Eli Ackason’s shot-on-the-turn from eight yards out at the other end. One final opportunity for a consolation goal fell to Elisha Sowunmi a minute from time, but he arrowed his left-footed strike over the top.

Line-ups

Enfield Town: D Thompson (Setters 46), Tanimowo (Moses 46), Trialist A (May-Parrott 46), Domi (A Thompson 46), Mensah (Remy 46), Leonard (Ackason 46), Rydings (Trialist B 46), Bansall-McNulty (Parcell 41), Youngs (c) (Watson 46), Avgoustides (Corrigan 46), Deslandes (Kyei 46).

Spurs: Archer (Doran 81), Feeney, King (Hanson 46), Adedeji (Thomas 60), Dorrington (c), McFadden (Wellspring 60), Elliott-Parris (Adewole 46), Moncur (Sowunmi 60), Boast, Ramsey (Muslika 60), O Irow (Lehane 60).

Match data

Goals: Enfield Town – Tanimowo 12; Bansall-McNulty 15, 22.

Referee: Bruno Graise.

Venue: Queen Elizabeth II Stadium, Enfield.

Weather: Warm, light cloud, 24 degrees.

Attendance: 1,148.

Match Centre  Tottenham Hotspur

The 18-year-old goalkeeper, part of our Under-17 Premier League Cup-winning squad in 2024/25, was a regular between the sticks for our Under-18s last term and is now in our Under-21 ranks.

Having signed his first professional contract with us in November, 2025, he was part of our senior travelling squad for this summer’s pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia.

SPURSPLAY

An obligatory event leading up to the new season, our cameras and the Women’s Super League’s production teams were on hand to capture our players in our new home and away kit for the upcoming term.

From a number of photography stations to video content capture, and even roaming social stations, Martin Ho and his squad went from the training pitch to the studio on a busy afternoon at Hotspur Way.

Check out all the best imagery from the Media Access Day…