Women’s Managing Director Andy Rogers sits down with presenter Ben Haines to reflect on the transfer window…
Ben: Andy, thanks so much for sitting down with us. It has been a very busy month for you?
Andy: “Very busy. [We were] Fortunate to get a lot of the business done really early, which is basically down to a lot of planning that we did from the summer. So, I think how we looked at this, Martin [Ho]coming in, we strategically looked at how we want to plan out and rebuild the squad. We looked at three windows, the summer just gone, January obviously that we've just ended, but now we're already looking ahead to the coming summer. That's kind of been our strategy really from the start of last summer.”
Ben: Overall, on the whole, as we said at the top, really busy windows - both of them. Are you happy with where we're currently at?
Andy: “Really happy. There's been a huge amount of hard work, but we also understand that we're just on a part of the journey. We've brought in players that we believe are the right people, right personalities and right characters, first and foremost. We're building a way that we want to play, a style, identity that's true to the club values. I think it's important, first and foremost, we bring in the right characters that suit that and also making sure that they are going to benefit from our environment because it's really key that characteristics; they have their ambition, belief shared with Martin, the technical team and the rest of the staff. So, everything marries together. There's a huge amount of work that goes into identifying and detailing the players that we want.”
Ben: How do you do that? I mean, it must be a really difficult task in terms of finding not just the right players, but also those players that are going to come and fit in culturally as well.
Andy: “I think people talk about the transfer only being about players but, interestingly, the last two winters have seen us reshape our technical team. Obviously, Martin coming in as our Head Coach and bringing in the rest of his technical staff has been a huge uplift for us in terms of detail, knowledge, understanding the WSL and the wider leagues across Europe and worldwide - and that's helped us identify players really quickly. So, we talk about the type of player, the profile, but also intercepting young talent that are ready to play in the WSL.”
Ben: So, let's go into our five signings this January. Do you want to run me through them one by one? What were we looking for and what did they bring?
Andy: “We'll start off, obviously, Signe [Gaupset] was the first one and that was something we worked on from the summer. Huge talent, as I think everybody's aware of, she had a phenomenal EUROs and one of the advantages we had clearly was that she'd worked with Martin and was keen to rejoin him here, so we've been really lucky with that. Equally, the players, Hanna [Wijk], Matilda [Nilden] and Julie [Blakstad] have been, again, identifying their personalities first and foremost, their characters, looking at their background and how they've played for their previous clubs, the amount of games they've played and what value do they bring to the WSL around their physicality, their technical work. One of Martin's super strengths is how he develops talent and they've got a huge opportunity then to grow and develop and how we want to see them progress over the next few years.”
Ben: I suppose as well, for every single player, there's a unique pathway that they'll take in terms of how they adapt. Some slightly more quick and some will take a little bit more time because of the physicality of the WSL, but you must be delighted with the impact that a couple of the players have had already?
Andy: “The players that have come in have adapted phenomenally well and a lot of that goes down to the staff around them, the support network that we put around, that we pride ourselves on in terms of, not just what goes on the pitch, but off the pitch. But Toko [Koga] in the summer, along with Cathinka [Tandberg], and the five new players coming in over January have all settled in really, really well. We've got a fantastic group and let's not forget the existing players that are here, all make that transition really, really fluid.”
Ben: Can we talk about that three-window block then? Because January is an interesting time in the women's game. I think a lot of people maybe that don't follow the women's game super closely might think, wow, there's a lot of business going on in January. Can you just explain the different paths from the men's game?
Andy: “It's very different. It tends to be from what we've seen and what we know historically is that it's a far more active window than on the Men's side. That's what we've learned and a lot of that is down to geography and the different leagues across Europe, the US, for example, leagues that are coming to an end, that run at different times to ours. That often brings up players coming out of contracts, so it's important that we identify those players quickly, begin those conversations and identify where they're going to come in, how they benefit from our environment, how we see the benefits from them to us. All of that work needs to be done really, really early to make sure that we get in front of the queue on that one.”
Ben: Yeah, because it's the same for everyone, right? Everyone is looking at the same types of talent. They're looking for the same sorts of players, which is part of the reason why it's so exciting that the players that we've brought in, not just permanently, but players on loan as well, come and are able to bring stuff straight away to this side. So, with that in mind, can you tell me a little bit about Maika Hamao and what she brings to the side as a loan signing?
Andy: “Maika was a really interesting one. It was an opportunity, I think, not just for us as a Club, but for Maika as well. She wasn't having a huge amount of game time at Chelsea, but we also are aware, and Martin and I have talked about her a lot, even back in the summer, what a phenomenal talent she is. It's a big journey for us that we're on and we're only on the very early stages, so players like Maika are moments that we can come in and accelerate what she gives to us as a player, but also what she then brings to the rest of the group in terms of her professionalism and her attitude.”
Ben: How important is that to create that kind of environment? You've spoken a bit before about the profile and wanting young players that have got a huge upside and are growing and learning - and Martin's able to help them as well, but I suppose in the short term you also need that environment where people are competing every day and want to be the very best.
Andy: “That's really interesting because that's one of the things that we identified in the summer. We looked back over the last two or three years of the Women's team's involvement, where they are, where have been the weak areas that we need to strengthen, and one of the big points that we discussed was around competition for places because we're fiercely ambitious as a Women's team and we want to create a team that the fans and the Club here, staff, are proud of. We believe we're making some really good progress this year.”
Ben: Does that then extend to future planning around contracts too? Because we've got a number of players now that are looking maybe to continue their journey or they're at that midpoint in their journey where they're thinking, okay, what's my next step? Where do I want to be? How do we ensure that this is a place where players say, do you know what, my future's here?
Andy: “It's something that we believe in strongly about creating an environment where players, when they come in, and the existing players, they feel that this is where they want to be for the long-term. It's really important because what that does is create a unity within the group and that can outplay anything else. The standards that we set, the structure that we put around the team, the staff, and I think it's really important we talk about the new players that are coming in over the summer and in January, but also the existing players we're re-signing. You take Ella Morris, Drew Spence, for example. They were huge re-signings for us and as important as any of the new signings coming in. Drew, for example, has been probably one of the outstanding performers since I've been around the Women's team. Professionalism, a talent, she's still probably one of the best technical players in the league. She's brilliant around the rest of the group in terms of educating the younger players coming through. She has a quiet authority around the group. Ella, she came into the group, she's had her fair share of injuries, for sure, but her resilience, the way she's battled back from that. She had a 10-game window, I think, which elevated her into the England senior national team and I know Sarina [Wiegman] speaks so highly of her. She's come back even stronger. I mean, I've never seen anything like it in terms of rehab, so we were delighted to re-sign her and we see her as a huge part of our future.
Ben: Both of them as well, totally in line with the characters that you talk about, like exactly the sort of person that you want around the group. Then I'd imagine more contract signings to come and you'll be looking at trying to make sure that we tie down a number of players who we've been relying upon?
Andy: “We want to reward the players that have been really working hard for us over the last couple of years and that we see going to take this team forward. We have huge ambitions. We want to be in the Champions League, we want to be sustainable in the Champions League as well and competing on all fronts. We know that we're still a long way away from where we want to be.”
Ben: As a natural part of that, there is going to be change and there is going to be outgoings and players that we are enormously fond of are going to leave the Club as well, as has happened over the course of the last month. So, can you just try and put into words what some of those players that have left potentially mean to the Club, but also the legacy that they leave behind as well, particularly with Ash?
Andy: “That's a real consideration for us, especially, I think even more so in the Women's game, to understand when we bring new players in and we're evolving the squad, what that impact looks like on players that maybe get less opportunity to play, or maybe have to look elsewhere for future career opportunities. We have to be mindful and empathetic around that, trying to create pathways for those players to continue their career. I think in Ash's case, everybody's spoken a lot about Ash since she's left and rightly so, she was celebrated as a legend at the club. She leaves a huge legacy within Tottenham Hotspur Women and in Women's football overall.”
Ben: Can we go back just a tiny bit to squad profile? I think this is really, really interesting when you consider the fact that you have a three-window plan. What is the next phase? What does this next bracket look like as we go into the summer? I don't want to put words in your mouth, but already accelerating at a speed that most people probably wouldn't have thought at the beginning of the season. How do you manage that when you then have to go and strengthen again?
Andy: “People think you get to the end of the January window, or each window, and everyone kind of relaxes. It's not like that at all. As I mentioned before, we've been working on next summer for the last couple of months. We know there was potential other opportunities for us in January, but the moments weren't quite there. What we don't want to do is get ourselves where we're making rash decisions. Vinai [Venkatesham] has been a phenomenal supporter of the Women's team since he's come in. I remember kind of sitting with Vinai when he first arrived and we talked about the ambitions and where we want to go but managing and being smart with what we do. It's one thing investing more money, but it's being smart with how you do it and making sure we're making really, really strong decisions that are going to set the foundations and underpin our success for the coming years. Being important, knowing when is the moment to bring these players in. As I said, we're working really aggressively, really quickly and really ambitiously to make sure we have a strong window in the summer because it's going to be equally important. Everybody around us is going to be doing the same. We actually believe we're in a really good place ahead of the summer. A number of conversations are ongoing - we're exceptionally lucky. Again, I talk about signings in windows, but Martin's been probably one of the most instrumental signings we've made. One of the things I remember were the two words I mentioned to Vinai, when I came off the call [with Martin], was passion and obsession. I've never met anybody like him in terms of his work ethic, his obsession for coaching, his detail and you can just feel it around the building - every single day. People have spoken about the Champions League and all of a sudden there's all this talk, which is great noise compared to where we were last year. My job, Martin's job and the rest of the team is to look at how we sustain the long-term future of the Women's team. We want to make a team that the fans want to come and see, support and are really proud of. I think we're moving in the right direction. There's huge amounts of hard work to go and we also need to be patient with players in terms of how long their time to develop settle within a new league. But, having Martin in place, his technical team that we've built around him, we feel like we're in a really strong position.”
Ben: Was there any temptation in the short term to do anything mid-term proof around the Asia Cup and the fact that potentially we'll lose a couple of players to that for a few weeks?
Andy: “I think the Asia Cup has been talked about a lot and, obviously people will look at it and go, right, we need to go and find cover because we're going to lose two centre-backs. What it does is provide opportunity. It provides an opportunity for Martin to look at how he's going to work with the squad. What we can't do in this situation is panic and bring players in just for the sake of the Asia Cup. We won't ever do that. We think it's detrimental to those players that are coming in, but it's also detrimental to the existing squad and we have to have confidence and trust in the players that are in the building that we can manage these times. I mentioned earlier, when we talked about suffering, being able to be resilient, suffering moments where they're going to be a challenge to us. This will be a challenge for sure, but we trust the players that we've got in the building. We could go out and sign centre-backs, but the reality is it's not sustainable and we're always looking to what the long-term looks like. If a player was available that we could have gone in and brought in that we thought was going to be great for us long-term, fantastic, but that opportunity wasn't there for us. Ultimately, when we look at our squad and we look at where we can utilise players in certain positions, we have that faith and that trust that we'll do that, and players will work hard and we'll get through those moments.”
