Spurs Women manager Skinner discusses growing the women’s game on International Women’s Day

Rehanne Skinner is having a spectacular season managing Tottenham Hotspur Women; Spurs are currently 4th in the table and Rehanne received a nomination for February’s FAWSL Manager of the Month. In recognition of International Women’s Day yesterday, Skinner spoke to UK Women’s Football platform Girls on the Ball about growing the women’s game, being a role model, and her own inspiration.

Rehanne speaks proudly about the last 20 years’ growth in women’s football:

“When you look at… the amount of girls that are playing; the amount of role models that are within the game now in senior football in the FAWSL; and obviously the way that England have performed…we’re now in a position where we have female role models, whether that be in the position that I am in or players across the game, which is so important for society.”

Skinner has played a key part in that growth and a role model in her own right. Before she joined Tottenham, she spent years in the England setup, coaching U17-U21 and joining Phil Neville’s senior squad as an assistant coach. She also coached Leicester and Arsenal, and won multiple cups and leagues with both teams.

Skinner told Girls on the Ball it’s “100%” a privilege to be a role model, especially in a job she deeply loves. It’s a sentiment she shares with her players:

“It’s something that as a collective – we’ve spoken about it as a team as well – we take seriously as to the way that we want to grow, what that looks like from an individual perspective, but also from a club perspective, and from the game…It’s something that is a hot topic for us on a day-to-day basis. It’s absolutely a privilege to be in that position.”

Rehanne’s own role models are her grandmother who was a wartime nurse, her equestrian sister and hard-working mother, and the coaches who have come before her, particularly former Everton and England coach Mo Marley, MBE:

“I worked closely with her at England when I was there the last time around. I just think when you look at the number of players whose career she’s influenced, and as a support network for those people going through different stages of paying to play to semi-professional to becoming professional. Then from a club perspective and from an England perspective, there is not one player in the seniors that’s not been influenced by Mo at some point or another throughout the course of their career…She has set the standard and the benchmark for what that should look like.”

Want to hear more from Rehanne? Have some links…

Full article from Girls on the Ball

An article from the Athletic earlier this season

An article from the Guardian shortly after she joined Tottenham