After a difficult start to their second season in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League, Tottenham Hotspur have relieved joint-head coaches Karen Hills and Juan Amoros of their duties.
Hills joined the club in 2009 with Amoros joining her two years later. Together, the pair saw Spurs promoted three times, eventually reaching the Barclays FA Women’s Super League a year ahead of schedule in 2019. The club finished their first season in the top flight in seventh place but this term, Spurs have collected just three points from seven games.
With the club finding themselves in a bit of a relegation dogfight in the early stages of this season, Spurs announced the departures of Hills and Amoros via a statement on their official club website this afternoon.
The early season fixture schedule was unkind to Spurs as they faced ‘top four’ sides in three of their first five games. Despite this, senior figures at the club described their fixture against Reading as a ‘must win’ game, though the North Londoners had lost heavily to The Royals last season. The resulting draw meant that the game against bottom of the league side Bristol City last weekend became another ‘must win’ encounter. Spurs fought hard but came away from Twerton Park with a 2-2 draw, a missed opportunity to collect their first victory of the season.
With the international break looming, Spurs fans feared for the fate of the head coaches going into their FA Women’s Continental League Cup tie at Arsenal, the two clubs’ third meeting this season. Spurs put in their best performance of the campaign so far, drawing 2-2 at Meadow Park and claiming their first-ever result against their North London rivals, though they lost the bonus point in the penalty shootout. It seems, however, that the decision may have already been made and in the wake of that historic result, Spurs went on to announce the pair’s departures.
There had been growing concern amongst the Spurs faithful around the club’s early season struggles under Hills and Amoros. While the overall results have not been all that bad, there are some aspects of the team’s play which a new head coach could improve. The club signalled their intention to move up the league over the summer with some high-profile signings but some of those players are yet to really hit top form and Spurs’ thinking is clearly that a new head coach could take them onto the next level.
Spurs have much to be grateful to Hills and Amoros for over the past decade and more but for the next stage of the journey, a change is needed. The role of head coach at Spurs will be an appealing one, in no small part due to the success of the departing duo.
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