Tottenham Hotspur head coach Rehanne Skinner has highlighted the importance of playing home matches close to the club’s roots this season.
The Lilywhites are scheduled to open the new campaign with a home match against Manchester United at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday lunchtime. Spurs will also stage home matches at The Breyer Group Stadium in Leyton this season rather than across the capital at The Hive London.
When speaking in the pre-match press conference, Skinner said that playing at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium should become the norm whilst the move to Leyton Orient FC is bringing the club closer to home.
“It needs to become the norm that it’s just part of the conversation that we have got the opportunity to be in and around the locality of the fanbase,” Skinner said. “It helps with everybody really and the bigger stadiums definitely attract fans in a different way.
“Us moving to Leyton Orient this year will help us as well so being across the two stadiums is definitely a step forward from where we were last year, that’s a huge positive for the development of the club.
“We started and finished at the stadium last year and to start there again this year is great for us and it definitely is becoming a home feel versus it being every now and again.”
Skinner went on to comment on the move to The Breyer Group Stadium further. She spoke extremely positively about the relationship between Spurs and Leyton Orient.
She said “There’s a relationship between the club and Leyton Orient already. We definitely wanted to grow a relationship with a club that’s going to be very proactive with us as well and support the team really strongly. They definitely want to get onboard with that and they have their own women’s team. That kind of drives on what they want to achieve at their club with us being there.
“Between the two clubs, the partnership is definitely a positive one and I am looking forward to it. We are not going to be in it potentially until October but we will see what it’s like when we get there. We’ve done a lot of preparation in terms of building that relationship and setting it up ready for what we need.
“I’m looking forward to it, it’s closer to our fanbase as well and I think all of that will definitely help to keeping moving us forward as a women’s team.”
Tottenham Hotspur’s opening match of the new season against Manchester United kicks-off at 12.30pm on Saturday lunchtime.
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