Inflection Point

Reflections on and after the Euro final | Spurs Women scoop up three new players in one week | Fixture updates | Spurs Men fall to Roma in the last friendly

Just in case you live under a rock, England won the Women's European Championship, beating Germany 2-1 in extra time.

(Yes, this is a sad moment for me as a Germany fan, but we'll sweep that to the side for a moment.)

It's hard not to be happy for the Lionesses, seeing as how they won the tournament for the first time in front of a record crowd on home soil. They undoubtedly had a strong squad (deeper than Germany's, I would argue, which became significant in the team selection for the final) and a formidable manager in Sarina Wiegman, who is now a two-time Euro champion.

This feels like it could be a watershed moment for women's football, in England particularly but also across the world. Because it wasn't just the Euros happening this summer, but tournaments across all corners of the globe. The attendance figures varied from tournament to tournament, with the Euro final obviously being the most impressive figure, but the actual football on display in each competition is what stood out most for me. There are still large gaps in investment and infrastructure to overcome between the top nations and the up-and-comers, without argument, but there's plenty of progress to point to and suggest that on the whole, women's football is on the right path.

After such an exciting Summer of Soccer, as I'd taken to calling it, I'm most interested to see how much of a trickle-down effect there will be from the excitement around international football to excitement around the domestic leagues. This is really the important question:  can leagues like the NWSL, the WSL, the Frauen Bundesliga, etc. harness the potential waiting to be unleashed? There are burgeoning fanbases waiting untapped, if only football clubs can meet them where they're at.

And that is the crucial point for me; while women's teams are playing the exact some football that men's teams are, that doesn't mean that adopting a women's club as a supporter is as simple as showing up at the usual stadium (sometimes literally, as most women's teams play at different grounds for the majority of their matches). There is still a learning curve when it comes to getting to know the players, becoming familiar with the team's history, and bedding in with a new set of fans—even though there is often a lot of overlap in supporters of the men's team and women's team at any given club. So while it won't be difficult to get new supporters in the doors at the start of the 2022/23 WSL season, that doesn't mean the job of converting them into dedicated supporters is done.

Clubs have a lot of work to do in that regard, but this is also where people like myself come in. I consider it both a responsibility and a privilege that I get to help introduce new fans to Spurs Women, even as I am not the longest-tenured fan myself. If I hadn't found a community of other Spurs Women fans on Twitter, as well as a handful of general WSL-centric podcasts that filled in the knowledge gaps, it would have been a lot harder to learn about the team and feel like a knowledgeable fan. This isn't to say that you have to be an expert to enjoy watching the Women play, of course not, but it's a great feeling when you finally pass the point of asking fewer questions during matches and simply living in the moment, watching your team.

Lest I sound like I'm looking at everything through rose-colored glasses, I'll acknowledge that there have also been moments of frustration for me this summer. Frankly, I had to stop myself from writing a very ranty thread on Twitter earlier today, but I will share the gist of those thoughts with y'all now since I know this is a safe space where I won't be misinterpreted (also, no character count getting in the way).

I have been frustrated less so with the overt misogynists who refuse to respect women's football (they will always exist, sadly, and are therefore none of my concern) but more so with the people—mostly men, just to be honest—paying lip service to the idea of watching women's football. Because here's the thing:  I do not personally care if someone does or does not watch women's football. If someone isn't interested or invested enough to watch it, that's their loss. What bothers me is the number of comments I've received over the last few weeks from people saying they "hope" they will start to watch Spurs Women this season, or that "hopefully" they will make it out to a game. These have all been ardent supporters of the Men's team, mind you, so it's not a matter of making time for football—it's a matter of whether or not they will make time for the Women. And 90% of the time, it doesn't have to be an either/or situation; the majority of Spurs Men' and Women's fixtures are at different times, usually on different days of the weekend even. So I'm pretty tired of hearing the word "hope" in this context. Either you back up your words with actions or you don't. It's that simple.

I just don't have a lot of patience for that kind of person who says what they think other people want to hear, without any intention of ever following through. And I think I've been experiencing it personally because I am someone who is vocal about supporting the Women's team. People come to me looking for some sort of approval that they've shown sufficient interest in Women's football. Well, I can't give that approval, nor would I want to. Those people are going to have to sort out their guilty consciences on their own!

What I do have a lot of time for is people who are genuine newcomers trying to learn more about the game, as well as people who had been casual fans of Spurs Women previously but are now really energized to support them on a more consistent basis. I am thrilled that we are going to see a lot of fresh additions to the fanbase. And if you're already here reading this newsletter, you know what's up, and you know this rant is not about you. Discussing the Women's team and treating them on the same level as the Men's team is just another normal day for us.

Our Women's team doesn't need promises and good intentions, they need material support. Bottoms in the seats, if you will. And for those of us outside of the greater London area, that material support can be anything from purchasing the latest home kit with a Women's team player's name on the back, to attending the upcoming Women's Cup in Louisville, to just plain getting the word out and continuing the conversation with folks across the pond who can buy single or season tickets. Additionally, watching WSL games on CBSSN/Paramount+ (or the respective network in your home country) this season and showing the networks that there's a demand for global women's football is another way to show support from outside the UK.

As for the Euro final itself, I don't want to dwell on it too long since we didn't have any Spurs players in either squad (sigh), but I will say that it was a thoroughly entertaining match of football—and extremely tense if you weren't a neutral! I truly think either team would have been a deserving winner, and there wasn't much to separate the two sides, except for the aforementioned advantage in squad depth that England had (what with Germany missing Alex Popp to injury and Klara Bühl to COVID). Even as a Germany fan, I couldn't help but be happy for the England players and fans. And there's always the World Cup next summer for Germany to get some revenge...

A trio of transfers

I think this is an exciting time to be following Spurs Women in general, considering where the team is at in its—shall we say—narrative arc, but this past week was especially exciting thanks to a flurry of signing announcements.

First up was a transfer that was truly shocking to me:  Amy Turner. I say shocking because when Turner was released from her Orlando Pride contract in unfortunate circumstances—the Pride's head coach is under investigation for violating the NWSL's policies on harassment and retaliation, and the club bought out her contract to end the roster freeze they were under—I assumed she would be heading back to Manchester United to play under Mark Skinner again. She couldn't play in the NWSL for at least a year due to the league's weird rules around teams "owning" individual players' rights even if they don't have them under contract. Don't ask me to explain this in any depth, because I can't, just like I can't tell you how DPs and all that other nonsense works in the MLS. American leagues:  unnecessarily confusing and different from European leagues! But I digress; I literally exclaimed out loud when I saw the announcement that Turner had signed with us.

And it was a pleasant surprise, just to be clear. 31-year-old Turner is an experienced defender and—if you believe the outpouring of supportive messages she got from players across the NWSL when the mess with the Pride went down—a consummate professional. We definitely needed some additional depth at center-back, and she could very well be challenging Shelina Zadorsky or Molly Bartrip for their starting spots. I feel bad for Amy for having to go through such a difficult time in Orlando, but hopefully her fresh start at Tottenham will be just the career reset she needed. And it's a shrewd move from Spurs, for sure.

Next up in the transfer whirlwind was the young Polish striker Nikola Karczewska. At just 22 years old she is already a senior Polish international, and she comes to Spurs from the first division French team FC Fleury.

Simply put, she's a striker who knows how to find the back of the net, and she's done so despite playing on not-so-great teams. And since we all know that Spurs' main issue last season was finishing chances, not creating them, I think she could be an important addition to the forward line.

Cheers to N17 Women listener Michal for sharing this tip on how to pronounce Nikola's last name:

Finally, we got a third new signing of the week in Angharad James, a Welsh defensive midfielder who also comes to Spurs after mutually parting ways with the Orlando Pride. And the Pride is not the only connection James has to Turner—they are fiancées!

The 28-year-old is just a few caps away from 100 appearances with the Welsh senior team, so that should give you an idea of just how long she's been involved with her national team.

Like Turner, she also has previous experience playing in the WSL with Everton and Reading, as well as her youth career at Arsenal when she crossed paths with Rehanne Skinner. Based on her playing profile, it looks like James is the Maéva Clemaron replacement we've been looking for. In other words:  defensive stability and a solid foundation for the attacking press.

Now, if anyone can share a tip on how to pronounce "Angharad" correctly, I would very much appreciate it. My familiarity with Welsh is extremely limited.

So now that we've doubled our summer signings in one week, we're looking a lot closer to being ready for the new season. There's still time for another surprise move or two, but all the basics are covered now, and there's a good balance of experience and youth in the squad.

Notably, all three of the newest signings are under contract for two years with an option for a third year, and when you consider that fact next to the many long-term contract extensions for key players that were finalized this off-season, it would suggest that the club is hoping to have less turnover in the coming seasons. In other words, a lot of faith is being placed in this current squad. It's kind of refreshing to see a shift from the short-term contracts the club had been operating with for the first few seasons in the WSL, and also reflects a wider trend in the league as a whole towards better job security for players—something we can all agree on is a positive thing for players' mental health and will surely lead to better results on the pitch.

A big update for opening matchday

Sticking with Spurs Women for one more section, we got some news that the first match at home to Manchester United, originally scheduled for September 11, has now been moved to the 10th and will take place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Significantly, this means we won't be playing at our new home of Brisbane Road until mid-October, due to a couple of away fixtures and an international break in between the first two home fixtures.

While it's unfortunate not to get to build up some momentum at what is going to be our primary home ground, it would be pretty foolish not to have such a blockbuster fixture against United anywhere other than the main stadium, especially post-Euros. Forgive me for the disloyalty, but who wouldn't be excited to see Ella Toone and Alessia Russo play in person after the tournament they just had? (And Mary Earps, I guess...)

I know that actually securing tickets to this match has been a little difficult, especially if you're a season ticket member. My N17 Women co-host Rachel is a good person to follow for more information on ticketing since she's tweeting out updates as she learns them. The club could definitely be doing a better job with communication, but it's good to see that they are slowly but surely opening up more sections of the stadium to meet demand and have also designated an away section for United supporters to build up the atmosphere.

Also speaking of fixture updates, we finally have a few kickoff times for the Women's Cup. Spurs' first match on Sunday, August 14th vs Club América will be a 7 pm ET kickoff, and if (when) we win that match, we'll face OL Reign on Wednesday the 17th at 5 pm ET in the semi-final. The other kickoff times are still TBD and updates are being announced daily on the tournament's Twitter account, if you'd like to keep an eye out.

We meet again, José

This is the part of the newsletter where I have to be upfront and admit that I barely paid any attention to the final Men's friendly against José Mourinho's Roma, because I was watching a game that actually had a trophy at stake (the DFL-Supercup, thankfully won by my beloved Bayern Munich after some concerning funny business in the second half).

I was a little more attentive in the first half when the Supercup hadn't started yet, and my main impression was that Doherty and Perišić were looking very promising as a wingback pairing. They were both very influential in the attack from what I saw. Unfortunately, after we conceded on the set piece (that old story again), the Mourinho team did what a Mourinho team does and effectively parked the bus. And as someone who has been suffering from Texas humidity, I did not envy the lads having to play in ridiculously humid conditions in Israel. Once again, why was the game being held there, not even getting into the political optics? All in all, it was a friendly that didn't really tell us anything we didn't already know about the team, but at least there weren't any injuries.

(Don't even talk to me about the Skippy freak accident in training, I'm too upset.)

I'll have a preview of the Men's first PL match against Southampton in the season preview post, coming to your inboxes later this week.

Thank you for reading

No, seriously:  thank you for reading. This issue was a real doozy. But y'all know I wouldn't write this newsletter if I wasn't passionate about all things Tottenham, and I'm glad that my Spurs Across the Pond readers are just as invested as I am.

On that note, I am 90% of the way to my fundraising goal on Ko-fi for my trip to the Women's Cup, so if you'd like to make a contribution and tip me over the line it would be much appreciated. Less than two weeks until the tournament kicks off!

COYS