Suspiciously Good Vibes

Are we sure this is our Tottenham Hotspur?

Things are looking positive for both Spurs senior teams as the transfer window winds down, though we still have yet to see the new squad additions to the Women's team play (we do finally have some friendlies scheduled!). But the Men's team has already successfully navigated several friendlies, unbeaten so far in pre-season, for what it's worth. There are three more friendlies to go before our Premier League campaign kicks off on August 22. And the Women's Super League schedule has also been released, with a September 6 start date.

In this issue: Pre-season check-in | Transfer talk | News from around the Lane

I'll start this issue off with some general takeaways from the Men's pre-season action, catch up on the latest transfer business, and round up any other club news from the last few weeks. Let's dig in!

Pre-season check-in

I was only able to watch one of the Men's friendlies in full so far, thanks to SpursPlay issues and unfavorable time zone differences, so I won't be sharing a full recap of the games.

But from what I did glimpse, the main positives were:

• Mateus Fernandes scoring in his first game for the club, albeit not a competitive match
• Young players like Rio Kyerematen, Malachi Hardy, and Luca Williams-Barnett holding their own amongst the experienced senior players, in addition to Academy products Mikey Moore and Jamie Donley who have already played at the senior level on loans
• Archie Gray stepping up as captain for the last three games
• A penalty shootout win for Martin Dúbravka
• A strong overall showing from Mathys Tel, including a free-kick goal
• Sandro Tonali also scoring his first goal against Chelsea, followed by a stoppage-time winner from Richarlison when Spurs were down a man (and on that note, Kevin Danso's red card has been the only real lowlight of pre-season so far)

There are still several prominent squad members who have yet to feature this pre-season since they are still enjoying some deserved rest after the World Cup, and a few players who went on the trip down under have had minimal game time due to caution around potential injury concerns. But on the whole, the trip seems to have been a positive start to pre-season.

Transfer talk

Signings have slowed to a trickle, but there was an important one for Spurs Women.

Alice Sombath joins from OL Lyonnes for a club record fee. Although she's only 22 years old, she already has a big reputation as one of the most talented defenders in Europe. She can play at centerback or right fullback and has already featured for France's senior national team over a dozen times. At Lyonnes, she played in the Champions League and has won two titles in the competition.

The prospect of Sombath playing alongside Tōko Koga in Spurs' central defense for seasons and seasons to come is very exciting, and that the club was willing to break our transfer fee record to secure her signature is a promising indicator of ambition.

Unfortunately, the downside two signing two new centerbacks this transfer window is that we have had to say goodbye to club legend Molly Bartrip, who departs to join Crystal Palace (and reunite with Bethany England).

I feel confident giving Bartrip the club legend distinction not just because of her contributions on the pitch, which were hugely important during a time of rapid growth for the Women's team, but also for what she did to build the team's culture off the pitch. She's been a strong advocate for improving mental health support at the club and has undoubtedly been an influential leader in the dressing room. She was also twice an ironwoman for Spurs in the WSL, playing every game those two seasons. Players come and go, but only the rare few leave the club in a better place than they found it, and she's definitely one of them. Big thanks and best of luck, Molly.

Martha Thomas is also leaving the club to join Newcastle United in the WSL2. After a bright start in her first season at Spurs, she was never able to recapture her goal-scoring form. Spurs fans will still think back on her time at Spurs fondly thanks to that iconic knee slide in Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after she scored the game-winner against Arsenal. That's easily one of the most iconic goals I've seen during my time as a Spurs fan, so cheers, Martha, and go well.

Things have been quieter on the transfer front for Spurs Men, though there are lingering rumors of one last "bomba" before the window closes. Otherwise, the only notable move was Will Lankshear departing the club to join Middlesbrough, which was a blow for those of us hoping he would finally have his breakout season at Spurs.

There were also several Academy updates:

• Maxwell Adedeji joins the Men's U21s
• Miracle Adewole has signed a contract extension and is stepping up to the U21s
• Mason Melia is going on loan to Lincoln City, who are newly promoted to the Championship
• Blake Irow is going on loan to Cheshunt in the Isthmian League Premier Division
• Dylan Thompson is going on loan to Enfield Town, also in the Isthmian League Premier Division
• The club also announced the new group of players for the Women's U19s: Cassie Shields, Daisy May Bird, Dasha Mensah Abeka, Amie Bush, Waris Deria, Mehak Khanna, Lexi Withey, Ellie Johnson, and Daria Ordean

News from around the Lane

• At long last, the club announced pre-season plans for Spur Women! They will be holding a training camp in Spain from August 7-19, with two friendlies scheduled:

• August 9 against Granada
• August 12 against Real Madrid

Both friendlies will be streaming on SpursPlay. There will also be further friendlies once the team is back in the UK, but no word on who the opponents will be yet.

• We also had the full fixture schedule announced for the 2026/27 WSL season.

A quick reminder that the league expanded by two teams, so there will be four additional games this campaign. But since Leicester City lost the promotion/relegation playoff game, there are actually three new teams competing compared to last season's roster of clubs. The newly promoted teams are Birmingham City, Charlton Athletic, and Crystal Palace.

There will be at least three fixtures taking place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium rather than the team's primary home ground of Brisbane Road. I'll denote those below with a THS marker.

Here are some of the most notable fixtures for Spurs Women:

• September 6 vs West Ham United, season opener
• October 25 vs Arsenal, THS
• January 16/17, FA Cup fourth round (opponent & date TBC)
• February 7 vs Manchester United, THS
• March 13 @ Arsenal
• April 4 vs Crystal Palace, THS
• May 21/22/23 vs Birmingham City, season closer (date TBC)

• There are some big changes coming to the Women's League Cup, now rebranded as the Subway Players Cup. The group stage has been done away with and replaced by a Swiss-style league phase, and the knockout phase will have a predetermined bracket based on the final standings of the league phase. The WSL teams playing in the Champions League will not participate, so that means Manchester City, Arsenal, and Chelsea are not involved this season. The league phase is also regionalized—with Spurs Women only playing other teams in the southern division—but with one unified standings table. There will still be penalty shootouts for games ending in a draw, with an additional point given to the winner of the shootout. The top eight teams overall in the league phase will progress to the knockout phase. I think that covers it all... How do y'all feel about this new format, particularly the exclusion of the CL teams?

Here are Spurs' opponents for the league phase:

• September 23 vs West Ham United
• September 30 @ Brighton & Hove Albion
• October 28 @ Bristol City
• November 11 vs Crystal Palace
• November 18 vs Leicester City
• December 16 @ Ipswich Town

All of the league phase games are before the winter break, while knockouts will take place after the break.

• There have been a lot of squad number updates across both senior teams, but the most notable one was second-year squad member (and lifelong Tottenham Hotspur fan) Cathinka Tandberg being given the #9 shirt for Spurs Women, most recently worn by former captain Beth England. This is a big show of confidence in Tandberg by Martin Ho and the club. She will still have plenty of competition for game time, even with England gone; Shekeira Martinez has a strong track record of scoring in the WSL, and Kirsty Hanson can also play at striker. Hopefully the new shirt number is the good kind of pressure for Tinka!

• We also got a couple of coaching updates:

• Andrew Crofts has joined Spurs Men's coaching team as Assistant Head Coach
• Matt Sharman has joined as the new Women's U19s Head Coach and Stella Calderhead joins as Assistant Coach for the U16s and U19s.

I think that's everything for today! As I was writing this issue, I also updated the 2026/27 key dates page in my notes app, so I actually feel prepared for the season to begin now. We're not quite there yet, but it's fast approaching—especially for Spurs Men.

I am tentatively planning on doing match recaps for them again, so long as RDZ doesn't do anything to make me dislike him more than I already do. Much like with Bissouma, I will just try to avoid mentioning him unless it's completely necessary. This is the compromise I can live with. But I still think it was a shameful decision for the club to hire him despite vocal opposition from the fanbase, and that opinion has not and will not change no matter how much success we might have on the pitch while he's manager.

On another side note, I've had some folks ask me when there will be a new N17 Women episode, and the answer is... soon. It's always tough to schedule a recording in the summer between vacations and our three different time zones, and now I've been thrown the curveball of month-long on-call jury duty (an absolutely absurd system, who thought this was efficient?!), so we're recording mid-month on the one afternoon I am absolutely sure I have free. Surely there will be even more unexpected Spurs Women news between now and then, so it's going to be a doozy of an episode trying to catch up on this eventful off-season. Let me know if there are any special topics you want to hear us cover.

I hope y'all are having a nice summer (or winter, down under), especially now that it sounds like the heat wave may be starting to abate in the UK. We've even had some cooler days here in Tennessee, so naturally I'm starting to yearn for Premier League and WSL mornings with a cup of coffee. Just a couple more weeks to go!

COYS

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