Ho confident Spurs are “moving in the Right Direction” with Farewells and penultimate Fixture imminent

Tottenham Hotspur Women’s 2025/26 home campaign comes to an end on Sunday, as they host London City Lionesses for penultimate match of the season in the Barclays Women’s Super League. 

This week the club announced six departures, with several long-serving players and Captain, Bethany England set to leave this summer. Head coach, Martin Ho addressed team news, decision making surrounding the transfer window, his long-term ambitions, and balance between experienced and upcoming players.

Team News

Regarding team news, everything remains the same as last weekend’s selection. However, Ho spoke about assessing some absentees who could return to the pitch, including England:

“We should have the likes of Beth maybe back for some time on the, on the weekend.” 

Ella Morris returned to the starting eleven for the first time since her ACL injury at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last weekend. Ho had nothing but praise for the fullback and believes her mentality and courage prove vital for the future of the club:

“Yeah, and I think she's, to come back and play 90 minutes in a big game at the stadium, I thought she'd done exceptionally well, and she still has lots to grow, develop, learn. We know her potential and talent are high, and we need to help fulfil that. 


I think moving forward, I think she has really good opportunities now. I think she's got her own ambitions, her own objective set for club and for national team football, and I want to help her but get closer to that, and I think it's not putting too much pressure on her, then just allowing her to play…

I think overcoming that injury shows a big sign of resilience, mentality. It shows a lot of courage and belief that she's able to overcome that situation.”

Bethany England’s departure

When asked about the squad’s reaction to England’s departure from Spurs this summer, Ho underlined the emotional connections between the players and their Captain, making this a difficult announcement to process:

“Yeah, naturally, you have players, cause they're close together. They see each other every day, and they work together every day, there will be some emotions, but I think where the group is professional enough to know that those decisions are part of football.”

Ho expressed huge respect for the captain and her commitment to the club, whilst insisting this decision was made for the future of the club:

“Wonderful captain, someone who've got huge respect for. So committed, leading by example, and yeah, these decisions are never easy. But we have to make the right decisions that, for us moving forward and what we're trying to build, going forward, but she goes with our best wishes and yeah, I have nothing but respect for her.”

Regarding questions from the fans about England’s departure, Ho reminded that these decisions align with the club’s ethos and ensures she will receive the right sendoff in their last two fixtures:

“Yeah, exactly, that, but this is, um, play everyone's entitled opinion, fans can be entitled to an opinion. I know that. I know the job I'm in. I know the world we're living in football. And they're entitled to it, but we have to make decisions that are right for us moving forward and what I feel is right now and they're never easy, as I said. But we have to make those decisions, and we're aligned with those decisions as a club.

And as well, align, we move forward, um, but we also support Beth and make sure that we can we can give it the right sendoff come the weekend and Brighton also.”

On the potential of losing England’s leadership qualities, Ho maintained that the conclusion of her contract could be a risk, but he still has faith in the other leadership presences within the squad: 

“Every decision you make in football is a risk, whether I pick certain starting eleven, I make certain decisions within recruitment. Every decision will hold a risk, but we're very aligned and very confident that we're moving in the right direction. 


We're building towards where we want to go, and opportunity then presents itself within the group that we have still a lot of leadership within there, and I maybe see leadership slightly different to other people. Experiences, obviously, Beth’s had a lot of them, which she's been very successful with, and she's added a lot of value here, and she's bought that experience here from her previous clubs, and I think we have a vast experience still in this room with Evelina, with Drew, and some of these players who have been top international players for a long time, but have also been around the game a long time. 

A decision you make is always going to be a risk, but I believe we're aligned, and we're moving forward, and we're confident in terms of what we need to do, and as I said, Beth’s been a huge part of what we've done. She's played a huge key role here and she'll continue to and I have no doubts in her future endeavours.”

Facing London City Lionesses

Ho reflected on fixtures against London City earlier this season, with a mixed bag of results and performances:

“The game away, as I said before, I've alluded to before, thought we performed well with the ball, but defensively wasn't great. And then we conceded, yeah, 2 transitions and 2 from set plays, which is disappointing.

But the 2nd game we played, which was the one in the in the FA Cup, um, which is brilliant for the neutral, definitely. But I thought we performed relatively well in that game again and then held on there at the end to win on penalties.”

The head coach speaks highly of their London rivals, understanding the quality and class they possess within their squad that makes it difficult to get a result:

“They've got world-class team, world-class players. They've started to get a lot of those players back because now we've been out for a while for them and yeah, they're a team with a lot of depth and quality and we know we have to respect them, but we have to be right on it the weekend that we want to get a result.”

Maika Hamano’s future

Despite her quality and contributions to Spurs this season, Ho spoke about the possibility that the club will not be able to retain Maika Hamano heading into next season. The midfielder is contracted to Chelsea following the termination of her loan spell at Tottenham:

“Yeah, definitely. I think, Maika, we bought Maika in for a reason. She's got a lot of quality, and I watched her when she was in Sweden. So, I knew what she possessed, and when I come to the club, we try to find an opportunity where we could get players in that would help us evolve and progress with them, how we wanted to play, and what we wanted to do. And Maika definitely fits that. 


She's a Chelsea player. She's contracted to us until the end of the season. And yeah, if there's a possibility to keep Maika, I'd do everything I could to make sure we kept her. 
But yeah, she’s a Chelsea player when the season finishes and yeah, we'll have to see what that looks like when we when we have those talks.”

Squad depth and long-term recruitment plans

Speaking on recruitment this summer, Ho spoke about the importance of ideally having doubles for each position to allow squad depth and rotation:

“I'll wait till the right opportunity presents itself, but I think having double in position is very important for me because it definitely brings another level out to players. It definitely makes you wonder if you're going to play or you're not, but also that'll make us better as a team moving forward.”

When questioned about the long-term transfer ambitions of the club, perhaps focusing on bringing in younger players with room for development over experienced individuals, Ho reassured that every decision is made for the longevity and future of the club:

“I think we have vast players, as I've said, still here. I think we maybe don't look it that way, but Drew, Evelina, Molly, there's a lot of experience that in the group. Lize Kop. There's a lot of experience still through the squad that can play a huge part in what we do. 

And a lot of these younger players especially have had a lot of experience in international football in finals. They faced adversity, they played at the top level against the top teams in different countries, in different tournaments. So, there's vast experience in the squad from a younger perspective. 

So, yeah, I think moving forward, we have to make the right decisions, which I said, we will do and we are doing going forward and it's to make sure that we, we recruit the players and we evolve the squad and progress the squad to where we need to be and where we need to go and what we want to do is make sure that that is effective now and in the future and we create longevity for the club and the team for its future also.”

Ambitions and competing with top sides

The head coach has a strong desire to win and laid out his belief that Spurs have the quality to compete with top sides in coming seasons, with the need for consistency playing a huge role in the possibility of earning silverware: 

“That's me saying I come in to win. I want to win. I am a winner. I want the team to win. I want us to finish as high as we can and win as many competitions as we can.

And, yeah, we've shown good parts of our game throughout the season. We probably need more consistency throughout if you want to be in that top three. And you also need to find levels of performance where maybe you're not at your best, where you come out with results. and not be on the back end of obviously big losses, which we have had, which is my responsibility.

And I think moving forward, the thing we can take a lot of confidence and belief from what we've done this year. And I have no doubt when we're our best and we're really consistent telling we can compete with those teams, which I think we've shown in a lot of games.”

Spurs host London City on Sunday 3rd May (12:00 KO BST) where they hope to end their Brisbane Road campaign on a high, whilst saying their farewells to several key presences in the squad in front of their fans.