Born: 13 November 1979, Whitby, England
Rehanne Skinner became West Ham United’s first female manager of the Hammers’ full-time professional era when she was appointed in July 2023.
Skinner arrived in east London with well over a decade of coaching experience under her belt, including her time as assistant manager with Arsenal between 2010 and 2013, when they lifted two Women’s Super League titles, and has been heavily involved in coaching England’s pathway system.
Prior to her appointment at West Ham, Skinner started her coaching career with Leicester City’s Centre of Excellence and Football in the Community project in the early 2000s.
After helping establish the Foxes’ senior women’s team in 2004, Skinner played herself before taking over as first-team manager in 2006, aged 26. In May 2010, she moved to Arsenal as assistant manager for the inaugural WSL season, which climaxed with the Gunners winning a domestic treble.
After three successful seasons in north London, Skinner coached the British Universities and Colleges Sport team to a Gold medal at the 2013 Summer Universiade in Russia, before moving to the United States to coach aspiring young players seeking college scholarships.
At the same time, from 2006 to 2013, Skinner coached across multiple age groups with the England national teams.
In 2016, she returned from Florida to the UK as head coach of Wales women’s U19s and assistant manager of the senior Wales women’s national team.
A year later, Skinner took charge of England women’s U19s, leading them to the 2019 UEFA European Women’s U19 Championship finals, before moving up to be appointed England women’s U23s head coach in 2019. In September 2020, she was appointed to England women’s team head coach Phil Neville.
Two months later, Skinner took the role of head coach at Tottenham Hotspur. She led the north London club to safety, then achieved a club record-high fifth-place finish in 2021/22.
Skinner departed Tottenham in March 2023 and was appointed West Ham United women’s team manager in July of the same year.