Ahead of West Ham United women's team's opening Barclays Women's Super League match against Manchester City, Rehanne Skinner penned her Official Programme notes! You can read them below!
Good afternoon and a warm welcome to those at Chigwell Construction Stadium for this Sunday's Barclays Women’s Super League fixture.
We would also like to offer our sincere condolences to Sheffield United after the passing of one of their own last week - Maddy Cusack. The thoughts of everyone at West Ham United are with Maddy’s family, friends, colleagues and teammates at this very difficult time.
This weekend marks the start of the new season in the WSL, and all the teams across the league will be paying tribute to Maddy with a period of silence prior to kick off.
I’d like to welcome Gareth Taylor and his team to east London for our Barclays Women’s Super League opener.
The new season is here and all of us are really looking forward to getting underway in Dagenham on Sunday. It’s been a short summer for us coming off the back of a fantastic World Cup in Australia.
We’ve not had a lot of time together over pre-season, but we have made positive progress largely due to the energy and enthusiasm of both staff and players.
The players are so keen to learn. They really want to drive the Club forward and I can’t fault their determination and application so far. As I have said throughout this summer, we want our supporters to be proud of the performances that they are coming to watch each week and see our women’s team play, ‘The West Ham Way’.
We also want to make sure that everyone in the building develops. For me, it’s so important that people are brought along on the journey as well.
How we collectively drive the team forward, from the Board all the way through to the team - it is so important that we create a team here that’s going to be sustainable moving forwards.
Being in front of our home fans on Sunday will be fantastic. It’s a great opportunity to go out there and express what we’re all about. We’re looking forward to seeing as many of you there as possible to help us kick off the season in the best way that we can.
COME ON YOU IRONS!
Rehanne
