It wasn’t just the silverware winning England players whose future was suddenly cast into doubt but also the hundreds of girls proudly playing in the club’s Centre of Excellence and Academy structure. Thankfully, the Charlton Community Trust– undoubtedly up there as one of the best community schemes in European football- stepped in and with assistance from their many partners secured the future of all tiers of the women’s programme. Their place in the Premier League was saved…but the players had gone. In stepped former Addicks hero Paul Mortimer, encouraged by Community Director Jason Morgan, and a group of brave but largely inexperienced players for what was to be a baptism of fire both on the field and off. In the early days they were beaten on more than one occasion and it took a little time for the new figures running the club to learn the ropes on the admin side. “We didn’t even know where the keys were to get into the store rooms where the women’s kit & equipment was,” laughs Mortimer, who now heads up the whole of the technical side of the women’s set up and is frank about the mountain his squad faced: “We had no preseason and so couldn’t prepare for 6-10 weeks like our rivals. Only two of our girls had flirted with the Premier League before, one or two more had come through the academy and the rest were from ‘Sunday League’ football. They were naïve, could only compete for 50-55 minutes and it showed.”

Yet, with a positive attitude from all involved, the performances, the confidence, belief and ultimately the results are all showing clear improvement. They have earned two draws in recent matches and it comes as little surprise to Mortimer. “The way we started, where we started from, it was always going to be after Christmas before we would begin to see results and so having got off the mark last year, you could say we are even ahead of the game. Results have often not reflected performances, which in some games have been brilliant. Our 2-0 loss at Liverpool was quite a close game and our 4-0 against Watford even closer. We held Arsenal 0-0 until half time. Having managed to make changes to the team and strengthened the side our defending has improved. We are now creating chances. In Danielle Farmer we have someone who can create AND score goals and in Kimberley Dixson (who was in the England U23s squad), from what I have seen, we have arguably the best midfielder in the league. At least, I have yet to see better.” “All I want and can ask for from the girls is to be as competitive as we can be in every game. We have gone from walkovers to being disappointed, angry even, that we haven’t won games. The other week (against