Preparations are now well under way for the new season for the Sutton United women’s section, and supporters can expect to see a few changes from last season.
The most obvious one is that we will now be running just two sides. After discussions with our junior girls’ section it was felt the better young players would benefit from moving directly into the reserve team set up and instead we have now entered a team in the JPL (Junior Premier League). At the end of last season we were sad to say goodbye to our reserve team manager, Courtney Bartlett, and we have now appointed joint-managers for this team, Ian Bowerman and Ben White.
Lucy Clark remains as head of women’s football and first team manager and is looking for the two senior teams to work more closely together and also to develop the pathway up from our junior teams.
The other big change for the 24/25 season is in terms of a permanent home ground, and our first team will now be playing all of their games on the grass pitch at Chipstead FC. Lucy thinks this is a big step forward, “We understand the difficulties in being able to play at Gander Green Lane, although we hope that any home FA Cup ties can be played there, and being able to find a suitable local ground with good facilities is something that not only gives the players certainty in terms of a home base, it is not too far away and will hopefully help us to build up a regular fan base. I am very excited by the new season, we had an amazing response with players turning up for the open trials and have also made some excellent signings. We have a busy programme of pre-season games and hope to hit the ground running when the league season starts.”
Our 1st Team will continue to compete in the London & South East Regional League, and the reserves will play in the South East Counties Women’s League, with home games in Collingwood Recreation Ground.
We also have an opportunity for a new matchday Stadium Manager to take charge of matchday arrangements off the pitch at Chipstead. The main duties will include ensuring that gate receipts are collected and payment of the match officials. This would be a good way to start volunteering with the club. If this could be of interest, to learn more email dave.farebrother@suttonunited.net
We are also looking for additional sponsorship, with opportunities and benefits packages to suit all budgets. Please email Matthew.disley@suttonunited.net
