This appointment is a good sign, it should steady the players and the club knowing that they have a new manager in charge to lead them forward into the new season

Hope it all works out

Update today on fairgame website suggests that Fulham Womens team will be able to start the the season. I don't recognise many of the players apart from Emily Bourne and Nathalie Jasper but they seem to have come in from good clubs. I wonder if they will be able to attract some experieced players to make up for the loss of so many of the best from last season-they seem to have mainly gone to Bristol Rovers, Charlton and possibly Chelsea. I guess they and Sunderland will be hot favourites for relegation and I hope that both clubs will overcome their financial problems to compete well in th Prem.

As the womens premiership is about to get underway on sunday, its so good to see that Fulham have managed to survive inspite of enormous difficulties. They had great difficulty in finding a pitch for the first team to play on, they still have very little money and the entire first team has slowly but surely disappeared, except for a few players who are Fulham through and through, prepared to accept a VERY difficult challenge to keep the club going. They still desperately need to attract a few more players in order to have any chance in the premiership, otherwise it will be an uphill struggle, realistically leaving the club to plan for next season in the southern premiership.

It will be interesting to see if they get any points or score any goals. When you think that several sides in the premiership have suffered like this and only the likes of Arsenal and charlton are financially secure, you wonder why the FA hasnt done something about this scandalous state of affairs. It is not as if they dont know about it, but seem quite happy to bury their heads in the sand and ignore a real problem. What chance womens football when the governing body is so unsupportive and inactive?

I agree- its all very well saying that they support womens top level football but they have no plan to help clubs who are let down by the mens clubs. Sunderland, Birmingham, Southampton and now Fulham have suffered this way. Running a quality womens team costs the equivalent of one weeks wages for many male pro players, but clubs are happy to drop their support with little notice. Surely a fund could earmarked to support clubs in this position provided certain criteria were met, that teams had a coaching stucture and youth policy an a committee actively seeking revenue for the club. Anyway best of luck to Fulham at Burnham fc on Sunday- I shall certainly be there to support them whatever the result...

I agree, will definitely be there on Sunday to support the girls. It is going to be a really tough game, Fulham are without Nat Jasper, Jess Trimnell and Emily Bourne for the game and the squad is considerably weakened because of this. Hopefully the girls can put out a gutsy performance with passion and fight in them! Good luck Fulham!

I will be there on Sunday as well as I cannot go up north to see Arsenal
I will be cheering for Caroline Collie and Niki de la Salle.

While the official Fulham Women FC website is being constructed, a temporary website has been created.

Check out www.fulhamwomenfc.fusiveweb.co.uk for up to date news and information about Fulham Women FC.

just back from Burnham. A committed and brave Fulham team eventually well beaten. The first goal only came one minute before half-time and then Fulham had an equaliser disallowed. It was great to see the Fulham players kept going right to the end in the face of a much more experienced team. I hope the players are proud that they kept their spirit right to the final whistle. Above all it was great to see a team out there at all. Few would have said it was possible at the start of June. Respect to all the players and committee for making it happen and keep your heads up

Pat,

Thanks very much for you continued support and words of encouragment. We were very pleased with much of the game and claimed the moral victory considering we were playing against half of our old side. The committee are determined to see the season through but know it will be an extremely tough campaign and that there are going to be some much harder games. We still need to attract some more players, but are encouraged in that we will have further players, such as the likes of Jess Trimnell and Nat Jasper to return and move forward with. Hope you can get to more of the games to support the girls.

Fulham Committee

Congratulations to Fulham Women F C on their first victory in the National Premier today. I hope that all the players, management , committee members and supporters will enjoy this moment and reflect how far they have come since last June. A special thought for those players who have stayed with the club since the start and have had to put up with alot of disappointment.

Well done to them - not a massive victory - but who cares

After all they've been through, it's a massive victory.
Well done Ladies!

Well done to Fulahm, great result for them.

Women desperate for a leg up

Fulham Women FC director of football Fred Brockwell has urged the FA to financially back women's football following the demise of Premier League side Charlton Athletic Women last month.

The Valley-based side, one of the few teams able to challenge Arsenal's dominance of the women's game in this country, had their funding lifeline slashed by the club after the men's team were relegated to the Championship.

The Charlton Community Trust has bailed out the Addicks women, albeit on a tighter budget, but Brockwell, whose Kingston-based club suffered a similar fate two years ago, believes the FA should step in for the good of women's football.

"Charlton are in the same position we were in last year, but they have been given time to get themselves organised. That didn't happen for us," he said. "It has been a remarkable achievement to keep this club going - a miracle.

"It's going to be very difficult for Charlton.

"With the amount of money involved in the FA and football generally, all it would need is a grant."

Fulham Women, the game's first fully professional team and winners of all three domestic trophies in 2003, were relegated from the top flight last season after being forced to field youngsters in the aftermath of funding cuts.

But, with a new home ground at Burnham FC in Buckinghamshire and training facilities at Kingsmeadow, they are on their way back.

New signings Ann-Marie Heatherson (Charlton) and Sarah Lipscombe (Reading Royals) have led an impressive pre-season.

Heatherson hit an incredible 16 goals in four friendlies, and took that form into Sunday's National League Cup tie against Team Bath, netting twice in a 6-1 victory.

Probably a waste of time asking the FA for help - they're a waste of space.

They are gonna get sweet F.A more like!

Sounds about right

Hope I'm not jumping the gun, but if tonight's result at Barnet is confirmed then WFC Fulham are Champions and back in the National League - Congratulations to all the players, committee, management, sponsors and supporters on a 19 match unbeaten run since the opening day of the season which has taken them back up.

That is good news Pat - it's always nice to see a team rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

It's such a shame that the wealthy person associated with Fulham had to spend so much of his time on other things, rather than a bit of his pocket money keeping Fulham ladies going

Absolutely, Twmcat....it is remarkable that the passion and dedication of a few parents of players and the hard work of the management have kept the name going - you only have to look at the fate of Southampton who suffered relegation 5 years ago then had their money taken away..now they are almost certainly going down to the regional leagues...3 Divisions below.... for Fulham I guess the hard work now begins...staying in National league as an independent self financing club.

Good luck to them, it depends of the level of football play they can show next season as well.

Well done to Fulham and all those behind the scenes that put in money and hard work to keep the club going.

so is that the Premier League they are now back in ....same as Arsenal Ladies ...Everton ...etc

Yeah , back in the big time.

Ok, I'm a bit OT here (when am I not?), but Pat says it all up there.

It's such a shame when a team is forced to struggle unnecessarily when they are getting their act together.
Fulham have worked hard, and good luck to them, but it's at the expense of Charlton, who were a top team recently.
(I'm not ignoring Cardiff, but they weren't the force that Charlton once were.)

Personally, I think all men's league teams should be obliged to keep an associated women's side.