I am hearing that following their relegation to the Championship Charlton Athletic have folded their women's team

More to follow in the usual place as I hear any more...It looks like the official announcement will be next week...There is a post about job losses on the men's news section of their site that doesn't mention the women specifically but it does mention "those operations of the club which have been closed down"

Your joking?

This is getting [beep!] ridiculous. The league will soon diminish into dust and then women's football will go!

I hope they don't fold, it's hard to believe considering they just scraped getting into Europe. I hope they will get funding from somewhere, if this is the case.

Not another! - there won't be a league left at this rate

Surely this won't happen-even with reduced funding CALFC have the players to survive as a club. Their reserves could compete with most Prem clubs just like Birmingham did two years ago. If they do eventually need a new team to make up the Prem take a look at Lincoln who are planning to build their own ground , seem well sponsored through private funding and finished second in the North.

Charlton Athletic are to announce the shock closure of their women's team.

The club's entire women's section - senior teams, academy and centre of excellence - are to be scrapped.

The decision is part of drastic cost-cutting measures being carried out following the club's relegation from the men's Premier League last season.

Women's team manager Keith Boanas confirmed to BBC Sport: "All the staff involved in the women's set-up have had their employment terminated."

An official club statement is to be made next week but on Friday, Charlton chief executive Peter Varney released a statement outlining a "significant level of cuts" at The Valley.

Boanas was at the helm from the time Charlton took the hugely successful Croydon women's team under their wing in 2000.

He said: "I'm devastated for the players and the many young girls who have had their dreams and aspirations shattered. I've been phoning round the players and some of them have been in tears."

Like Croydon, who in the 1990s twice achieved the Premier League and FA Cup Double, Charlton have provided the toughest opposition to all-conquering Arsenal.

Captain and England defender Casey Stoney, angry at the closure of the women's section, said: "I'm disgusted with the club - the men get relegated and we get punished.

"The club's only trophies in recent years have been won by the women's team - and in the last four seasons we were the only side apart from Arsenal to win major honours.

"Seven weeks ago we played in front of a record crowd at the FA Cup final - that's now our last match and I'm totally gutted for everyone involved on the women's side.

"I just hope that what has happened to us doesn't reverberate around the women's game - otherwise it will be in serious trouble."

There will be serious repercussions from Charlton's demise, including the reduction from 12 teams to an unwieldy 11 in next season's top flight.

Peter Hough, chairman of the FA Women's Premier League, confirmed: "The League's AGM has been held and, once that has gone, no adjustments can be made.

"It's a very sad day for women's football. We can do without losing any clubs, let alone one at the highest level, and this is terribly disappointing for the image of the game."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/women/6233506.stm

I am so digusted at Charlton.

TheFA have to get some rules in place, otherwise you will so many more clubs going.

I feel for all the players at Charlton to be doing so well and for it to all go. I hope they carry on their careers, it will be interesting to see where those players go to.

What a joke! Need to get this sh*t sorted out!!!!!!!

I'm emailing thefa right now, I am very upset.

It is really annoying, all the top players are gonna end up in 3 teams and the other ones will just make up the numbers in the league. Surely CAFC has some cash to spare if they can manage to pay huge wages to mens player ?

I am so annoyed about this and feel so sorry for all of the players concerned.

I've seen Charlton twice this last season once at Leeds and once in the FA Cup and I was very impressed with what I saw.

The FA needs to sort something out about the womens game.

Surely funding a womens team does not cost that much money and surely it's good PR for the club.

Is it April 1st again?

Surely it won't happen, they saved Fulham, they'll save Charlton as well.

Right?

Sadly it cost a lot of money, Arsenal said it cost them a few thousand I think this season to run the team don't know if it was about 10 000 or 100 000's though.

One week wage of so many male players............

Eh oui...I am sure something could be done.

I was under the impression its about £80,000 which is a lot of money but nothing compared to what some of the male players will get paid

Charlton are asking £17m for Darren Bent - what is £80k compared to that?
And how much are they paying him each week?

Similar things apply to all clubs.

I wonder if anyone will step in to save the club- in Fulham's case it was a small number of parents of players who raised enough funds to keep the club going by sheer persistence and hard work. It seems that this will be more and more the case as mens clubs ditch the women game one by one. Any bets on who's next?

Thats very sad news.

In the long run English women soccer teams need to fix their own financing, being financed by hands-outs from the mens team make it all to vunerable.

I think that England should take ideas from the Damall and have multiple sponsors.

Arsenal boss 'worried' as Addicks axe women

By SIMON MILHAM, Daily Mail

The structure of British women's football has been thrown into doubt after the demise of Charlton Athletic.

And Vic Akers, boss of the all-conquering Arsenal Ladies team, insists a "serious meeting" needs to take place after the Addicks cut loose thier ties with the second-biggest set-up in English women's football.

Charlton took the drastic move as part of a major cost-cutting exercise following the relegation of the men's team from the Premiership.

And despite Arsenal winning the Uefa Women's Cup, FA Women's Premier League, FA Women's Cup and FA Women's Premier League Cup last season, Akers is under no illusions.

"The situation at Charlton could happen to us," he warned. "It's worrying and not good news for the game. We want competitive football and one less decent team is not good for any of us. We want to strengthen the Premier League. So to see a side who are really successful, a side who are consistently in the top half of the league and one who reached the FA Cup final last year, fall by the wayside, is very sad.

"I think we need a serious meeting [with the rest of the League] to discuss the situation."

Akers, who has spent 20 successful years serving Arsenal, says that despite the money swilling around the Premiership, it is imperative that the men's side is successful for any women's side to continue.

"You try to be part of the set up of a big club and have the same standards and set the same example. You don't want the name of Arsenal sullied in any way and you want to play the right way and have the players conducty themselves in the right manner.

"You are always fighting to survive to work in the stucture of a big football club, and you have to do that on their terms. But if there is no success on a regular basis, it is not looked upon too well."

Meanwhile, Arsenal Ladies captain Faye White MBE has signed a short-term contract with Canadian side Ottawa Fury.

The central defender will spend the rest of the USL W-League season in Canada where she will gain valuable match practice ahead of England's World Cup bid in September.

White is expected to travel to China as part of Hope Powell's squad but she is short of competitive action having spent much of the 2006/07 recovering from a knee ligament injury.

The 29-year-old watched most of the campaign from the sidelines as Akers' side won an unprecedented quadruple, becoming the first British club to win the Uefa Women's Cup in the process.

The Fury's regular season is due to end on 21 July.


=================================


Cost-cutting Charlton scrap women's team

Tony Leighton
Sunday June 24, 2007
The Observer

In a move that will stun the world of women's football Charlton, who, along with Arsenal, have been the country's biggest supporters of the game, are to close down their entire women's set-up following the relegation of the men's team from the top flight.
As part of a major cost-cutting exercise whose full extent will be revealed by the club this week, management staff and 140 female players from senior teams down to centre of excellence level will be left to look for new clubs.

The measure will give Charlton an annual saving of around £250,000, a large amount compared to the budgets of most women's clubs, but small change in the running of a professional men's club. Despite their relegation, Charlton will receive parachute payments of £11million a year for the next two seasons, while the impending sale of Darren Bent to Tottenham is set to bring in £16m.
Women's team manager Keith Boanas said: 'I'm devastated for the players and the many young girls who have had their dreams and aspirations shattered. I've been phoning round the players and some of them have been in tears.'

The captain and England central defender Casey Stoney said: 'I'm disgusted with the club - the men get relegated and we get punished. I just hope that what's happened to us doesn't reverberate around the women's game - if it does it will be in serious trouble.'

Manchester United, Birmingham, Fulham and Bristol City have also turned their backs on the women's game.

Ray Kiddell, chairman of the FA Women's Committee, said: 'What's happened is extremely disappointing and it's taken the game back a few steps, but hopefully the situation is not irretrievable.'

Thanks for the articles. It's really hard to contact thefa, I have had to sign to this FAN thing and it won't let me log in. So to ask someone why it's not working you have to have your FAN number and pword haha I'm fed up

Don't worry, they have to do something about it and I believe they will.
Vic won't let that happen. His words are so true.
I wish I had £250 000 too much

I hope something is sorted and I hope we get to hear what is said in the meeting too.

I always wonder what may happen to Arsenal, as David Dein left

Any team can be dropped at any time and there doesn't seem to be any structure.

Thanks for the articles

Whoa didn't see this coming at all. Why should the women be punished for the men's lack luster performances last season. Something really needs to be done , there are too many clubs folding due to the men pulling out.

If it can happen to Charlton it can certainly happen to the other big clubs. With all the problems at Arsenal at the moment how safe are the girls teams.

From the Guardian:
(...)The measure will give Charlton an annual saving of around £250,000,
a large amount compared to the budgets of most women's clubs,
but small change in the running of a professional men's club.
Despite their relegation, Charlton will receive parachute payments
of £11million a year for the next two seasons,
while the impending sale of Darren Bent to Tottenham is set to bring in £16m.

Women's team manager Keith Boanas said:
'I'm devastated for the players and the many young girls
who have had their dreams and aspirations shattered.
I've been phoning round the players and some of them have been in tears.'

The captain and England central defender Casey Stoney said:
'I'm disgusted with the club - the men get relegated and we get punished.
I just hope that what's happened to us doesn't reverberate around the women's game
- if it does it will be in serious trouble.'

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It's really happening
If they manage to save the women's club though, they should rename it!
Charlton Athletic FC don't deserve to have such a great women's team!