First up we’ve signed and retained a number of players – you’ll see the full lineup on our social media channels but we’re thrilled to have built a team that we’re confident can compete in Division 1 South East. We have some long standing players back in the squad (including Tasha Smith, Ania Koscielska, Emma Bebbington and Niamh Euman), some terrific players retained for the season (including Vicky Collett, Sophie Bishop, Olivia Henry & Lola Almendros) and some great new 1st team signings, some stepping up from the U23s and some new to the club like Jenny Nagle, Elsa Walker and Zainab El-Mouden – you can get all the detail on Facebook and Instagram!
We’ve also had two pre-season friendlies since my last update. We played St Albans City at Chiltern Hills Academy on Sunday 27th July and recorded a solid 4-1 home win with goals for Niamh Euman, Sophie Bishop (2) and Jenny Nagle. We then played Atletico London at The Meadow on Sunday 3rd August – Atletico have rebranded this season and were in Tier 4 last season as London Seaward so it was a good test against a team we had some tight battles with last season. We were 0-2 down at half-time but a strong second half display saw us draw the game 2-2 with goals for Sophie Bishop and Emma Bebbington.
As it stands then our next competitive fixture will be in the league with the visit of London Bees. Bees were in the 3rd tier until 2 seasons ago and had a strong performance last season finishing 4th so this will provide a strong test against a quality opponent. That I think is set to be the theme of the season – games against very well backed teams that will require us to be at our best! After Bees we play QPR at home on the evening of the 21st August (in the League Cup), Dulwich Hamlet away and then AFC Sudbury at home on the 31st.
One of the things we’re doing to try and provide a level playing field is to find more sponsors and financial backers to support our efforts this season. We have a brilliant family of sponsors across the club (and to them, thank you!) and this season we’ve also launched a scheme called The Vanguard with the money going specifically to our 1st team budget. Thanks to 3 Way Displays and Alex Horne for being the 1st to support that scheme but we’re always looking for more. Email me at andy.westlake@gmail.com if you’d like to support us, sponsor a team or get involved in local women’s football.
It was great to kick the season off yesterday with the joint training session with the men, women and youth teams all in attendance. Such a good evening and terrific to see the different clubs under the Chesham United badge come together for such a special evening!
That’s all for now. See you on the 17th as we kick off our 2025/26 FAWNL campaign.
Andy Westlake
