The Chelsea and England captain John Terry has come to the rescue of his club's women's team following a cut in funding that, says the captain Casey Stoney, would have adversely affected Blues' hopes of chasing major honours this season.
For the first time since officially becoming part of Chelsea FC five years ago, the women's team have had their annual budget reduced. "It was a blow when we were told what was happening," said Stoney, who also works as a coach at the Chelsea Academy. "I mentioned it to a friend who's also a mate of JT's, and when he was told about it JT came to find me at the training ground to ask if he could help.
"He ended up putting his hand in his pocket and persuading some of the other players to do the same, so now we can keep going on the same footing we had last year. We need that level of funding if we are going to compete at the top end of the Premier League and do well in the big cup competitions, so the help we've had from the guys has been invaluable. JT has also become president of the women's club and he's been with his family to see us play, so he's taking a real interest."
Stoney has been the catalyst for a fine start to the campaign by Chelsea, whose 2-2 draw at Doncaster today lifted them to second place in the Premier League table. As well as getting Terry involved, the England left-back was responsible for instigating Matt Beard's appointment as the new manager.
Having refused to continue in her role of player-manager, which she took on midway through last season, Stoney suggested that Beard – who was Charlton's assistant manager when the defender played there and who last season led Millwall to promotion to the top flight – should be approached.
"Matt had left Millwall," explained Stoney, "so I thought we should get him on board and he's doing a tremendous job. We've become a better team under his guidance and we're aiming to go at least one better than the third-place finish we had last season."
Arsenal and Everton, the teams that finished ahead of Chelsea last term, both had wins yesterday. The Gunners beat Bristol 4-1 while Everton won 5-0 against Watford. Leeds went top with a 5-0 victory at Nottingham Forest.