Chris Burton Discusses Post-Season Successes and Pre-Season Preparations

We recently caught up with first team manager Chris Burton for an update on what’s been happening since the season ended on May 5th.

Post-Season

“We’ve had a good break since the end of the season, it was a long and tough campaign and it’s always important to have a break. The girls met up for a few games of 5 a-side to keep them ticking over but that was it until the annual Blackpool tournament.

As always we went into the Blackpools 7s tournament for the team-bonding aspect but also to get us back into the habit of competitive football. After a good weekend we came away with the trophy for the first time, winning every game and playing some decent teams along the way, with a number of FAWNL players representing the opposing teams.

Presentation Evening

We celebrated our end of season presentation with many of our junior players and their families in attendance. We have a lot of players that coach in our junior section and it’s great that our youngsters get to see the success of their role models. The awards that were celebrated on the evening were: -

First Team

Players’ Player - Georgia Rae

Manager’s Player - Chloe West

Supporters’ Player - Bianca Owens

Young Player of the Year - Anna McArthur

Golden Boot - Bianca Owens

Goal of the Season - Erin Boyle

Reserves

Players’ Player - Belle Smith

Manager’s Player - Belle Smith

Supporters’ Player - Anna McArthur

Golden Boot - Anna McArthur

Pre-Season So Far

The response for pre-season has been brilliant with around 60 players attending the sessions.

A few really tough weeks putting in the leg work will hopefully benefit us when the games eventually begin. With lots of new faces and almost all of the existing squad staying we have some great competition for places and it’s up to the girls to make sure they are doing enough to warrant a place in the side come the 18th August.

We’ve had another 7 a-side tournament again, this time up at Chester le Street United, simply to get minutes in the legs in preparation for the friendlies that will be coming thick and fast over the next few weeks. Many of the friendlies will see us playing with a mixed first team and reserve squad as we look towards the start of the season and working out where players will be best suited.

New Signings

We’ve announced five new signings so far with at least three more very exciting ones to come.

Firstly, Louise Atkinson has returned to Norton after five years in the States where she most recently played with Texas A&M International. A player who joined the club in 2015, Louise has come through the junior section and has played a few tournaments during her summer breaks over the past 4 years, and was outstanding in our friendly with Newcastle United last season, so we are really excited to have her back.

Our second signing Lucy Jamieson is a player I’ve known for a number of years. She was part of the Cleveland County squad Vicki and I coached and has always been a good, athletic full back. She’s just come off the back of having a good season with Chester-le-Street where she gained a lot of FAWNL experience which will put her in good stead for this season. I’m sure this will be a good season for her.

We were then fortunate enough to continue our trend signing some of the best young players in the area, and we are delighted this season to have secured the signatures of Sophie Dacombe, Liv Little and Grace Campbell. These girls have an excellent attitude and really impressed in the open sessions. This will be their first full season in senior football and I’m sure all three will hit the ground running and as they hopefully get stronger and more experienced as the season progresses, it’ll be exciting to see what the future holds for them.

Player Departures

As in the norm in senior football, we have unfortunately lost three players from last season.

After spending almost all of last season sidelined due to an ACL injury, our American international Katie Pierce returned home following two seasons with us at Norton. KP leaves after securing a really exciting job working with the US Paralympic team.

Maddie Myers has chosen to sign for Middlesbrough after two years at the club. She had an excellent first season finishing reserve league top scorer and last year she experienced FAWNL football for a full season.

Katie Ormerod is going to America to play college football after securing a scholarship very late in the day. She is still training with us until she leaves. Katie really is an unbelievable talent and I hope she thrives over there and hopefully we will see her training back at Norton when she’s home.

As a club we wish all 3 the best for the upcoming season and the future.

The Season Ahead

We know every year the FAWNL Division One North is a tough league and is only getting tougher. A number of teams are paying out a lot of money to try and get themselves promoted and as always, we are looking forward to the challenge. We take great pride in competing with these teams and the girls’ hard work and togetherness is key to what we try to instil at Norton.

Looking at the players we have on the training pitch on a Tuesday and Thursday evening, I can confidently say we are in a far stronger position than we were this time last season.

We were a very young and inexperienced side last year and that made us very naive at times. However those young players gained a lot of experience in the National League and they will be better for it. It’s great for us to have Bianca from the off his year. When she returned in October, she made a massive difference to us both on and off the field and I’m sure she will be up there with the league’s top scorers again this season.

We never set a points total to aim for at the end of the season because we’ve been in the league for long enough to know that it isn’t like the Premier League where you have a rough idea of the points required to finish in a certain position. Our main objective is to maintain our status in the FAWNL and after that, anything is a bonus. What we do know however is if we start the season well, given the strength of the squad this season, that we have the potential to kick on and finish at the top end of the league.

If we look at the top 3 last year: Hull won the league and we only lost by a single goal both home and away to them. Middlesbrough came second and they failed to beat us on both occasions last season and Durham Cestria were third and failed to beat us at home. So we know on our day we can match the top teams, the challenge this year is to be more consistent from August to May.

Sponsors and Support

As always, we rely heavily on the support of our sponsors and last season was no different. I want to say a huge thank you to the local companies who backed us yet again last season, and have agreed to do the same this season.

Finally, a huge thank you to all of the supporters who followed us home and away last season. They always say that once you catch the Norton bug, there’s no getting rid of it, so we hope to see you all again this season as we look to give you something to cheer for!

Chris