Luton Town Ladies star Dionne Manning is calling for more donations after a Twitter request for player sponsorship went ‘crazy’ – with the striker also hoping the exposure can help boost the women’s team in the same meteoric way as Tottenham’s.
The Hatters striker took to Twitter last week to appeal for help for to pay her £200 subs for the season, posting, in order to ‘continue playing the game I love’.
The response was so good, she set up a JustGiving page to try to secure £5,000 to sponsor all of her team-mates as well.
Manning used to play for Spurs three years ago and had to pay subs there too but, this season, the Lilywhites’ Women will play in the top-flight FA Women’s Super League as a fully professional outfit for the first time in their history.
“At the time, they (Spurs) were at the same situation as we’re at with Luton now, which is why I want to work so hard and try to get some more money in,” said the striker.
“At the end of the first season I was there, the men’s team decided that they were going to let us use the men’s training ground for one of our sessions a week.
“Once you start using a training ground like that you get players of a higher level interested because they want to use those facilities. If you can attract better players, obviously you’re going to do better.
“I left after that because I’ve got a little boy and I couldn’t be travelling up there three times a week, with work as well, but, in the season that I left, the first team didn’t have to pay subs anymore. They got a couple of games at White Hart Lane and, three years later, they’re now in the highest league in women’s football, in the Women’s Super League.
“All their players are now professional, contracted players and that’s just in the space of three years with the men’s club being able to be more involved and it’s gone so well.
“From seeing that and being part of that, at some stage, I want that for Luton Ladies.”
“Everything is moving in the right direction.”
There are already some similarities between Luton Ladies and Spurs’ situation when it comes to working with the men’s team. While they are separate entities, they have linked up on a number of occasions. The latest high-profile example, earlier this summer, was when Manning starred with top scorer James Collins and defender Matty Pearson to launch Luton’s new football kits.
Both the men and women’s teams will wear the strips this term, with the Ladies aiming to bounce back to the FA Women’s Premier League, Division 1 South East at the first time of asking, after relegation from the second tier of the women’s football pyramid.
“It was amazing,” Manning said of the kit launch experience, adding: “It was at a tough time because it was looking very likely that we’d be relegated. At that time players don’t know what they’re going to be doing for the next season, so it was a decision that if I was to do the kit launch I’d be committing to Luton, as far as I was concerned.
“The support I’ve had following on from that is probably why my tweet has gone crazy because people have seen my face before when they’ve gone to the ticket office.
“That exposure has helped as well. I keep on hearing that my pictures are here and there, so it’s good.”
As well as including Manning in the kit promotion, the Ladies last season began playing their first team home games at the Hatters’ state-of-the-art Brache training facility.
It has helped reduce costs for the women’s first team, who had been playing at Stockwood Park Athletics Centre, though their development side will continue to play home games there.
Manning said: “It’s a good start. Stockwood is not a stadium for football. We already have more supporters now than we did at Stockwood. It’s (The Brache) a good facility and it’s all-weather as well, so we can attract better players.
“The only way to develop players is to have these facilities and the only way to attract them is to be able to use stuff like that.
“Fans might not realise how much money these things take and where the money goes with regards to football, but everything is moving in the right direction.”
The striker also confirmed that the men’s team will give the Ladies access to their medical experts.
“This season we are allowed to use the physios at the club,” said Manning, adding: “It’s a big thing because we did have a couple of players out through injury, so having access to physios whenever we need it is only going to help with rehab.”
Injuries were one of the factors that, last season, saw Luton Ladies relegated and they kick-off their season in the Eastern Region Women’s Football League on Sunday (2pm), away to Peterborough Northern Star Ladies.
It is funds for travel and training costs that Manning turned to Twitter for in the first place, with Luton Ladies’ fees for training alone costing around £5,000 last term.
Luton Ladies currently hire out Farley Hill’s Stockwood Park Academy for training and they pay for their own travel so, a JustGiving page has been set up to help keep Luton Town Ladies going.
The page states: ‘We pay for all our own travel and have had to drive our own cars as far as Brigton, Norwich and Ipswich to play away fixtures. We are in need of a mini bus and my team-mates need support to pay subs by being sponsored. We need to be able to attract players by making this a more attractive team to play for. That’s the only way we will climb up the leagues and gain success like the men. Please help us no donation is too small.’
Manning has now secured sponsorship for herself this season, with a donation from England men’s kitman, Pat Frost, formerly of West Bromwich Albion, ensuring she can continue to play. A handful of her team-mates have also attracted sponsors too.
“I’m Luton through and through. It’s a privilege (to play for them),” the Sundon Park resident said of her hometown team, adding: “I am trying to get sponsorship for my team-mates as well.
“The target is £5,000. If you look at the amount of people that have donated, it’s about 49 people, so even if we got 1,000 of the 10,000 fans (that go to Kenilworth Road) we’d make the target easily.
“We play at Kenilworth Road a couple of games a season and the girls absolutely love it.
“The changing rooms from the season before had a makeover and you get to experience what the professionals get to experience, day in, day out.
“That, for us, is the highlight of the football season, getting to go there and play at Kenilworth Road.
“There are things that the club are doing and every year we seem to get something added on top of that, so it all helps.”
