Keith Boanas on 'grumpy' Karen Hills not striking him as a future boss as a Charlton Athletic player and the long journey back to England's top-flight after his high-flying team was scrapped in 2007
Includes the chance to listen to the full 50-minute chat with the ex-Addicks women's manager, who stood up to Thomas Sandgaard over his plans to rename side
Karen Hills (left) lifts up the Premier League Cup with Charlton skipper Casey Stoney in March 2004/Picture: Alamy
Keith Boanas’ initial reaction is to chuckle after being asked whether he saw Karen Hills as management material while she was a player in his Charlton Athletic women’s team when they were a force to be reckoned with in the top-flight.
Hills was signed from Wembley Mill Hill before the Addicks’ 2001-02 FA Women’s Premier League season.
She went on to be a first-team regular under Boanas and played in their 2005 FA Cup final success, only leaving when the women’s team was controversially disbanded a couple of years later.
Fast forward to the present day and Hills, 51, has most definitely shown that being a boss is a perfect fit.
She has chalked up five years at Charlton and Saturday was her greatest success yet - winning a play-off tie against Leicester City at The Valley to clinch promotion to WSL 1.
But Boanas would not have picked out the former defender as managerial material.
“Not in a million years,” he told South London Sport: Charlton Athletic Edition. “I say that because she was a grumpy, moody and moaning whatsit during training. She didn’t strike you as someone who would stay in the game.
“But Karen started her coaching pathway at Spurs and it must have grown on her, or she learned something off the old fella and thought it looked like a decent job to do! We kept in touch and I followed her career.
“She had a reputation on a training night, as a player, of not always being happy. Personality-wise you didn’t think she would get into that racket, but I’m happy that she did. When she was on her FIFA A license we had chats and exchanged messages, because I am a coach educator for the FA. I was able to give her some tips and help with some of the sessions.”
Charlton manager Karen Hills/Picture: Keith Gillard
The top division was rebranded as the Women’s Super League in 2010 but Charlton are finally now back at the same level they graced under the guidance of Boanas between 2000 and 2007. The Hitchin-born boss was in charge of Tooting & Mitcham men’s team, initially he juggled both jobs before focusing fully on the Addicks.
Boanas, married to former Charlton goalkeeper Pauline Cope, attended the game on the final day of the WSL 2 regulation season, a 2-0 loss to Birmingham which saw automatic promotion hopes wrecked, and last weekend’s tie.
“I’m immensely proud that Karen has finally cracked it,” said Boanas, 67. “I couldn’t stay around after the game, because I had to look after a couple of Chihuahuas that we own, but I sent her a message.
“A lot of hard work has gone into it. They led the league for so long and then when it looked like it might not happen that would’ve been devastating. It would have taken immense character, for the staff and players, to come back from that.
“Karen has gone from strength to strength in the job. I think it’s been a tough journey, especially with the changes of ownership because they affect what kind of backing and funding you get. Thankfully she has ridden all those storms and come through at the end.”
Straight-talking Boanas pulls no punches about the challenge now facing the Addicks, who will be facing England’s elite clubs like Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.
City have just handed a new long-term contract to Khadija Shaw, a target for Chelsea, which will see the striker earn £1million a year.
French international Grace Geyoro joined newly-promoted London City Lionesses in September 2025 for £1.4m, the most expensive signing in the women’s game. But that was also the third time the world transfer record had been broken that summer.
“It’s going to be majorly, majorly tough,” said Boanas, who has been manager of Chatham Town women since 2024. “It is going to be about retention and recruitment. You are talking money - and what the top three or four sides have to spend is incredible.
