Exclusive: Jodie Hutton on ‘confidence’ at Charlton Athletic with WSL2 title in sight

Charlton Athletic defender Jodie Hutton credits a new-found confidence and manager Karen Hills’ squad culture for the club’s surge to the top of the WSL2 table, nine points clear of Birmingham City with the FA Cup quarter-finals on the horizon.

Speaking exclusively to Her Football Hub, the Midlands-born full-back revealed that a system tailored to her attacking instincts has already yielded 13 league goals since she arrived at the South-East London club in 2024—more than she managed in total across previous spells at Aston Villa, Bristol City and Sheffield United.

“I honestly think it’s down to the current system that we play,” Hutton said. “It suits me and my ability much more than any other from the past. I’m confident too at the moment and that is a huge thing to feel.”

Hutton, a two-time WSL2 champion, grew up in a football-mad, working-class family where kickabouts with two older sisters sparked her own obsession with the game. “If it wasn’t for my two older sisters I never would’ve played football,” she admitted. “They both started first and I just wanted to play with them all the time.”

Representing England at U18 and U19 level convinced outsiders that a professional future was inevitable, yet Hutton remained cautious. “People kept telling me, ‘you’ll make it far, you’ll go all the way’, but you have to keep yourself grounded,” she said. “I just took it all with a pinch of salt and kept trying to grow as a player.”

That grounded attitude now dovetails with the environment created by manager Karen Hills, a former Charlton player who helped the club lift the 2004-05 FA Cup and finish second in the top flight behind Arsenal. Hutton praised Hills’ man-management, saying: “She knows when a player needs picking up, or who needs an arm around them and when someone needs shouting at. She’s the best manager I’ve ever played for.”

Hills has urged her squad to ignore social-media noise and focus on each matchday, a message that appears to be working. Charlton have lost only once in the league this season and advanced to the last eight of the FA Cup, rekindling memories of the club’s glory days when they regularly challenged for major silverware.

“Maybe it’s cliché to say, but we all feel like a family here, and that’s Karen who has built that environment,” Hutton added. “We’re such a tight-knit group; it’ll be special if we can achieve this together.”

With the WSL2 trophy edging closer and personal milestones already tumbling, Hutton believes her best football is still ahead. “Determination by the bucket loads” has carried her from a small Midlands town to the brink of another league triumph; a third winners’ medal would confirm that the quiet realist has become one of the division’s most potent threats.

Charlton’s next assignment is a league clash against Portsmouth, but every fixture is now viewed through the prism of a title run-in. For Hutton, Hills and the Addicks faithful, the message is simple: keep the confidence, keep the togetherness, and history could repeat itself sooner than anyone expected.