Charlie Haynes | The aim is to come here and win trophies
Charlie Haynes has set her sights on helping Swansea City Women regain the Genero Adran Premier title after becoming the club's first signing ahead of the 2024-25 campaign.
Haynes joins the Swans from Keynsham Town Ladies - having been named FA Women’s National League Division One south-west player of the season for the 2023-24 campaign - after helping her former side secure the Somerset FA Women’s Senior Cup.
The 26-year-old links up again with first-team manager Jamie Sherwood, having previously worked under him at Yeovil Town as the Glovers achieved promotion to the Women’s Super League (WSL).
Haynes is excited to be reunited with Sherwood, who has been a key figure in her career, and hopes to help the Swans get back to lifting silverware during the coming season.
“I’m very excited to be joining Swansea City, it’s a great opportunity to play aginst new teams and work with different players,” said Haynes.
“Jamie Sherwood has played a massive part in my life and my career so far, so I think working with him again will give me a great opportunity to show what I can do, and show how much I’ve improved since previously working with him at Yeovil Town.
“It was a fantastic time working with him at Yeovil, I started off as second goalkeeper and he built my confidence up and gave me a chance to play in WSL 1.
“I feel I have continued to improve since them, and I have experience of winning trophies. I think that is important. I’m a very competitive person, I always want to win and I think Swansea presents a great opportunity to get another trophy and win the league.
“I’m hungry to win trophies, I’m really looking forward to it."
Haynes is looking forward to getting down to work with her new teammates and hopes her knowledge of working in a semi-professional environment can be an asset with the Swans having made the step up from amateur status 11 months ago.
“The experience of playing semi-professional football will massively help me," she said.
"It’s boosted my confidence and I’m quite vocal, so it will be great for me to share my attributes with the players on this team and work with new people.
“I just want to get as many clean sheets as possible, I want to win the league and that’s why I’m here. I’m just looking forward to getting started and working with new players.
“Last season was probably the best year I’ve had in my football career, I wasn’t expecting to win the player of the year for the division I was in, but it’s given me a massive lift and I’m ready to start a new chapter with Swansea.
“It was a difficult decision to make, Barrie [Newton] was my manager at Kenysham and he did a lot for me and helped me progress, but I think it was time for me to leave after winning player of the year and take on this challenge."
Haynes' development as a player has also been aided by her exposure to beach soccer, with the keeper having represented Great Britain at the 2019 World Beach Games in Doha in Beach Soccer.
“I played for Team GB in beach soccer, it was unbelievable, playing on sand is completely different to grass," she said.
“Beach soccer is very technical, it’s very fast paced, so it’s a lot of quick feet, judging the ball is a lot more difficult in beach soccer, so it helps you to in terms of anticipation and reactions."