Karen Hills (born 5 May 1975) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player who currently manages

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

of the

FA Women's Championship The Women's Championship (formerly The FA Women's Championship) is the second-highest division of women's football in England. The division was established in 2014 as the FA Women's Super League 2 (WSL 2). WSL 2 replaced the previous level 2 d ...

Playing career

After playing at primary school, Hills drifted away from football until she joined a leisure centre at 18 years old and was persuaded to play for

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

who scouted her at an informal "kickabout". She was deployed as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

and scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

on her debut, before moving back into midfield and eventually into defence. She later moved to Wembley Mill Hill, where she served as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. In January 2000 Hills and Mill Hill team mate Laura Burns tested positive for

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

in a random drug test carried out by

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

. Both received six-month

suspensions In chemistry, a suspension is a heterogeneous mixture of a fluid that contains solid particles sufficiently large for sedimentation. The particles may be visible to the naked eye, usually must be larger than one micrometer, and will eventually ...

. Hills joined top-flight Charlton Athletic for the

2001–02 FA Women's Premier League The 10th season of the FA Women's Premier League. National Division Northern Division 1 - North Notts withdrew, record annulled Southern Division 1 - Wembley Mill Hill and Queen's Park Rangers merged. References RSSSF {{DEFAULTSO ...

season.

Keith Boanas Keith Robert Boanas (born 22 April 1959) is an English football manager. Playing career Boanas has played and coached on the semi-professional circuit, Boanas made three substitute appearances for Tooting & Mitcham United after being appointe ...

named her his Manager's Player of the Season in her debut campaign, as she came to be seen as an "experienced and quick centre-back who reads the game well". With Charlton Athletic Hills reached the

FA Women's Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship reas ...

final four times in five years, winning once when they beat Everton in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. They lost to

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in 2003 and to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in 2004 and 2007. She also collected

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

and

FA Women's Community Shield The Women's FA Community Shield is an association football match in England. It is a national super cup, and the equivalent of the FA Community Shield in male football. It is the first competitive match of the football season. The match is comp ...

winner's medals in 2004.

Coaching career

Hills served as assistant coach to her friend Tracey Kevins at

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

for two seasons. In August 2009 she was appointed first team

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, where she was already working as the club's women's and girls' development officer. Over the following decade, Hills presided over a series of promotions as the club developed from a completely amateur

South East Combination Women's Football League The South East Combination Women's Football League, also known simply as the South East Combination, was a women's football league in England from 1998 to 2014. Until the creation of the FA Women's Super League in 2011, they sat at the third level ...

team to a full-time

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

outfit, playing in front of record-breaking crowds. On 19 November 2020 Hills and joint head coach

Juan Carlos Amorós Juan Carlos Amorós López (born 3 June 1984) is a Spanish football manager who is currently the head coach of NJ/NY Gotham FC of the American National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). He previously managed NWSL club Houston Dash, Spanish club Real ...

were sacked. On 16 March 2021, Hills was appointed manager of

side

, taking over from Riteesh Mishra who remained at the club in a coaching capacity.

Coaching honours

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

: Championship Play-off Winners: 2016–17 *

FA Women's Premier League Southern Division The FA Women's National League Southern Premier Division is a league in the third level in the women's football pyramid in England, along with the FA Women's National League North, Northern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women ...

: 2016–17 * FA South-East Combination: 2010–11 * Ryman's Women's Cup: 2015–16, 2016 –17 *

: 2015–16, 2016–17

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hills, Karen 1975 births Women's association football defenders Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players English women's footballers FA Women's National League players Living people English women's football managers Doping cases in association football Women's Super League managers Watford F.C. Women players