GONE are the days when Premiership football was just about the score and the league tables. Clubs are now multi million pound businesses and football is increasingly being taken off the pitch and into the community.

Charlton Athletic is making history and proving itself as a leading community club with its players just as committed to its work off the pitch as on.

The Kent Messenger Group has teamed up with the club's Community Trust to help drive its community work through the already successful education schemes.

Bexley Extra reporter Ellie Guttridge spoke to Steve Waggott, the chief executive and driving force of Charlton Athletic Community Trust.

THE goalposts for Steve Waggott's ambitious plans for Charlton Athletic Community Trust have been set extremely wide.

With just eight months under his belt the new chief executive has already set the ball rolling on a number of schemes.

These include a bigger and better stadium which will also form the base for a number of vocational courses and will have a gym, a nursery and other services for the local community.

The drive and determination Mr Waggott has for his work is apparent after just a few minutes chatting to him. He has a real passion for what he does and wants to make a real difference to the community.

He took the role as chief executive of the Trust in October last year but didn't actually start the job until January.

Since then he has been a man on a mission carrying out research into what funding he can receive and making plans to spread the good work.

"When I started I was given a blank sheet of paper to develop the trust. It was a bit scary but very exciting. The Trust was set up in February 2003 and the idea was there but it wasn't pushed forward until I started really."

The plans which really seem to excite Mr Waggott are the educational schemes which take the club out into the community visiting some of the most deprived areas.

The Bexley Extra, part of the Kent Messenger Group, is proud to be an educational sponsor and to be involved with the good work the Trust is carrying out.

The Community Trust has the ambition of using football to reach out and mend the woes or the world.

Mr Waggott said: "I want to look at studies into failings and see what we can do to help. My aim for the trust is to tackle social exclusion and make opportunities a right for all and not a privilege.

"Through football we can help the kids to develop skills not just in football but in life."

Mr Waggott believes the key to engaging with the community is through a hobby such as football.

"What we are doing is not magic - it's a very simplistic formula. When you have got someone's interest you can then start to educate them in other ways."

The education scheme, which is sponsored by the Kent messenger, takes coaches into schools to talk about health, fitness and drug use and hopes to inspire people to achieve their goals.

The club runs regular Summer Slam sessions at schools, parks and youth centres across Kent and the South East and offers something for kids and parents to get involved.

The educational scheme kicked off in Thamesmead this week with coaches holding football events at Birchmere and Crossways Parks this week (from August 16).

• If you would like to get involved with some of the projects with Charlton Athletic Community Trust then contact Steve Waggott on 0208 333 4000.

* One innovative project the Trust has spearheaded is a partnership with the Metropolitan Police to get youngsters in deprived areas off the streets and away from crime.

Mr Waggott said: "We organised matches involving the police and got coaches down there.

"We look at what time of day crime is at its highest and we organise a football match for that time. We have been known to have matches at midnight if it is thought to be necessary.

"This scheme brings police and the youngsters together and gave them something else to think about other than crime."

The scheme takes Charlton Athletic onto the streets, to the council estates and parks and aims to create an interest.

The players are very much involved and have set time in their contract for community work and can often be seen making special visits to schools and recreation grounds across Kent.