Charlie Sheeran joined Southampton after completing his army service. He had enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers in July 1905 having originally been in an Orpington orphanage and then a trainee shoe maker based in Westminster. His form in the Reserves soon earned him a couple of Southern League games in outside-right position. Charlie had the speed for a winger and could cross accurately, but he had a penchant for cutting in early and making for goal – which he did to some effect in the Reserves and the Hants County side.

The Echo’s prediction that he would “build… a very creditable reputation” was confounded, however, when he dropped out of full-time football, come the summer. After a season with Woolston in the Hampshire League, he settled in Dartford, where he played in the Kent League until he was recalled to his old regiment at the outbreak of WW1, arriving in France in October 1914 He stayed until April 1916, when his wounds brought about his discharge. In 1939 he was based again in Dartford and in the mini census of that year registered his occupation as a “steel and iron erector painter”.