FOOTIE mad Charlotte Leighton has received hundreds of get well messages since she suffered appalling head injuries in a road accident last month.

But she certainly was not expecting the one that arrived in the post this week - from England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson!

He wrote to say he was very saddened to hear of her recent accident, and on behalf of the England team gave her his best wishes for a speedy recovery.

"I couldn't believe it," said Charlotte, ten, of Tollerton, near Easingwold.

"I was very pleased."

Her mother, Sue, said the letter was a real morale booster for Charlotte as she continues on the road to recovery - and she explained how it came about.

"The night before the accident, Charlotte made a poster on the computer wishing England well in the World Cup.

"But then the accident happened and she wasn't able to send it off.

"But recently a friend of mine, Rachel Simpson, sent a copy of it off to the FA, with a letter explaining what had happened to Charlotte. We never expected a reply from Sven.

"All we need now is for England to win the World Cup!

"Charlotte is mad keen on football, and played for the girl's team at Forest Of Galtres Primary School. She had been intending to go on a football training course at the school in the holidays before the accident happened."

She said Charlotte was now going to write a letter back to Sven to thank him, and she might also include a cutting from The Press to explain in more detail what had happened to her.

As The Press has reported previously, Charlotte was in collision with a car as she was waiting for the school bus in the road near her home, suffering injuries including a shattered eye socket, three fractures to the jaw, a fractured skull and a broken leg.

She was whisked in the Yorkshire Air Ambulance to hospital in Leeds, where a surgeon carried out pioneering facial reconstruction surgery, and she was able to return home within three weeks of the accident.

Updated: 10:43 Friday, April 28, 2006