Thirty Years On - Season 1995/96

 

 

Thirty Years Ago – 1995/96 Season. 

 

Thirty years ago as Bromley entered the 1995/96 season, George Wakeling’s side were hoping to continue on from their sixth place finish in the previous campaign, but this time round it would prove to be a lot tougher.  Financial problems and injuries mounted up, but it did end with a London Challenge Cup win after achieving league safety on the final day of the season.

 

The season began with a poor run of results, winning only twice in the first fifteen league games, 3-0 over Grays Ath & 1-0 against Yeading thanks to a Marcelle Dennis goal, there were three draws, but results saw The Ravens go into the end of the year adrift at the bottom of the table. There were heavy home defeats to Yeovil 5-1, Enfield 5-0, away at St Albans City 5-0 and most painfully Dulwich Hamlet 4-1 on Boxing Day at Champion Hill watched by 626, Frank Coles with our solitary strike. The cup competitions did offer some light relief for fans, but a lot of extra games for the small squad.                

 

Bromley entered a staggering six cup competitions for the season, early exits from The FA Trophy & Carlton Cups probably did the team a favour, the Kent Senior Cup & The League Cup saw second round replay defeats, but there was more joy in the FA Cup, which saw Wakeling’s side knock out Herne Bay 3-1, followed by a second replay win over Conference side Welling Utd  2-1 at Park View Road setting up a tie with Southern League Premier Division big spenders Sittingbourne in the third qualifying round. A 1-1 draw at Hayes Lane set up another replay at Central Park, which Bourne edged 3-2 after extra time in front of just over 1,000 fans. The tangible success came in the London Challenge Cup, a 2-1 win in the snow at Dulwich Hamlet saw us draw Barking who then withdrew from the competition and set us up with a semi final at Tooting & Mitcham Utd. Andy Silk’s solitary goal at Sandy Lane was enough to book Bromley a place in the final at the end of the season.                   

 

Having started 1996 with only nine league points things did not look good for Bromley, but wins at Harrow Borough & Kingstonian in January gave a little hope of a revival, only to be followed by eight league defeats in a row that saw The Ravens look almost doomed. March saw Wakeling coax defender James Uvigherra back playing from university & bring in strikers Dean Wordsworth & Mark Tompkins on loan. A 5-1 home win over Harrow Borough on 16^th started a vital up turn in fortunes. Wordsworth scoring a hatrick, with Tompkins and Frank Coles also on target. Wins over Walton & Hesham 3-2, Chertsey 2-0 and Sutton 3-1 away gave the Hayes Lane faithful belief that an escape could be on, the derby win at Gander Green Lane seeing Mickey Brown, Tompkins and Bobby Denning score in front of 627. Tompkins would also net in the vital midweek 1-0 home win over St Albans City, which was followed up by a 3-2 win over Worthing bringing safety in sight.  

 

And so to the last league game of the season, Bromley travelling to Essex to face Purfleet knowing a point would secure safety ahead of Molesey and Walton & Hersham. The club ran a coach to get fans over the river and a after a tense afternoon in the sun, a 1-1 draw was enough to get the job done and see The Ravens safe from relegation picking up 28 points from mid January onwards and achieving what looked almost impossible a couple of months earlier.                             

 

With relegation avoided on the Saturday, all eyes turned to Millwall’s New Den as Bromley faced Leyton Pennant there in the London Challenge Cup Final on the Wednesday night. An early meet in the New Cross saw the Bromley fans in fine voice and in a nerve shredding end to end clash that went to extra time, The Ravens eventually saw off their East London opponents with a 3-2 win thanks to goals from Ian Rawlings, Mickey Brown and Joe Francis.

 

Highlights available here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g77h10fAYvc

 

A county cup win and avoiding relegation may not seem to be much in the current day expectations for the club, but at the time this was another phenomenal achievement by Wakeling and his team, who would go on to do even better the following season.   

 

Bromley played a total of sixty competitive matches this season, a huge amount given the players were semi professional and all had full time jobs. Captain & midfield general Frank Coles played in 55 of those games. 46 different players in total donned the black & white….

 

Isthmian League Premier Division 1995/96

 Pos  Name                            Pld    W    D    L   GF   GA  Pts

   1  Hayes                            42   24   14    4   76   32   86

   2  Enfield                          42   26    8    8   78   35   86

   3  Boreham Wood                     42   24   11    7   69   29   83

   4  Yeovil Town                      42   23   11    8   83   51   80

   5  Dulwich Hamlet                   42   23   11    8   85   59   80

   6  Carshalton Athletic              42   22    8   12   68   49   74

   7  St Albans City                   42   20   12   10   70   41   72

   8  Kingstonian                      42   20   11   11   62   38   71

   9  Harrow Borough                   42   19   10   13   70   56   67

  10  Sutton United                    42   17   14   11   71   56   65

  11  Aylesbury United                 42   17   12   13   71   58   63

  12  Bishop's Stortford               42   16    9   17   61   62   57

  13  Yeading                          42   11   14   17   48   60   47

  14  Hendon                           42   12   10   20   52   65   46

  15  Chertsey Town                    42   13    6   23   45   71   45

  16  Purfleet                         42   12    8   22   48   67   44

  17  Grays Athletic                   42   11   11   20   43   63   44

  18  Hitchin Town                     42   10   10   22   41   74   40

  19  Bromley                          42   10    7   25   52   91   37

  20  Molesey                          42    9    9   24   46   81   36

  21  Walton & Hersham                 42    9    7   26   42   79   34

  22  Worthing                         42    4    7   31   42  106   19

 

Thirty Years On many of the clubs still compete at the same level or slightly lower. Of those who have risen up, Bromley are in League Two, Boreham Wood are in the National League along with Yeovil Town & Sutton Utd, both of whom have had spells in the EFL. Purfleet are sadly no more, Hayes have merged with Yeading, while Enfield have split into two clubs Town now playing back in their home area. The other Enfield, Aylesbury Utd, Gray Athletic & Kingstonian are all currently homeless and groundsharing outside of their home town.

Col.        

Twenty Years On - BROMLEY FC – SEASON 2005/06

Twenty Years On - BROMLEY FC – SEASON 2005/06

The 2005/06 season began with Bromley back in the Ryman League Premier Division after eight years away following promotion via the Division One Play Offs. The managerial team of George Wakeling, Billy Smith & Frank Coles kept most of the promoted team together but did lose Sam Okafor & Danny Carroll to work commitments. On the plus side they added striker Nic McDonnell & midfield dynamo Des Boateng from Carshalton, Joe Vines came back to the club, Barry Gardener joined from Welling Utd and Club Captain Mark Willy returned to central defence after a year out with a broken leg.

 

After a fairly good pre-season we got an indication of how tough life in the Premier Division would be in our opening game at home to Chelmsford City when we conceded a last minute equaliser against a big physical direct side. We edged out fellow promoted side Walton & Hersham 1-0 away in the next game, but defeats to East Thurrock & Hendon left us near the drop zone. Things picked up after a great 1-1 draw away to AFC Wimbledon and we went on a ten game unbeaten run, which also saw us progress to the Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup beating Bedfont, Chipstead & Mangotsfield after a replay on the way. This set us up with an exciting tie against Conference high flyers Aldershot at Hayes Lane, which saw 1,500 people roll in for a keenly fought game that we lost 1-0 after conceding the only goal on 24seconds!     

   

Three days later another 1,000 plus crowd turned up at Hayes Lane for the visit of the Wombles of Norbiton and we put on one of the best displays of the season winning 2-0 with goals from Nic McDonnell & Sam Wood. November saw us start to stutter in form with several injuries to key players and the curse of the last minute goal striking a few times. We recorded wins in the Kent Senior Cup over Ashford Town and League Cup over Margate & Dover, but the league form tailed off with the only positive result being a remarkable 1-0 win over Billericay against the run of play. We also fell at the first hurdle in the London Senior Cup at Met Police and got a 4-1 tanking in the FA Trophy from eventual semi finalists Boreham Wood.

 

From 29^th November 2005 to 14^th January 2006 we failed to win a single game and drew only two out of nine, this included gifting basement boys Redbridge their first three points on the way. This disasterous run wasn’t helped by the terrible problems we had with injuries at one stage we were only able to name one sub for the trip to Harrow Borough. With all the budget accounted for, mostly on players sitting crocked in the stand Wakeling & Co. were unable to add to the squad, but did eventually blood some kids from the Youth Team one of which Adam Greenaway did enough to earn a regular start in midfield from then on.

 

The dreadful run eventually came to an end with a 1-0 win at home to Walton & Hersham thanks to a Colin Luckett penalty, it was fitting that we should win this game as it was the Memorial Day for Chris Small a fellow supporter who had died at the tragically young age of 29 on 21^st December 2005. We lost out to a fantastic Fisher side 2-1 the following Tuesday but the improvement was there for all to see and the revival had begun. Ellis Remy came in to strengthen the forward line with McDonnell out injured and he proved to be a vital asset in our escape from the drop zone and Danny Carroll became more available to help our midfield. With the league defeats turning into draws we continued the good run in the Kent Senior Cup securing a semi final spot with an outstanding 7-0 win at Welling United who chose to field a young team to save their legs for the FA trophy game the next Saturday, which they also lost!

 

An unbeaten run of eleven games saw us move into mid table safety and also reach the semi final of the League Cup, but after the 3-2 win over Wealdstone in the Quarter Final the news broke That George, Billy & Frank had been sacked 6 weeks earlier during the bad run and would be leaving at the end of the season. The news became even more shocking when the replacement was unveiled as Mark Goldberg Chairman Jerry Dolke’s brother in law and Coach Murray Jones. The game at home to Heybridge Swifts after the announcement was played out in silence with an air of stunned disbelief among the Bromley faithful.

 

A two legged semi final in the league cup saw us face Billericay with a league came against them thrown in two days before! We drew the league game away 2-2 and the first leg 2-2 at home, but after losing Ellis Remy to Staines we were edged out 2-1 in the second leg and had to settled for the Kent Senior Cup Final which we reached thanks to a majestic 4-0 win against Division One Champions Ramsgate.

 

The final month of the season saw us go unbeaten with the squad back to full fitness and real team spirit emerging, big Irishman Donal O’Sullivan joined from Southall and added strength to the front line and then central defence. The season was capped with a trophy when we took on Conference side Gravesend & Northfleet at home in the Kent Senior Cup Final in a pulsating cup tie we edged our full time professional opponents out 3-2 in extra time with goals from O’Sullivan, McDonnell & Simon Mitchell, plus an incredible goalkeeping performance from Andy Walker. The final game of the season was just two days later at Wealdstone but the tired players still managed a 2-1 win to give George, Billy & Frank a fitting send off for all their hard work in re-establishing Bromley as a Ryman Premier side.

 

We used 42 players over the season Bromley legends like Wade Falana, Adolph Amoako & Mark Tompkins left the club during the nine months and Danny Carroll said goodbye at the end, but others established themselves as new heroes Nic McDonnel scoring 26goals in 38games, Andy Walker having another excellent season in goal and Sam Wood who won the Player of the Season award for his tireless rampaging displays down the left wing.

The foundations were set and for the new managerial regime to build on and continues to take the club forward.      

KSC Final Highlights

 

Col.                                                             

 

Isthmian League Premier Division Table 2005/06

 Pos  Name                            Pld    W    D    L   GF   GA  Pts

   1  Braintree Town                   42   28   10    4   74   32   94

   2  Heybridge Swifts                 42   28    3   11   70   46   87

   3  Fisher Athletic London           42   26    7    9   84   46   85

   4  A F C Wimbledon                  42   22   11    9   67   36   77

   5  Hampton & Richmond Borough       42   24    3   15   73   54   75

   6  Staines Town                     42   20   10   12   74   56   70

   7  Billericay Town                  42   19   12   11   69   45   69

   8  Worthing                         42   19   10   13   71   60   67

   9  Walton & Hersham                 42   19    7   16   55   50   64

  10  Chelmsford City                  42   18   10   14   57   62   64

  11  Bromley                          42   16   14   12   57   49   62

  12  East Thurrock United             42   18    5   19   60   60   59

  13  Folkestone Invicta               42   16   10   16   47   51   58

  14  Margate                          42   11   17   14   49   55   50

  15  Leyton                           42   13    9   20   58   61   48

  16  Harrow Borough                   42   13    9   20   56   73   48

  17  Slough Town                      42   13    8   21   63   75   47

  18  Wealdstone                       42   13    5   24   68   82   44

  19  Hendon                           42    9   12   21   44   64   39

  20  Maldon Town                      42    8   11   23   41   73   35

  21  Windsor & Eton                   42    8    8   26   37   75   32

  22  Redbridge                        42    3    5   34   28   97   14

 

Fisher Athletic were promoted to Conference South via the play offs after beating AFC Wimbledon and Hampton.  

 

Where are they now:

Half of the league remain at a similar level today, while AFC Wimbledon are in League One, Bromley are in League Two, Braintree & Wealdstone are in the National League. Hampton, Worthing, Slough & Chelmsford are in NL South.      

Leyton, Staines, Fisher, Windsor & Eton and East Thurrock have all folded, but Fisher, Windsor and East Thurrock are back at a lower level as phoenix clubs.

Col.      

The Girls in Green - A Trip to Dublin

 

Ireland Women 3 Georgia Women 0 – Tallaght Stadium – 29/11/2024

A half term trip to Dublin with the family just happened to coincide with the second leg of the Euro 2025 play offs, which saw Ireland take on Georgia at the home of Shamrock Rovers FC in the south of the capital city. With the winners facing one more play off game after this before they’d be guaranteed a spot at the big show next year. As it turned out Ireland had won the first leg 6-0 in Georgia the previous Thursday, but I was still happy to be seeing an international game at a new venue for me.    

As soon as the tickets went on sale I logged on to Ticketmaster Ireland and picked two up for my son and I. For some reason the Irish site was much easier to use than it’s UK counterpart and it was all done very smoothly. I then messaged Bartley the Finn Harps and Ireland fan who I had been in Twitter contact with for a few years now. I knew would be going to see where he was sitting and he managed to get the ticket next to us.

Tallaght Stadium is right at the end of the red Luas Tram Line that serves the Dublin area, it took just over half an hour from O’Connell Street in the city centre to take us there and the return ticket for the two of us was just over 5 Euro. It was standing room only on the tram with a mix of commuters and people decked out in Ireland gear going to the game, but it asl ran very smoothly.  

Once we got off the Luas you could see the stadium just the other side of a retail park, with four massive floodlights beaming down on the fairly new home of Shamrock Rovers FC and it only took a few minutes to find our way over to the entrance.

At the start of the century I was a regular visitor to Ireland with my Dad and we took in a lot of League of Ireland games on our travels, back then Rovers were homeless and I saw them play ‘home’ games at Tolka Park and The Morton Athletics Stadium. After a nomadic existence around Dublin they eventually returned to the south of the city and to a new home ground owned by the local authority in 2009. It initially had three sides with the fourth added more recently taking capacity up to 10,716. The stadium is really nice with four separate seated stands, a superb playing surface and training pitches outside, there is also still room to expand if required.

Shamrock themselves were facing one final league game on the Friday still with a chance of winning the league if Shelbourne (managed by Damien Duff) slipped up away at Derry City. They will also still be competing in the Europa League despite the domestic season coming to an end, as it runs from March to November in the Republic of Ireland.  

After picking up some food from the chipper inside the stadium we made our way up to the back of the stand behind the goal and the view was really good. Although we had to move down a row later on as I didn’t realise there is a row Z and a row ZZ behind it! Mikey was suitably impressed with the ground and the food for that matter and just as the teams were warming up Bartley joined us. We spent the entire game chatting about football in Ireland, the UK and elsewhere.   

Despite the result the previous week Ireland manager Eileen Gleeson went in with a strong line up, including local girl Katie McCabe, the Arsenal star getting an extra cheer every time she touched the ball.

From the kick off the game had the look of a training ground exercise of defence V attack, with Georgia pinned back in their own half and Ireland trying to find an opening. Within three minutes Julie-Ann Russell scored the opener, Kyra Carusa added a second on the half hour, but not before McCabe had missed a penalty, firing over to an audible gasp from the 8,745 in attendance. We may have jinxed this because I took the picture below as the kick was struck!

McCabe did get on the score sheet early in the second half with a well struck shot that beat the keeper at the near post to make it 3-0 on the night. There was a small pocket of Georgia fans in the main stand and fair play to them for sticking with their team and getting behind them despite the scoreline. Like them the team never gave up putting their bodies on the line at times to prevent any more goals going in.   

As the game ended we said goodbye to Bartley, planning to meet up again next time either of us are in Dublin or London and headed back to the city centre on the Luas. It had been a really enjoyable night and the game was watched by a record attendance for a women’s game in Ireland.  

Let’s hope the Girls in Green can get the job done against Wales later this month and qualify for Euro 2025.

Col.

                

JUNIOR CROOKS – R.I.P - A BROMLEY LEGEND

This article was originally publish in Two Footed Tackle Fanzine Issue 21 - February 2002  

JUNIOR CROOKS – R.I.P - A BROMLEY LEGEND

On 13^th December 2001 former Bromley legend Junior Crooks died of a heart attack at the age of 50.  Most of you will have been too young to have seen him play, but believe me he was truly a gifted footballer and lit up Hayes Lane whenever he played there.

He was playing for Bromley the first time I went to a game in October 1977 and was a feature of John Biddle’s successful side that eventually gained promotion to the Isthmian Premier Division. It was Junior himself who scored the winning goal in the Kent Senior Cup Final that season and he also hit a spectacular goal against Finchley that secured our promotion in April 1981. Swindon Town were rumoured to have put a bid in for him after his display against them in the first round of the FA Cup, which he turned down!

He started his career at Charlton before moving into Non-League with Cray, this at a time when it was far from easy being a black guy in the world of football, let alone everyday life!

He came to Bromley with manager John Biddle and soon earned the status of crowd favourite.

I can remember him warming up as a sub one Tuesday and as he ran along the touch line the large group behind the goal chanted ‘Junior! Junior!’ and huge cheer went up when he eventually came on to torment the oppositions defence. After leaving Bromley he went to Hampton, Tilbury and eventually finished his playing days in the Kent League with Thamesmead at the age of 40 in 1991.  

I’m not afraid to say he was a hero to me and this was further assured when he gave me and my Dad a lift home from a game one Tuesday night  when he‘d seen us walking back up the Lane and spotted my Bromley scarf. I was too awe struck to speak! A footballing genius and a gentleman.            

I’ve definitely recalled this before but I’ll write it again, when I was in the playground at school all the kids wanted to be Kevin Keegan or Dalglish, I wanted to be Junior Crooks.

 Col.

Junior in the 1981 Bromley Squad - front row second from the right. 

The Cray Wands team from 1970 featuring a young Junior Crooks 

Do You Remember The First Time?

 

Northwich Victoria V Bangor City  - FA Trophy Final – 1984 

 

Saturday 12^th May 1984 was the first time I saw a football game at Wembley Stadium, 40 years ago this year!

 

I’m not sure what made a thirteen year old Bromley fan decide that this was the game to go to, but it’s a decision I’m still happy I made four decades later. Bromley had reached the Third Qualifying Round of the trophy that season, beating Lewes & Boreham Wood in a replay, before losing 3-1 at home to Aylesbury Utd, who were then knocked out by Northwich Victoria in the second round proper on their way to the final. It seemed impossible at that time that The Ravens would ever reach the final, 1949 was a distant memory even then and they’d never really gone through more than a couple of rounds in my time supporting them. With Bromley having been relegated to the Isthmian League Division One at the end of the 1983/94 campaign maybe I just needed a day out to cheer me up!

 

I’d looked up the fixture and found out how much it cost, but understandably my Mum wasn’t keen on me going across the capital from South East London to North West London on my own, but a call to my mate Jon and a hard sell at what a prestigious game Northwich V Bangor was, meant that we were going to head up together, although I have a feeling he didn’t tell his parents where we were going!

 

On the way up from Chislehurst into Charing Cross we decided to go in the Northwich end, one because we liked the green & white colours and two because we thought South London accents may not be that welcome in the Bangor end. By the time we were approaching Wembley Park on the Jubilee line we were both really looking forward to the prospect of seeing the game and then when we saw the twin towers from the tube and we couldn’t stop smiling.

 

The first walk on to Wembley Way is a special thing, the murals on the walls of the different sports hosted at the stadium and arena next door, the stalls selling slightly un-official merch, burger vans, drunk blokes staggering about singing and a the view of the stadium at the end of it. We paid £4 at the turnstile to go on the side of the stadium and sit on the benches among the Northwich fans and the programme was only 40p. I don’t remember if we bought anything inside the stadium to eat or drink, I do remember the catering looked pretty grim with boil in the bag burgers and dubious looking drinks. Fans were still able to take alcoholic drinks into the ground at this stage.

 

We did get there really early and saw the players strolling out on the pitch in their suits, warming up and finally walking out from the tunnel at the end to be greeted by what was only just over 14,000, but felt like a lot more. Bangor fans away to the left at the tunnel end in their blue & white and Northwich at the other and long the right side of the 39 steps. On the benches in front of us were a group of guys that looked like extras from Auf Wiedersehen Pet, they were playing cards while waiting for the game to start, knocking back the over priced lager and telling very rude jokes. They were great entertainment for two 13 year olds, who kept quiet in the row behind.   

 

Bangor City were looking to be the first Welsh club side to win at Wembley since Cardiff City won the FA Cup in 1927 and apparently had been tipped by Jimmy Greaves to win the Trophy on his Saint & Greavsie TV Show, despite having been relegated from the Allianec Premier League (now National League). Northwich, who fiished midtable in the APL, had reached the final the year before losing to Telford Utd and were hoping to make up for that disappointment this time round.    

 

The first half was typical cagey stuff and things didn’t really come to life until just before the hour mark when Paul Whelan put Bangor in front, racing off to the fans at the tunnel end and celebrating with them as they climbed the fence. Were The Vics going to suffer FA Trophy heartbreak two years in a row?  It looked that way until the 71^st minute when a move down the left saw the ball crossed into the box and Colin Chesters met it with a diving header that crashed into the back of the net to send the Northwich fans wild  and level the score. It stayed that way until full time, extra time came and went with no more goals, and the final went to a replay the following Tuesday at Stoke City’s Victoria Ground.   

 

We stayed right until the end of proceedings, clapping the players as they did a joint lap of honour, before heading back to the station. Outside one of the merch sellers was selling stuff at cut prices, I bought a green & white hat for a quid much to Jon’s amusement. On the train back south of the river the ticket inspector asked me ‘what team is that that?’ pointing at the hat. Slightly surprised by the answer, ‘Northwich Victoria mate’.         

 

Northwich Victoria won the replay 2-1, I didn’t find out until the Wednesday when the result appeared in The Daly Mirror, but I did send off for the local Northwich paper to get a full report the following week. I think I kept it along with the hat, right up until I moved out of my Mum & Dad’s house.             

Both sides have had a pretty turbulent time since this special day. Northwich Victoria have split into two teams and lost their own ground,  Bangor City sadly folded in 2022.  

A week later I watched Everton beat Watford 2-0 in the FA Cup Final on TV, I think my mate Paul got fed up with me keeping on saying I was there last week, that’s where I was sitting…

 

Col. 

 

There is a six minute Welsh Language documentary about the final and replay on You Tube, the link is below:

 

       https://youtu.be/mE8PGnm3toQ?si=OKKiFtadkJJA_xKr