Good Times, Bad Times
Football is a cyclical business, nothing lasts forever, you
have good times and you have bad, enjoy the good ones and know that during the
bad it will almost certainly get better and you will enjoy the better times
even more when they come.
Bromley fans are now coming to the realisation that the good
times they have experienced over the last few years are probably coming to a
halt, at least for a while. We had it all, a great manager, a local owner who
lead the business side well, a growing fan base and a special group of players
who bought in to the much lauded Bromley DNA. In May 2026 we had it all, the
League Two title had been won, crowds were up near 5,000 and all looked rosy in
the Hayes Lane garden. Fast forward to November and the roses have died, the
DNA has been all but wiped out and we look lost.
Andy Woodman has been sacked, the squad he assembled has
fallen apart, there is huge uncertainty over the ownership of the club and the
team is bottom of League One and out of all the cups, bar the London Senior
Cup, which the Under 23s usually play in and some fans have voted with their
feet. To top it all the club chose to put their social media behind a pay wall
and charge £30 for fans to sit in the stand for the FA Cup game with Rotherham
Utd, which they lost 2-0 in from of just over 2,000. Certain club employees
have been given far too much free rein on social media.
In late May 2026 the club appointed a Recruitment Manager,
having previously worked for Gateshead, not long after, there were rumours of a
proposed take over by a firm that was also involved with The Heed and were in
the process of demanding their investment back from the North East club, while
the future of Gateshead hung in the balance, they were eyeing up The Ravens of
Hayes Lane. At the time of writing nothing has been said officially by any
party connected to Bromley FC, but the rumour mill is spinning at full tilt.
Recruitment over the summer was poor, it seems Andy Woodman
had little say in who was being signed and many of the new players had terrible
track records with injury. To date the results speak for themselves, the squad
is actually far weaker than the one which won League Two last season and has
suffered a number of chastening defeats, along with a growing injury list. For
most of the season we haven’t had a fit left back, despite signing three and
our two first choice keepers have had spells out. To the immense shock of most
of the football world Woodman was sacked in late October, apparently with no
plan for who would replace him. Club legend Byron Webster took over for three
games as interim manager, before Karl Robinson was announced as the new gaffer,
promising a change in the style of play and making all the right statements of
intent. His side lost their two opening games before an international break
gave him a chance to assess exactly what he’s been given to work with.
The club narrative then turned to all being about a change
in style and the underlying current was that somehow a manager who won two
promotions and the FA Trophy had actually been bad! Some people had grumbles
about the style of play, but no one could have argued with the success the
first five years of Woodmanball had brought Bromley.
So here we are 13 games into our debut League One season,
bottom of the table without a win in eight matches and not really sure what
direction we are headed in either on or off the pitch. If Robinson does turn it
around then it will require a lot of signings in January, exactly how that is
funded and by whom remains to be seen.
There is a fans forum for Season Ticker Holders on Tuesday 17th November, that will certainly be ’interesting’. I’m sure we’ll be told that everything is ok, but it certainly doesn’t feel that way.
Col.
