By Tom Hancock
Founder members of the Southern League in 1894, Bromley didn’t venture to the north of England with regularity until the 2015/16 season – when they got their first taste of the National League, having been promoted as National League South champions.
The Ravens finished a very creditable 14th that campaign and went on to record top-half finishes in seven of the next eight seasons, culminating with a third-placed finish in 2023/24 – and subsequent promotion via the play-offs to reach the EFL for the first time in their history, becoming the 145th club to play League football.
Twelve months later, they fell only four points short of a League Two play-off berth at the first attempt; now, they’re on course to bypass the play-offs altogether. Andy Woodman’s side just lost for the first time in 22 games and boast the only unbeaten home league record in the top four divisions this term. With six matches to go, promotion is within their grasp – and so is the title.
“When we go up,” says Machel St Patrick Hewitt of independent site From Bromley with Love, speaking ahead of the Ravens’ surprise 2-1 defeat to Barrow, “Andy’s going to – and rightly so – get all the plaudits.”
Machel makes a point of looking ahead to when Bromley go up and not if – such has been the optimism instilled in the club not just by Woodman but by his predecessors in the dugout and those behind the scenes.
“[Owner and chairman] Robin Stanton-Gleaves also will get all the plaudits,” Machel continues, “and there’ll be [a lot written] about what they’ve done over the last five years – and rightly so.”
Born and bred in the area, Stanton-Gleaves has been at the helm since 2019. He’s overseen an ongoing transformation of the club – which, off the pitch, has included expanding the Ravens’ Hayes Lane home and bringing training facilities onto a par with those of some Championship clubs.
“But actually,” Machel emphasises, “the story starts about 20 years ago…” – when Bromley’s fortunes were transformed by the return of legendary manager George Wakeling, who first took charge back in 1990. Now a club ambassador with a stand named after him, Wakeling is credited by Machel with kickstarting the Ravens’ rise.
Within months of Wakeling’s December comeback, Bromley were promoted from the eighth tier to the seventh, before one-time Crystal Palace chairman Mark Goldberg led them to the sixth then seventh tiers.
At that point, Bromley were still a part-time club, but the wheels of professionalism would soon be in motion, and by 2017 the Ravens were a fully fledged, full-time National League outfit with EFL ambitions.
A first National League play-off appearance came at the end of the 2020/21 campaign – which resulted in a quarter-final exit to Hartlepool United – and a second followed two years later, the Ravens losing in the semis to Chesterfield on that occasion.
Arguably no one epitomises Bromley’s ascent to their headiest-ever heights better than Michael Cheek, their attacking spearhead who’s top-scored for them in each of the last six seasons and counting. Just like Bromley, Cheek – who arrived from Ebbsfleet United in 2019 – had never played League football until 2024, making his League Two debut, and marking it with a goal, less than two weeks shy of his 33rd birthday – and just like Bromley, he’s taken to the fourth tier seamlessly, winning the EFL League Two Player of the Season and PFA League Two Players’ Player of the Year awards for 2024/25.
Experience has been a key facet of the Bromley success story: fellow forwards Nicke Kabamba and Corey Whitely are 33 and 34 respectively, the former notching 12 League Two goals this term. Other integral members of the seventh-oldest squad in the division include 31-year-old winger Mitch Pinnock, a proven player in the division above, and 30-year-old centre-back Omar Sowunmi – while 34-year-old ex-Arsenal man Carl Jenkinson and promotion-winning captain Byron Webster, now 39, continue to play bit-part roles.
Manager Woodman – a former goalkeeper who played for the likes of Northampton Town, Oxford United and Brentford – is less experienced by comparison, having only had a brief stint in charge of Whitehawk before taking the reins at Hayes Lane in 2021, but the 54-year-old has exponentially increased his stock with Bromley, lifting the 2021/22 FA Trophy then triumphing in the National League play-offs – beating Wrexham and Solihull Moors in the respective Wembley finals. He’s bound to be a boss in demand this summer.
Bromley’s charge towards League One proves that effectiveness trumps aesthetics, certainly in the lower reaches of the EFL. The Ravens average the joint second-lowest possession in League Two (43.6%) and complete the fewest passes per game (149.3) – both indicators of their direct approach – but their non-penalty expected goals (xG) output of 55.27 makes them the division’s fourth-most creative side, with only three teams scoring more goals than their 63 – of which a league-high 24 have come from set-pieces. What they’re doing works.
Conversely, Bromley do give up chances – they concede 1.25 xG per game on average – but not many of those result in goals, with only Cambridge and Oldham Athletic letting in fewer than the Ravens’ 1 goal per game. It’s a mark of how defensively active Woodman’s men are, ranking right up there in League Two for ground duel success, interceptions and blocks.
However, promotion could necessitate a shift in style, with Machel calling the jump between Leagues One and Two – considerably greater than the comparative hop from National League to League Two – “the demarcation point” where tactical flexibility becomes of the essence.
Bromley’s ageing squad will also need upgrading – and while the Ravens’ relatively modest budget (they had the second-lowest wage bill in League Two last term) won’t allow a full-scale overhaul, Woodman has a trick up his sleeve.
“If I ever had to say what Andy has done best beyond the spirit he’s created in the club,” considers Machel, “I think he’s played the loan market exceptionally well. Every year, he has managed to get a loanee that has then kicked on their career.”
A standout recent example would be Danny Imray, who spent last season on loan from Palace – a club with whom Bromley share close ties – and is now on loan at Championship West Brom, following a stint with League One Blackpool.
“I think Bromley have gained a reputation now,” Machel continues. “I’m fairly certain that if you’re a player with the right age demographic or profile…[you] look at Bromley as a step-up club.”
And with six games left – three of them at fortress Hayes Lane – it’s still in Bromley’s hands for them to make their biggest step up yet. Barely a decade after the Ravens finished their season with a 2-1 defeat to Gosport Borough, a meeting with Leicester City – Premier League champions the year that Bromley completed their maiden National League campaign as part-timers – is a distinct possibility.
(Images from IMAGO)
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