It’s been a privilege to have captained and made history for my boyhood club, says captain Jack Holland upon his Bromley exit

BROMLEY manager Andy Woodman has released club captain Jack Holland.

The 29-year-old centre-half joined Bromley’s youth ranks in 2008 before signing for Crystal Palace in 2010 before returning to Hayes Lane when the club were struggling in the Conference South in 2013.

Holland went on to make 374 appearances for his home-town club, scoring 28 goals and played for managers Mark Goldberg, Neil Smith and Woodman.

Holland was part of Bromley’s Conference South winning title squad in 2015 and the fans' favourite was named player-of-the-year on three occasions (2016, 2017 and 2018).

Holland was Bromley’s captain in the FA Trophy Final 2018 but suffered penalty heartbreak at Wembley Stadium as Brackley Town claimed the silverware after the game finished 1-1 after extra-time.

“After eight seasons of playing for my boyhood club the time has come to move on to the next chapter of my career,” said Holland in a statement posted on his Twitter account.

“As you can imagine there are too many people to thank individually, so I would first like to thank all the managers and coaching staff that have helped me throughout my career at Bromley.

“All the players that I have had the pleasure sharing a dressing room with and all the backroom staff who might normally go unmentioned and unseen but have always helped myself and are a pivotal part of the club.

“And most importantly the fans who have supported me from the day I joined the club and made it an honour to play in front of every week.

“It’s been a privilege to have captained and made history for the club and wish the club, players, staff and the fans all the success going forward.”

The club, meanwhile, has announced the departures of right-back Joe Kizzi, 27, holding midfielder Frankie Raymond, 28 - who made 189 appearances, scoring 11 goals during his four years at Hayes Lane, with 37 assists, mostly with David Beckham-eque set-pieces - and striker Ben Williamson, 32.

Midfielder Jack Bridge, 25, has already returned to Southend United, who were relegated to the National League after finishing second-from-bottom in League Two last season.

Bridge made 10 appearances for the Essex club while on their books between 2014 and 2018.

Left-back Charlie Fox, 22, reserve goalkeeper Tarek Najia, 19, and fringe players Tom Purrington, 20, Charlie Wakefield, 23, and Ollie Tanner, 19. have also departed Hayes Lane this summer.

Nine players of the current squad are under contract for next season.

Goalkeeper Mark Cousins, defenders Chris Bush, Courtney Duffus, Kory Roberts and Byron Webster; midfielders Billy Bingham, Luke Coulson and Jude Arthurs and last season’s National League leading goalscorer, Michael Cheek, remain at Hayes Lane for Woodman's first full season in charge.

Bromley finished in a personal best of seventh-place in the Vanarama National League during the 2020-21 season, before losing 3-2 to Hartlepool United on Sunday in the play-off eliminator.

A club statement said: “Andy Woodman and his management team remain in dialogue with a number of players from the 2020-21 season, we will update you on those situations in due course.

“The club would like to place on record our thanks to those players departing and wish them all the best for the future.  Over the coming days we will be giving paying tribute to those who have served the club for a number of years.”

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