BROMLEY AT WEMBLEY: Jerry Dolke started this journey 18 years ago and the club was a much different club then

BROMLEY co-owner Robin Stanton-Gleaves says the club are on a journey after their date at Wembley Stadium tomorrow.

The club staged an open day at Hayes Lane this morning giving fans young and old to send off Neil Smith’s heroes before their trip to Wembley Stadium before locking horns with Vanarama National League North side Brackley Town to contest The Buildbase FA Trophy Final.


Bromley will begin work on building their new South Stand on 29 May and aim to open it in time of their first game of 2019.
Photo: Bromley FC

It is chairman Jerry Dolke’s birthday today and it seems unthinkable that Bromley will be playing at Wembley Stadium tomorrow, for the first time since the class of 1949 won The FA Amateur Cup with a 1-0 win over Romford.

Mr Stanton-Gleaves addressed supporters at Hayes Lane this morning to insist the club are moving in the right direction.

Manager Smith, captain Jack Holland and the members of the board all live in the town and chairman Jerry Dolke has turned the club from Isthmian League Division One strugglers to a side that are going to be gracing the hallowed turf at Wembley Stadium.

“I grew up in Bromley, I went to school across the road.  I got involved in this club just a couple of years ago.  Jon Plassard beat me to it a year or two earlier but this man (Jerry Dolke) started this journey 18 years ago and the club was a much different club than,” said Mr Stanton-Gleaves.

“The journey that Jerry has taken the football club, it’s been tremendous.  I think tomorrow, for Jerry to be chairman of the football club, will be quite an achievement to see his team come out at Wembley.

“We’re in the entertainment trade, we’re here to impress and we’re here to create enjoyment and we have the players’ to do it.

“The football club has three parts, us behind the scenes, the players’ on the pitch and you guys (the supporters).  From all of us we thank you for the support you’ve given us this year, it’s been tremendous.”

The club have sold 17,000 tickets via The FA website and Smith wants 20,000 fans to cheer on his team against third-placed Vanarama National League North finishers Brackley Town.

The Wembley Final has captured the imagination of the Bromley public – but the club are the 18^th best supported club in the Vanarama National League with average attendances of 1,458 at Hayes Lane.

Bromley can look forward to a fourth season in the top flight when the season gets underway again in August, having finished in fourteenth-place, tenth and now ninth and there has been improvement over a period of five seasons.  The club won the Conference South title in April 2015 to dine at the top table of non-league football.


Neil Smith was Mark Goldberg's assistant when Bromley won the Conference South title after beating Weston-super-Mare 3-0 at Hayes Lane in April 2015.  The club have gone from stregnth-to-strength since then.
Photo: Bromley FC

“This is the start of the journey,” insisted Mr Stanton-Gleaves.

“We have plans, we have aspirations and we have desire that I guarantee you that we’re going to follow through on.

“Last summer we showed the start of the journey with this 3G pitch. In fact today’s open day wouldn’t have been possible without this pitch. The grass would’ve been up, people would’ve been doing what they’re doing and we’d have to have this somewhere else or maybe not even here.

“This pitch will be the start of bringing the community together, bringing everybody’s enjoyment and to be able to play on the first team ground.

“I’m pleased to announce that the 29 May the start of the build of the new stand commences and that will open on the 1 January or 8 January depending on the fixture list, so our first fixture in 2019 will see the opening of our new stand.”

Mr Stanton-Gleaves hopes supporters “have a terrific day at Wembley tomorrow.”

Bromley’s players formed a guard of honour for the club’s youth players who have picked up silverware at the end of their campaigns.

Now it’s time for Smith’s heroes to do the same and make it Bromley’s Greatest Ever Day in their 125^th anniversary season.

Smith said:  “It’s brilliant!  I think it sums up our season. We’ve just watched eight youth teams coming out of the tunnel where the first team boys have given them a guard of honour being successful.

“We’ve always said that we want to start from the bottom up and our young kids are our young future and that’s what this club is all about.

“Obviously leading us out at Wembley the next day. We want to show them what we’re all about.

“We just want to make it a great day for the supporters and it’s down to us to do that.  No one can say this season hasn’t been a great one!”

When the stand goes up, replacing the iconic benches at the Norman Park end of Hayes Lane, then Bromley will mean business with aspirations of bringing League Two football to their 80-year old home.

“It will be the next step in our development, our five-year plan to get in the League,” said Smith.


“We’ve just missed out on the play-offs and everyone had us down as relegation.

“We’ve got to Wembley, I want to prove the players are good enough that I was good enough. I always want to improve so if I’ve got to improve on next year I’ve got a hell of a job to do.  I’m always putting myself under pressure but I love it. I love this place and I don’t want the season to end!”

COME ON BROMLEY!  WE ALL BELIEVE IN YOU!

Visit Bromley’s website: www.bromleyfc.tv

Buy your tickets for Non-League Finals Day here:  https://ticketingcontent.thefa.com/NLFD%202018

Photographs courtesy of Edmund Boyden – www.edboydenphotos.co.uk

Stockton Town  v  Thatcham Town
The Buildbase FA Vase Final
Sunday 20 May 2018
Kick Off 12:15pm
at Wembley Stadium, Wembley, Middlesex HA9 0WS

Brackley Town  v  Bromley
The Buildbase FA Trophy Final
Sunday 20 May 2018
Kick Off 4:15pm
at Wembley Stadium, Wembley, Middlesex HA9 0WS