Andy Woodman

you're starting to build a half-decent core there. Absolutely. I mean, I was with Mavropanis at Arsenal, so he's a fantastic player for them. I think the message from Bowen was a real big message. He came out early doors, said he's not leaving, he's going to stay there. And I think it just sort of adds weight to the manager as well. And I think you're right, Luke. I think they probably look the most settled of the teams that have come down with a manager that's got a huge experience of getting teams up and being successful. So...

If a team goes ahead there, the heads drop, the fans get on your back, red light spells danger, would it? Yeah, no, I agree with everything you're saying there, but I think Lon made a really good point. If they can get a few early results and get that fan base on board, it could be massive for that football club.

Off the pitch, they've had one or two problems as well, as we know. But the West Ham fans, you get them on board beyond that squad of players. And there'll be some new faces in there, I'm sure. I think it'll be really important for their season, early doors, to get that going. And I don't think they'll be in Leicester. I really don't. I just think they're a little bit more stable than Leicester were and a little bit more solid all over the place. Do you think the manager's a massive difference, though? Yeah, agreed. That is...

what huge clubs we do have in the championship this year it's a proper PR signing isn't it from Wolves you know as a manager well it's not really the manager signing but you know as a board you need to win the fans on side you'll probably sell a load of shirts as well it's a big statement of intent I thought when they brought him in and I just think it sends a message out to their own fans and I think it sends a message out to the rest of the league

And I think it also appeases any noise with Rob going and how that come about. Like you said, it sounded like it was underhand a little bit. But I feel that it's a message of intent there that Wolves are going to be a very serious contender this year. I think he's physically still capable. He has the streetwise side of his game. And he's also not afraid to put his head in where it's really going to hurt. So...

Zian Fleming for them yeah I mean I agree with you on that but just coming on to the manager as well that's a big gamble I think the manager I mean I don't know loads about him I have to be honest and I'd love to know how they went about appointing him and what their thought process was because you know for me

Scotty Parker takes teams up out of the championship so I'd have probably stayed with Scotty and then sort of got him up but this manager I'm intrigued to how he's going to go I really am Do you think they want a different style of football because I mean this is a big thing that I laugh at I mean I keep thinking about this style of football winning football is what every fan wants I don't know any fan that wants a team that plays out from the back and finishes mid-table

I don't get how you can go from Sean Dyche playing his brand of football to Vincent Company smashing up the division when they did it and then going to Scott Parker and going, OK, cool, do it how you've got to do it. And Scott's got a great record of getting teams out of the Championship. So for me, I would have probably stayed with Scott and said, look, you're the man that's got many teams out of the Championship so far. Let's stick with you. I don't know if it was Scott that probably had enough or he saw the finances were going to be a problem. But, you know...

I don't know, I shouldn't say that, but that's what I'd have done. I'd have cleared the decks. I mean, that's still hanging around, the manager, isn't it? What are they going to do with him? Someone would have had to have been the full guy. I know that's a horrible thing to say because I'm a manager, but that's got to be orchestrated by the manager. It's cost the club a chance promotion. The players, I mean, you've got a question whether the players are going to want to play for this manager. It's cost them premiership contracts.

Do you know what? I admire Flynn Downs coming out for that. Rather than saying we're going to have a go, we're going to win the league. I would expect my players to say that about me if I'd done something like that and sort of really rallied round. With all the noise that we've got on the outside, it's probably not as bad on the inside there now. It's all done and dusted. So with that group of players, they should go into the season very confident with the way they finished. Brilliant. I love that. And I really hope that they are all going to pull round and dig this manager out of the hole.

Wrexham for me I think they have put a good squad together each season I think he buys well Park here I think I think they've got a way of playing and they're all on the same page of it they brought Danny Imre in this year who I had at Bromley who's at Palace I think he's a really good signing for them as well so and they're about to do the goalkeeper

King it's never busy enough we always want more yeah it's been a good it's been a tough off season trying to get players in and credit to Luke Chief Scout who's worked really hard and the chairman and myself you know we've been non-stop 24 hours on the phone and getting players right to the going to sign for us and then they go somewhere else

It's tough. It's tough. We haven't got the riches that some of the clubs have got. And that's not me crying. That's fact. And equally, whether I like it or not, we're probably not the most desirable clubs of some of these players to come to when there's other clubs in our league. So I understand all of that. But what we are, we are on a team on the upward trajectory and we'll keep going that way.

You've done things organically and everyone has heat praise on you for doing that, for not going mad at what you do. How do you keep that trajectory going and how do you keep it consistent? First of all, you've got to make sure you buy the right characters and keep the right culture flowing through the club and that's really important to me. And when we sign players, as good as they are and as we see them on the pitch, it's really important to do my homework off the pitch and how they're going to fit into...

us as a group and us as a football club. And then they've got to buy into how we're going to play. So you've got to get all of that right. And I would say touch wood at the moment, we have got a group of players that have come in the door and they are the DNA of us. I'm so chuffed with how they've brought into everything we've done. Can we have any insight in any potential changes in how the team's going to play this year? Yeah, we're going to have one more extra pass.

Do you know what? That's a fair comment to say that because what I love about what you've just said there is on the outside, everyone thinks my keeper kicks it, we go up the pitch and that's all we do. And we want people to keep believing that. What we do is we play in the right areas and that's what I want to do. I don't want my keeper rolling into his six-yard box and getting it back and then looking for a put. That's not what I want.

That isn't to say that we have 700 passes or we just go long. We mix it up, and that's the important thing. We're going to mix it up, but with better players. Look, it's no secret. The goal doesn't move. Put the ball in a danger area. Keep the pressure on the goal. Listen, when you've got a striker like Michael Cheek, that's all you need to keep doing. We're not going to be much different, but we have got a few little things up our sleeve. We are going to...

just change a little bit, but nothing crazy, I have to be honest with you. We have to change a little bit for the league, for sure. Didn't his wife give birth the other day? Unbelievable. And sort of like, he came and played like that after school. Honestly, when I tell you this, I was ringing him up, saying that she had the baby, don't worry about the game tomorrow, because you know it's not when you have a baby, you're tired. He came in the Saturday to the office and said, you okay? He said, yeah, yeah, she had the baby, as if it was nothing. I mean, he hasn't had a baby.

And I said, well, let's rest you because he had a hamstring last year and et cetera. And he said, no, no, I'm fine. And he went out there, played exactly as he plays and scored. And that is just Michael Cheek. He's the most easy player to manage and possibly the nicest footballer I've had the pleasure of working with.

And it's tough, you know, for a club like Bromley, you know, we get our revenue mainly from the crowd and we get a crowd of four or five thousand, you know, it's not massive. And that's really our main revenue stream. So other than the chairman put his money in. So it's tough and we're trying to, the chairman and everyone behind the scenes is trying to create more revenue, etc., etc.,

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