Kent Football United

Kent Football United FC was a non-league football club from the Kent town of Dartford that was founded as Dartford Town FC in 1999 by Roy MacNeil. They lasted until the 23rd August 2022 when they resigned from the Southern Counties League and folded.

The team started out life by entering the South London Alliance; winning the Division Four title in 2009-10, playing at Glentworth Sports Club in Central Park. A merger with Erith Town FC followed in the summer of 2010, to become Erith & Dartford Town FC. Erith pulled out of the agreement shortly afterwards, but the club name remained in tack.

Erith & Dartford Town became founder members of the Kent Invicta League for the 2011-12 season moving home games to the Oakwood home of VCD Athletic. In the summer of 2012, the club changed their title to Kent Football United following a merger with a youth side of that name.

The management team of Sam MacNeil and James Cole led the side which finished towards the bottom third of the table; moving back to a permanent base at Glentworth Sports Club in 2014 as further youth teams were added to the set up.

Ennio Gonnella took over as team manager in 2015. The club were moved into renamed Division One of the Southern Counties East League for the with Gonnella taking the side to a fourth place finish in 2016-17; with was followed up twelve months later with seventh spot.

Danny Wakeling was appointed as manager in November 2018 after the previous boss departed for pastures new. Wakeling departed to take the Welling Town job in July 2019 with the duo of Steve Devereux and Richmond Kissi replacing him. They departed within a few months.

George Jones was the new incumbent of the position. However, the following two seasons were abandoned owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. Ennio Gonnella took over as manager in May 2021 for a second spell in charge. The team ended the 2021-22 in fourteenth place.

Four games into the 2022-23 campaign the club resigned from the league and folded. KFU chief Sam MacNeil took a coaching position at Ebbsfleet United, with KFU’s entire women’s section moving with them, with 95% of the volunteer base from the club also departing.

It was decided it was impractical to sustainably run the club. Kent United FC was formed in 2023 following the acquisition of assets from Kent Football United moving into the Glentworth Club ground and becoming members of the Kent County League.

My visit

Friday 4^th October 2019

An opportunity to visit a new venue arose on a day off work when visiting Dartford FC’s Princes Park home for the Premier League Cup tie between the under 23 teams of Charlton Athletic and Swansea City.

I had time on my hands before heading to that evening’s Eastern Counties League game featuring Newbury Forest and Frenford over at Barkingside. I also needed a walk, so the pleasant stroll through Central Park was just what the doctor ordered.

I’d read various updates on the excellent Non-League Matters forum about the Glentworth Sports Club and its lack of progress, which would later be retitled the Efes Stadium in a sponsorship deal, but it looked a perfectly suitable venue for the level of football on my first glances.

Not sure whether there’d be access through the main gate, I took photos through the fences from the lane off Cranford Road. The near end looked out of access for fans; while the far touchline was open standing with a junior pitch beyond the managers’ benches.

The main facilities were around the entrance in one corner; with one covered seated stand on the touchline, whose seats had come from the Olympics, at the London Aquatic Centre and changing rooms behind the goal. I walked round to the entrance down an opening off Lowfield Street.

An inquisitive gent came out of the social club to see what I was up to. I explained I was taking some photos and he said I should return around 4.30 when there was usually someone about inside the ground.

I didn’t have that amount of spare time, so instead I satisfied myself with a couple more exterior shots of the facilities before heading towards the station, while grabbing a snack at Greggs before wandering through the Orchards Shopping Centre.

With my shopping for work the next day completed at Aldi, I took a train to Bexleyheath where I enjoyed a couple of perfectly kept pints in The Kentish Belle Ale House & Gin Palace. It was a fine example of what can be done by changing a shop into a micropub.

It had been a fine few hours in south-east London and Kent before I took the 422 bus towards Woolwich Arsenal and the evening leg of my entertainment.