Welling United

Welling United FC is a non-league club on the border of Kent, located around eleven miles southeast from the centre of London. 'The Wings' were formed in 1963 by a gentleman called Sydney Hobbins, who was a former goalkeeper for Charlton Athletic for his sons Barrie and Graham.

The club began as a youth side playing on a community sports ground at Butterfly Lane in Eltham before they progressed to Saturday football and joined the Metropolitan-London League. Progression led to a place in London Spartan League Reserve Division One for the 1974-75 season.

 

Senior status and membership of the full London Spartan League followed in 1976 with promotion to the Premier Division after just one season. In 1977 Welling moved into Park View Road, which was formerly home to the defunct Bexley United.

In 1978 Welling joined the Athenian League and by 1981 they had progressed to the Southern League Southern Division. After one season the league was re-organised as Welling found themselves in the Premier Division. 

In 1985-86 United lifted the title and were promoted into the Football Conference. Although they struggled in the league, they reached the FA Cup first round for six consecutive seasons, with Blackburn Rovers visiting Park View Road to win 1-0 in the third round in 1988-89.

Kevin Hales arrives as manager in 1995, as his side battled against the odds and bigger budgets at other clubs to stay in the Conference, before they were eventually related at the conclusion of the 1999-00 season. In 1999 neighbours Erith & Belvedere moved into Park View Road as permanent tenants.

Tony Reynolds and then Bill Williams had spells in charge of the team prior to being awarded a place in the newly formed Conference South in 2004 under the management of former England star Paul Parker, who was replaced by Adrian Pennock in January 2005.

The floodlights at Park View Road were badly damaged in storms, which meant early kick offs and a costly exercise in replacing them. Neil Smith and then Andy Ford has spells in the managerial hot seat between May 2007 and October 2009, prior to the appointment of Jamie Day as player manager.

 

In 2010 the club were issued with a winding up order from HMRC, but the club continued thanks to the remarkable efforts of their supporters who raised the £60,000 arrears. The club were deducted five points by the Football Conference because of the debt.

Welling United competed in the Conference South play offs in the 2011-12 season but ended up losing the final to local rivals Dartford after defeating Sutton United. However, The Wings bounced back the following season and lifted the league title, winning promotion back to non-league’s elite level.

The competition changed its name to the National League in 2015 around the time that the club went through several managers after Day departed in December 2014. Jody Brown, Dean Frost, and then Mark Goldberg tried their luck as the Wings were relegated in 2014-15 before Day returned in November 2016.

Jamie Coyle was player manager in the 2017-18 season, before Steve King oversaw the following campaign, which was one in which Welling reached the playoffs where they defeated Chelmsford City before missing out on promotion with a 1-0 final defeat to Woking.

Goldberg, in a second spell, and then Bradley Quinton oversaw the two truncated seasons owing to the worldwide pandemic, before former Welsh international Steve Lovell arrived in January 2021. Peter Taylor formerly of England was next in charge from September 2021.

The international player connection continued with the appointment of Northern Ireland forward Warren Feeney in March 2022. It was around this time that the club owners announced plans for a redevelopment of Park View Road. Former Eastbourne Borough manager Danny Bloor took over team affairs from June 2023.

He was replaced by Rod Stringer in January 2024 who tried to salvage a disappointing campaign.

Welling United FC will play in the National League South in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Thursday in April 1984

I was in the last few weeks of my time studying Land Surveying and Cartography in Borehamwood, but I'd just about had enough. I decided to have a day away from the unintelligible maths and calculations and go groundhopping. I had been to several grounds in the area before arriving at Park View Road.

The gates were open and I found a decent enough ground for the standard the club were competing at. The Park View Road End had open terracing as did the far end, which was raised slightly behind the goal. The terracing continued down the Cricket Ground Side, which had a rickety roof over the half way line. 

Crush barriers were jotted around the terraces. The Main Stand had a section of terracing at each end, with old seating in the central sections. It had an undulating roof and many thin pillars along the front.

I continued on my way further south down to Sutton United and Carshalton Athletic.

Welling United 2 Scarborough 1 (Saturday 4th December 2004) Football Conference 

By now I was living in London and working at Lord's Cricket Ground. As was usual at the time I'd had a good drink after work the previous evening and found myself taking the train from London Bridge on a cold and damp day in a rather fragile condition.

I walked from Welling station and continued past a couple of pubs before entering the Guy, Earl of Warwick next door to the ground. I got chatting to some friendly home fans and soon got back to form. I decided to go into the ground and use the social club, even though I was advised against it by my new pals who said the beer was awful. However, I knew there'd be a few Seadogs in there who I could catch up with.

I entered the club and got the shock of my life as the barman was a lookalike of my pal from Lord's, Alain Le Ker. Thank goodness he wasn't as thirsty as him! The lads were right. The beer was rubbish, which was rather apt for what I was about to see from Boro.

We had a decent team, but were outbattled and outthought by The Wings in a very wet afternoon. The ground hadn't changed as far as I could remember. I huddled in a seat in the Main Stand and did my best to keep warm and keep my spirits up.

At full time I returned to the pub to drown my sorrows, and what a good decision that was. The home fans were naturally jubilant and in the mood to celebrate. I joined in with them as we chatted football and generally had a good laugh. Around 7pm a bus eventually turned up to take us to Lewisham, from where we caught the DLR to Cutty Sark to try a few pubs out in Greenwich.

I left around 10pm as I was full and still had a long journey home to Willesden Green. After changing onto the Jubilee line at Canary Warf I nodded off and woke at Kingsbury. Fortunately for me there was still a train in service to take me back down to my home station.

The game was rubbish as a Boro fan, but the day out excellent. How many times have I said that!

Wednesday 4th October 2006

I was out and about around South East London and Kent on a groundhop exhibition. After visiting VCD Athletic in Crayford I took the bus up the A207 which dropped me outside the stadium on Park View Road.

By now the scene had changed as Erith & Belvedere had been given the Cricket Ground Side of the ground. They had their own turnstiles and had erected a smart new seated stand to replace the old cover as well as building a new clubhouse and club rooms with a roof designed in such a way that the stand could be extended over it at a later date if and when required.

It gave the ground a new badly needed dimension. The Main Stand had also been smartened up with extra seating installed.

I continued on to my next venue, the home of Greenwich Borough.

Erith & Belvedere 0 Lancing 2 (Sunday 14th November 2010) FA Vase Round Two (att: 96)

Click here for the Erith & Belvedere page for full details.