The conclusion of the 2024 National League Play-Off Final, which came down to the final kick of the season, was unexpected even for Bromley manager Andy Woodman. An entire season hinged on a penalty shootout to determine which club would be the 147th to join the EFL.
Upon 120 minutes of thrilling football played beneath the iconic arch, the Ravens and their Solihull Moors opponents at Wembley were level after a 2-2 draw. There was nothing more that Woodman, a methodical individual who prepares for every possibility, could do except to step aside and allow his players to decide what happened next.
“I was so detailed that I literally plotted our promotion 259 days ago,” Woodman claims. “I planned everything—every game, every month, every three months, every six months.
“We’re going to make history at this football club and this is how we’re going to be promoted. It wasn’t a talk of ‘we may’ from the beginning. We didn’t back down from the objective or the difficult talks. Some people are afraid to declare, “We’re going to get promoted,” for fear of being made fun of if they fall short.
Few would have predicted that Woodman’s team would be the favorites to win promotion when they began their 2023–24 campaign away at Halifax Town in August.