Bromley FC: Should they stay or should they go now?

The Midfielders Edition

Welcome to the next chapter of my preview of Bromley Football Club’s 24/25 retained/released list. So far, I’ve covered the keepers, the full-backs, and the centre-backs. Now I turn my attention to the midfield. 

Does Bromley already have League Two quality in the cupboard, or does Andy Woodman need to go shopping?

Read on to find out, and stay tuned for more to come.

The Midfielders

James Vennings

It has been a very peculiar season for James Vennings. Guess how many appearances he made? 

I doubt many, if anyone, would guess 17. 

It was a season that simply never got going for the former Charlton man. Whether through injury or non-selection, he didn’t have a sustained run in the team at any point.

The season before, James made 40 appearances in the National League, so it wasn’t as if he was following a pattern. Simply put, midfield upgrades arrived this season and left him surplus to requirements. 

I like James as a player and think he is underrated. He is one of the most effective players we have in terms of taking the ball on the half-turn and trying to move us further up the pitch. Remember the way he dovetailed with Corey Whitely in the FT Trophy final in 2022, for example?

However, perhaps the management team feel he lacks attributes that other players possess.

I expect that James will not be retained and will move on this summer. Should he do so, he can easily play for a top-10 National League side, location permitting.

Jude Arthurs

Circa 2020, Hugo Langton, the former Bromley first-team coach and now Aldershot first-team coach, said to me that Bromley have a Football League player on their hands.

That player was Jude Arthurs. 

The academy graduate has become a fan favourite and it’s easy to see why. Not only is he our very own midfield Duracell Bunny, he is also one of the most versatile players in the squad. 

Need an emergency right wing-back or number 4? Jude will fill in and give you a strong performance. But with a full-90 engine under his bonnet, Jude’s bread and butter is the role of box-to-box midfielder. 

Working in partnership with Ashley Charles in the middle of the park, he put the chokehold on most of the midfield lineups that Bromley faced and was pretty much flawless in Bromley’s season run-in. 

It is easy to forget that Jude is only 22 years old and nowhere near his prime as a footballer. 

Needless to say, he will be retained. In fact, I believe he will be critical to our inaugural season in League Two. 

The joke is that Andy can and probably will seek some midfield reinforcements, especially as Ben Krauhaus has moved on and James Vennings will likely be released. But no matter the quality he adds to the squad, I expect that when push comes to shove, Jude will remain our go-to for a scrap in the trenches.

The only way should be up for Jude from here.

Sam Woods

I am assuming Sam Woods signed either a 2-year deal or 1-year option deal when he signed last summer. Injuries this season robbed him of making more than 25 appearances, but he showed his worth in the games he did play. 

His height and presence make him an asset for set pieces in both boxes, but he is also a good midfield screen in front of the defence, particularly in games where Bromley are expected to be without the ball for long periods.

Sam keeps the game simple, and there are games where Bromley need exactly that. 

I think he has done enough to warrant being kept on, and given Bromley will need some squad depth, I find it hard to believe he doesn’t fulfil that remit.

Andy worked with Sam when he was a youngster at Crystal Palace, so my bet is he knows how to get the best out of him when he’s fit. I expect him to be good to go for next season.

Corey Whitely

Mr Double Double and Player’s Player of the Season. 

Corey Whitely apparently played the most minutes in the National League last season. That speaks volumes as to his importance for the football club.

If you tried to count the number of ‘bad’ games he’s had since joining Bromley permanently in the summer of 2021, dare I say the number would be less than 10. 

I’ve written it before, but when Corey plays well, Bromley play well.

Like Michael Cheek, he will be 33 when the League Two season starts, but I do not expect that to mean anything in the grand scheme of things.

Corey is one of the fittest players in the squad and I fully expect him to be lining up in our first-ever selected XI in League Two. 

The only real question for me is whether he will get a contract extension that takes him up to the age of 35.

Ashley Charles

Remember when some Bromley fans questioned the signing of Ashley Charles?

Put simply, sometimes you have to let things marinate and not rush for hot takes.

Charles had played well over 100 games for a Wealdstone side that not only got promoted from the National League South but went on to cement their position in the National League. That Wealdstone team was noted for its excellent possession-based football, and Ashley was the beating heart of that.

Joining Bromley in February always meant he was going to need time to get up to speed. He also had to adapt to a different style of football and a different system.

As Andy once said in a post-match interview, Ashley is more effective when he gets higher up the pitch. Adapting to meet that demand was the turning point for him in a Bromley shirt.

Can he play the destroyer alongside Jude Arthurs? Most certainly. But his game is far more sophisticated than that alone. He has the technical ability to spring attacks as well as play the killer pass.

At 25 years old, there is so much more to come from Ashley. It will be interesting to see how he gets on in League Two.

You don’t sign for a club in February unless it’s an 18-month contract, so we will see him next season.

Kido Taylor-Hart

Kido has taken to Instagram to confirm he is leaving Arsenal upon the expiration of his contract this summer. 

Will Bromley pounce? Should Bromley pounce? 

If the Ravens stick with a variant of their 3-5-2 / 3-4-2-1 / 3-4-3 system then it is hard to see how Kido would fit in.

When he featured in 23/24, he was largely used as a wing-back. That doesn’t seem sustainable as it clearly isn’t his best position.

Kido is a winger. For that reason, the best passages of play we’ve seen from him have shown off his ability to slalom past players in the final third, irrespective of end product.

If Andy Woodman wants to have more plan Bs up his sleeve, like switching to 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 for example, then taking a punt on developing Kido would seem worthwhile as he has a skill set that no one else in the squad possesses. But does Kido look ready for a bit-part in a League Two campaign? 

Could he level up to the challenge? Is it a priority position to fill?

Lewis Leigh

20-year-old Lewis Leigh is out of contract at Preston North End. They have offered him fresh terms, but there has been no movement as yet. Is he waiting for a better offer?

In his 13-game loan spell during Bromley’s first half of the season, Lewis was outstanding. A genuine 360 range of passing, good off either foot, superb set piece delivery, need I go on?

I know the club went all out to try and extend his loan, but it didn’t come off and Preston sent him to Crewe Alexandra, where he was last seen coming on as a 74^th-minute substitute in the League Two play-off final.

Lewis’s loan move has put some critical League Two experience under his belt, so I suspect Andy Woodman will be going all out to bring him back to the club.

The question is whether he can convince Lewis, who by all accounts loved it at Bromley, that guaranteed first-team football with Bromley in League Two trumps being on the fringes of first-team football in the Championship with Preston. 

I wouldn’t rule out Andy Woodman convincing him to jump ship and come south. If he can pull it off, it would likely be the best signing he makes all summer.

Marcus Sablier

On Saturday 9th of October 2021, Marcus Sablier scored an outrageous overhead kick in front of the Glyn Beverly Stand in a televised game against Torquay. For his sake, I hope that’s not where his career peaked.

In the aftermath of that goal, and some top performances, the academy graduate signed a new contract and was being talked up for a move to the Football League. But football is a fickle creature. 

A dip in form cost him his shirt and he never really won it back. Numerous loan moves followed, including stays at Welling, Hampton & Richmond, Bowers & Pitsea, Cray Wanderers, Cheshunt, and finally Lewes, where he ended this season (picking up their Goal of the Season award in the process).

I think it’s highly likely that Marcus will be released this summer. I’m sure some ambitious Isthmian Premier League and National League South sides will be knocking on his door. And why not? At just 21 years of age, there should be plenty to come from the young midfielder.

Todd Miller

The former Brighton youth prospect signed in the summer to add pace and dribbling ability to the squad. Sadly, once again we witnessed an out-and-out winger being shoehorned into a wing-back or midfield position that didn’t suit them.

Todd made just over a dozen appearances for the Ravens, mostly as a substitute during the first half of the season, and netted an 87th-minute winner against Altrincham in early September.

That was as good as it got.

His skill set didn’t fit Bromley’s formation, so first-team chances became increasingly rare. Todd spent the back-end of this season out on loan at relegation-threatened Kidderminster (along with another forgotten Bromley man, Cole Kpekawa, who is also likely to depart in July). While the pair couldn’t keep Kiddy up, under the management of Phil Brown, they gave it a damn good go.

Assuming he only signed a one-year deal with Bromley, I imagine Todd will depart this summer. Perhaps Phil Brown will offer him a deal at Kidderminster in the NLS.

Mitchel Bergkamp and Tate Campbell

Mitchel never really got a look in once he picked up a very bad concussion early in the season. I assume he will depart in the summer and look for somewhere to get his career back on track.

It’s a shame we never got to see Mitchel at full sharpness at any point in his journey with the club. This was supposed to be his breakthrough season, but it just wasn’t to be. 

If he can get back to full health and fitness, offers will likely come his way. It will be interesting to see where he lands.

Like Mitchel Bergkamp, Tate Campbell was hampered by injury all season, and not for the first time. Birmingham City seemingly sent Tate to Bromley on loan when he had never fully recovered from his injury woes, so he had to return to the Midlands to recover all over again. 

When he returned to Hayes Lane in the new year, Tate came on as a substitute against Maidenhead United in the league and Chippenham Town in the FA Trophy and looked exceptionally rusty and short of match fitness. That was the last Bromley fans saw of him.

At his best, and match fit, Tate is an exceptional talent. He has just been released by Birmingham City, so I wonder if Andy will make a move. It might seem risky given his injury problems, but Andy and his coaching staff will know what Tate is truly capable of.

In Conclusion

When you look at the midfield players we have used this season, and you consider that Ben Krauhaus has now officially left to join Brentford, it seems that Bromley could do with at least two upgrades in the middle of the park (possibly three or four if wingers are needed for a new system). 

My take is that Andy should start by trying his best to get Lewis Leigh back at the club and then work from there. But, as ever, all of that is budget-dependent. 

Watch this space. 

Where do you stand on the players mentioned above? Are there any midfield talents you would like to see added to the squad?

Share your views in the comments section below, and join me next time for The Strikers Edition.

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