Should he stay or should he go now?
The clock is ticking. In the summer of 2022, after Bromley won the FA Trophy against Wrexham at Wembley, Andy Woodman and his then assistant Alan Dunne were rewarded with a three-year contract extension.
That contract was a just reward for a historic achievement and recognition of the progress the club had made under Andy’s tutelage.
Since then, more records have been broken and Andy has set a precedent that will be hard for any future Bromley manager to match, never mind better.
In four and a half seasons at the club, Andy has achieved the following:
National League play-off eliminators (7th place finish)
FA Trophy winners
National League play-off semi-final (7th place finish + highest points total)
National League play-off winners (3rd place finish + highest finish/highest points total)
Promotion to League Two (for the first time in the club’s history)
FA Cup 3rd round appearance (for the first time in the club’s history)
Comfortable survival in League Two at the first time of asking
As far as I know, only one other club has officially spoken to Andy in that time. Gillingham were granted permission to sound him out in January 2022, but while the Gills were undoubtedly the bigger club at that point in time, and still are, Andy sensed that Bromley were better run and had the greater forward trajectory. He decided to stick rather than twist.
Following Gillingham’s interest, Andy went on to achieve even more success at Hayes Lane, which rather begs the question who might be hovering around now.
Earlier this season, when Northampton Town were in the market for a new manager, the nation's bookies had Andy priced up well. Northampton are Andy’s old club, and he’s made no secret of his soft spot for them, but were the speculators putting 2+2 together to make 10? We may never know.
What we do know is that there has been no official word from Bromley to confirm that Andy has signed a contract extension, and he recently lost his long-time assistant, Alan Dunne, with the former Millwall man stepping away from the game for the foreseeable future.
This begs the question: does Andy see this season as a natural breakpoint?
Of course, with my fan’s hat on I do not want to see Andy leave the club, and I believe he has some unfinished business vis-à -vis what he wants to achieve at Bromley. If I know Andy well enough, he believes he can get the Ravens promoted out of League Two and is busy planning how to go about it.
There’s no denying that important decisions must be made in the coming months.
This summer may well require the greatest overhaul of personnel on and off the pitch in Andy’s time at the club. While it’s not exactly a blank canvas, the right additions could elevate the club to a whole new level and continue the upward trajectory. This seems like a challenge Andy would relish, however, the upheaval could just as easily be another reason that convinces him it’s time to part ways.
Let’s play devil’s advocate for a moment and ask ourselves why Andy would jump ship this season.
The main question is what is best for him and his CV, but another question is the pros and cons of being employed versus being a free agent.
Is it better to continue at Bromley with guaranteed job security, safe in the knowledge that, if the overachievement continues, a ‘bigger club’ will come calling at some point?
Or is it better to gamble on stepping away from it all? With a success-filled CV in his pocket, Andy’s presence on the free market would surely make him a valuable commodity. The risk here is that, if he doesn't secure a post in the summer, he would have to wait for managers to get the sack, denying him the chance to build a squad and imprint his DNA pre-season.
If he was to choose the latter and float himself on the free market, this summer could be the perfect time to do so.
Is there a manager in the EFL with a more consistent resume? So far, it’s been year-on-year history making. Wouldn’t you want that for your club? Then again, which clubs are realistically in the market for a new manager this summer, and are they a good fit?
We all need to gamble on ourselves at some point in our careers. The question Andy will be pondering is when is the right time to do that.
This is all hypothetical of course, and I suspect that Robin and Andy agreed upon a new deal a long time ago. Something tells me this news might come out at the AGM/end-of-season awards dinner.
Time will tell.
Thanks for taking the time to read the article above.
All articles are edited by Peter Etherington you can link to him here
If you havent as yet make sure you read the other articles in the archive.
If you’d like to show an appreciation for the work that goes into this newsletter you can buy me a coffee through the link below.
You can also find Machel St Patrick Hewitt on Twitter - here
Most importantly of all subscribe to the newsletter to ensure you get these updates direct to your inbox.
The way Andy has spoken in recent weeks he is planning for next season so maybe a deal has been done . Wonder if a sensible release clause is in there , in past Bromley have not priced players out of a good move upwards, would hope same for the manager who has done so much for us . As a fan want him to stay and give us more memories .