EFL boss took drastic move to ban beer after team bus incident to fuel title challenge

Bromley boss Andy Woodman has lifted the lid on the changing of the culture that set the foundations for the club’s current success.

The League Two leaders are on the second-longest unbeaten run in the EFL and are favourites for a second promotion in three seasons.

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The Ravens equalled title rivals Cambridge United‘s 14-game unbeaten run in the fourth tier with a 1-1 draw to Cheltenham Town.

Bromley, who are three points clear at the top, are now just one behind Lincoln City‘s ongoing 15-match unbeaten stretch in the EFL.

Even more remarkably, the club’s current run comes during only their second ever campaign in the English football league system.

Woodman, who will celebrate his fifth anniversary at Bromley this time next month, has overseen a dramatic transformation in charge.

The 54-year-old left his post as Arsenal‘s head of goalkeeping to succeed Neil Smith at Hayes Lane in March, 2021.

Bromley were 10th in the National League table, but Woodman instantly guided the club to a playoff quarter-final defeat that June.

The Ravens beat Wrexham in the first full campaign of their Hollywood takeover to lift the FA Trophy at Wembley in May 2022.

Two years later, Bromley enjoyed another triumph at the national stadium in the playoff final with a shootout win over Solihull Moors.

The Greater London-based outfit finished 11th in their first EFL campaign last season and now have League One promotion in range.

Woodman, whose son Freddie joined Liverpool last summer, revealed the cultural shift all started after his very first game as manager.

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Bromley boss banned beer on team coach

“When I first went to Bromley, I never forget the first game,” Woodman told the 72+ EFL Pod. “It was Stockport away.

“They were flying. We played the game. We got a 0-0 draw on Telly, which was an unbelievable result for Bromley at that time.

“I get on the coach, and it’s packed, the coach. We’ve got like some supporters on there that are on there.

“I’ve never seen it like it. It was packed. I couldn’t get my head around it.

“We went a hundred yards up the road, and the coach pulled over. And I thought, ‘What’s going on here?’

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“The staff, the kit man at the time and all that, were getting off, they were getting crates of beer and they bring it on to the coach.

“And I was like, ‘This ain’t going to happen again’. And I literally, the next game, I got everyone off the coach that shouldn’t be on there.

“There’s not a bit of alcohol on the coach because that day’s gone, in my opinion.

“And it was like I was cutting their arms off the people. No one would speak to me when I left off the coach because they were like, ‘We’ve always done this’. And it was a case of, ‘No, we might have always done it. That’s why you are, where you are’.

“We’re changing the culture of this place. And it’s been like that for three or four years to get us to where we are now, to make sure everyone buys into it.

“I mean, training on a Sunday before a Tuesday game, you’d have thought I was putting him in prison for a day when I first mentioned it.”

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Five years later, Bromley are three points clear of Swindon Town at the top of League Two, with the Robins having played a game more.

Ian Holloway‘s men are responsible for handing the Ravens one of only four league losses this season, as are Cambridge, who sit third.

However, Bromley haven’t been beaten since the end of November, although they had back-to-back 1-1 draws despite scoring first.

On leading the pack, Woodman added: “It’s great at the moment. And it’s where we wanted to be.

“Did we think we’d get there? Yeah, we did in-house. And we sort of made that our target over the Christmas period, to make sure that when the 1st of January comes, that we were top of the pile. So that’s been good.

“It now comes with a different angle. Everyone plays you differently now. They sit in, and they do different things.”

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‘Zero pressure on Bromley’

“So we’ve got a different problem,” Woodman continued. “We’ve got to try and work out.

“I’d soon be at the top of the table down the bottom struggling, that’s for sure. And we’re embracing it.

“I said to the guys last night [Tuesday], there is zero pressure on us. There is no pressure on Bromley Football Club.

“We are top of the table. There is not one pundit, not one supporter in the country that thinks we’re going to stay there.

“There’s not one person thinks we should be there, except us in-house. So we’re fine with that.”