TT PREVIEW

Graham talks about the Wings

ABOUT ME

I grew up in South East London and supported Bristol City growing up as I have a lot of family in the West Country. I also used to watch Millwall as my dad and siblings were Millwall supporters. When I moved in with my wife, we moved to Sidcup and one day I noticed a football ground in the local area and thought I’d take a look. One hungover Saturday morning, I decided to go to a game – that was in 2002 and I’ve been a season ticket holder ever since. I started taking my son Max when he was 3 weeks old, he’s now nearly 18 and we travel to most games, home and away.

HOPES & EXPECTATIONS FOR 24/25

All I hope for is an improvement on previous years. We’ve had a torrid time on and off the pitch since we lost in the play-off final against Woking in 2019. When Rod Stringer and Kevin Watson took over in January 24, we were languishing in 22nd. We then went on to only lose 2 league games until the end of the season, which would have been play-off form. When Rod and Kev committed to the 24/25 season, I was really happy – hopefully looking at the top half of the table and a cup run wouldn’t go amiss!

START TO THE SEASON

Pre-season looked pretty good. Rod and Kev assembled the bulk of their squad early on so it wasn’t the usual team of trialists every week. It’s fair to say we’ve had a mixed start in the league – the highlight was beating the then-unbeaten Farnborough 4-1 at home, with a superb team performance. Low point was two weeks later losing to Chesham 3-1 at home. In most games, we do have some really good spells of football, so hopefully we’ll go on to be more consistent.

KEY PLAYERS

Your old boy Rhys Lovett has done a great job between the sticks so far. There are lots of players who’ve done well in most games – Gene Kennedy has really improved since we had him on loan from Colchester last season and is solid in midfield. Elliot Long and Anointed Chukwu both joined from the league below and hopefully will improve as the season goes on – I lost track of how many Elliott scored in pre-season, he’s an exciting player to watch. Anthony Grant (midfield) and Dave Winfield (defence) are both reliable older heads in the team.

MANAGEMENT TEAM

I think the management team speaks for itself. Rod Stringer has lots of proven experience with about 5 years at Bishop’s Stortford and 4 at Chelmsford. He’s one of those managers that fans of the opposition love to hate, but a great manager to have on your side. Kevin is the more tactical one, he has lots of experience at academy, assistant and manager levels. I don’t believe they’ve worked together before, but they certainly seem to work well together.

THE LINE-UP?

I think we’ve got 4 or 5 out through injury or suspension this week, so it’s a bit of a guess at the moment!

PRE-MATCH REFRESHMENTS

From the station for a cheap drink you’ve got the New Cross Turnpike (Spoons) about 5 minutes’ walk from Welling station towards the ground. A minute further up is the brilliant Hangar (https://www.hangarmicropub.com/), which offers craft beer as well as lagers and cocktails and also has a pool table. However, I would encourage all fans to try out our new Fans Zone marquee. This has been a great addition by the club and shows premiership football on the screens, has pre and post-match music/singers and reasonably priced drinks. We have an urban street food van which has been highly praised on Footy Scran which you should try out! (https://x.com/FootyScran/status/1830655319195939221).

BEST OPPOSITION SO FAR

A bit early in the season to make much comment, I thought Mason Bloomfield at Farnborough looked like he would be dangerous, although Dave Winfield had him in his pocket for the whole game against us.