Woodman Says Bromley Sacked Him in a Two-Minute Chat, Calls It Brutal

• Andy Woodman was sacked by Bromley last month after two wins in the club’s first 10 games at League One level, per BBC Sport.
• He says the dismissal came in a two-minute conversation at the chairman’s office on an ordinary training day.
• His best friend Sir Gareth Southgate backed him afterwards, and two clubs have rung him.

The Meeting That Ended Five and a Half Years at Bromley

Andy Woodman arrived at training one day last month, crossed to the chairman’s office and left Bromley for good. The manager who took the club from the National League to League One says the whole thing took two minutes.

“It was a two-minute conversation, it didn’t need more than that really. I went to tell the staff and went home! It sounds brutal and it is… I am sure people will read this and think, “You deserve this” and “You deserve that” but what else can you do? There’s no easy way of doing it.”

What Woodman Says He Was Told

Woodman had led the Ravens for five and a half years and had just signed a new contract when the club let him go with two wins from their first 10 League One games. “I’d just signed a new contract, so that was a bit bizarre,” he said on the 72+ EFL podcast.

In his first interview after the decision, he described the moment in plain terms.

“It was just a normal day when they told me. I was going into training, popped across to where the chairman’s office was and then was just told, “We are going to take a change of direction”. It was no more than that, I didn’t try to change the decision or ask why.”

He went on: “When you have been told you are sacked, you don’t really want to stick around and have a long conversation. They didn’t give an explanation. They needed results, they said. We lost to Leicester which was not a great result, obviously. But realistically they are Leicester… and we are Bromley.”

Woodman does not hide how it left him.

“Yeah, I feel betrayed. Every manager who gets sacked, we all have a story of hardship to tell and all feel it is unfair. That’s fine, I get how the football business works.”

“But the bit that didn’t sit comfortably with me was the conversations I was having with people at the club or owners, everyone above me… there was no inkling of any of this. I feel misled. I was surprised.”

“One day, we were talking about plans and the way forward and how to get through this sticky little period with players out injured, then the next minute it was a change of direction. Nothing like, “Right, you’ve got three games to turn it round”, none of that, nothing.”

“My record was good there, the owner always said if anyone can churn out results it was myself. Football has no patience. In football, people always forget where they come from. I understand wanting to move forward. It’s disappointing really, that’s the best word I can use. I feel let down.”

The Summer Signings and Three Games Woodman Wanted

Woodman says the trouble started in the transfer window, when the club moved late.

“I just felt we didn’t get the players we should have. I’m sure one or two of them were out of our reach but we just didn’t really put our marker down until late.”

“Then we end up having seven players come in over one or two days that, in my opinion, weren’t good enough to get in League One teams and suddenly they think they should be in my League One team.”

He says he still believed in the squad he had when the call came. “When I left that day, I just felt in shock to be honest,” Woodman said. “I felt the next three games were winnable. I had played seven of the top 10 teams, beaten the top team Huddersfield, my goalie was just coming back from injury and some others were coming back.”

“We had two teams in the bottom four and one just outside so I felt it was my best opportunity to get some much-needed results.”

Then came the part he calls strange. By his account, Bromley put his former assistant Byron Webster in charge for those games.

“To take someone out who has been in football 40 years and been in coaching 25 years and then to put (his former assistant) Byron Webster in charge who had just been fresh out of playing and has never done a coaching session… with every respect, it feels unfair to him. It was a stupid thing to do. I found that really strange, they took one point from those three games. It fascinates me.”

Karl Robinson, the former Salford and MK Dons boss, has taken over.

The Club He Built From Almost Nothing

Woodman describes the Bromley he took over in 2021 as a club that ran on day-to-day money.

“Look, Bromley is your classic non-League club,” Woodman says. “I mean that with the greatest respect to all non-League clubs and I hate the word “non-League” as I think it should be “League Three”, as they are all professional.”

“But the facilities are non-League, the mentality is non-League. Everything is done day-to-day, hand-to-mouth, every penny counts, every decision that costs money counts, it is run by people’s personal money.”

“It was tough when I started: we had no turnstiles, no club shop, we trained on the pitch because it was astroturf, we had no gym.”

Under chairman Robin Stanton-Gleaves, Bromley climbed the pyramid. They won the FA Trophy in 2022, reached the Football League in 2024 and earned another promotion to League One last season. Woodman lists the FA Trophy final win over Wrexham among his best memories, with the move into the Football League and an FA Cup tie at Newcastle.

“My record speaks for itself. If you ask most managers how many promotions and trophies they have won, I bet over long careers, they haven’t got many. For me, with the smallest budget in the leagues, we maximised the team and maximised success.”

“To get two promotions and an FA Trophy win against Wrexham, hitting the play-offs four times in five years, that is something I am really proud of. If nothing else, the Bromley supporters and town are grateful.”

He says the rise came quickly. Woodman said: “We probably got to League One too quickly. We couldn’t do all the infrastructure stuff. It was impossible.”

Offers to manage higher up the pyramid came while he was at the club, and he says he turned them down out of loyalty. “I felt I was building something and I wanted to finish the job,” he said. “Would I, in hindsight, have liked to have walked away on my terms in the summer? Maybe, but I was quite excited about the next chapter.”

Southgate, Two Phone Calls and What Comes Next

The friend who helped him through it is Sir Gareth Southgate, who ruled out a Premier League return last month. The pair met as teenagers in the Crystal Palace academy and took turns as best man at each other’s wedding. Southgate is godfather to Woodman’s son Freddie, a goalkeeper on Liverpool’s books, and the two co-wrote the 2004 book *Woody and Nord*, which follows an England career and a journeyman’s career that began at the same level.

“Nothing surprises Gareth and I,” Woodman adds. “We have been in the game for 40 years now. You can argue that in his tenure at England, he got them as high as they have ever been in 60 years and it still was not enough. So it doesn’t surprise us. People have to make decisions and they are business-related, only time will tell if it is the right decision but that’s not my problem any more.”

“Gareth was very supportive, so was Alan Pardew and the support from the Premier League right down to the National League, there has been no end of messages I have had, which is comforting.”

“That first Saturday after being out, I didn’t want to be watching or listening to the game, I just wanted to get away because that is the worst. I have had two clubs ring me, there are ongoing conversations and I am just making sure it is the right vehicle for me. What I mean by that is I want an owner that is aligned and who thinks they can compete to get out of their league.”

Woodman is one of several managers sacked this autumn, a list that includes Sheffield Wednesday’s Henrik Pedersen. On the podcast he said he felt no animosity about Bromley or Stanton-Gleaves.

“Two weeks ago I was fuming and now I’ve moved on,” he said. “I sincerely wish them all the best.”

“I want them to stay up. I want my legacy to live on at that football club because I’ve worked so hard to get them to where they’ve got to.”

“As much as I was disappointed, I can’t do anything about that now.”

“I can only move on and look forward to my next challenge, and hopefully put another club on the map.”

For now Woodman waits for the right call. Two clubs have been in touch, he wants an owner who shares his ambition, and Bromley carry on under Robinson. Burnley also parted company with Nicky Hayen after 14 games and one win.