Former Newcastle United and Arsenal coach secures historic promotion win

Former Newcastle United goalkeeper coach Andy Woodman has made history by leading non-league club Bromley into the Football League for the first time.

The former Northampton Town and Oxford United stopper spent five years working under Alan Pardew at St James Park and was part of the Magpies coaching staff when they claimed a surprise fifth place finish in the Premier League and secured qualification for the Europa League. After working with the likes of Tim Krul and Rob Elliot, Woodman followed United manager Pardew to Crystal Palace - but moved into management with non-league club Whitehawk in February 2017.

A ten-month spell as Arsenal’s head of goalkeeping came to an end in March 2021 when Woodman moved on to the lead role in the dugout with National League club Bromley - and the former Magpies coach has now led the Kent outfit into League Two for the first time after they claimed a dramatic penalty shoot-out win over Solihull Moors in Sunday’s National League promotion final. The two sides shared four goals over a hectic 120 minutes at Wembley - but it was Woodman’s side that will join English football’s fourth tier next season after Byron Webster scored the decisive penalty in a 4-3 shoot-out win.

Speaking about his time at Newcastle during an interview in 2021, Woodman said: “I look at my time at Newcastle as probably the greatest time in my footballing career. Not just because of the size of Newcastle. It was actually the most enjoyable time, because we were very successful. I keep saying this, and it almost goes under the radar. We did get into Europe. People kind of don’t remember that. That hasn’t happened since we’ve left. I remember that really fondly. My lifestyle up there was the best it’s ever been for me and my family. We loved Newcastle. We loved the place, we loved the people.”