Club Background
No distant 19th Century creation myths for Welling United, it not being formed until 1963. And even then it was initially only a youth team (Under 15, then the school leaving age). Even the club’s (very brief) official version of its history is all a bit vague about the evolution to a men’s team. For 1976-77 a Welling United side, presumably a men’s team, had popped up for the first time in the London Spartan League Division Two. Although finishing 6th it and three other clubs were then moved up to Division One for 1977-78, finishing 6th again. (The club’s official history claims they won the league; they didn’t, Cray Wanderers were Champions). Meanwhile Bexley United, which played at Park View Road, had gone bust and folded in 1976 and the following year Welling, which had been playing somewhere in Avery Hill Park, Eltham, on the Royal Borough of Greenwich council owned sports fields, took over the abandoned stadium.
Now with a home of its own Welling left the Spartan League to join the Athenian League. It played in that for three years before switching again, in 1981, to the Southern League Southern Division. Although only finishing 8th, again Welling struck lucky with a league restructuring seeing it moved up to the Southern League Premier Division. In six seasons the club had managed to move up three levels in the pyramid without any assistance from its performances on the pitch. This changed in 1985-86 when a 29-6-3 results record saw it storm the SLPD, Champions by 23 points, and arrive in the Conference.
Conference level football proved to be quite a struggle for the club and although it hung on in there for 14 seasons, most commonly finishing around 16th to 20th in a 22 club division, an increase from two to three relegation spots soon spelt the end, relegated in 2000. The first season back in the SLPD saw a healthy 4th place but then there were a couple of campaigns of lower mid-table mediocrity before the club was lucky again: a 9th placed finish in 2003-04 being just enough to receive an invite to join the newly created Conference South.
Generally finishing a steady upper-mid-table(ish) in Conference South if was off-field issues that would next shake the club. In August 2010, just as the new season started, a winding up petition from HMRC dropped on the Park View Road doormat. The club and its supporters eventually managed to raise the £60,000 to clear its over-due tax bill but it was deducted five points and had to operate under a transfer embargo for virtually the whole season. Despite this manager Jamie Day led the club to its best ever Conference South finish to that point, 6th, only missing out on the play-offs (by a single point in the end) because of that deduction.
The following season of 2011-12 saw Welling finish 3rd and into those play-offs. Sutton United was beaten 2-1 on aggregate across the two leg semis but The Wings lost out 1-0 in the Final to Dartford. The next campaign no such heartbreak, promoted to the Conference Premier as Champions.
Once again the top flight of Non-League proved challenging. Jamie Day had gone, lured away mid-season by Ebbsfleet United, who although left behind in Conference South by the promoted Wings was a club beginning to throw a bit of money around. Welling finished 16th that season, 20th the next, and was then relegated in last place 14 points adrift from safety in 2015-16.
In 2016 Mark Goldberg (that Mark Goldberg, the one who nearly destroyed Crystal Palace) had bought the club and shortly after made himself manager. One sign of a club that has lost its way is when managerial appointments are measured in months rather than years. Since Day’s departure in 2014 Welling has had 16 changes (including a return by Day for a second spell which only lasted three months, and Goldberg giving himself a second spell) of manager. In all that time the club has had a single good season, 2018-19, when it finished 3rd but eventually lost out to Woking in the Play-off Final. Goldberg sold his majority shareholding in 2022 and departed.
As to why the club is nicknamed The Wings, even Welling supporters disagree as to how this came about, with arguments whether the nickname came first and the club badge of Pegasus, the winged-horse, was adopted to match it; or the moniker developed because the winged horse was already being used on the badge. There is some consensus that, whichever the order, both had appeared within a couple of years of each other in the early 1980s.
We’ve Met Before
Previous Results for Yeovil Town First Team vs Welling United
| 24/02/1988 | Away | GMAC3 | L | 0-1 | 518 | ||
| 21/09/1988 | Home | CONF | W | 4-0 | 2313 | Doherty(2), Quinn, Wallace | |
| 06/05/1989 | Away | CONF | W | 2-0 | 878 | Whittingham(2) | |
| 13/09/1989 | Home | CONF | L | 0-4 | 2281 | ||
| 24/01/1990 | Away | BLT2 | W | 2-1 | 810 | Quinn, Carroll | |
| 25/04/1990 | Away | CONF | W | 1-0 | 739 | Conning | |
| 05/01/1991 | Away | CONF | W | 3-0 | 918 | Stevenson 10, Hirons 59, 89 | |
| 01/05/1991 | Home | CONF | L | 0-1 | 2687 | ||
| 22/10/1991 | Home | BLT2 | W | 2-0 | 1340 | Batty, Spencer | |
| 08/02/1992 | Home | CONF | W | 3-0 | 2127 | McDermott(2), Spencer | |
| 20/04/1992 | Away | CONF | L | 0-1 | 704 | ||
| 31/08/1992 | Away | CONF | W | 3-0 | 963 | Wilson, Shail, Nevin | |
| 23/03/1993 | Home | CONF | W | 1-0 | 2019 | Batty | |
| 14/09/1993 | Home | CONF | L | 0-1 | 3083 | ||
| 06/11/1993 | Away | CONF | L | 0-2 | 930 | ||
| 05/11/1994 | Away | CONF | L | 1-2 | 747 | ||
| 02/05/1995 | Home | CONF | D | 3-3 | 1202 | Brock 38, Wilson 45, Dillon 86 | |
| 23/08/1997 | Away | CONF | W | 3-1 | 840 | Pickard, Patmore(2) | |
| 31/01/1998 | Home | CONF | D | 1-1 | 2236 | Denys | |
| 08/09/1998 | Away | CONF | W | 2-1 | 531 | Pickard 62, Hannigan 85 | |
| 03/04/1999 | Home | CONF | L | 1-3 | 2903 | Appleton 85 | |
| 04/09/1999 | Away | CONF | W | 5-2 | 716 | Eaton 4, 18, Smith 63, Patmore 74, Thompson 90 | |
| 15/04/2000 | Home | CONF | D | 1-1 | 1812 | Patmore 18 | |
| 25/11/2023 | Away | NLS | L | 1-4 | 826 | Young 16 | |
| 09/03/2024 | Home | NLS | L | 0-1 | 3285 | ||
Results Summary For Yeovil Town First Team vs Welling United
| Home | Away | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A |
| 4 | 3 | 5 | 16 | 15 | 8 | 0 | 5 | 23 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 39 | 30 |
Club Statistics
RECENT RESULTS
| 09/09/2023 | Bath City | Home | NLS | L | 0-1 | 681 | ||
| 16/09/2023 | Dartford | Away | FAC2Q | W | 3-2 | 1021 | Papadopoulos 43, 63, 76 | |
| 23/09/2023 | Eastbourne Borough | Away | NLS | D | 2-2 | 1540 | Tanga 67, Abrahams 73 | |
| 30/09/2023 | Gosport Borough | Away | FAC3Q | D | 2-2 | 1023 | Adom 23, Abrahams 90+7 | |
| 04/10/2023 | Gosport Borough | Home | FAC3Qr | W | 4-2 | 443 | Lema 28, 36, Abrahams 32, 66 | |
| 07/10/2023 | Farnborough | Home | NLS | D | 2-2 | 599 | Odusanya 27, Bramble 87 | |
| 14/10/2023 | Boreham Wood | Away | FAC4Q | L | 0-1 | 756 | ||
| 21/10/2023 | Torquay United | Away | NLS | L | 1-5 | 2510 | Adom 18 | |
| 24/10/2023 | Maidstone United | Home | NLS | D | 0-0 | 818 | ||
| 28/10/2023 | Chippenham Town | Home | NLS | D | 0-0 | 487 | ||
| 30/10/2023 | New Salamis | Away | LSC1 | W | 2-1 | Muwonge 38 (pen), 90 (pen) | ||
| 04/11/2023 | Weymouth | Away | NLS | D | 1-1 | 844 | Adom 54 | |
| 07/11/2023 | Dover Athletic | Away | NLS | D | 2-2 | 542 | Tanga 16, Bramble 31 | |
| 11/11/2023 | Slough Town | Home | NLS | W | 4-3 | 642 | Abrahams 12, Adom 23, Green 58, Curran 90+1 | |
| 14/11/2023 | Braintree Town | Away | NLS | L | 1-4 | 604 | Odusanya 49 | |
| 21/11/2023 | Taunton Town | Home | FAT2R | W | 2-2 | 258 | Adom 44, Abrahams (pen) 85 (8-7 on penalties) | |
| 25/11/2023 | Yeovil Town | Home | NLS | |||||
LEAGUE ATTENDANCE STATISTICS
Highest League Attendance: 818
Lowest League Attendance: 487
Average League Attendance: 611
CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS
| Games Without A Win: | 1 | Games Without A Home Win: | 0 | |
| Games Without An Away Win: | 6 | Games Without Defeat: | 0 | |
| Games Without A Home Defeat: | 4 | Games Without An Away Defeat: | 0 | |
| Games Without A Draw: | 2 | Games Without A Score Draw: | 2 | |
| Games Without A No-Score Draw: | 4 | Games Without Scoring: | 0 | |
| Games Without Conceding: | 0 | Home Results Sequence: | LDDDW | |
| Away Results Sequence: | DLDDL | Overall Results Sequence: | LDDLDDDDWL |
Club Information
Address : Welling United Football Club, Park View Road, Welling, DA16 1SY. (Currently snappily titled sponsorship name J Hearnden Skip Hire Community Stadium, but wouldn’t bother committing that to memory: nobody uses it and it’ll be something else in five minutes time.)
Telephone Number : 020 8301 1196
Email : secretary@wellingunited.com
Chairman : Paul Whitehead
Matchday Manager : (appears to be vacant)
Club Secretary : Vicky Bull
Team Manager : Danny Bloor
Capacity : 4,000 (possibly more in theory than practice these days)
Seated : 1,070
Covered Terrace : c. 1,500
Surface : grass
Record Attendance : 4,100 v Gillingham, FA Cup First Round Proper, 22/11/1989
Colours : red and white shirt, red shorts, red socks
Nickname : The Wings
Programme : £3.00
Ticketing
Amongst a number of pretty ropey grounds we’ll be visiting this season it’s possibly fair to say Park View Road could be the worst. And one won’t get much argument from Welling supporters on the issue. However, rather than be accused of snobbery and prejudice, I’ll leave it to the current Wings Board to describe the delights awaiting (in its own report on the stadium published 11/07/2023):
“At present, the site and football grounds are not fit for purpose. The grounds are in very poor condition and there are next to no adequate club facilities. Part of the site is derelict, and the site boundaries need work to maintain security.
The current facilities are poorly built and suffer from structural damage. The buildings are not weatherproof and suffer leakages. Many areas essential to the functioning of the club, such as changing rooms and toilets, are simply at their end of life and require a complete overhaul.”
Prices :
Tickets for our trip to Park View Road on Saturday 25th November with a 3.00 p.m. kick-off are now available on-line HERE.
Adult: £15.00
Concession (Over 65, Student, Blue Light Workers*): £10.00
Junior (Under 16): £7.00
Under 11: should be FREE (accompanied by adult)… but note: there is a confusion in that the Away Ticketing option is showing a £5.00 charge while the Home Ticketing option does not. If your party contains Under 11s would suggest you phone the club (020 8301 1196) for clarification. Feel free politely to explain that FA and NL guidelines are there should be equitable pricing for home and away fans.
( * NHS & emergency services workers, and members of the armed forces – proof of status to be shown at turnstiles on matchdays)
The above prices are for entry to the ground. Those wanting a seat pay £2.00 extra on a first-come-first-served basis subject to availability once inside the stadium.
Assuming walk-up purchases remain in place for this fixture the Welling turnstiles accept both cash and card.
Disabled
Presumably people with disabilities don’t exist in Welling. Certainly can’t find anything at all on the club’s website.
Official Away Travel
The Green & White Supporters’ Club is running away travel to Welling United on Saturday 25th November, 3.00 p.m. kick-off.
Details are as follows:
Members: Adult £28; Concession £26
Non-Members: Adult £31; Concession £29
Coach departs Huish Park: 8.30 a.m.
To book, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 (after 6.00 p.m. please) or email him on paulhadlow@outlook.com.
If you are getting in touch by email, please make it clear which match you are booking for and that you give your full name, the names of people that are travelling and a contact telephone number.
You may be asked to pay a £5 deposit to reserve your seat.
Directions To The Ground
General
Historically Welling was in Kent but since 1965 has been part of the Borough of Bexley in Greater London. The town is a sprawling suburban mess of a place that mostly developed between the Wars.
By Road
Huish Park to Park View Road is 160 miles. Take the A303, M3 and M25 (anticlockwise), leaving the M25 at the Darenth Interchange (Junction 2) for the A2 westwards. Follow the A2 to the A221 drop off (Danson Interchange) where a complexity of roundabouts will get you across to the north side of the A2. At the end of the A221 (Danson Road) at the T junction turn left at the traffic lights onto the A207. This is Park View Road with the stadium about 500 yards along on the left.
Parking
There is no parking at the ground. And don’t be tempted by the free (from October to March) parking in Danson Park which stretches away south of the stadium. This car park is closed at sunset (which in London on 25th November is officially timed at 15.59) or 16.30, whichever is the later.
There’s a distinct lack of public car parks around Welling. Both stations (see By Rail below)do have car parks with flat rate charges on a Saturday, £4.00 at Welling Station and £5.10 at Bexleyheath Station. It’s about a 20 minute walk from either to the ground. Prices in the few council car parks do vary but tend to be a little bit cheaper than that if you can get in and out within four hours. After four hours they mostly jump straight to an all day charge which varies between £6.00 and just shy of a tenner.
The host club confidently asserts that there is “plenty of street parking” in the area. Am not entirely convinced at this optimism. One can certainly ignore almost everything on-street that is metered as, with a tiny number of exceptions, that’s all limited to a maximum of two hours. But perhaps the club’s right and Welling is a remarkable exception for London, and a land flowing with free on-street parking.
Bexley Borough Council still appears still to have Pay & Display available at most sites, with RingGo its electronic system for those who prefer that.
By Rail
Park View Road Stadium is pretty much equidistant from Welling Railway Station (0.9 of a mile) and Bexleyheath Railway Station (exactly 1 mile). Both are on the same line with services, operated by Southeastern (but currently having been under Government control since 2021 as the company’s performance was so appalling its franchise was terminated), running from three London terminuses: Victoria, Cannon Street and Charing Cross.
However, what would appear a relatively straight forward one to train from Yeovil is not as the line between Yeovil Junction and Salisbury will be closed for maintenance work. The alternatives, either diverting via Westbury and Warminster if sticking to trains or taking the bus replacement service, will increase journey time for this section from the more usual 50 minutes or so to anything from an hour and a half to as much as two and a quarter hours. Onward services between Salisbury and London Waterloo are being “revised” (which could just as easily be spelt “reduced”).
By Bus
Bus numbers to look out for are the 89, 486 and B16 as these have routes which run along Park View Road with the closest stop to the stadium being named after the nearby pub, Guy Earl of Warwick (see below).
By Taxi
A selection of Welling taxi companies can be found here.
Web Resources
Web Sites
Welling United Official Site – little information of much use to away supporters.
Forum Message Board – is under the control of the club rather than independent.
Social Media
Social Media Links Page – the club is on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube.
Local Press
Small clubs in London struggle more than most to get much coverage. News Shopper, which covers South-East London and parts of Kent, does have a Welling United dedicated page.
Food & Drink
General
The nearest pub to the stadium is Guy Earl of Warwick (below) just a few yards from the entrance to the stadium. As Park View Road becomes the High Street, and less than five minutes walk from the ground, are The Door Hinge and The Rose & Crown (both below). If training it, the Spoons (New Cross Turnpike, below) is roughly half way on the 20 minute walk from Welling Station to the ground.
Club Bar
Park View Road’s Wings Bar is generally open to away supporters but of course all our matches have been getting segregated this season, mostly at grounds that usually don’t, so this may not be the case for our visit, though the YTFC Official Site has stated Welling is not planning to segregate this game. Sometimes puts real ale on on a match day. Has Sports TV. There’s a burger outlet (was in the entranceway to the ground in the past, don’t know if that’s still the location). Definitely inside the stadium is the Travis Perkins sponsored outlet which serves hot and cold soft drinks, pies and general snack food. Again, its availability may depend on whether any segregation does materialise.
Local Pubs
Door Hinge: Welling micropub that opened 2013. Small, even by micropub standards: about 20 customers and it is full. Has three or four changing real ales and around half a dozen real ciders on. Doesn’t stock any keg at all as far as can tell. Couple of doors from the Rose & Crown (below) and three to four minutes walk from the ground. Opening hours are: 3.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m. Tuesday to Thursday; 3.00 p.m. – 10.00 p.m. Friday; noon – 10.00 p.m. Saturday; noon – 5.00 p.m. Sunday.
The Door Hinge Ale House, 11 Welling High Street, Welling, DA16 1TR. Tel: 07305 809066. Map: Door Hinge.
Guy Earl Of Warwick: Large Greene King pub that re-opened under new licensees in February 2022 after a period of closure and major refurbishment. Has three hand pumps usually with two GK offerings and a guest (fairly mainstream) such as the likes of St Austell Tribute or Timothy Taylor’s Landlord. Keg is macro, the likes of Neck Oil, Blue Moon Belgian White, Peroni, Guinness, Strongbow etc. Food in pub grub style served noon – 9.00 p.m. Monday to Saturday and noon – 6.00 p.m. Sunday. Has Sports TV, pool, darts, beer garden and parking. Opening hours are 11.00 a.m. – 11.00 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 11.00 a.m. – midnight Friday & Saturday and noon – 10.30 p.m. Sunday. About sixty yards (so one minute) from the turnstiles.
Guy Earl Of Warwick, Park View Road, Welling, DA16 1TB. Tel: 020 8303 7217. Map: Guy Earl Of Warwick.
Hangar: There’s two branches, one in Sidcup and this one. Calls itself a micropub though feels more like a bar (the dividing lines can be a bit blurry) and opened in 2020. On the route from Welling Railway Station to the stadium, and about ten doors along from the Spoons (below), it’s half a mile (ten minutes walk) from the stadium. Stocks a couple of cask ales and has seven keg taps that carry a mix of mainstream and ‘craft’ beers. Also does cider. Children allowed until 6.00 p.m. but thereafter it’s Over 21s only. Paved area to rear that’s partly covered and has a Pool table and large TV screen. Opening hours complicated so shall just mention Saturday’s here: 2.00 p.m. – 11.00 p.m.
The Hangar, 35 Bellegrove Road, Welling, DA16 3PB. Tel: 020 8300 6909. Map: The Hangar.
Kentish Belle: If anyone’s using Bexleyheath rather than Welling Station (see By Rail, above) this exceptionally good micropub is about 100 yards away (on the northern side of the railway line) and thus exactly one mile (20 minutes walk) from the ground. Has four constantly changing cask ales (served on gravity from a chill room which has the capacity to expand to around a dozen for tap take overs and mini-festivals) and an also constantly changing board of ‘craft’ keg that’s always interesting. Up to eight boxed ciders (and the occasional perry) are stocked. Children allowed until 7.00 p.m. Opens at noon every day, closing 10.30 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 11.00 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and 8.30 p.m. Sunday.
The Kentish Belle, 8 Pickford Lane, Bexleyheath, DA7 4WQ. Tel: 020 3417 2050. Map: Kentish Belle.
New Cross Turnpike: The Spoons in Welling and on the route from Welling Railway Station to the stadium which is a further half mile (ten minutes) walk on from the pub. Children allowed until 9.00 p.m. Opens from 9.00 a.m. – midnight every day.
The New Cross Turnpike, 55 Bellegrove Road, Welling, DA16 3PB. Tel: 020 8304 1600. Map: New Cross Turnpike.
Rose & Crown: After a long period of closure reopened 2019. CAMRA says it doesn’t stock real ale as a regular thing (though it does provide a venue for annual Beer Festivals). Has Sports TV, Pool and Darts. Beer Garden to rear and benches and tables out front. Four minutes (0.2 of a mile) walk from the ground.
The Rose & Crown, 15 Welling High Street, Welling, DA16 1TR. Tel: 020 3016 0568. Map: Rose & Crown.
Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You: All geezers, innit.
Top-Tip: The stadium is on the crumbling decaying side of ramshackle. (They have plans. Chances of them ever happening: LOW.)
Local Amenities: None.
Other Points Of Interest: The Wings share Park View Road with Erith & Belvedere FC, currently in the Isthmian League South East Division, who moved in in 1999 after its own stadium had burnt down. However it’s evolved into quite a strange ground share, with the two clubs having their own (and usually kept seemingly exclusive) sets of facilities. Welling operates on the west side of stadium and Erith & Belvedere’s on the east side, with each club having their own separate turnstiles, changing rooms, bar etc.
[No responsibility is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice. ]