Welling

Formation and early years (1963–1975)

Welling United Football Club was founded in 1963 by former professional footballer Syd Hobbins. It began as an U15 youth team, playing in the Eltham & District Sunday League on a park pitch from 1963–64 to 1970–71. From 1971–72 to 1974–75, they played in the Metropolitan-London League Intermediate/Reserves Division at Butterfly Lane, Eltham.

London Spartan, Athenian and Southern Leagues (1975–1986)

In 1975–76, they played in the London Spartan League Reserve Division One. They gained senior status in the London Spartan League in 1976, while playing at Butterfly Lane. Welling finished sixth in the London Spartan League Division 2 in 1976–77 and was promoted to the Premier Division. In 1977, Welling moved to the Park View Road ground, which had previously belonged to the by-that-time-defunct Bexley United. The club joined the Athenian League in 1978, and in 1981 progressed to the Southern Football League Southern Division.

After just one season at this level the club found itself in the Southern League Premier Division after the league was re-organised. In 1985–86, they won the league title by 23 points and were promoted to the Football Conference.

Football Conference (1986–2000)

Although the team struggled in the Conference, only twice finishing above 11th place in 14 seasons, they did enjoy cup success during this period, qualifying for the first round proper of the FA Cup in the six successive seasons between 1986 and 1992. The first of these was in the 1986–87 season, where they were drawn against Maidstone United, playing to a 1–1 draw and a 4–1 defeat in the first-round replay. The next season, they defeated Carshalton Athletic 3–2 at home to reach the second round proper, then losing to Bath City 1–0 at Park View Road. In 1988–89, Welling United made their only third-round proper appearance to date, losing 1–0 at Park View Road to Blackburn Rovers. 1989-90 was another significant campaign for Welling, as they knocked out Kent's only Football League side, Gillingham, who competed in the Football League Fourth Division, the fourth tier of English football at the time. This match holds the record for the club's highest attendance at a home game.

During this period, the club also had success in local cups, winning the Kent Senior Cup in the 1985–86 and 1998–99 seasons, as well as the London Senior Cup in the 1989–89 season, and the London Challenge Cup in the 1991–92 season.

Terry Robbins joined the club in 1986, coinciding with the beginning of the team's period of FA Cup success. He was top league scorer for the club between 1986 and 1994, and was the leading scorer for the Football Conference league in the 1991–1992 season, with 29 league goals.

The club was relegated in 1999–2000 and returned to the Southern League Premier Division.

Conference South (2003–2010)

In the 2003–04 season, under the management of former England World Cup player Paul Parker, the Wings finished in the top half of the Southern League Premier Division and was therefore able to claim a place in the newly formed Conference South. In that season, Parker left the club by mutual consent.

Former Coventry City and Republic of Ireland player Liam Daish took charge of the team on a caretaker basis before the permanent position was handed to former Norwich City and Gillingham defender Adrian Pennock, who narrowly missed out on taking the club into the promotion play-offs. Pennock left the club at the end of the 2006–07 season. His last game managing the Wings finished in a 1–1 draw at home to Hayes. Pennock joined Stoke City in a coaching position under his former Gillingham manager, Tony Pulis.

On 16 May 2007, Welling United appointed Neil Smith as the new first team manager. However, after only seven months in charge Smith parted company with the club on 7 January 2008. It was mutually agreed between the club and Smith that his reign as Wings boss would end.

Andy Ford was appointed the new manager of the Wings on 31 January 2008. Despite losing 6–2 to Cambridge City in his first game in charge, Ford guided the Wings to safety and they eventually finished 16th. Welling finished 7th in the Conference South in 2008/09 under the guidance of Ford. After a poor start to the 2009–10 season Ford resigned, stating he didn't think he could achieve what he wanted on the current budget. Jamie Day was announced as the new player/manager in November 2009.

Debt and misconduct (2010–2011)

On 12 August 2010, the club was served with a winding-up petition by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), due for a hearing later that month. The club was given 14 weeks to pay the outstanding debt to the HMRC. £60,000 was raised by the club and its supporters to clear all debts. During this period, in a Football Conference Hearing on 16 September 2010, Welling United admitted to a misconduct charge in connection with the outstanding HMRC debt. This resulted in an immediate deduction of 5 points and a suspended £5,000 fine.

Despite this embargo and point deduction, the team missed out on a play-off place by only one point, finishing in 6th place.

Promotion and relegation (2011–2019)

The 2011–12 season ended with Welling in 3rd place and after defeating Sutton United 2–1 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals they narrowly missed promotion in the final, being defeated 0–1 by Dartford at Princes Park.

Welling made a return to the top level of non-league football the following season after clinching the Conference South title, 13 years after they last played at the fifth tier of English football. Between 3 November and 5 February, Welling also broke the league's record for consecutive wins, with 12 in a row.

In December 2014 Jamie Day left Welling by mutual consent. He was replaced by Jake Gallagher and Jamie Turner as caretakers, but on 21 December it was announced that Jody Brown of Grays Athletic would become manager. On 3 March 2015, Jody Brown was relieved of his duties after just one point in his first nine games. Right back player Loui Fazakerley was put in charge for "the foreseeable future".

Welling's first televised home match was played on 8 March 2015, being played live on BT Sport, and ended in a 1–0 loss to Altrincham.

Following an impressive run of results, Fazakerley steered the team out of the relegation zone and to 20th place, above Alfreton Town on goal difference. Fazakerley was appointed as manager on a full-time basis the same week.