WEMBLEY WINNERS: Club reflect on a job well done

WINNING the FA Carlsberg Trophy at Wembley Stadium on Saturday will go down as the best ever achievement by a Kent football club for eight years - and Ebbsfleet United’s secretary Roly Edwards praised the Kent media for their publicity leading up to the club’s finest ever moment, writes Stephen

The high from Saturday’s 1-0 win over Torquay United has still not gone away.

Now the challenge is to entice at least 10% of the 25,000 people that made the pilgrimage to Wembley Stadium back to the club’s Stonebridge Road ground in Northfleet to watch the Fleet in the Blue Square Premier next season.

Ever since the club knocked out eventual Blue Square Premier champions Aldershot Town in the semi-finals, all attention was on Wembley and all week www.kentishfootball.co.uk were confident that the Fleet would bring the FA Carlsberg Trophy back home.

Mr Edwards said: “What a great day and having got to Wembley (it was) important to gain the win - no one remembers the losers do they?

“Since overcoming Aldershot in the semi-final the club embarked on the massive task of preparing for the biggest game in our history.

“With limited resources it was an enormous task to deal with the sale of 25,000 tickets and the massive amount of merchandise in the form of shirts, flags, scarves etc.

“Never before in our history of our club have we had to deal with a situation on such a grand scale but looking back I believe that we came out ok with very limited hassle and complaint.

“The logistics of moving 45 coaches with some 2,500 fans is quite daunting in itself but all went without a hitch.

“To experience the sea of red and white on the day was all that was needed to make the whole thing worthwhile and it made us all realise what a massive step we had taken in moving the club forward.”

Mr Edwards praised the Kent media for their support as Wembley fever gripped the Garden of England.

He said: “Enough of patting ourselves on the back, the real purpose of this message is to thank (the Kent press) you all.

“We know without doubt that we could never have attained the level of ticket sales that we did without you.

“The match captivated the whole of Kent to the extent that we were still selling tickets at 6pm on the eve of the final.

“I honestly believe that given another week we could have sold 30,000 seats.

“It has been a pleasure to deal with you all so closely over the past few weeks and we have been overwhelmed by the TV, radio and newspaper articles that we have seen.”

So were you one of the 25,000 fans at Wembley Stadium on Saturday and haven’t been down to Stonebridge Road at all - or for a long time?

Now is the time that the north Kent club need you - for their Blue Square Premier campaign.

Mr Edwards added: “We must now hope that a percentage of the fans from Wembley will return to The Fleet on a regular basis and help us to achieve our aim of League Football - with your continued support we are sure that we can get there.”

Visit Ebbsfleet United’s website: www.ebbsfleetunited.co.uk