Welling United wouldn’t be Welling United without a change of manager in the summer.

For the fifth season in a row, they will be starting with a manager who hadn’t been in charge twelve months earlier. Since Jamie Day departed midway through the 2014-15 season, there has been a constant turnover of coaches and management.

After Day’s departure, five years after taking the role, Jody Brown had a short spell in charge before being relieved of the post after just nine games in which one point was won. Loui Fazakerley was appointed as caretaker manager and Welling avoided relegation on the final day of the season.

Fazakerley was offered and accepted the role permanently during the following week but he struggled and was dismissed in January 2016 with the club in the relegation zone. Dean Frost and Barry Ashby, who had been Day’s assistants, took over but could not reverse the club’s fortunes.

Off the pitch, Mark Goldberg’s take over of the club had started, and the former Bromley manager took the manager’s post for the final two matches of the season that saw Welling relegated.

Goldberg remained in the dug-out for the start of the following season but results weren’t good and after admitting that he was struggling to manage affairs off and on the pitch, he stood down and Day came back in as caretaker manager. Results picked up immediately but he was offered a full time role as Gillingham coach and left in January 2017.

Harry Wheeler had a short spell in charge before being lured to Billericay Town and Alex Dyer, now assistant manager of Scotland, guided Welling to safety.

However, he was not offered the job in the summer and Jamie Coyle took the reins for the 2017-18 season. Although they flirted with a play-off place, Welling finished in mid-table and Goldberg again decided it was time for a change with the appointment of Steve King.

In a highly competitive league, King’s team played entertaining football on their way to third place and the play-offs, also claiming silverware in the shape of the London Senior Cup.

Although, Welling lost a controversial play-off decider at Woking, it was an outstanding season in which Park View Road became the fortress that it had been when they were promoted as champions six years earlier. Despite that, Welling will again start from scratch next season as they and King have gone their separate ways. There is no explanation on the reason for the parting from either the club or the departing manager but it now means that a new manager will have to be recruited and he may well wish to bring in his own players.

On the player front there has been little news other than the fact that Brendan Kiernan has departed to join Harrogate Town in the National League and Craig Braham-Barrett has joined fellow National League South club Hemel Hempstead Town.

Picture supplied by Dave Budden.