Bromsgrove Sporting boss Brendan Kelly has been given the green light to go for promotion and fulfill the wildest dreams of his BetVictor Southern League Central leaders.
Kelly backs his Rouslers in The Non-League Paper on Sunday with his side finding themselves in another title race having finished second at Step 4 last season before winning through the play-offs to reach their highest placing in the Pyramid.
This could be their fourth consecutive promotion after clinching the Midland League Division One and Premier Division titles in what has been a remarkable rise since their first season in 2010.
“We're massively over-achieving again but probably the key word is momentum,” Kelly, who took over in 2018 from Paul Smith having been his assistant, told The NLP.
“The board will probably admit they're a little bit behind us off the pitch compared to what we're doing on it, but it's not my place to get involved in that. It is growing extremely fast, it's probably two years ahead of schedule.
“The youthfulness of it is amazing because over Christmas I was seeing clubs naming their team of the decade and stuff like that – and we're not even a decade old.”
NON LEAGUE PAPER: A great article in this weekend's @NonLeaguePaper, taking a look at our rapid rise through the leagues and plans for the future, with our very own @brenckelly!
Many thanks to @DRichardson_NLP & the paper for this super piece!#Rouslers pic.twitter.com/SSy0v1kdmZ
— Bromsgrove Sporting (@SportingFC) January 26, 2020
Yet Bromsgrove have taken each hurdle in their stride and have refused to be overawed at Step 3 when coming up against established Non-League clubs such as Tamworth and Nuneaton Borough.
Kelly, in his first managerial job, has been spot on with tweaking his squad to the new division too.
“We're evolving as we go,” said the Irishman. “We had an extremely tough start fixture-wise at the start of the season against all the big boys.
“We came through it in decent nick and in those games we learned an awful lot.
“Myself and my staff looked at it and realised we had to strengthen in certain areas. We've done that and we're a far better team now than we were.
“So far, recruitment hasn't been so bad. Look at Mike Taylor on 23 goals, Greg Mills in double figures, Kaine McDonald in double figures. Leon Broadhurst has been fantastic and Daniel Platt and Jackie Wilson have also been brilliant.
Whirlwind
“People will think we've got a war chest because of the crowds we get, we get bigger crowds than some teams in League Two some days but it's not the case.
“We're still nowhere near some of the big boys when it comes to budgets and stuff.”
Four home games in 2020 so far; three attendances of 1000+ (and a 944 on a Tuesday night) have helped raise our average home attendance this season to 981 (nearly 300 more than next highest team)
Wherever you stand, however you spur us on – thanks for your support & loyalty ?? pic.twitter.com/JBTpmChENX
— Bromsgrove Sporting (@SportingFC) January 27, 2020
The club is comfortably on course to smash 100 league goals for the fourth consecutive season having notched over 70 already.
A 7-1 win over Redditch United last Tuesday night moved them four points clear at the top of the table although their progress temporarily stalled on Saturday when they lost 3-0 at home to promotion-chasing Coalville Town.
“To be sitting where we're sitting now is beyond our wildest dreams considering we're new to the level,” added Kelly.
“The board are shocked at where we are, they would have accepted 12th if I'm honest with you. We've put ourselves in this position so we might as well have a stab at it.
“The rise has been a whirlwind. When I initially took over, the blueprint was to try and take the club to as close to full-time status as possible, that's still the aim.”
Make sure you get your copy of The Non-League Paper on Sunday and Monday for the latest news from across Non-League over the last seven days, together with exclusive match reports and pictures from all of Saturday's upcoming fixtures in the BetVictor-sponsored Southern League.
