Part 1 of Alix Dorrington's introduction to Ebbsfleet United.
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Skirting briefly over recent history we find that Kent's finest were promoted to The Conference after snatching the Ryman League Championship in May 2002. Following their elevation to the top of the non-League pyramid life proved uneventful though, with consecutive 17th and 11th spot finishes achieved. However, in January 2005 manager Andy Ford, who had steadied the ship admirably for seven years, walked away after fourteen games without success.
In stepped former U's defender Liam Daish (pictured), who lead them to a consolidatory 14th place finish along with an appearance in the FA Trophy quarter-finals. Defeats were recorded in their remaining six matches though, with Fleet also failing to score in the remaining five.
Travel Sickness Tablets
The 2005/2006 season was to be a far more successful one, but with a similar end result. After spending a large amount of the season poised to make a play-off charge, a telling injury to key player Charlie MacDonald halted Gravesend's upward charge and they rounded off the season in 16th place, but with a lot of positives to take from their last campaign as a part-time outfit.
It was a season they built on and with their newfound professional status Gravesend charged towards the play-offs, only falling marginally short, but giving Gravesend fans a year to remember with Mark DeBolla & Charlie MacDonald forging a high-scoring partnership, which was instrumental in helping Gravesend achieve their second highest Conference finish.
Change was in the air though, and three key players flew the nest. Top scorer MacDonald signed a two year deal at nearby Southend, DeBolla left for Isthmian League promotion chasers, AFC Wimbledon and Onome Sodje headed to deepest darkest Yorkshire to join York City. However, the biggest change wasn't of players, but of name. Gravesend & Northfleet were to become Ebbsfleet United in order to tap into a new base of supporters and to get their names firmly on the map.
It seems a bizarre move until you find out that Ebbsfleet is where Eurostar were building an international train station, and the Thames Gateway project is looking to redevelop brown-field land in order to house 40,000 people. A shrewd move indeed, and with the club looking to secure their future at a new stadium inside the Ebbsfleet Valley, an accusation that could not be made is that the powers that be at Ebbsfleet aren't forward thinking.
MyFootballClub.co.uk
That was proven even more so later in the season, when in November 2007 MyFootballClub.co.uk announced that Ebbsfleet United was to become their plaything. MyFC.co.uk was a venture set up in order to take over a football club and run them in an online community, with the aim of signing up 50,000 people, who each pay £35 and get to vote on the key issues surrounding a Football Club. There were to be votes on formation, who to pick for the team, who to sign, who to ship out and the like. After a period of due diligence, MyFC members sanctioned the takeover of Ebbsfleet for £635,000.
Despite the fact that the MyFC experiment isn't fully in motion yet, it has still garnered mass media attention and spilt opinion vociferously, putting Ebbsfleet on the footballing map for better or worse. But regardless of what happens with MyFC in the future, one thing which can't split opinion is that Ebbsfleet United are having an excellent season, and find themselves in 11th place with 3 games in hand on 7th and 8 points to make up.
Wembley
So they're certainly still on course to match their achievements of last season in the league, but they've already dwarfed them in the FA Trophy. Ebbsfleet booked their place at Wembley a week ago, beating favourites Aldershot 4-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals, where they'll face Torquay in the final of non-league's premier cup competition.
Along with their 3-1 first leg victory over Aldershot, they've also dispatched Torquay, Exeter and Burton at Stonebridge Road, so it's sure to be a tough night. However Ebbsfleet have excelled against sides lesser than themselves and haven't taken many points off the top six overall. One other game worth a mention must be their match at home to Kidderminster, which finished 5-4 despite Ebbsfleet being 4-1 up. The 812 lucky souls who witnessed this match must surely have a game to talk about for years to come.
Since last year's forward line was split up, Ebbsfleet haven't found goals as hard to come by as some might have thought, with all quarters chipping in, Long, Eribenne, McPhee and Akinde are club top scorers who have hardly stormed to the top of the goalscoring charts, but are always dangerous. Chukki Eribenne is not only a memorable name but the most dangerous weapon in Ebbsfleet's arsenal, and one that will require close attention if United are to take three points from tonight's game.
Alix Dorrington
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