One Goal Short – The Story of Billericay Town Football Club’s 2024/25 Promotion Race
CHAPTER ONE - THE SCENE-SETTER The ancient oak still stands sentinel in the corner of New Lodge, its branches stretching over the same patch of Blunts Wall Road long before the ground was ever a football pitch. Supporters file through the turnstiles in the same familiar rhythm, having the same conversations with the same people week in, week out. It is always the same, the comfort of a Saturday ritual in deepest Essex. Until it isn’t. Billericay Town Football Club, founded in 1880, carry with them a history and a presence that belie their non-league standing. Their story has spilled far beyond the commuter belt, drawing attention and intrigue from across the English game. For regulars here, though, it is not the headlines that are of interest, but instead the walk down Blunts Wall Road, the sight of the oak, the smell of fresh onions being loaded onto burgers, the first glimpse of blue shirts warming up on the pitch. This week, though, something feels different. There is a buzz, ...