Founded as Gravesend & Northfleet United FC in 1946, the new Ebbsfleet United Football Club Limited started last season with its potential demise and finished with silverware.

Based at the PHB Stadium at Stonebridge Road, Northfleet and now owned by KEH Sports, 2013 saw a whole new management team brought in to turn the club around after its near liquidation. This was headed by Steve Brown as manager and Steve Gritt as assistant manager and they were given the back-up to assemble a squad that could compete in the Conference League South.

The home ground too at Stonebridge Road, Northfleet was in a very sorry state and the club had to pull together all its resources before the start of the season to replace roofs, completely repaint and make safe the main stand, repair the pitch and invest in an irrigation system that would ultimately ensure that no home game was abandoned through the worst winter weather for decades.

Now with 45 employees, club director Stuart Butler-Gallie said: “During the 2013/14 season after a slow start, the team delivered excellent results including beating the club’s record by delivering nine consecutive wins and finishing fourth in the league.

“By the end of the season, the club had won the Kent Senior Cup at Gillingham’s Priestfield Stadium, had narrowly missed out on promotion to the Conference Premier in the play-off final losing 0-1 to Dover Athletic, seen attendances average over 1,200 and saw real engagement with the local community through a number of key initiatives with its community partners, The Gr@nd, Blue Ribbon Foundation and Middleton Murray.”

Plans are afoot to develop the stadium at Stonebridge Road with the support of Gravesham council and to build a new state of the art main stand facing Stonebridge Road with integrated community use.

Ultimately, the ambition of the club is to secure Football League status and to give what will hopefully be the rejuvenated Gravesend and Northfleet areas the football club that it can be proud of.

Ebbsfleet United is one of the entrants in the Dartford and Gravesham Business Awards. This year’s award sponsors are Dartford council, Gravesham council, Barnes Roffe, Kent Business School (University of Kent), the KM Group (Dartford Messenger and Gravesend Messenger), Lloyds Bank, Thomson Snell and Passmore, Edinburgh House and the University of Greenwich.

Entries have now closed. The winner will be announced soon.