The Fleet would like to wish first-team coach and former skipper Chris Solly the very best for the future as he departs the club to accept a new coaching role.
Solly, 33, retired as a player as revealed when Fleet’s retained list was published in April and now exits his coaching responsibilities with our warmest wishes.
The Fleet pulled off a real coup by announcing Solly’s signing in December 2020 after the defender had spent a period training with the club following his release from Charlton Athletic. And the hugely experienced former Championship and League One player was soon delighting Fleet fans as the club secured him on a longer-term playing and coaching contract early in 2021.
As a right-back at Charlton and England youth, Solly excelled – and in a back-three or holding midfield role for the Fleet he exuded class and reassurance across 102 games for the club, leading us into a promotion final before his influence was critical in our lifting of a fifth league title at the end of the 2022/23 season.
He added three goals in his time as well, most memorably the equaliser at Eastbourne as 10-man Fleet came from behind to record an outstanding victory.
Influential on and off the pitch and a model professional during Dennis Kutrieb’s tenure, Solly continued in his coaching role under Danny Searle as Fleet secured National League status in 2023/24.
The defender said of his recently announced retirement from playing that: “One huge chapter closes but I couldn’t be any more ready and excited by the coaching world of football”.
Fleet CEO Damian Irvine said of the outgoing Solly: “Players come to football clubs for a variety of different reasons and Chris came during a difficult time for himself, following time with a club he had been at for a long time. From day one he committed fully to Ebbsfleet United Football Club and everything he said he would do, he has done.
“Chris has done an excellent job in transitioning from a player into the coaching side of the game over the past 12 months. While we are of course sad to see Chris move on, we fully understand that this opportunity makes so much sense for him personally, it’s a move he has to make and one that will be very rewarding. He has been a great asset to the football club. We wish him all the very best in the future and he will always be a friend of Ebbsfleet United.”
