As revealed by Craig Nelson at last night’s Meet the Manager event, Tonbridge Angels are delighted to welcome Arthur Penney to the Halcyon Wealth Longmead Stadium.

Arthur is a 22-year-old defender who joined Chelmsford City in the preseason of 2024. He had spent the previous season at Lewes, where he earned both Manager’s Player and Player’s Player of the Season awards after appearing 49 times.

Arthur spent his formative career as part of Millwall’s youth system from the age of nine before gaining National League South experience, as an 18-year-old, with Welling United, making 19 appearances.

At Chelmsford last season, Arthur played 35 matches, scoring once. Robbie Simpson, his manager at the time at the Melbourne Stadium, described him as a “Rolls Royce of a player”, highlighting his maturity beyond his years and technical quality.

Craig said of his defensive addition to the squad: "Arthur is someone I’ve admired for a while and actually tried to work with last year. He’s composed, reads the game brilliantly, and carries himself with real maturity. He’s a consistent performer who brings calmness and quality to the backline, and I’m really pleased to have him with us for the season ahead."

Arthur added: "I've also heard a lot of great things about Craig and I know players that have worked with him and speak highly of him so I'm looking forward to working under him myself. Ive also worked under one of his assistants Joe Vines, whilst I was at Lewes where I would say individually I had a good season and really enjoyed my football and so I’m looking to find that love for football again. I look forward to getting the season underway and putting on performances both personally and collectively as a team that the fans will enjoy, appreciate and most importantly wins!"

Welcome to Tonbridge Angels, Arthur.

Arthur's interview with Matt Davison can be viewed HERE