club finished in 18th position. In 1996–97 Tonbridge had an improved season finishing in 8th place and in the summer of 1997 Paul Emblen broke the club's record transfer fee, moving to Charlton Athletic for £7,000. He was later transferred to Wycombe Wanderers for £60,000. His brother, ex-Angel Neil, has appeared for Millwall, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crystal Palace and Norwich City. After a disappointing start to the 1997–98 season Colin Blewden took over as Player-Manager in October and hauled the club away from the relegation zone to finish in 14th place and led the Angels to a 16th-place finish in 1998–99. The 1999–2000 season was the club's most successful since re-joining the Southern League. A run of fourteen games at the end of the season, in which just one defeat was suffered, secured a final league placing of seventh. The following season, it appeared that the Angels might better that seventh-place finish. A storming start to the season saw just two of their first nineteen league matches lost. However, a run of five defeats in six matches late on left the Angels in eighth spot come the end of the season. The 2001–02 season was not a successful one for the club. Blewden resigned in October and Tonbridge were one of several clubs involved in a relegation dogfight. They escaped the drop by winning two and drawing one of their last four matches, leaving them four points ahead of relegated Wisbech Town at the end. Alan Walker was appointed manager at the start of season 2002–03 and that season was arguably the most successful since joining the Southern League, the club eventually finishing ninth after a fine end of season run. That run continued into the 2003–04 with a club record of 26 league matches unbeaten being ended in December 2003, at which point the Angels were comfortable leaders of the Eastern Division. Walker left the club shortly after due to a loss of sponsorship and the Angels replaced him with player-manager Tony Dolby. After an initial period of mixed results, Dolby steadied the ship and brought in Mike Rutherford as assistant coach before keeping the Angels in the title battle until the penultimate game of the season. The Angels finally finished in third, the club's highest position in the Southern League for more than 25 years. Isthmian League and Conference South: 2004–present The 2004 reorganisation of the English football league