Kidderminster Harriers: A Brief History

 

Aggborough: The home of the Harriers

                     
Kidderminster Harriers are a well-known team for fans who have a strong interest in non-league football, if not for their accolades on the pitch then for fans embarking to the small Worcestershire town claiming to be digging forks and tucking into the best matchday pie in all of English football!

Kidderminster Harriers have gained a fair amount of fame for their multiple FA cup runs, more recently in 2022 when they narrowly lost in the 3rd round to Premier League side, West Ham. 

This was a re-match of the 1994 FA Cup 5th round tie that Harriers lost 1-0. Another close encounter in 2022 also saw them lose narrowly by one goal in a 2-1 defeat.

In 2014, Harriers played Sunderland in the 4th round and lost 1-0. The Black Cats were a Premier League outfit at the time. The player of the match in that game, Lee Vaughan stopped Sunderland from threatening on the left-hand side of the pitch and there was also towering centre back Josh Gowling who kept Sunderland from scoring more.

Sunderland dominated the game throughout the 90 mins. However, credit goes out to the whole team, who all put in a good shift.  The score could have and should have looked very different.

On the other end of the pitch, Kidderminster managed to break Sunderland’s line of defense on several occasions, but on form striker, Michael Gash could not finish on the day. 

The game's highlights were featured on ITV’s round-up of FA Cup fixtures with pundit Gordon Strachan referring to Kidderminster’s team as looking like a League Team in the analysis. 

The season previous to this, Kidderminster fans were left heartbroken after failing to achieve promotion from the Vanarama National into the Football League. In all of football's European leagues, they were on an unbeaten run that was only bettered by Real Madrid. They finished 2nd in the league, it was a poor start to the season but they came back fighting.

Faltering in the play-off semi-finals to Newport County, the game had not justified their overall season, looking nervous, tactically unprepared, and exhausted.

Former defender Lee Vaughan

During the 2015-16 season, just three seasons later, they were hit with an unprecedented relegation into the Vanarama National North league for the first time since its creation. 

2019-20 was a new low for the side as they finished the season in 10^th place in the 7th tier. However, form has found its way back in more recent times, and current manager Russ Penn, a former midfielder for the side is looking like a resurgence could be plausible.

                                                       Harriers: 1994 Conference Champions!

Playing in the 7^th tier, along with mainly part-time clubs, Harriers are run like a full-time professional team. The players train 6 days a week the training and youth facilities are of a professional standard. The players in the team are of great quality and the stadium has not been downsized even though attendance is usually quite low.  The 6,000+ capacity hardly ever gets filled up, not even by half. The majority of the once-loyal fans have simply fallen out of love for the team. The impressive form they found themselves in the 2021-22 season has increased attendance as well as the reputation of the club. 

Bird's eye view of Aggborough stadium

In 1994, Kidderminster had finished 1^st place in the football conference but the league had blocked their first promotion to the Football League due to stadium regulations. They reached 7^th, 2^nd, 17^th, 15^th, and 1^st respectively in the following seasons. In 2000, the champions made history by being promoted to the Football League for the first time and becoming the first Worcestershire club to do so, and still the only club to this day.  In their second season (2001-2002) in League Two (then known as Division 3), they finished 10^th place which still remains their highest-ever league finish. 

Today they will need to achieve two promotions to even challenge that record.  In the dressing room, they had Ex-Liverpool icon Jan Molby as head coach and an array of talented players such as Bo Henriksen, Ian Foster, and Dean Bennet.

Jan Molby

Low attendances were still a feature for the club even in the days they played in the Football League, due to there being so many other teams nearby playing in the above divisions up to the Premiership. ITV Digital had also dissolved their lower league program meaning they could not compete at that level, finding themselves back in the conference in 2005. 

Later that decade they managed a cup run in the 2006-07 FA Trophy, narrowly missing out on lifting the trophy in a 3-2 defeat to Stevenage at Wembley in the first final that took place there since the stadium was rebuilt. 

They also had an impressive FA Cup run in the 2008-09 season where they lost to locals Coventry City in the 3^rd round.

2007 FA Trophy Final snapshot

In the 2003-04 season, they came up against Wolverhampton Wanderers who were playing in the Premier League that season. The 3^rd round FA cup tie ended up being replayed after a 1-1 draw at their home ground Aggborough which became one of the shocks of the season. In the return fixture at the Molineux, the Harriers put on a somewhat respectable showing in a 2-0 defeat.

Harriers Vs Wolves in the FA Cup

Russ Penn had two spells at the club as a player, first in 2005-2009 and again from 2018-2019 where he was offered the manager’s job. Penn was a very popular midfielder. He was industrious and had incredible technical ability. His song ‘All we want is a team of Russel Penns’ could be heard bellowing out from the edge of the Worcestershire border on matchdays.

Fan favourite Russ Penn

Harriers were formed in 1886, derived from a successful athletics and rugby team that was formed 9 years prior. Kidderminster then was a small industrial town with a population estimated at just a couple of thousand residents. They were at first an amateur small-town club but had success at that level and gained promotions throughout their early history.

Many fans are now expressing a good level of cautious optimism going forward and have faith in Russ Penn’s management. One of the most famous non-league clubs in English football could well be on the way back up if last season's form was anything to go by.

Faltering in the play-offs is becoming a recurring theme, but Penn, who has become one of their best managers in recent history is surely the right person to break the spell. 

Harriers made the play-offs last season and lost to Boston United following a decline in momentum and form in the second half of the season.