Solihull Moors

Solihull Moors FC is a professional football club based in the West Midlands town of Solihull. They were formed in July 2007 through a merger between Solihull Borough FC and Moor Green FC, moving into the Borough’s Damson Park home.

Moor Green 

Moor Green FC was a club formed in 1901 by players from the Moseley Ashfield Cricket Club in the Hall Green district of Birmingham, who only played friendly matches until joining the Birmingham AFA in 1922, going on to become champions in 1935-36 after being runners-up on two occasions.

 

They moved to the home of The Moorlands in 1930, going on to join the Central Amateur League, winning the title in 1936-37 and 1937-38 before completing the hattrick in 1938-39. This led to a move to the Birmingham Combination.

The 1954-55 season saw ‘The Moors’ join the Southern Division of the Birmingham & District League, which became the West Midlands (Regional) League a few years later. The club transferred to Division One of the Worcestershire Combination in 1965-66, which changed names to become the Midland Combination from 1968. 

The Moorlands. Image taken from the internet

Moors ended as runners-up in 1974-75, 1975-76, and 1979-80 before finally becoming champions in 1980-81 before another second place followed in 1982-83. This saw the side move up to the Midland Division of the Southern League.

A runners-up berth in 1987-88 under manager Bob Faulkner saw the side promoted to the Premier Division of the competition before dropping back down at the conclusion of the 1993-94 campaign after young starlet David Busst had earned a move to Premier League side Coventry City.

Main Stand. Damson Park

 

In 1999-00 the team went up from the renamed Western Division. Thirteenth place in 2003-04 was enough to secure a place in the newly formed Conference North. A first season of struggle was backed up with an eighth place in 2005-06.

However, the club was hit by an arson attack, meaning a move to share Damson Park. It was deemed financially unviable to rebuild The Moorlands, so Green held discussions with three clubs with thoughts of a merger before applying to the FA to carry it out with Solihull Borough.

Solihull Borough

The club was formed in the market town in 1953 by Joe McGorian, originally playing at Widney Lane in Solihull under the name of Lincoln FC. A change of title in 1969 saw ‘The Boro’ join Division Two of the Midland Combination.

A runners-up spot in 1970-71 led to promotion to Division One, which became the Premier Division from the start of the 1983-84 campaign. Runners-up places in 1984-85, and 1990-91 saw Boro move up to the Midland Division of the Southern League, of which they were champions in their 1991-92 debut season. 

Widney Lane. Taken from the internet

By that time, earlier financial problems had led to the sale of their Widney Lane ground to developers, moving in to share The Moorlands with Moor Green. The team dropped back down in 1994-95 with the lower step being later renamed the Western Division.

A move to play at the home of Redditch United followed in 1998, prior to the club buying the former Damson Parkway Golf Range and developing it into a new home. Promotion to the Premier League was achieved in 2003-04 before the side was demoted once again a couple of years later. 

Boro were given a place in Division One Midlands following the reorganization of the league in 2006-07, prior to Moor Green entering a merger at the end of that season which ended in a mid-table finish.

Solihull Moors

The new club appointed Moor Green boss Bob Faulkner as manager and took his former side’s place in Conference North. Things moved apace with Birmingham City reserves using Damson Park as well as their women’s side. A two-year spell saw Pertemps Bees rugby team use the venue. 

Lower table finishes in their first three seasons came as the club began to build and find its own identity. In February 2011 Faulkner died of cancer. He had been manager of Moor Green and then Moors for a combined total of twenty-five years.

Marcus Bignot, with a wealth of Football League experience, was appointed as manager in the summer of 2011. The team began to make progress while efforts to engage the local community began to pay off as Omar Bogle became a favourite with his goals. 

After a few seasons of building, Moors won the National League North title in 2015-16, going on to reach the second round of the FA Cup the following season before bowing out to Luton Town. By then Bignot had departed to take the same role at Grimsby Town.

New boss Liam McDonald ensured his side consolidated prior to Mark Yates taking over in the 2017-18 season as Moors did just enough to stay up. The manager’s achievements didn’t go unnoticed as he was appointed as manager of Macclesfield Town.

His assistant and former England goalkeeper Tim Flowers was the replacement. He took the side to second place in 2018-19, with dreams of promotion ending in the playoff semi-final against AFC Fylde. The team also had live TV coverage of their home FA Cup second round tie against Blackpool.

They reached the second round again in 2019-20 going out to Rotherham United, while the season was later disrupted by the outbreak of coronavirus after the departure of Flowers. In 2021-22 Moors came close to promotion of the Football League under manager Neal Ardley. 

They defeated Chesterfield in the playoffs before losing to Grimsby Town in the final at London Stadium after extra time, despite taking the lead earlier through giant striker Kyle Hudlin. Andrew Dallas had top scored throughout the regular season.

Ardley departed in the summer of 2023 after a disappointing season to be replaced by former League full back and Banbury United manager Andy Whing. He took the sides to the playoffs in 2023-24 where they defeated Barnet, before losing on penalties to Bromley on penalties after a superb game had ended 2-2, in which skipper Jamey Osborne starred.

Solihull Moors FC will play in the National League in the 2024-25 season.

My visits 

Solihull Moors 0 Yeovil Town 0 (Saturday 30^th October 2021) National League (att: 1,606) 

A bit of a game of snakes and ladders, this Saturday. I was originally intending on a double dose of entertainment as I was heading to Nuneaton Borough v Stamford in the under 21’s league, for the 10.30am kick off with train tickets already prepaid.

On Friday night they swapped the venue to Stamford. This was after the Nuneaton secretary confirmed to me that it would be played at their home. It was as well that I checked Twitter when I awoke after a fine previous evening downtown on the pop. No doubt the previous day’s rain being the issue in the venue change.

I booked a replacement train to Birmingham, as hanging around in Nuneaton in the rain with nothing to do didn’t really appeal, with the greatest of respect to any residents of the town reading this synopsis.

On route to Euston, I received a text to tell me that my booked train from Nuneaton to Coventry to get to the later game was cancelled anyway, so I’d have been left in the lurch. Someone was looking down on me. 

Pre match offerings in The Wellington in Birmingham
It took discipline to leave.

I boarded the fast Birmingham train to find out they had put me in the new premium class, which was most relaxing to get me in a good mood for some lunchtime libation as four magnificent pints in The Wellington followed. What a superb pub it continued to be.

The ever-consistent Oakham Citra, HPA of Wye Valley, BFG of Black Country and Piffle Snonker, sounding like something the PM would call a kid, from Froth Blowers all doing the bizzo. The pub cat took a shine to me. It must have been my skills in talking to the animals at work that attracted it. 

It was a train ride down to Birmingham International which by now saw me in a very merry mood so I took a cab from there, as the buses looked to be running late and I would have been pushing it for kick-off.

What followed was a dull game with very few chances with a sending off for either side being the only remarkable feature. The hosts played better after they were the first side reduced to ten. Solihull fans who like attacking play must have loved me. 

I had now seen them twice in a couple of weeks and both games ended blank. On a personal note, I was chuffed as I completed the top five tiers for the first time. Oh, and I enjoyed listening to England dismantle Australia in the T20 as a backdrop.

I liked the venue too, with it being a work in progress with semi-temporary stands. The people all around the place seemed very decent and proud of their club, if lacking a little in passion. The catering was a bit on the steep side, but it looked to be an affluent area, so that was understandable.

After the match I joined the gathering queue for the A1 bus to the town centre. I was hoping that we would all fit on the double decker, so it was a shock when the small hopper bus came round the corner. We all got on, but only just. I was one of the youngest!

Solihull looked to be a nice town, and I quite liked the ground. A good, if more expensive than intended day out. The game, as often is the case, being the only disappointment. Not even the noisy kids on the train back to Marylebone could keep me awake.