Worcester City

Worcester City FC is a non-league football club that hail from the pretty and historic county town thirty miles southwest of Birmingham. The club were formed in 1902 after taking over the fixtures of local side Berwick Rangers in the Birmingham League.

Three years later, City moved into their St George's Lane ground but had to wait several years before claiming their first Birmingham League title, which came in 1913-14. Three more would follow between the wars, with Worcester being victorious in 1924-25, 1928-29, before a fourth title followed in 1929-30.

The side came close to adding to their list of honours, ending as runners-up in three consecutive seasons from 1931-32 to 1933-34. Their performances merited a place in the Southern League which they joined for the 1938-39 season, playing the following campaign in the Western Division.

After competing in the Birmingham & District League during wartime competition, where the side included several guest professionals, City continued playing in the Southern League. In 1957 the Welshman Roy Paul who formerly starred for Manchester City took over as player manager.

He had captained them when they lifted the FA Cup on two occasions a few years earlier, and he immediately brought success to Worcester. In his first season the club reached the FA Cup first round where they took Aldershot to a second replay. 

The game saw a record crowd for a City game of 22,926 flock to the match at St Andrews Birmingham. The following season City reached the third round of the FA Cup and then defeated Liverpool 2-1 at St George's Lane before going out at home to Sheffield United in the next round.

However, success did not continue, and the club nearly went out of business in the early 60's until the supporters rallied round. The team was relegated to Division One of the Southern League in 1966-67 before regaining their previous status with a title win twelve months later.

Some former big names of the game turned out for the team, but it took until 1974 and the appointment of Nobby Clark as manager for the glory days to return after the side had once again been relegated, this time to Division One North. 

In 1976-77 City lifted that title, losing just one game along the way, before winning the Premier Division championship in 1978-79 which led to the club becoming founder members of the Alliance Premier League, the forerunner to the Conference and National League.

Clark was dismissed in 1984 before the club were relegated back to the Southern League in 1985-86. The club would spend the following twenty years at the same level. Many managers came and went throughout the period, which included the likes of Bobby Shinton, George Armstrong, George Rooney, Ally Robertson, Martyn Bennett and Graham Allner.

Former City and Everton star John Barton took over the reins after a few seasons of consolidation in 1999, as City became founder members of the new second tier Conference North at the start of the 2004-05 season.

City spent one season in Conference South to assist with the geographical locations of the clubs, before reverting to the North section. Much time was pre-occupied by a proposed move to a new ground at Nunnery Way as well as dealing with financial problems, with new board members doing their best to steady the ship.

Richard Dryden took over as manager in 2007 before being replaced by Carl Heeley three years later. Time ran out for City at St Georges Lane at the end of the 2012-13 season, as the club were forced to make a temporary move to Aggborough, the home of Kidderminster Harriers.

Heeley's side continued to perform creditably despite the upheaval. In 2015-16 City defeated Coventry City 2-1 at the Ricoh Arena in the first round of the FA Cup before going out on penalties in a second round replay to Scunthorpe United at Aggborough.

The following campaign saw another first round appearance. This time Worcester went down 3-0 away to Sheffield United. Plans for Nunnery Way were turned down by Worcester Council, leading to plans to build at Parsonage Way.

City announced that they would be taking a voluntary drop in status towards the end of the 2016-17 campaign in the retitled National League North. They finished in the relegation places but opted to take a further drop to the step five Midland Football League.

City also changed landlords, moving from Aggborough to share with Bromsgrove Sporting at the Victoria Ground. The team finished the first season in new surroundings in fourth position after Heeley had departed after twenty-two years with the club.

Ashley Vincent was team manager during the difficult lost couple of seasons to the coronavirus pandemic, Progress had been made in the quest to return home, as the City Council supported playing at Claines Lane, the HQ of the Worcestershire FA from the start of the 2020-21 season.

Tim Harris was appointed manager in January 2021, leading his charges to fourth place the following season. In November 2022 Chris Cornes became the new City manager, prior to the club being transferred to the Premier Division of the Hellenic League in 2023-24.

The move worked out well, as City were crowned as champions at the first attempt, in a season that also saw plans unveiled for the club to move to a new stadium as part of a new Worcestershire Community Sports Park at Fernhill Heath.

The team came close to rounding off a perfect season, as they were denied a place at Wembley in the FA Vase final when they were defeated on penalties by Great Wakering Rovers. However, consolation came by way of promotion to Division One Midlands of the Northern Premier League.

Worcester City FC will play in the Northern Premier League Division One Midlands in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Worcester City 2 Scarborough 0 (Saturday 30th August 1980) Alliance Premier League (att: 1,865)

It was the second season of the Alliance Premier League and I was getting to an age where I was old enough to travel to matches on the Supporters Club coach. There was always a nice sensible crowd on board so my Dad let me travel south west.

It was interesting for me going such a distance as the coach went past the old grounds of Coventry City and Walsall. The older folk were disappointed that they couldn't gain entry into the clubhouse at the ground, but City were updating facilities for their new found status.

City at the time wore sky blue and white stripes, a bit like Argentina and looked very smart. I sat in the Main Stand with the kind folk off the coach as Boro were gradually beaten by the better side.

St George's Lane was a fine traditional old ground with huge corner floodlights. The Main Stand ran the full length of the pitch with a terraced paddock at the front. The Brookside opposite had a large covered area for standing with a seated stand at the back of an open terrace filling the other half. 

Both ends, The Canal End and Flats End were open standing areas. In the corner between the Flats End and Main Stand stood a pavilion which contained the changing rooms and club offices.

The Brookside also had a fine programme shop and secondary snack bar which saw service from myself. I remember the burgers being particularly good with a bowl of complimentary raw onions on offer to add to the taste!

Worcester City 2 Scarborough 4 (Saturday 21st November 1981) Alliance Premier League (att: 1,403)

Again I travelled with the Supporters Club with a few schoolmates also traveling. The ground hadn't changed so I once again took advantage of the good view from the Main Stand seats.

It really was an excellent game of football as Boro raced into a two nil lead through Colin Williams and Pat Olney, before City dragged it back to equalise in the second half. This upset one of my travelling companions because they announced the names of the home scorers, but not Boro's. 

However, we were to have the last laugh as Mitch Cook and Terry Eccles scored to take the points home to North Yorkshire, much to the disgust of a few home fans who were best avoided on the way back to the bus!

Worcester City 3 Scarborough 2 (Saturday 18th November 2006) Conference North (att: 1,053)

I was now living in London and had the day off work on the tube, so this was an obvious game for me to travel to. The pleasant train journey took me through Oxford and Evesham before dropping me off at the city's Foregate Street station.

I was keen to try a few real ales in the fine traditional pubs on the wa to the ground. One pub served fine local beer and advertised a conker championship, which was a first for me. My mate Butch texted me to say a few Seadogs were in the pub next to the ground, so I set off to meet them.

The Cavalier Inn had two or three good beers and a very friendly landlord. I needed to get back to Shrub Hill station after the game, which was a bit of a trek. He gave me a walking route alongside the canal or he offered to order me a taxi while I had a pint. Great service.

We went into the ground and then the clubhouse as I wanted to catch up on the latest news as Boro were in real trouble off the pitch. Chairman Ian Scobbie told me how the local Evening News was being most uncooperative, after I asked him why fans weren't being updated as many wanted to help. 

Many of the things he told me that day just didn't add up and sure enough many didn't come to fruition. I'm not sure whether the information I was given was meant to lead me along, but it was the day I stopped believing in him, after giving him many months of benefit of the doubt.

I was asked to take part in a half time competition to hit the crossbar from the penalty spot against a local fan, but I'd had a good drink so I gave the opportunity to someone else. Boro were really up against it. They couldn't fill the subs bench because they weren't allowed to sign players on because of their financial situation. 

They had been deducted ten points because of the state of the books before the season started, but boss Mark Patterson had put together a really attractive football team. It's just there was no back up.

The game ebbed and flowed up until half time with goals going in rapidly in a period in the middle of the half. Boro's goals came from Jamie Vermiglio and Lee Whittington. My mate Simon in Gillingham asked if the goalies had gone home as I sent him news of yet another goal going in.

St George's Lane had been tidied up since my last visit, with all the standing areas now terraced. Unfortunately the Brookside seated stand had been a victim of the severe measures introduced after the Bradford Fire Disaster and had now gone. It was still one of my favourite venues.

Boro pressed but couldn't get a valuable equaliser in the second half. I remember posting on the Surfing Seadog at full time that I couldn't believe that we hadn't grabbed at least a draw.

I went back with plenty of others to the pub and sure enough the landlord ordered me a taxi so I could enjoy a fine pint and take in the scores while shaking my head in disappointment at what I'd witnessed next door.