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Redditch United Reserves

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Address:
Valley Stadium, Bromsgrove Road,
Redditch Worcestershire B97 4RN
Telephone:
01527 67450
Fax:
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Website:
www.redditchutdfc.co.uk/
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Club Notes
THE EARLY YEARS

Redditch United Football Club is one of the oldest established clubs in the Midlands. Redditch Town first played in the Birmingham Combination in 1891-92 and although the club has been reformed on at least two occasions, the Reds have recently celebrated their Centenary.

The club achieved its first success by winning the Worcestershire Senior Cup in 1894 and becoming runners-up in 1898. In 1914 they won the Birmingham Combination Championship for the first time and, finally, the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1925.



The 1930’s were a much more rewarding period for the club and its supporters, starting by winning the Worcestershire Senior Cup and the Birmingham Senior Cup in successive seasons. Reds almost achieved a notable double in 1932-33 when, having won the Combination, they were defeated in the Senior Cup Final.

Apart from an unsuccessful appearance in the Birmingham Senior Cup final just before the World War, Reds moved into a fallow period. In 1953 Redditch regained the Combination Championship and were runners-up in the Worcestershire Senior Cup. This Championship success was repeated in 1955. In 1957 they were runners-up in the Birmingham Senior Cup.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE

The 1970′s was a successfull period for Redditch and started with joining the Southern League and reaching the First Round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 6-0 in the replay at Peterborough after a 1-1 draw at home in front of a crowd of 4500.

Reds made a dream start to their first season in the Southern League, winning their first six matches before settling for a mid-table finish. In the Worcestershire Senior Cup they were beaten finalists, but went on to win the competition in the following two seasons. After narrowly missing promotion in 1974-75 they won the Championship in convincing style in 1975-76, scoring over 100 goals and losing only two games. Their first Premier Division season started better than the eventual champions, Wimbledon, but an injury crisis put paid to hopes of successive championships. Huge ground improvements were made in readiness for the Alliance Premier League, but drainage problems on the pitch caused havoc with home fixtures and almost led to relegation from the Division.

Despite these setbacks. Reds were founder members of the Alliance Premier League, but financial problems resulted in relegation after one season and three years of struggle on and off the pitch followed. Ron Berry and a new board of directors were elected and, together with a loyal band of supporters, they saw off the threat of liquidation. In 1985-6 they won promotion to the Premier Division again.

In subsequent years Reds had several managers but with limited success in the league, including relegation from the Premier at the end of the 1988-89 season. The following season, though, they did reach the First Round proper of the FA Cup, losing 3-1 to Merthyr Tydfil (then of the Football Conference) in front of a crowd of 2,000. Ex-Worcester City player, Graham Selby brought better success and a creditable 10th position at the end of the season and won their first trophy for 13 years when they beat Conference side Northwich Victoria 4-3 over the two-legged final of the Staffordshire Senior Cup. Sadly, after one season the management team moved en bloc to Malvern Town of the West Midlands (Regional) League.

After more managerial changes, Paul Hendrie joined the Reds in November 1991, and it looked as if the club was about to begin a new era of success. Sadly this was not to be as Hendrie moved on to Tamworth and Reds hit another slump. This looked like being terminal the following season, as at the beginning of November Reds had only 4 points from 12 games. Manager Micky Tuohy was dismissed and replaced by Phil Mullen who had played for the Reds, Kidderminster Harriers and Bromsgrove Rovers with great success. He brought in virtually a new side which fought its way out of danger, and from Christmas on had the third best record in the Southern League Midland Division. Season 1997-98 saw the Reds reaching two cup finals, the Southern League Cup and the Birmingham Senior Cup. Both were lost but this was to some degree the result of massive fixture backlog. The season ended with what must be a Southern League record and maybe even a world record for semi-professional football – nine games in nine days. Even the Sun covered the final game.

Season 1998-99 proved to be one of the most exciting in the last decade. Third place in the Southern League Midland Division, progression to the Fourth round of the FA Trophy and silverware in the form of the Worcester Royal Infirmary Cup made for the greatest interest throughout.

During 1999–2000 Rob Smith and his squad maintained a top six position throughout the campaign however, the winds of change saw Nicky Cross take charge for the final six matches. Cross then made the manager’s role a permanent one and together with his assistant Gary Hackett brought a unique style of management to the Valley Stadium. Nicky Cross left the club by mutual consent and was replaced by Stourport Swifts manager Rod Brown.

After a season of consolidation Rod and his assistant Gary Whild embarked on a meteoric rise to reach step two of the non-league pyramid by firstly becoming champions of the Southern League Western Division, a feat which included heading the table throughout the season, then winning two play-off matches to elevate Redditch United into the newly formed Conference North.

CONFERENCE NORTH

After a ninth-place finish in 2004-05, thanks in part to the 22 goals of French striker Norman Sylla, Redditch struggled in 2005-06. Brown left the club midway through the campaign, with Whild promoted into the managerial role, and he led the side to safety on the final day of the season. During this period Steve Rossiter became the new chairman. Sylla was due to return to Valley Stadium for the 2006-07 season, after spending a year playing in Greece, but this never materialised. The club eventually survived relegation in the 2006-07 season, but only because of Scarborough receiving a 10-point penalty for going into financial administration.

In 2007-08 the Club finished in a creditable 13th place also winning the Worcester Senior Cup final against local rivals Worcester City. Off the field though more changes took place as player Carl Heggs stepped up to the role of player/coach and assistant to Gary Whild and Steve Rossiter resigned his position as Chairman.

Early in 2009, Ken Rae, the Clubs Vice-Chairman took the reigns as Chairman amid a turbulent time at the club with strong rumours of a merger with local neighbours Bromsgrove Rovers rife, although the merger failed to materialise and the Club continued in its original form. Due to financial circumstances in which the Club’s sponsor Koolsport failed to provide the sponsorship money owed, several established players were allowed to leave the club. This meant that for a period of time the team consisted of mostly youth team and local players. Even though the players put in valiant efforts each game it wasn’t enough and this left the club near the foot of the table. However, since the turn of the year Whild brought in a new set of players which consisted of players from the lower leagues and loaned youngsters from Leicester City. These new additions were able to change the clubs form and the new playing style meant that from the month of April the team had only lost one in six games. The team finished the season with a creditable 14th place for the state which the club was in.

Manager Gary Whild left at the end of the season to join local rivals Kidderminster Harriers and his assistant Micky Moore declined the job of manager and moved to another of the Red’s local rivals, Solihull Moors as coach. Former Red’s favourite, Matt Gardiner, took on the role of manager and with his No.2, John (Snapper) Snape, they did the best they could following a massive but enforced cut to the playing budget by Chairman, Ken Rae but the writing was on the wall just a few weeks into season 2010/11 with results and performances seriously short of those required to maintain their league status at this level and in February 2011, with the team well adrift at the foot of the table, all but certain of relegation and in serious financial trouble, Ken Rae took the unprecedented but neccessary step of slashing the budget to ‘zero’ for the remaining months of the season.

This decision forced the management team of Matt Gardiner and John Snape to resign their positions and all but 3 of the playing squad left to join other clubs. Ex Alvechurch manager, Simon Redhead, took on the daunting task of manager with his first job being that of rebuilding a squad of players who were prepared to play for ‘nothing’ for the final games of the season. Redhead bought in ex Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham City professional, Graham Hyde, as first team coach and whilst they and the players they brought in did their very best and put in some creditable performances against often ‘highly paid’ opposition, the team lost all 15 of their remaining matches and that fact coupled with a 5 point deduction by The Football Conference for ‘financial irregularities’ assured the Red’s relegation.

Shortly before the end of the season and with the club’s future hanging in the balance, Chairman, Ken Rae, took the difficult decision to put the club up for sale. Local businessman and entrepeneur, Chris Swan, took over the club and with it the role of Chairman and immediately cleared all the club’s outstanding debts to guarantee its continued survival.

Following the inevitable relegation to the Southern Premier League manager Simon Redhead was dismissed and the search for the club’s 3rd manager in the space of just 10 months began.

SOUTHERN PREMIER LEAGUE

Martin Sockett was appointed as the Red’s new manager in May 2011 as the club looked to begin the rebuilding process both on and off the field.

HONOURS

Birmingham Combination Winners: 1914, 1933, 1953

Birmingham & District League Southern Division Winners: 1955

Southern League Division One North Winners: 1976

Southern League Western Division Winners: 2004

Southern League Midland Division Runners Up: 1986

Birmingham Senior Cup Winners: 1925, 1932, 1939, 1977, 2005

Birmingham Senior Cup Runners Up: 1933, 1957, 1978, 1998

Worcestershire Senior Cup Winners: 1894, 1930, 1975, 1976, 2008

Worcestershire Senior Cup Runners Up: 1898, 1953

Staffordshire Senior Cup Winners: 1991

Worcester Royal Infirmary Cup Winners: 1999

Southern League Cup Runners Up: 1998
Club Connections:
None
Matchtype filter:
Venue Matches W D L Goals + / -
Home 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 +0
Away 1 0 0 1 0 - 3 -3
Neutral 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 +0
Total 1 0 0 1 0 - 3 -3


Date Comp. Venue Score Stadium Crowd
23.07.2011 Friendly Away 0 - 3 Valley Stadium