Association football club in Worcester, Worcestershire, England
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Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Hellenic Football League Premier Division, the ninth tier of English football.[1] Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane.
Worcester City's most notable successes include an FA Cup First round victory against Coventry City[2] and a third round win, in the same competition, against Liverpool.[3]
History
Worcester (blue and white shirts) in action against Dover Athletic in 2009
The club was formed on 9 September 1902 when, following the liquidation of another local side, Berwick Rangers, Worcester Rovers amalgamated taking the present name of Worcester City F. C.[4] taking over Berwick's fixture list in the Birmingham & District League. Initially they played on Pitchcroft on an enclosed area called Severn Terrace (behind the modern day Swan Theatre).[4] They played there until the start of the 1905 season.[4] It was in 1905 that they reached the first round of the FA Cup, losing 6–0 at home to Watford. In 1924–25 they won the league for the first time, and the following season reached the FA Cup first round again, losing 2–0 to Kettering Town in a second replay at St Andrew's. The club won back-to-back league titles in 1928–29 and 1929–30, also reaching the FA Cup first round in the former, losing 3–1 at Walsall.
In 1938 they joined the Southern League. In 1940 they won the Southern League Cup beating Chelmsford 7–3 over two legs under the guidance of former Fulham F.C. legend Syd Gibbons. During World War II the club returned to the Birmingham & District League for two seasons.
After the war Worcester rejoined the Southern League. In 1958–59 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup again. After beating Chelmsford City in a replay and then Millwall 5–2 in the second round, they were drawn against Liverpool. A 2–1 win saw Worcester qualify for the fourth round against Sheffield United. They were defeated 2–0 in front of a record home attendance of 17,042 at St George's Lane.
In 1973–74 the club were relegated to Division One North of the Southern League. They returned to the Premier Division as Division One champions in 1977, and in 1978–79 won the title. The following season they became founder members of the Alliance Premier League, finishing third in their first season. However, they were relegated at the end of the 1984–85 season.
The 1973–74 season saw City reach the quarter-final of the FA Trophy (reached 5 times in the club's history). They beat Taunton Town 1–0 away from home and then a 5–1 home win over Bletchley saw the club reach the third round. Having beaten Sandbach Ramblers 4–1, City progressed to the last eight where a 2–0 away defeat followed a goalless draw against South Shields ended their cup run. Also in 1973–74 Worcester played in the Welsh Cup for the first time, losing in the quarter-finals to Stourbridge In 1975–76 City were drawn against Shrewsbury Town in the quarter-finals at home and took them to a replay after a 2–2 draw, losing 3–0 in the replay. In the 1978–79 season, Worcester reached the semi-finals after beating Cardiff City 3–2 in the quarters. They again played Shrewsbury, this time losing 2–0 away.
The club remained in the Southern League Premier Division until 2004, when a fifth-placed finish earned them a place in the newly established Conference North. In 2008 they were moved to the Conference South after no southern teams were relegated from the Conference National. In 2009–10 they finished in the relegation zone, but were reprieved after several other clubs were demoted or folded – these clubs were all based in northern England so Worcester were transferred back to the Conference North.
On 9 November 2014, In the FA Cup first round, Worcester went to the Ricoh Arena and beat Coventry City 2–1. This earned them a second-round away tie against Scunthorpe United four weeks later. City secured a replay at Aggborough after a 1–1 draw, in which Daniel Nti equalised immediately after half-time with a strike into the roof of the net in front of the 2,200 travelling fans. The replay also finished 1–1 and, some 21⁄2 hours after kick-off, Scunthorpe won 14–13 on penalties, setting a record for the longest shoot-out in FA Cup history.[5]
Worcester resigned from National League North towards the end of the 2016–17 season, but finished in one of the relegation places anyway. The FA then decided the club would be further relegated to the Midland League to ease the club's financial situation.[1]
Stadium
Entrance to St George's Lane
The club used to play at St George's Lane. The ground had four main areas; the Dressing Room End and the Canal End (which was used for away fans), the Main Stand (containing all 1,121 seats) and the Brookside Terrace, including The Shed. The capacity was 4,523.
The ground's record attendance is 17,042 from a fourth round FA Cup game against Sheffield United in 1959.
The ground was vacated in June 2013, as it has been sold to a housing developer. The sale of the ground was aimed at helping to fund the building of a new 6,000-capacity ground to be built at Nunnery Way on the edge of Worcester but the sale of the ground failed to provide sufficient finances to pay for such a stadium.[6]
On 30 January 2013, it was announced that Worcester would ground-share with Kidderminster Harriers at their Aggborough ground from the 2013–14 season.[7]
Worcester City decided to terminate their arrangement with Kidderminster and move to Bromsgrove and groundshare the Victoria Ground with Bromsgrove Sporting from the start of the 2016–17 season.[8]
New stadium
In 2013 previous plans for the club's new stadium to be built out of the city at Nunnery Way were shelved.
The Worcester City Supporters' Trust have since tabled plans for a multi-use sporting facility on land currently occupied by Perdiswell Sports Centre, close to the city centre. Being a modest stadium with a capacity of 4,130, it would consist of a covered stand with 500 seats and two covered, terraced stands to hold 130 each (the capacity could be increased to 5,540 if tiered terraces are utilised). The proposal includes a full-size, all-weather and flood-lit artificial pitch, alongside three existing grass pitches. It would incorporate community facilities, in conjunction with the proposal of a new swimming pool. A full planning application was submitted to the City of Worcester Council and was rejected.[citation needed] New plans were drawn up for a new stadium at Parsonage Way, but this land was unfeasible.
In late 2019 it was announced that City would be returning to Worcester for the start of the 2020–21 season and playing at the Worcestershire FA headquarters at Claines Lane.
In November 2023, the club unveiled plans to move to a permanent home at a new Worcestershire Community Sports Park at Fernhill Heath, to the north of the city[9]
Players
Current squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
^"Coventry City 1–2 Worcester City". BBC Sport. 9 November 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2019. Worcester City striker Sean Geddes struck twice as the non-leaguers pulled off a shock FA Cup first round win against 1987 winners Coventry City.
^Broomy, Mark (29 June 2009). "No. 89: Worcester City 2-1 Liverpool – 1959". This is Anfield. Retrieved 7 October 2019. The 15th of January, 1959 will always be remembered as one of the most embarrassing defeats in Liverpool Football's Club history when Worcester earned a distinguished place among the FA Cup giant-killers when they defeated Liverpool, of the Second Division.
^ abcNot Just a Racecourse Judd Doughty Worcestershire Life June 2010 p42
