History Of Redditch Utd Football Club ....

Birmingham Combination

Redditch United Football Club is one of the oldest established clubs in the Midlands. Founded in 1891, as Redditch Town, the club first played in the Birmingham Combination in 1891-92. 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

In the successful period in the 1970’s 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 Nationwide Conference North.

Nationwide Conference North League

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.

Blue Square North League

In 2007-08 the league changed its title to the Blue Square North and 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. Pete Finnegan, the Club's then Youth Development Director, took on the role of Managing Director at the Club although his tenure was short lived as he left just into the 2008/09 season.

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 it's original guise, a major re-structuring took place both on and off the field in order to keep the Club operational following the withdrawl of the Club's main sponsor, Koolsports, and their failure to pay a single penny in sponsorship money. The new board, including a strong and dedicated team of Associate Directors, did their bit off the field to ensure the Club's survival financially whilst on the field the management team of Gary Whild and Carl Heggs worked miracles in building a fantastic team of young, highly committed players whose never say die attitude took the Club from the relegation zone in mid March to a tremendous 14th place finish at the end of the season ,finishing as one of the form sides in the league with 5 wins, 4 draws and just 2 defeats from their final 11 games including very creditable draws against the eventual champions, Tamworth and play off finalists, AFC Telford Utd and in both games creating enough chances to have won them both! Carl Heggs left in early June to take up his first managerial appointment at Unibond League outfit Kings Lynn and former player Micky Moore joined the club as assistant manager and first team coach.

The 2009-10 season was to be yet another tough and challenging encounter with the financial situation at the club yet again having an impact both on and off the field. The turnover of players was high with many faces coming and going but the experience and reputation of the new management team ensured that as one left another arrived to bolster the ranks and yet again, against all the odds, the club managed to ensure its survival in the renamed Blue Square Bet North League for yet another season following a 1 vs 1 draw at home to Vauxhall Motors in the last home game of the season with the point being enough to keep Vauxhall below them in 19th position (the final relegation place due to the demise of Farsley Celtic and subsequent resignation from the league earlier in the season) The team did however have some success, experiencing their best F.A. cup run for some 20 years. After beating Stratford Town 0 vs 2 away in a replay they went on to beat local rivals Solihull Moors, by the same scoreline, at Damson Park before earning a very creditable but agonising 1 vs 1 draw away at Blue Square Premier side Kettering Town - with Kettering equalising in the 96th minute. The replay at The Valley Stadium in front of a fantastic 1101 crowd was no less painful for the Reds as another tremendous performance ended in defeat with Kettering Town winning the tie in the last minute of extra time to send them through to the 1st round proper against League 1 side Darlington Town (who they beat and eventually lost to Leeds Utd away at Elland Road after a replay) After the final match of the season Gary Whild stepped down as manager after 10 years loyal service in the hot seat to take up the position of Assistant Manager at Blue Square Bet Premier side Kidderminster Harriers, Assistant Micky Moore also left to continue his career as a coach and the search for a new manager began.

Blue Square Bet North League

Season 2010-11 saw the league change its title again due to the extended sponsorship deal with online betting company Blue Square Bet and it was all change at The Valley Stadium too following the exit of long serving manager Gary Whild and his Assistant Micky Moore at the end of the last campaign, with the new management team of Matt Gardiner and John Snape taking over for their first season in charge of the Reds.

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

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