The second of our two Kidderminster ‘Who Are Ya?’ articles!
The second ‘Who Are Ya?’ article for this game! Thanks to Simon for answering the questions!
FIRST ARTICLE HERE.
Who do you support?
Kidderminster Harriers.
How long have you supported them?
On and off for about 15 years. That may sound strange but like a lot of Kiddy fans my primary allegiance is to one of the ‘big’ West Midlands clubs. Disillusionment with football at the top level has led me to follow Kiddy far more in recent years.
Last season’s league finish?
2nd and that was after not winning any of our first 10 games of the season!
What do you think of your (new) manager?
He’s not Steve Burr. That may sound stupid but the football served up under Burr was great to watch. Plenty of attacking intent and lots of goals. Any replacement is therefore on a bit of a hiding to nothing. Andy Thorn has barely got his feet under the table yet so it really is hard to judge. Having said that early signs are not good. A few poor performances and some seemingly uninspired signings don’t bode well. However Kiddy are very much in a transitional phase now and whoever came in was going to have a tough time.
I think it is fair to say that the sacking of Steve Burr and the appointment of Andy Thorn has very much divided the fans.
How has your season gone so far in comparison to your pre-season expectations/hopes?
Pre season I would have predicted another very comfortable play off spot. Probably 2nd or 3rd. up until December I would have still held that view. Now I think we are in a very tough fight to even sneak 5th.
Did the Burr/FGR scenario take you out of your stride? What exactly happened with that, and was that the beginning of the end for Burr?
In short yes!
As is often the case with these sort of things the precise truth is difficult to know however in summary Burr spoke to FGR about their vacancy and no deal was agreed. The KHFC Chairman assumed he would leave and relations appear to have broken down from that point. Burr was asked to stay away from the club until a decision was made. Once he decided to stay (or wasn’t offered a contract by FGR) his days were numbered.
Ultimately he was sacked and replaced the very next day by Andy Thorn so clearly this was likely being planned from the day he went to speak to FGR.
From my point of view I think it was all a little unnecessary. At this level the best managers and players will all have a limited shelf life as money will attract them to a bigger club at some point. That is no bad things as clubs like Kiddy survive on such sales eg Matt for £300k to Fleetwood last year and Lolley £250k to Huddersfield.
Putting yourself in the shop window and looking at other opportunities does not mean that you don’t care about your current job. In fact the opportunities only arise because of what you do in your current role. To have a completely stable and successful side (and manager) at this level is tough because if they are too successful they will soon break up and go their separate ways.
Looking at how things stand today I think it is ridiculous that Burr is at Chester and not Kiddy. If FGR had offered him a huge financial deal or a league club had taken him then fine but to see him at Chester when he could have stayed at Kiddy is crazy in my eyes.
You were obviously going to miss a player of Lolley’s quality, but have you missed him more/less than you thought?
There is no disguising the fact that losing Lolley was a huge blow albeit an inevitable one as he was far too good to be playing at this level.
When he was in the side he always provided an attacking outlet meaning that even when we were not playing well there were options. Now we look devoid of ideas for long periods.
I think we were spoilt to have a player of his ability and the team looks far less potent without him in it.
How has ex-Imp Josh Gowling done for you? Sounded as though he had a very good season last season but perhaps not done quite as well this?
I think that is a very fair summary. Along with Dunkley we had a very settled centre half pairing last season. Gowling was solid and reliable and was one of the key reasons why we went on such an incredible run.
This season has been a different story. There have been far too many uncharacteristic mistakes and he just doesn’t seem as safe as he was. Don’t get me wrong he has not suddenly turned into a bad player and he is still one of the first names on the team sheet every week however it would be nice to see him back performing at last season’s level on a regular basis.
Top five predictions?
Luton
Grimsby
Cambridge
Alfreton
Kidderminster
Bottom four predictions?
Hyde
Dartford
Southport
Woking
Thoughts on Lincoln City?
When you first came down I thought you might be fairly competitive and I am a little surprised that now into your 3rd season at this level you are still hovering around 16th/17th again.
Having said that virtually every ex football league club suffers a similar fate. It has taken Luton with all their resources 5 years to get into pole position for the title. Grimsby have fared no better either.
In terms of recent performances I didn’t think you were as bad as the 4-1 scoreline suggested in the game in October. You played us at the wrong time as we were in the middle of a Joe Lolley inspired run of decent results.
Score prediction?
1-1
If not P-P waterlogged pitch!
