Kidderminster Worriers

The good news from Welling Utd and Windsor & Eton has been followed by bad news for two Blue Square Premier clubs, Histon and Kidderminster Harriers.


Both have been charged with breaches of the Conference's stringent financial reporting regulations.  The regulations were put in place to help identify clubs who might be heading for trouble, particularly with HMRC.
Part of the ides behind the regulations, I suspect, was that they would force clubs to examine what they were doing - having to make written reports of their standing with the tax people might, just, help clubs avoid getting into really deep trouble.


Kidderminster and Histon are both charged with submitting misleading or inaccurate information in their financial reports.  Histon have, for some time, shown all the signs of a small club that has risen above its natural level, and spent too much money in trying to stay there: now there's a reckoning to be paid and their troubles will surprise no-one greatly.  Kidderminster are a little different: they find themselves pretty much at the level they are used to - they even managed a short spell as a Football League club.  But for them, the difficulties are potentially even worse.


It's not just that they will face a disciplinary hearing which could see them facing a points deduction: their very future is under threat.  They have been up for sale for quite a while now, and this worrying statement appeared, not on the club's official site but in that run by the Supporters' Trust. KHIST:


Despite a tremendous amount of hard work our football club still has major financial hurdles to overcome. To survive the club needs £150,000 before the end of the month and a further £50,000 by the end of January. Although costs are being looked at so that the club is run in a sound financial manner going forward, let’s make no bones about it, without an immediate large cash injection the future of the club is uncertain.


So, not only are Harriers facing a points deduction for their financial reporting issues - Welling Utd were docked 5 points for much the same thing earlier in the season - they are now facing, I fear, administration which would cost them another 10 points, at the very least.


Worcestershire seems to have more than enough non-league clubs in difficulty.  Apart from Kidderminster, Worcester City have their difficulties with their new stadium; Bromsgrove Rovers became the first senior non-league club to go to the wall this season when they closed down in August; Redditch Utd have a tiny playing budget and face almost certain relegation from Conference North; and Halesowen fans seem, by and large, to loathe their owners, the Ingram brothers.