08-01-24 : Russ Penn relieved of the Harriers job

Late last night (Sunday) came the news that every Harriers fan had been expecting. The news that Russ Penn had finally lost his job following a terrible run of results, from basically the start of the season, that has seen Kidderminster Harriers floundering at the foot of the table for most of that time.

The promise of a bright future for the club, after the surprising promotion from the National North last season, and all the euphoria that went with it has now been totally lost as Penn struggled to build a team capable of holding it’s own in the league above and also failed to recruit the quality of players needed for the task. To be honest even if we hadn’t gained promotion some of the signings he did make wouldn’t have had the quality for the North either.

The clubs chairman Richard Lane and presumably the director of football, Dean Holdsworth, will now sit down to discuss who will replace him. It’s not known yet who will be in charge of the team until that appointment is made or when the appointment will be made.

So far the names in the frame are few. John Askey is available following his dismissal from Hartlepool Utd before Christmas, the return of Steve Burr has been mentioned but the strangest has to be the former Harrier Gavin Hurren. Hurren is currently the manager of Stratford Town, where Holdsworth was the previous manager, but lacks any real experience of management.

The other names that have been mentioned are Paul Caddis, the Hereford FC manager, and also Josh Gowling and John Eustaces former assistant Matt Gardiner.

Hopefully there will be a full appraisal of Russ Penns time with the Harriers from this website, both as a player and a manager, sometime this evening. Also hopefully there will also be some news from the club about where we go from here.

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