Harriers Managers
Over the years Kidderminster Harriers have had a variety of managers that have either been good, bad or indifferent. This list isn’t to give a personal opinion on the merits of each manager because that can be seen by looking at how long a manager has remained in the post and their record.
The first of the great managers
From the clubs inception in 1886 it was a committee that decided the team and the job of looking after them was given to a coach. The last of those was Ted Gamson up until the 1970’s when the club appointed the first proper manager, Ron Farmer, in 1973.
Took us into the Football League
Our first well known manager, Graham Allner, arrived in 1983 and stayed for fifteen years guiding the club to our only FA Trophy triumph in 1987 when we beat Burton Albion and then to two more finals in 1991 (Wycombe Wanderers) and 1995 (Woking).
Add in to that two Welsh Cup Finals in 1986 and 1989 and then a Conference Championship title in 1995 along with reaching the sixth round of the FA Cup when we lost to West Ham Utd after beating both Birmingham City and Preston North End on the way.
Sadly promotion was denied Allner due to ground grading issues.
When he left in December 1998 he was eventually replaced by Jan Molby who did finally get us into the Football League in 2000. Jan was probably our most high profile manager ever due to being with Liverpool and also a Denmark international.
Since the Molby years there have been three standout managers with Mark Yates, Steve Burr and John Eustace all taking us close to promotion but never quite making it.
| Manager | Date from | Date to | Played | Won | Drew | Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ron Farmer | 1973 | 1974 | 127 | 51 | 33 | 43 |
| Stan Jones | 1975 | 1976 | 103 | 31 | 24 | 48 |
| Ron Whitehouse [c] | 1977 | 1977 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Allan Grundy [*] | 1977 | 1979 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| John Chambers | 1979 | 1983 | 324 | 167 | 70 | 87 |
| Martin Gavin [c] | 1983 | 1983 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| Graham Allner | May 1983 | December 1998 | 911 | 409 | 205 | 297 |
| Phil Mullen | December 1998 | May 1999 | 27 | 10 | 5 | 12 |
| Jan Molby | May 1999 | March 2002 | 144 | 60 | 53 | 31 |
| Ian Britton | March 2002 | October 2003 | 75 | 24 | 20 | 31 |
| Jan Molby | October 2003 | October 2004 | 54 | 16 | 22 | 16 |
| Shaun Cunnington [c] | October 2004 | November 2004 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Stuart Watkiss | November 2004 | December 2005 | 50 | 15 | 10 | 25 |
| Martin O’Connor [c] | December 2005 | January 2006 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Mark Yates | January 2006 | December 2009 | 217 | 92 | 52 | 73 |
| John Finnigan [c] | December 2009 | January 2010 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Steve Burr | January 2010 | January 2014 | 205 | 96 | 51 | 58 |
| Andy Thorn | January 2014 | March 2014 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Gary Whild | March 2014 | September 2015 | 73 | 21 | 24 | 28 |
| Colin Gordon [c] | September 2015 | October 2015 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Dave Hockaday | October 2015 | January 2016 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Colin Gordon [c] | January 2016 | April 2016 | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 |
| John Eustace | April 2016 | May 2018 | 104 | 56 | 22 | 26 |
| Neil MacFarlane | May 2018 | January 2019 | 27 | 11 | 7 | 9 |
| Colin Gordon [c] | January 2019 | January 2019 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Mark Yates | January 2019 | April 2019 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 5 |
| James O’Connor [c] | April 2019 | April 2019 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| John Pemberton | May 2019 | November 2019 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 10 |
| Russ Penn [c] | November 2019 | December 2019 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| James Shan | December 2019 | February 2020 | 11 | 3 | 3 | 5 |
| Russ Penn | February 2020 | January 2024 | 161 | 67 | 42 | 54 |
| Phil Brown | January 2024 | |||||
| [c] Denotes caretaker manager | ||||||
| [*] Denotes record incomplete |