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Next Game: Pre-Season

Friday, November 18, 2005

Kidderminster Face Tough Winter

Kidderminster face a long hard winter as their financial constraints are heightened by low attendances.

Working to a break even figure of 1900 Harriers have barely met the figure thanks to the Bulls derby match, which more than doubled their previous attendance, however only three of eight other home gates have reached the target figure, and their last home match saw over 500 home supporters drift away after the tense derby game added more than 800 home supporters to their previous gate against Morecambe.

Failure in the FA Cup, after manager Stuart Watkiss admitted that the club had budgeted for a run, cost Harriers a minimum of the £10,000 prize money for winning the 4QR tie. The club remains in the LDV Trophy and the FA Trophy, but both competitions would require several victories to plug the financial gap left by the FA Cup defeat.

Should attendances reach the depths of the 1500 attendances the club got against the likes of Morecambe and Halifax then a defecit of £75,000 is easily forseeable for the remainder of the season. Chairman Barry Norgrove acknowledged last month that the club were running at a loss of £5,000 per week on gates prior to the derby match, and the club will be facing a six figure loss for the season without a dramatic improvement.

Harriers have struggled financially for the last couple of years and, with no new investment into the club, could be forced to offload some of their higher earning players at Aggborough in the January transfer window in order to remain stable.