Worcester City Football Club was formed on 9th September 1902 when another Worcester-based club, Berwick Rangers, went into liquidation. The Birmingham League agreed to let City take over Rangers' fixtures.

The Club moved to St. George's Lane in 1905 and City's first honour was the Worcestershire Senior Cup, which was won for six successive seasons between 1908 and 1914. In the final season before World War 1 a Birmingham League and Senior Cup double was achieved.

There was little success in the early post-war years, but eventually City began to attract some quality players and surprised everybody by winning a second Birmingham League title in 1924/25.

For 1928/29 City appointed a full-time player-manager, Frank Womack. City clinched the title for a third time with ten wins out of their last eleven matches. Womack was succeeded by Joe Smith, an ex-England and West Bromwich Albion full-back. 1929/30 season saw the title won again, City scoring an incredible 153 goals in 34 games.

In 1938 City joined the Southern League, winning the Southern League Cup in 1940 – it was wartime and City were able to field several Football League professionals as guest players!

Although crowds flocked to the Lane when football returned after the war, there was little success until 1957/58, when under player-manager Roy Paul, City took Aldershot to a second replay in the F.A. Cup First Round, going out at St. Andrews, Birmingham in front of a crowd of 22,926 – a record for a City game. The following year, City achieved a famous Cup result which is still talked about today. They first beat Millwall and then Liverpool – at the time playing in Division 2 – at the Lane before losing to Sheffield United in front of a record home crowd of 17,042 in Round 4.

City nearly went out of business in the early sixties, but supporters rallied to keep the Club afloat and were rewarded with some big name signings. Players such as Peter McParland, Norman Deeley, Eddie Stuart, Ivor Allchurch and Gerry Hitchens all appeared in the blue and white shirt but it was not until the appointment of Nobby Clark as manager in December 1974 that the glory days truly returned.

The Southern League Division 1 North was won in 1976/77, with City gaining 69 points from a possible 76 and losing only one League match - the final one!

Two years later, the Southern League Premier Division title was won for the first time. The season would be memorable for many reasons. In the F.A. and Welsh Cups, there were outstanding home wins over Plymouth and Cardiff and a draw at Newport County. City seemed destined for a tie at home to West Ham United in Round 3 of the Cup until a last minute own-goal allowed Newport to level the replay. The visitors went through after extra time in front of a crowd of 10,223 – the last-ever five figure attendance at the Lane.

A crowd of 7,386 for the penultimate home game saw City beat their only rivals for the league title, Kettering Town, to clinch the Southern League Premier Division championship.

In 1979, City joined the newly-formed Alliance Premier League (Now the Football Conference), and finished third in its inaugural season. There were further F.A. Cup victories at home to Wrexham and Aldershot, but City were relegated in 1985.

There was little in the way of success in the 20 years that followed. In 2001 City won the Dr Martens Southern League Cup, and two City players – Adam Wilde and goalkeeper Danny McDonnell – were capped by England at semi-professional level, then in 2004 City became founder members of the Conference North. The following year they reached the second round of the F.A. Cup, losing 1-0 to Huddersfield Town at the Lane in a game televised live on the BBC. Huddersfield were drawn away to Chelsea in the next round.

In 2008, City switched to the Blue Square South, but after narrowly avoiding relegation in 2009/10 were back in the North after just two seasons.

2012 /13 was the final season at St George’s Lane. The ground was sold for housing, but without a new stadium to move to City ground shared at Aggborough, the home of Kidderminster Harriers, for three seasons whilst The Supporters Trust worked to achieve a return to Worcester.

2014/15 proved to be one of the most memorable seasons in City’s long history. On 9th November 2014 two goals from Sean Geddes earned a-2-1 win at the Ricoh Arena against Coventry City in the 1st Round of the F.A. Cup, backed by over 3,200 travelling supporters in a crowd of 8,439. The 2nd Round saw another memorable performance. City drew 1-1 draw away to Scunthorpe United, earning a replay in front of live TV cameras and a home crowd of 4,339. The replay ended 1-1 after extra time and it took an F.A. Cup record breaking shoot out for Scunthorpe to eventually go through 14-13.

The following season City again reached the First Round Proper of the F.A. Cup before bowing out 3-0 away at Sheffield United in front of a crowd of 11,108.

City left Aggborough in 2016, moving to play at Bromsgrove Sporting. City were relegated from the Vanarama Conference North in 2017, but the Board had already decided to withdraw from the league and as a result City were demoted by three Leagues to Step 5.

The Supporters Trust made a planning application to build a new ground at a local playing field, Perdiswell. It was refused by the City Council but the decision was overturned on appeal. Nevertheless the City Council made it clear they would not make the land available and City remained in exile, now playing in the Midland Football League.

In February 2019 a decision was taken to become a supporter-owned Club. The Supporters Trust became majority shareholders and after months of negotiation the City Council finally supported the Club returning to Worcester, City becoming tenants at the Worcestershire F.A.’s Claines Lane headquarters in 2020.

After finishing 4th in the Midland Football League in 2021/22 City endured an awful season the next year and were nearly relegated. However, two decisions were taken which would have a huge impact. Firstly, Worcester-born Chris Cornes was appointed as manager in November 2022 and he steered City away from the drop. Then in May 2023 supporters agreed to give successful local businessman Simon Lancaster a 51% majority stake in the Club.

The change in fortune was dramatic. City switched to the Hellenic League Premier Division for the 2023/24 season. Chris Cornes recruited many of the best local players and he led his team to the Club’s first league title in 45 years. City were champions with a record 101 points, losing just one league game all season. They also won the Wiseman Floodlit Cup and reached the semi-finals of the F.A. Vase, where they lost in a penalty shootout. It was the best season that many City fans could remember and after 7 years at Step 5, City were promoted, moving up to play in the Northern Premier League for the first time in Club’s history.

In the 2024/2025 the clubs fortunes continued on an upward scale. Firstly they started the summer with winning a one off cup final against Hereford Pegasus in the Herefordshire Senior Cup before later that season completing the county cup double, beating Alvechurch in the WFA invitational cup.

However, the season overall turned into a massive one for the club. In what was a stop start season, going on some good runs, but dropping points in games where they were expected to win, they somehow never fell out of the playoff positions and ended up stuttering their way into the semi finals with a game to spare.

This is where the squad had their best performances, something every City fan knew was in the team, on their day, when they were on it, they could beat anyone in the league. And so in the semi final, away at Anstey Nomads, going into the game as underdogs, we scored inside the opening minutes to settle the nerves before adding a second later on in the half. From there the team controlled the game for large parts and dealt with anything thrown at them by the physical Anstey team.

The final was no different. Underdogs going to Corby Town in what would see the two best supported teams from the division lock horns. The first have was pretty uneventful and the teams went in at 0 v 0.

The scoreline probably did more to boost the players confidence, on top of the semi final win, and in the second half there only looked to be one winner. City would win a corner with Adam Mace whipping it in for Hayden Reeves to power a header towards goal, Zac Guinan on had to redirect in front of the goalkeeper.

City were in dreamland, and then suddenly a City attack saw Guinan and Miles combine, time seemed to stand still as Felix Miles slotted the ball home with 10 minutes left on the clock and promotion to step 3 was becoming a reality. Corby did pull one back to make the end a nervy one but the whistle blew and City completed back to back promotions and the players forever cemented their names in the clubs history.

Promoted from Northern Premier Midlands to the Southern League Premier Central at the end of the 2024/2025 Season


16	Banbury Utd	13	13
17	Leiston	12	11
18	Stratford Town	12	13
19	Leamington	10	13
20	Worcester City	7	11
21	Leighton	5	12
22	Stamford	1	13

Worcester City

Match Outlook

Premier Central