Harriers chairman eyes a successor

Kidderminster Harriers chairman Barry Norgove today put up the 'for sale' sign at Aggborough waiting to meet the mastermind that can take the club into the future.

Harriers are officially on the market as of yesterday, looking for new owners to come in and restore the former glories to the one-time Football League outfit.

Norgrove is even willing to walk away completely to let a new man take over, after five years as chairman and a decade working behind-the-scenes.

His, and the business consortium that helped him buy the controlling interest from Lionel Newton in 2005, only interest is that his club don't fall by the wayside and continue treading water in non-league football.

But there are no cowboys on their way to Aggborough, Norgrove and Co will only hand over the reins to a new owner with the tools to really make a difference.

He said: "We want to go forward, we all do, and we need to get somebody in who has got the finances to get us back into the Football League, where I think we ought to be.

"But we need the right person, we don't want someone who is going to come today and run off tomorrow.

"It's alright somebody coming along who has no interest in the game and playing at it, to say 'I own a football club' and then run it into the ground. We don't want that.

"It's got to be a football person who is going to take it on and work hard at it, because that is what it will take to keep it going."

It's a big decision for Norgrove to take a step back from the club that has been his life for the past decade, but the chairman felt compelled to make the call.

On the field, mid-table in the Blue Square Premier about the best Harriers can hope for as it stands, while the bigger clubs in the league leave them behind.

A footballing mind is one thing, but it will also take financial muscle for the worm to turn at Aggborough.

Norgrove said: "I want Kidderminster Harriers to do well and we need a fresh approach to the football club.

"As it stands, we are going to be mid-table this year, because I can't afford to spend the money that it takes to challenge for promotion.

"If nothing changes, we could be finishing mid-table every year.

"We need a bigger resources, we are having to cutback because of the financial situation and it's hurting us on the field."

Norgrove's own financial situation has put added pressure onto the chairman's shoulders in recent years, as his 'Norgrove Homes' property development business feels the heat of the recession in harsh economic times.

That has led to understandable distractions from his work at Aggborough, not to mention the strain on his family life.

In the future, the father-of-three and grandfather-of-two is looking forward to when he can come to a game with wife Shirley and cheer on Kidderminster Harriers as a supporter.

He said: "It's a full time job and, with my business not being so good, it has been cutting me off from my family. It's hard to run a football club, I have done it for a decade and it's a long time.

"I have not be able to do the little things, such as going to see my grandchildren a bit more, playing football with my grandson and things like that.

"I am coming close to 60 years old and I want to take a bit of a backward step, I cannot commit the sort of time to the club that I used to."