Graham Allner on Harriers' 125th

Kidderminster Harriers' longest-serving manager Graham Allner cannot believe how a quarter of a century has flown by as the club celebrates its 125th anniversary.

The big day is here with the visit of Alfreton to Aggborough in the Blue Square Premier today, where the team will wear a specially-designed replica of the kit originally worn by Harriers in 1886 for one-game only.

When the club celebrated its centenary in 1986, Allner was the man in charge after replacing Jon Chambers in 1983, who had taken Harriers into the top tier of non-league football.

Over 15 years in charge, Allner set about building a team on the pitch that could reach the Football League, while the likes of then-chairman David Reynolds looked to make the club sustainable enough to make the jump.

Allner never got to lead Harriers into the Football League - the club were refused entry as champions in 1994, before blowing a 15-point lead at Christmas to allow Macclesfield to take the title in 1997.

Former Liverpool and Denmark midfielder Jan Molby eventually led them into the promised land in 2000, after Allner resigned in November 1998.

But his legacy remains - the only FA Trophy the club has ever won came under his stewardship and his tenure, which nearly touched 16 years, will probably never be surpassed.

A run to the FA Cup fifth round the year they finished as champions, drawing 8,000 fans for the visit of West Ham, was another plus point.

The 62-year-old lifted the trophy the year after Harriers' centenary and, as the club approaches its next milestone, believes his reign left its mark.

He said: "I sound old now but I vividly remember being there for the 100th anniversary, which was obviously 25 years ago!

"I would like to think that since the late 1970s and early 1980s, just before my time and the Jon Chambers era up to the present day, has been the best period of the club's history.

"It had taken strides in the previous years before I came along, Jon had got the club promoted so a base was there.

"It wasn't just about winning the league, going to Wembley or getting to the fifth round of the cup, there was a lot more to it."

Allner still lives less than 10 miles from Aggborough in Astley Burf, Stourport-on-Severn, where down the road his modern-day successor, Steve Burr, is the man in the manager's hotseat.

The club have been striving for a return to the Football League since they were relegated in 2005 and remain a leading light in non-league football, which was a distant dream when Allner took charge.

Harriers were bottom of the old Conference, after being promoted from the Southern League, when he walked into the club but Allner believes a lot of the old principles are still in place.

He said: "It was quite a journey, we had some good times and some success and, after the building blocks had been put into place, we built a top non-league football club.

"It's good to see that the ethos we had back then is still there - a friendly, welcoming club that wants to be successful.

"Hopefully what has been achieved in the last 30 years has made everything worthwhile."