Harriers boss marks a year of safety

Kidderminster Harriers boss Steve Burr today marked a year since the club came close administration by vowing that promotion to the Football League is "realistic."

This time 12 months ago, Harriers breathed a huge sigh of relief after a huge donation the previous day saved them from a winding-up order.

The club were literally hours away from calling in the administrators but £16,000 allowed them to take their first step on the road recovery.

A group of fans put the money up that day and made the first dent in what was £155,000 of debt.

A year on, Harriers have climbed out of that black hole and revived their challenge for the Blue Square Premier play-offs.

They do so free from the restraints from last season, such as a five-point deduction for financial irregularities.

And Burr believes the fight to pass the storm has made it possible to bring promotion to Aggborough.

He said: "We have made it realistic and that was our aim at the beginning of the season, try and finish as high as we can.

"I am delighted with where we are, we are just trying to get as high as we can and I think it has been a good effort by everybody.

"The squad, on the whole, has done very well and the club survived, that was the most important thing.

"Everybody played a part and, as a club, you need that to be successful.

"This time last year, it wasn't looking all that healthy, but we have come through it and have managed to look forward.

"That's a credit to everybody connected with the club."

Harriers already occupy a play-off berth going into Saturday's trip to Tamworth and appear to be building for the future.

This week alone, full-backs Lee Vaughan and Mickey Demetriou signed new long-term contracts tying them to the club until 2014.

Burr, himself, has committed himself to Harriers until that period and believes there is ambition on and off the pitch.

He said: "Where we will finish up, we don't know, but we want to achieve something. We have done well to get where we are but we want to push on.

"We have got a good crop of young players and their ambitions and aims should be to play as high as they can.

"My concern is to build a team that can make that a reality for everybody."