Redditch United F.C.


Redditch United Football Club is an English football club based in Redditch, Worcestershire. The club participates in the and play their home games at the Valley Stadium.

History

Birmingham Combination

Redditch Town were established in 1891 and immediately joined the Birmingham Combination, where they played for a single season. The club achieved its first success by winning the Worcestershire Senior Cup in 1894 and becoming runners-up in 1898. In 1914 they won the Birmingham Combination Championship for the first time and, finally, the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1925. The 1930s were a much more rewarding period for the club and its supporters, starting by winning the Worcestershire Senior Cup and the Birmingham Senior Cup in successive seasons. Reds almost achieved a notable double in 1932–33 when, having won the Combination, they were defeated in the Senior Cup Final.
Apart from an unsuccessful appearance in the Birmingham Senior Cup final just before the World War, Reds moved into a fallow period. In 1953 Redditch regained the Combination Championship and were runners-up in the Worcestershire Senior Cup. This Championship success was repeated in 1955. In 1957 they were runners-up in the Birmingham Senior Cup.

Southern League

In 1971–72 the club reached the first round of the FA Cup for the first time, losing 6–0 in the replay at Peterborough United after a 1–1 draw at home in front of a crowd of 4,500. At the end of the season they finished sixth in the West Midlands League Premier Division and joined Division One North of the Southern League.
They won the Worcestershire Senior Cup in 1974 and 1975. The following season they won Division One North and were promoted to the Premier Division. In 1978–79 they finished eighth in the league, and became founder members of the Alliance Premier League. However, they finished bottom in its first season, and dropped into the Southern League's Midland Division.
After finishing as runners-up in 1985–86, the club were promoted to the Premier Division, where they remained until relegation in 1989. The following season, they reached the first round of the FA Cup, losing 3–1 to Merthyr Tydfil. At the end of the season they beat Northwich Victoria 4–3 over the two-legged final of the Staffordshire Senior Cup.
In 1997–98 the Reds reached two cup finals, the Southern League Cup and the Birmingham Senior Cup. Both were lost, and the cup run caused a large fixture backlog that resulted in the club having to play nine matches in nine days at the end of the season.
In 2003–04 the club won the Southern League Western Division. Due to league reorganisation caused by the establishment of the Conference North and South, the club entered play-offs to be promoted to the new leagues. After beating King's Lynn 1–0 and Merthyr Tydfil 3–0, the club were promoted to the Conference North.

Conference North

After a ninth-place finish in 2004–05, Redditch struggled in 2005–06, only avoiding relegation on the final day of the season. Although they won the Worcester Senior Cup, beating local rivals Worcester City the following year, they only avoided relegation again after Scarborough received a 10-point penalty for going into administration.
On 17 March 2011, businessman Chris Swan took over the club, after a previous attempt to purchase Kidderminster Harriers fell through. A short time later, in May 2011, the club was relegated from the Conference North after finishing bottom of the division.

Return to the Southern League

Redditch United returned to the Southern Premier Division for the 2011-12 season following their relegation the previous season. At the end of the 2015-16 season, the club finished second in the division under the management of Liam McDonald, but were denied promotion after losing in the play-off semi-finals to Leamington on penalty kicks. In May 2016, former Aston Villa and Jamaica striker Darren Byfield was appointed as the club's new manager. However, in December 2017 the club turned to Tim Harris to be its new manager. Harris remained at the club until the end of the 2017-18 season but departed in April 2018 to be replaced by new boss Paul Davis.
Paul Davis departed in September 2018 to be replaced by Paul Smith as manager.

Seasons

This is 5 recent Redditch United seasons for a full history look List of Redditch United F.C. seasons

Players

Current squad

Out of contract

Management and coaching staff

Current staff

Honours