Worcester City Preview

Swansea’s first pre-season friendly takes place this Saturday against the Nationwide Conference North’s Worcester City. But how much do we know, if anything, about this non-league outfit?? Swans MAD takes a look at the club, its history and the key players that will be trying to give a Swansea a rough ride on July 17^th.

After the non-league face-lift that has occurred this summer, Worcester City find themselves in the newly formed Conference North. Along with the Conference South, the North league will effectively become a feeder into the main Nationwide Conference League and contains such sides as Bradford Park Avenue and Southport. Prior to this summer, Worcester had spent their recent years in the Dr Martens Premier, which now no longer exists.

The club currently plays its football at St George’s Lane with a total capacity of just under 5,000, including 1200 seats. However, Worcester’s record attendance was set in 1959, when 17,042 supporters flocked to watch a Fourth Round FA Cup Tie against Sheffield United (they eventually lost 2-0).

The club’s supporters appear to have mixed feelings towards current manager John Barton. Always the underachievers, Worcester missed out again on promotion last season after they finished fifth in the Dr Martens Premier, with Crawley Town and Steve Claridge’s Weymouth battling it out in a two horse race for most of the year. It has been suggested that many local supporters would rather watch an empty plastic bag being blown around the supermarket car-park, than put themselves through the “usual” St Georges Lane anti-climax. Their average attendance last season was roughly around the 1,000 mark.

Key Players

So who are the players that may cause Swansea some problems on Saturday?

Goalkeeper Danny McDonnell was recently named in the England Semi-Professional squad for a tournament involving Scotland, Wales and Ireland. McDonnell was one of only two non-Conference players chosen and only the second in Worcester’s history. Voted player of the season 2002/03.

Left-winger Adam Wilde cost Worcester a substantial fee from Cambridge City and went on to become the first ever City player to be picked for the England Semi-Professional side. He made his debut for the England squad in February 2003 against Belgium and may cause Ricketts/Austin/Jones a few problems at right back.

Mark Owen has been Worcester's leading goalscorer for the last four consecutive seasons. At one point, Owen found himself as the top senior goalscorer in the country, but injury soon halted his impressive run. The ex-Wolves and aptly named Bloxwich Strollers (!) forward averages a goal every other game and may prove a difficult opponent to handle.

Finally, Worcester have made two summer signings this summer – both from the Conference and on free transfers. Rob Warner became John Barton’s first summer arrival, when the ex-Hereford defender joined from Tamworth. Striker Christian Moore caused more of a stir after his arrival from extinct Telford Utd, mainly due to the fact that he had been Telford’s records signing only last summer. Moore has been described as a “prolific” goalscorer and netted 19 goals in the 2002/03 Conference for Burton Albion.