FRESH calls have been made for Worcester City FC to return home from exile following the massive swell in support during their FA Cup run.

The club has generally drawn crowds of little more than 500 since entering into a ground share agreement with Kidderminster Harriers in 2013, but saw a massive increase in supporters during this year’s tournament.

Supporters of the application by the club’s supporters trust to build a 4,100 capacity stadium in Perdiswell – which was submitted to Worcester City Council in April but has been held up by a traffic survey – have said the thousands who have turned out to see City face Coventry and Scunthorpe has shown how important it is the team is able to re-establish a home in the city as soon as possible.

City has been without a home of its own since leaving St George’s Lane – the team’s home for 108 years – last year. The ground has since been demolished to make way for 80 new homes.

Rob Crean from the supporters trust said he hoped the momentum built up by the cup run could be maintained even though City were no longer in the tournament.

“It does show there is an inherent belief in football in the city and people who would like to see what we achieved at Aggborough back in Worcester,” he said.

“It’s great not only for the football club but also for the profile of the city as a whole.”

The first round clash with Coventry saw 3,220 travel to the Ricoh to see Carl Heeley’s boys beat the home side 2-1 while 2,000 made the 150-mile trip to Scunthorpe for the second round tie.

Wednesday night saw even more fans cheer City on, with more than 4,000 packing into Aggborough for the replay of the Scunthorpe game.

Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Worcester Cllr Joy Squires has been a long-time supporter of the club and said she was firmly behind the Perdiswell application.

“I’m completely in favour of football coming back to Worcester and I am in favour of Perdiswell being the site,” she said.

“I understand there are concerns from residents but I think all of that can be dealt with.”

She added she hoped as many supporters who turned up for the FA Cup clashes stayed behind City despite the club no longer being in the tournament.

“I think the city needs to be really proud of what they’ve achieved,” she said.

Although the city council’s Conservative deputy leader of the city council Cllr Marc Bayliss said he felt it would be “inappropriate” for him to formally back the application, he added he would “love” to see the club come back to Worcester.

“On the general principal of Worcester City finding a home in the city, I absolutely support that,” he said.

City will travel to Stalybridge in Great Manchester on Saturday, December 20, in a league game and will face Halifax Town at home on Tuesday, December 23 in the FA Trophy.

 

WORCESTER TRENDS ON TWITTER DURING FA CUP DRAMA

WORCESTER was a UK-wide trending topic on Twitter on Tuesday night as social networks lit up with reaction to the dramatic penalty shoot-out between Worcester City FC and Scunthorpe United.

As the drama of the FA Cup second round reply online commentary built to a frenzy.

England legend and football pundit Gary Linker – who has 3.39 million followers – got in on the action by tweeting about the game a number of times, and applauded City after the match was over, saying: “Brave Worcester are beaten by Scunthorpe after 32 penalties. Great stuff.”

Meanwhile Twitter users throughout the country wrote of their excitement, with @OptaBriggs tweeting: “For a sixth tier side to reach the 2nd round was some achievement. Incredible journey for Worcester. Pens a cruel way for the run to end.”

@CUI2TIS also wrote: “Last nights @WorcesterCityFc game was the most amazing live game I have ever been to, incredible!”

Twitter’s trending topics show the most common words and phrases being used in Tweets, and are most commonly related to issues in the news or TV programmes on air at the time.