History Corner: Looking Back On The 1993/94 Season

However, the season also saw Kettering Town almost disappear (again) and it was only with the help of High Court Administrators that extinction was avoided.

But the Poppies began the pre-season of 1993/94 with only two registered players for manager Graham Carr (below) to work with and no chairman.

What they achieved at the end was quite remarkable, given the circumstances – but more of that later.

It was John Still`s Dagenham & Redbridge who were made the bookmakers` favourites for the title, along with relegated Halifax.

Other notable happenings ahead of the big kick-off saw former West Brom and England left-back Derek Statham sign for Telford United and ex-Sunderland boss Malcolm Crosby join Gateshead as coach.

Kenny Burns, the former Nottingham Forest and Scotland star, becomes number two to Gerry Daly at Telford, while striker David Leworthy joins league new boys Dover Athletic for a new Pyramid record fee of £50,000 from Farnborough.

Halifax`s goalkeeper Lee Bracey played in the opening fixture of the new campaign, but was then sold to Bury for £20,000, while another keeper in the news was Gateshead`s Simon Smith, whose run of 406 consecutive appearances came to an end when he lost his place to ex-Spurs man Peter Guthrie.

Bath City`s Paul Adcock netted an opening day hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Macclesfield Town and Leworthy starts well at Dover by bagging a brace in their win over Kidderminster Harriers.

Favourites Dagenham are held 3-3 by another of the league newcomers, Southport, and Halifax shared a 0-0 draw at The Shay with Kettering.

Promoted Southport attract the biggest attendance since they left the Football League back in 1878 (2,423) for the game against the Shaymen.

August ends with Slough Town relinquishing the last remaining unbeaten record at Dagenham, Merthyr Tydfil start with five successive draws and Kettering`s on-loan keeper Russell Hoult conceded his first goal in 449 minutes, although the Poppies still beat Telford 2-1, but it is Southern League champions Dover who are the early table-toppers.

Malcolm Crosby`s spell with Gateshead is a short one as he leaves to join Oxford United.

Northwich Victoria sell forward Tony Hemmings to Wycombe for £25,000, and Welling United give a debut to 17-year-old YTS graduate, Steve Finnan who, of course, went on to win 53 caps for Ireland and play in the Premier League for Fulham and Liverpool.

Mark West, one of the most prolific marksmen in the Conference in recent years, breaks his leg whilst making his debut for Kidderminster on loan from Wycombe.

Merthyr continue their strange season which now reads played 7, drawn 7, goals for 7, goals against 7!

Relegated Halifax finally record their first win of the season towards the end of September – a 6-2 walloping of Woking at Kingfield.

Bromsgrove Rovers` boss Bobby Hope signs prolific scorer Recky Carter from then-Southern League side Solihull Borough for a four-figure fee – only the second time in 13 years in charge at the Victoria Ground that Hope as paid a fee for a player.

Telford sack former Manchester United and Derby midfielder Gerry Daly after almost four years in charge at the Buck`s Head and they lose 6-0 at Halifax in their first game without him – the Shaymen`s first home win in 7 months! And that came shortly after they had sold defence Chris Lucketti to Bury for £50,000.

Kettering head into October as the last remaining side in Britain`s senior league competitions to remain unbeaten, although Dover remain top and Slough second.

Wyn Hopkins retires as manager of Merthyr, who appoint former Swansea and Wales star, the late Robbie James, in succession.

Kettering`s unbeaten record finally ends with a 1-0 defeat at old rivals Stafford Rangers who, ironically, are managed by former Poppies midfielder Brendan Phillips.

New signing from Stalybridge Celtic, Phil Power, scores the goal that ends Macclesfield`s 376 minutes without a goal in a 2-0 win at neighbours Witton Albion.

John Docherty resigns as manager of Slough for personal reasons and Les Briley is immediately appointed as player boss.

Gateshead become the only Conference side to have reached the Third Qualifying Round of the FA Cup to bow out, losing to Northern League neighbours Billingham Synthonia after a reply.

Telford appoint former Mansfield boss George Foster as Gerry Daly`s replacement.

The Fourth Qualifying Round of the FA Cup sees a few `shocks` as Altrincham are beaten at Moss Lane by an Accrington Stanley side then members of the Northern Premier League Division One and Merthyr are beaten at then-Southern Premier side Crawley Town.

Graham Allner celebrated 10 years in charge of Kidderminster by keeping them at the top of the table with a 5-1 win at Slough, while Dagenham become the latest Conference side to bow out of the FA Cup to lower league opposition as Cambridge City win a replay as October bows out.

Altrincham sack manager Gerry Quinn after 18 months in charge at Moss Lane and former player Paul Rowlands, latterly in charge of League of Wales side Bangor City, takes over.

Gateshead boss Tommy Cassidy resigns and is replaced by experienced former North Shields and Bridlington Town manager Colin Richardson.

Southport set a new seasonal record when a 2-0 win at Stafford extends the Sandgrounders` unbeaten run to eleven games.

Halifax record their first FA Cup win since 1990 by beating West Brom 2-1 in the First Round.

There are other notable wins for Macclesfield, 2-0 winners over Hartlepool, and Bromsgrove, who beat Northampton 2-1.

Southport`s unbeaten run comes to an end when they lose 2-0 to Kettering.

Yeovil cause another FA Cup upset by beating Second Division Fulham 1-0, thanks to a last-gasp Andy Wallace goal at Huish Park.

However, despite that result, manager Steve Rutter stands down shortly afterwards having been in charge since April 1991 – Phil Ferns takes over as caretaker boss.

Welling make YTS graduate Steve Finnan(pictured above) their first full-time player (Finnan of course went on to become a Republic of Ireland regular and Liverpool favourite).

November ends with Second Round FA Cup wins for Bath, who beat Third Division Hereford United, but Stalybridge Celtic, Halifax and Woking all bow out.

The leadership changes hands for the 14th time when Kidderminster return to the summit after beating Dover 3-0, while Telford set a new seasonal record of 12 games without a win when losing to Southport.

Merthyr are ordered to pay Cardiff £10,000 for player-manager Robbie James following a tribunal hearing.

Telford`s win-less run ends with a 2-1 success against Stafford, who had just sold striker Steve Burr(current manager of Stalybridge Celtic) to Halifax for £4,000.

Bromsgrove sell highly-rated goalkeeper Scott Cooksey to Peterborough for £25,000, while Halifax sign Scunthorpe keeper Richard Wilmott for an undisclosed five-figure fee.

Kidderminster produce the cup shock of the Third Round by beating Birmingham City 2-1 at St Andrews, while Bath hold Stoke City to a 0-0 draw at the Victoria Ground. Bromsgrove, however, bowed out after losing at Barnsley.

Yeovil`s 19-year-old striker Malcolm McPherson moves to West Ham United for a deal that could eventually be worth £200,000 to the Glovers.

Sadly, however, his spell at Upton Park was ruined by injury and he never made the senior side, although he did play at Wembley in the Division One play-off final for Brentford, losing in the final to Crewe Alexandra in 1996/97.

Woking extend their unbeaten run to 12 with a 2-0 Christmas success at Altrincham.

Another `big-money` sale from the Conference sees Dagenham striker Miguel Desouza move to Birmingham City for £75,000.

Former Manchester City and Scotland star Tommy Hutchison, now with Merthyr Tydfil, finally hangs up his boots at the age of 46.

Another ex-Scottish international, one-time Spurs midfielder Neil McNab, joins Witton Albion from Irish side Derry City.

Returning to Yeovil Town as manager is Brian Hall, who has been scouting for Martin O`Neill at Wycombe.

Bath exit the FA Cup, losing 4-1 to Stoke at Twerton Park in front of a crowd of 6,213 – their biggest gate for 25 years.

Nigel Ransom makes his 1,000th appearance for Welling United, while Kidderminster maintain their FA Cup run with a 1-0 win over then-Third Division Preston in the Fourth Round.

Woking suffer their first defeat for four months, losing 2-0 at Telford, ending a 14-match unbeaten run.

Kidderminster set a new seasonal attendance record when 4,358 watch the 2-1 win over Dagenham at Aggborough.

February starts with Halifax dispensing with the services of manager Peter Wragg, despite a decent run of just one defeat in 12.

Slough appoint former Crystal Palace midfielder Martin Hinshelwood as number two to Les Briley – the pair were together at Brighton.

The second round of the FA Trophy sees exits for Dagenham, Slough, Telford, Welling, Bath, Stafford and Kettering, who suffered a shock replay exit to Billingham Synthonia.

And Kidderminster`s FA Cup run finally comes to an end when a Lee Chapman goal sees West Ham through 1-0 at Aggborough in front of 7,850.

Halifax appoint former York boss John Bird as their new manager, while striker Danny Dichio makes an outstanding debut for Welling on loan from QPR as he scores four times in a 6-2 victory over Slough.

The Rebels recover to record their first away win since the opening day of the season by beating Yeovil 2-0 at Huish Park.

Billingham Synthonia follow up their Trophy win over Kettering by ousting Macclesfield in round three.

Witton become the latest to lose their manager as Mike McKenzie resigns.

Former Watford, AC Milan and England striker Luther Blissett joins Southport on loan from Bury.

Kidderminster open up a five-point lead at the top of the table – the widest margin of the season to date – after beating Blissett`s new side 2-0.

Yet another managerial casualty, this time at Stalybridge where Phil Wilson departs, while Witton replace McKenzie with ex-Morecambe boss Bryan Griffiths.

Runcorn`s main stand is destroyed by fire but their 540 minutes without conceding a goal ends after a 1-1 draw against Gateshead.

Stalybridge move swiftly to appoint Peter Wragg as their new boss, just a few weeks after he left Halifax.

Billingham`s marvellous Trophy run continues as they hold Woking to a draw at Kingfield. However, the Cards progress to the semi-finals after winning the replay in the north-east.

The transfer deadline passes with the fewest deals in a decade.

Runcorn`s run of 15 games without defeat ends with a 2-1 defeat at Dagenham, while Witton become the first to have relegation confirmed following a 3-0 home defeat by Stalybridge.

Runcorn reach Wembley for the second successive season after beating Guiseley 2-1 on aggregate.

Woking join them after coming through against Enfield after a replay.

Macclesfield claim league cup – called the Drinkwise Cup then – by beating Yeovil over two legs – Sammy McIlroy`s first managerial honour.

The final Saturday of the regular season is a thriller as five teams are fighting to avoid joining Witton in being relegated.

At the other end, Kettering need to win by a big margin to prevent Kidderminster claiming the title – and when one considers that Graham Carr started the campaign with two players, it was a marvellous achievement.

However, Harriers are duly crowned champions, despite losing at home to Altrincham as the Poppies also lost at home to Bromsgrove, who were one of the sides who needed a win to stay up.

Yeovil save themselves with a home win over Telford, who themselves are only rescued by the fact that Slough and Merthyr both finish in the relegation zone.

But, as no Northern Premier League club is to be promoted, the Martyrs are reprieved from relegation.

The season ends with Woking condemning Runcorn to a second successive Wembley heartbreak after winning 2-1.