Solihull Moors: Club history
The story of Solihull Moors only dates back to 2007 when Southern Premier League side Solihull Borough merged with their tenants, Moor Green, then playing in the Conference North.
The two clubs, both based in the West Midlands town, joined together following two arson attacks at the home of Moor Green, The Moorlands, forced them to ground-share at Damson Park, the home of Solihull Borough.
After two seasons as tenants, the sides agreed to a merger at the end of the 2006-07 season with the new club taking Moor Green’s place in the Conference North for the 2007-08 campaign.
With former Moor Green boss Bob Faulkner in charge, the first four seasons of the new club were largely about surviving at Conference North level. It was not until the 2010-11 campaign when Faulkner appeared to have put together a side which began to challenge for the top spots in the division.
They were in a healthy position in the division when Faulkner died and was replaced by Mickey Moore, who had previously managed Solihull Borough. The tragic passing seemed to galvanise the small playing squad who burst in to the play-off spots, before eventually fading to miss out by four points.
The run earned Moore the job at Mansfield Town and he was replaced by former Bristol Rovers player Marcus Bignot. Momentum was lost and the club finished one point above the drop zone in the 2011-12 campaign. There were 9th, 8th and 12th place finishes over the following three seasons but the club kept its nerve and stuck with Bignot. Patience paid off as the 2015-16 campaign saw them go unbeaten until December and eventually secure the title by a comfortable nine points.
Their first campaign in the National League Premier also saw a first meeting between Moors and The Glovers when Darren Way‘s League Two side came out of the FA Cup First Round Proper hat… but without Bignot, who had been given permission to talk with League Two side Grimsby Town. Having gone 2-0 up at Huish Park with goals from Ryan Hedges and Otis Khan it looked a formality for Yeovil Town to progress but the sending off of Kevin Dawson turned the match and Solihull snatched a replay. That saw an embarrassing Yeovil performance: 0-0 after 90 minutes, the EFL side did take the lead early in extra-time (Francois Zoko) only to concede a penalty just a few minutes later; 1-1, the tie went to penalties. Misses by Ryan Dickson and Tom Eaves, while the home side were faultless, saw Solihull Moors through 4-2. Five days later Yeovil chairman John Fry announced a two and half year extension to Way’s contract.
Bignot took a number of players with him to Grimsby including Jamey Osborne, star of the first tie against Yeovil, and the club’s leading striker Akwasi Asante. His replacement as manager, Liam McDonald, guided Moors to a 16th placed finish, but a miserable start to the 2017-18 campaign saw him sacked by early October with the club in 23rd place. In came ex-Bristol Rovers boss Richard Money. He lasted 26 days before quitting with the club rooted to the bottom of the table in 24th.
In came former Cheltenham Town player and manager Mark Yates, bringing Tim Flowers, the former England goalkeeper, with him as his assistant in November 2017 and brought about an escape in unpromising circumstances with Moors finishing 18th, six points above the relegation line.
Yates was then snapped up in the summer by League Two side Macclesfield Town… where he would last just into October as the Silkmen drew 4 and lost 8 of their first 12 games.
Meanwhile back at Damson Park, Flowers stepped up to the No.1 role and the 2018-19 campaign saw a 2nd place finish and the play-offs. Top scorer for the season was Adi Yussuf (which Yeovil Town fans may find hard to believe). Moors went out at the semi-final stage to AFC Fylde.
During the season the club was taken over by former Oxford United chairman Darryl Eales and automotive trade businessman Calvin Barnett and there was some (much needed) investment in the stadium. On the pitch in the (to be truncated) 2019-20 season Flowers wasn’t matching the new owners ambitions and was gone by January. His replacement was Jimmy Shan out of the West Bromwich Albion youth set up. Moors missing out on the play-offs, finishing 9th after PPG calculations.
The 2020-21 season didn’t start until October and Shan didn’t complete it, sacked in March. With the season abandoned in the regional divisions Yates returned “on loan” from Southern League Stourbridge. He took them on a good run, winning 11 of the final 16 games; but not good enough to reach the play-offs with Moors finishing 11th. Whether Solihull would have been tempted to break its ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ with Stourbridge if he’d taken them that step further we’ll never know – he didn’t, and they didn’t. At the end of the season he went back to the parent club.
The summer of 2021 saw the arrival of ex-Notts County and AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley. Finishing 3rd, Solihull avoided the first round of the play-offs, beat Chesterfield 3-1 in their semi-final, but came up against Grimsby Town in the final. The Mariners were engaged in one of those “written in the stars” moments. Having beaten Notts County away 2-1 a.e.t. and Wrexham away 5-4 a.e.t. it seemed inevitable they’d carry it on at Wembley… and they did, 2-1 a.e.t.
This term Solihull started the campaign very well, consistently in the top seven up to Christmas. However since then, although the home form has continued to stand up well, away form has grown progressively worse and getting into the play-offs is now looking increasingly unlikely. The board appeared to be pretty much acknowledging this when it allowed the club’s star striker Andrew Dallas to go on loan to Chesterfield from early March for the remainder of the season with a view to becoming a permanent signing for the Spireites over the summer.
Solihull Moors: We’ve Met Before
Previous Results for Yeovil Town First Team vs Solihull Moors
| 05/11/2016 | Home | FAC2 | D | 2-2 | 2118 | Hedges 8, Khan 52 | |
| 15/11/2016 | Away | FAC2R | L | 1-1 | 1460 | Zoko 93 – lost 4-2 on penalties AET | |
| 21/09/2019 | Away | NLP | W | 1-0 | 1525 | Wilkinson 58 | |
| 04/01/2020 | Home | NLP | D | 0-0 | 2907 | ||
| 24/04/2021 | Away | NLP | L | 1-5 | 0 | Murphy 54 | |
| 27/04/2021 | Home | NLP | W | 3-0 | 0 | Quigley 27,53,71 | |
| 30/10/2021 | Away | NLP | D | 0-0 | 1607 | ||
| 05/02/2022 | Home | NLP | D | 0-0 | 1955 | ||
| 08/10/2022 | Home | NLP | W | 1-0 | 2244 | Johnson 58 | |
| 15/04/2022 | Away | NLP | D | 2-2 | 1813 | Siziba 53, Bevan 83 | |
Results Summary For Yeovil Town First Team vs Solihull Moors
| Home | Away | Overall | ||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A |
| 2 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 11 | 10 |
Solihull Moors: Club Statistics
RECENT RESULTS
| 21/02/2023 | FC Halifax Town | Away | NLP | D | 1-1 | 1387 | Dallas 35 |
| 25/02/2023 | Altrincham | Away | NLP | L | 1-4 | 2275 | Roberts 28 |
| 04/03/2023 | Maidstone United | Home | NLP | W | 2-0 | 1411 | Osborne 42, Sbarra 75 |
| 07/03/2023 | Torquay United | Home | NLP | W | 3-2 | 1210 | Kelly 37, Howe 45, Beck 56 |
| 14/03/2023 | Scunthorpe United | Home | NLP | W | 3-1 | 1421 | Kelly 15, 90, Sbarra 86 |
| 18/03/2023 | Boreham Wood | Home | NLP | W | 2-0 | 1306 | Beck 54, Kelly 66 (pen) |
| 25/03/2023 | Oldham Athletic | Away | NLP | D | 1-1 | 6685 | Stevens 90+4 |
| 01/04/2023 | Bromley | Away | NLP | L | 0-4 | 2278 | |
| 07/04/2023 | Maidenhead United | Home | NLP | D | 1-1 | 2076 | Donawa 10 |
| 10/04/2023 | Wealdstone | Away | NLP | (Postponed – waterlogged pitch) | |||
| 15/04/2023 | Yeovil Town | Home | NLP | ||||
ATTENDANCE STATISTICS
Highest League Attendance: 3,195 v Wrexham, 02/01/2023
Lowest League Attendance: 1,125 v York City, 17/08/2022
Average League Attendance: 1,613
CURRENT LEAGUE SEQUENCE STATISTICS
| Games Without A Win: | 3 | Games Without A Home Win: | 1 | |
| Games Without An Away Win: | 6 | Games Without Defeat: | 1 | |
| Games Without A Home Defeat: | 6 | Games Without An Away Defeat: | 0 | |
| Games Without A Draw: | 0 | Games Without A Score Draw: | 0 | |
| Games Without A No-Score Draw: | 9 | Games Without Scoring: | 0 | |
| Games Without Conceding: | 0 | Home Results Sequence: | WWWWD | |
| Away Results Sequence: | DLDL | Overall Results Sequence: | DLWWWWDLD |
Solihull Moors: Club Information
Damson Park (current sponsorship name ARMCO Arena),
Damson Parkway,
Solihull
B92 9EJ
(Click for map)
Telephone Number: 0121 7056770
Email: info@solihullmoorsfc.co.uk
Chairman: Darryl Eales
Club Secretary: Carl Parton
Media Manager: Ben Burgess
Manager: Neal Ardley
Capacity: 5,500
Seated: 2,131
Covered Terrace: Yes
Record Attendance : 4,206 v Chesterfield, National League Play-off Semi-Final 29/05/2022
Colours: yellow with white trim shirt, blue with white trim shorts, yellow socks
Nickname: The Moors
Programme: £1.50 (24 pages)
Ticket Prices
The game against Yeovil Town on Saturday April 15th with a 3.00 p.m. kick-off has been designated a Category A fixture (as it was last season). Presumably no cost of living crisis in the Midlands as adult tickets have gone up a whacking £6, from £15 to £21, and concessions from £12.50 to £16.00. All prices include a £1 booking fee. Tickets bought ahead of the fixture online here are priced at:
Adult: £21.00
Concessions (65 years+ and 18-24 years with valid student card): £16.00
Under-18s: £11.00
Under-12s: £3.50
The one (minor) advantage in being a Category A game is the £1.00 surcharge in place last season for buying on the day rather than in advance appears to have been scrapped for fixtures so designated this term. The ticket office is on the right hand side as one approaches the stadium off Damson Parkway by the corner of The Damson Homes Stand and the home end (Jerroms Stand) terrace.
The game is segregated with away support allocated Blocks J, K, L and M in the Forest Stand (standing covered terrace). Appears visiting supporters can’t pre-purchase a seat but there is a greyed out block of seats labelled “Away Covered Seating Block N” in The Gas Centre Stand on the stadium plan so presumably this area will be available on arrival for those requiring a seat. Away fans enter through turnstiles 9 & 10.
Disabled Info: There was an extensive page of information on the host club’s official site but this now merely returns a “404 Page Not Found”. Looking around haven’t found any replacement dedicated page elsewhere. Sorry. All can suggest is emailing Carl Parton on carl.parton@solihullmoorsfc.co.uk for information and to discuss any specific needs as he’s the contact point given re disabled parking (see Parking, below).
Official Away Travel
The Green & White Supporters’ Club is running away travel to Solihull Moors on Saturday, April 15th with a 3.00 p.m. kick-off.
Details are as follows:
Members: Adults £25, Concessions £23
Non-Members: Adults £28, Concessions £26
Coach departs Huish Park: 8.45 a.m.
To book, call Paul Hadlow on 07736 044570 (after 6.00 p.m. please) or email him on paulhadlow@outlook.com.
If you are getting in touch by email, please make it clear which match you are booking for and that you give your full name, the names of people that are travelling and a contact telephone number.
You may be asked to pay a £5 deposit to reserve your seat.
Solihull Moors: Directions To The Ground
General
Huish Park to Damson Park is 154 miles. In my opinion whoever stuck a football stadium here was an idiot – though it could probably cope when 200 (on a good day) were turning up to watch Solihull Borough in the old Southern League Midland Division. Pretty much in the middle of nowhere several miles out from central Solihull, it’s surrounded on three sides by the massive the Land Rover factory site, Elmdon Nature Park, two golf courses, Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre complex. There’s no access except a single road: Damson Parkway. The stadium doesn’t have much parking. The nearest railway stations are nearer three than two miles away and there’s only one bus service that goes by the ground (see below).
By Road
From South and West:
Leave M42 at Junction 5. Take first exit at the roundabout towards Solihull, A41. Stay on the by-pass (dual carriageway) until you reach two sets of traffic lights close together. Turn right at the second set of traffic lights onto Yew Tree Lane which leads onto Damson Parkway. Go past BUPA Spires Parkway Hospital on your left and follow Damson Parkway for just over 1 mile to the roundabout at the Jaguar Land Rover Works. Turn right at the roundabout and the ground entrance is 100 yards on your left.
From The North and East:
Leave the M42 at Junction 6 and follow the A45 for 2 miles towards Birmingham. Go past Birmingham Airport on your right and then past the Allen Kia Garage on your left. At the traffic lights, take the left hand filter lane onto Damson Parkway. Continue for approximately 1 mile until you reach the roundabout at the entrance to the Jaguar Land Rover Works. Go around the roundabout and back down the other side of the dual carriageway for 100 yards to the ground entrance on your left.
Parking
Our experience is that parking around the ground is a real pain. The club has its own limited first come first served car park which fills up quickly. The charge is £5.00. Thereafter it recommends the NCP Birmingham Airport Cargo Depot carpark. This is the other side of the A45 dual carriageway from the stadium (so around 20 minutes walk away). In practical terms, calculating in time to walk to and from the ground, you’ll need the £5.00 ticket option to cover the duration of the stay. One can also pick up the X12 bus service here (see By Bus below).
The club states that parking along Damson Parkway is strictly prohibited (it’s designated a Red Route) and parking tickets may be issued. In the past we’ve found the locals taking absolutely no notice of this, squeezing their vehicles on any and every verge in the area, making the only access road to the stadium more and more difficult to navigate as kick-off approaches. We leave it to you to judge whether, if the local’s practice does remain the same, it’s worth taking the risk and joining them.
There are eight disabled parking bays at the ground. If eligible the contact at Solihull Moors is Carl Parton on carl.parton@solihullmoorsfc.co.uk to discuss availability and booking.
By Rail
The nearest stations are Solihull Station (Chiltern Railway and West Midlands services) and Birmingham International Station on the West Coast Mainline. Information on the host club’s website is hopelessly optimistic about distances from the ground – it’s clearly just drawn straight as-the-crow-flies lines onto a map. In reality they are around 50 minutes to an hour walk away. The X12 (see By Bus below) route runs past the stadium with a journey time from Birmingham International of around 22 minutes. Solihull Station to the stadium is also best served by the X12, with a journey time of around 18 minutes.
By Bus
The bus route past the stadium is the X12 (National Express West Midlands) which runs between Solihull town centre and Birmingham via Birmingham International Airport, with services around every 20 minutes during the day and dropping to around every 30 minutes in the evening. The nearest stop is called Old Damson Lane and is right outside the stadium.
As an alternative from central Solihull, the A1 Solihull-Damsonwood Circular (operated by Diamond Buses) will get you as close as the Land Rover Works stop, which is 0.2 miles (so about five minutes walk) from the ground. This runs once an hour, with the last service around 18.00.
Taxi
Given the location of the ground to the town centre one of these might be more than useful. As a bonus one of the town’s taxi ranks is pretty much right outside two of the pubs listed below, the Flute & Flagon and White Swan. A list of Solihull taxi companies can be found here. However, as a warning, have come across comments that whilst getting a taxi up to the ground pre-match isn’t usually a problem, finding one prepared to risk the post-match traffic snarl ups to pick up after the game can be more of a challenge.
Web Sites
Bandwagon Fanzine – a Solihull Moors fanzine
Runboard message board – if you thought online message boards were a thing of the past, nobody told Solihull.
Local Press
Solihull Observer – observing on Solihull since…..well, probably quite a while.
Birmingham Mail – we’re not sure people in Solihull will thank us for saying it’s in Birmingham, but it’s covered by the local paper.
Solihull Moors : Food & Drink
General
With Damson Park (currently on yet another sponsorship name change to ARMCO Arena) being over two miles from the centre of Solihull, rather in the middle of nowhere, places to drink and eat close to the ground are basically non-existent. The ‘Beer Revolution’ seemed to just about be peaking its head above the parapet in Solihull on our 2021 visit with the Indian Brewery having opened a branch there in the same format as its excellent Birmingham (Snowhill district) outlet, but it has disappeared already – so much for the ‘bustling, cosmopolitan café culture’ (see Local Amenities, below). The pubs and bars that do exist mostly remain restricted to the dull international and national chains and tied house sectors of the market. There is a micro-brewery on the edge of Solihull called Silhill Brewery (website here), which has been operating since 2014 but it doesn’t have a Taproom.
The Old Colonial was the closest pub to the ground – that closed before our first visit. The (Golden) Acres then became the closest on our first trip. That changed its name to The Damson (2017) – but didn’t last long under new management and seems to have closed again in 2018. The fortunes of the site appear to have subsequently been various but it seems to have returned to being a pub again, maybe in 2020 or 2021, retaining The Damson name (below).
Club Bar
Solihull has a clubhouse just outside the ground which usually welcomes away supporters. The bars are divided into four areas – three downstairs and one upstairs – and they vary what is open from match-to-match depending on what sort of a crowd they’ve got coming and what other events they’ve got on; but most commonly it’s the two main downstairs bars. It has the usual type of offerings one expects in a football ground, in this case the likes of Coors Light, Worthington Creamflow, Guinness and Sharp’s Cold River keg cider. However, it does stock several different bottled/canned beers from the local Silhill and Sadler’s breweries. In the past occasionally had something from them on cask too, including on one of our visits; but not seen evidence whether this remains the case or not.
Available in the away area are the usual huts one tends to see at this level offering the usual pies/chips/teas/coffees type provision and a small bar.
Local Pubs
Damson: Let’s be up front, if this wasn’t the closest pub to the ground it wouldn’t be receiving much notice from this guide. An estate pub about which current information is hard to come by. The last proper survey by local CAMRA was 2011; the Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2018 and presumably belonged to previous owners; and even on its more recent website (see link) the last event listed is from October 2021 and there’s no indication of opening times. However, a quick phone call did get through to the landlady who confirmed it is trading and opening times are generally evenings only Monday to Thursday, all day from noon Friday to Sunday. Keg tap offerings are of the most basic multinational industrial varieties: Carling, Coors Light, Birra Moretti, Stella Artois, Guinness, Strongbow etc. If there is any cask still surviving looks like it’ll be a single hand pump serving Doom Bar. Has pool table, darts board, Sky and BT Sports, outdoor seating area. 0.8 of a mile (so about 15 minutes walk) from Damson Park.
The Damson, Rowood Drive, Solihull, West Midlands, B92 5NG. Tel: 0121 7041414. Map: The Damson.
Dingle: Second closest pub to the ground but only if taking the 1.2 mile (so about 25 minutes) walk across Elmdon Park (by road it’s 2.4 miles). Formerly a Harvester, it’s now part of the Craft Union Pub Company stable. A subsidiary of what has become over the last few years the biggest Pub Co. in the UK with around 5,000 outlets, Craft Union is one of its around 15 or so of its different pub brands. It’s up front about what the Craft Union wet-lead brand is pitching towards, the opening line of the spiel being that they are “sports pubs to pop on in to enjoy a cold refreshing pint of your favourite lager”. The Dingle has Sky Sports, pool, darts, parking. Lagers are mainstream international brands such as Staropramen, Grolsch, Budweiser, Heineken etc. There may be a hand pump or two in a corner serving cask beer. Opening hours are listed as from noon every day, to midnight Sunday to Thursday and 12.30 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
The Dingle, Tanhouse Farm Road, Solihull, West Midlands, B92 9EY. Tel: 0121 7420770. Map: Dingle.
Flute & Flagon: Taken over and renamed a few years ago by the Stonehouse chain, this outlet is in central Solihull virtually next door to the White Swan (below) and 2.3 miles from the ground. Something of a Spoons clone (one would almost think it was one at a quick glance). Breakfast served from 9.00 a.m. (until noon) everyday, with alcohol service beginning from 10.00 a.m. and the main menu kicking in from 12.00 noon until 9.00 p.m. Children’s menu allowed up to 7.30 p.m. There’s Sky Sports and occasional live music. Disabled access, outdoor seating and smoking area to the front of the pub. The regular real ale is Marston’s Pedigree, with five changing guests. Closes at 11.00 p.m. Monday to Thursday, midnight Friday and Saturday and 10.00 p.m. Sunday.
Flute & Flagon, 28-30 Station Parade, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 3SB. Tel: 0121 7113630. Map: Flute and Flagon.
Greville Arms: If approaching Damson Park from central Solihull this is the second nearest pub at 1.2 miles, so around 25 minutes walking. From one of the many chains run by Mitchells & Butlers, in this case its Sizzling Pubs brand. Does a couple of real ales. Rather than wasting time describing its features here click on the link. Opening is 9.00 a.m. every day, closing 10.00 p.m. Monday to Wednesday, 11.00 p.m. Thursday & Sunday, midnight Friday & Saturday.
Greville Arms, Cornyx Lane, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 2RB. Tel: 0121 7118031. Map: Greville Arms.
Pup & Duckling: For the micropub dedicatees, this is the one in the area, though it would be post-match only. It’s a 1.4 mile (c. 25 minutes) walk from the ground if you go through Elmdon Park. Driving, it’s 2.3 miles. Has around eight constantly changing real ales on, six on cask two on keg, sourced from smaller independent breweries; and does some cider. There’s two rooms and a garden/patio area. (It feels a bit like a Coffee House inside – which might be because that’s what it used to operate as.) Only snacks served, but customers can bring in takeaways from outside. As you might have seen us mention before, micropubs have a bit of a reputation for not necessarily sticking to their advertised opening hours. We recall this one causing some irritation on a couple of pub blogging sites by being a case in point. Anyway, should you chance it, hours have been further reduced and are now declared as being 4.00 p.m.- 10.00 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and 12.00 noon – 3.00 p.m. Sunday on its website. However the local CAMRA branch says now not opening until 5.00 p.m. instead of 4.00 p.m. – and it should know having made it Branch Pub of the Year 2023.
Pup & Duckling, 1 Hatchford Brook Road, Olton, Solihull, West Midlands, B92 9AG. Tel: 0121 2478358. Map: Pup and Duckling.
White Swan: The Wetherspoon, a little over five minutes walk from Solihull Railway Station, on the western side of Solihull town centre and 2.3 miles from the ground. Virtually next door to the Flute & Flagon (above). Serves Greene King IPA and Abbot and Marston’s Doom Bar from the Spoons house list; and five changing beers, with almost always something from Silhill Brewery amongst them. The real cider is generally Weston’s Old Rosie. Disabled access, children welcome (this varies from Spoons to Spoons but is usually until somewhen between 6.00 p.m. to 8.00 p.m.), outside partially covered seating and smoking area to the front. Opening is from 8.00 a.m. every day until midnight Sunday to Thursday and 1.00 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
White Swan, 32-34, Station Road, Solihull, West Midlands, B91 3SB. Tel: 0121 7115180. Map: White Swan.
Likelihood the Natives Will Understand You: The Brummie accent has been regularly voted the least attractive in the British Isles, thus any conversation with them may be a struggle for our ears.
Top-Tip: Solihull folk will deny unto death they have any connection to Brum. Make such assertions at your own risk.
Local Amenities: Solihull likes to think it’s not just a very slightly more middle-class suburb of Birmingham but a “high quality shopping, leisure and business destination which enjoys a bustling, cosmopolitan café culture”. It really isn’t. (However see Top-Tip.)
Other Points Of Interest: There’s probably more parks and trees than in some other parts of Birmingham. That’s about it.
[No responsibility is taken for any inaccuracies. This page is entirely the product of bias and prejudice.]