Latest from the Harriers camp ahead of pre-season clash with Halesowen
By Matty Paddock - 16/07/2026
Posted 1 hour ago
PAUL Wotton is hopeful of adding new faces to his ranks within the coming days as Harriers continue preparations for the new National League season.
The Harriers boss has confirmed that a deal for a goalkeeper is already in place, though an announcement will have to wait, while progress is also being made on further additions to his squad.
Wotton is also optimistic that two further additions could be secured imminently, with the possibility of another two players following them.
“We’re very close to a couple more as we speak,” he explained. The goalkeeper is sorted, but we can’t announce it for a while yet.
“After that, I think, with the two that I’m very hopeful of getting done in the next 24 hours, another two on top of that possibly, so we’re very close.”
Wotton remains highly encouraged by the make-up of his current squad and is prepared to be patient as Harriers look to complete their summer recruitment.
He went on: “Yes, I’m happy with the squad. Really happy. It’s about being patient as well. It’s nice to do early business, but you don’t want to do all your business too early.
“There’s always players coming up and there’s players that you didn’t think were available who you’ve got half a chance of now. It’s just taking time. It’s still a fair way until the first league game.”
The manager also explained the importance of holding his nerve in a challenging recruitment market, with players’ expectations potentially changing as the new campaign draws closer.
“Every season it’s strange,” he admitted. “Every season it’s becoming more and more difficult recruitment-wise. There’s a lot of people wanting a lot of high wages.
“Every day that goes past and they haven’t got a club, those wage demands come down. It’s about holding your nerve, definitely.”
On the pitch, Harriers began their public pre-season programme at Droitwich Spa on Tuesday evening, with two different sides each playing 45 minutes.
The preparations continue with a trip to Halesowen Town on Saturday, where Wotton expects his players to face a more demanding test.
“It’ll be a good test. Obviously, a step up from Droitwich. Russ Penn, ex-Kidderminster manager as well, will have his team very well drilled and they’ve made some good signings, so it’ll be a tough test.
“I think the pitch is normally very good, so we’re looking forward to it.”
“We’ve got a couple of niggly little injuries that won’t be risked. We’d probably risk them for a league game, but they won’t be risked for a pre-season game.
“Every player had 45 minutes on Tuesday night. There’ll probably be a few players we’ll start looking at for an hour because their fitness levels are very high.
“Even though Droitwich was our first pre-season game for paying supporters, we’ve had a couple of in-house games that have gone very well as well, so the boys will probably start ramping it up to an hour on Saturday.”
With Harriers’ National League opener at Hornchurch now drawing closer, Wotton is pleased with the work being done and the atmosphere developing within his squad.
He commented: “We’re in a good place, we’ve got lots of plates spinning, we’ve got a little bit of recruitment to do which we’re fully on top of.
“The boys who we’ve got in at the moment, I’m really happy with. They’re all getting on great, they’re working hard and it’s all gearing up for August 8th.”
This article is about: Management
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