GARY Whild has left Kidderminster Harriers after five years at the club.

The Reds put out a statement this morning revealing the former Redditch United boss has moved on.

Harriers also revealed that Tim Flowers has declined the role of head coach, although the club are hoping he will remain in some capacity.

Director Colin Gordon will take over this week and the club hope to bring in a new head coach before the next home clash against Welling.

Here is Kidderminster's full statement:

Kidderminster Harriers can today confirm the departure of Gary Whild from the managerial team at Aggborough after more than five seasons with the club. 

This extremely difficult decision has been taken by the Board of Directors in view of the team’s current position and run of results.

The Board, on behalf of everyone connected with the club, would like to place on record their most explicit thanks to Gary for everything he has contributed since first arriving at Aggborough in 2010. 

The club can also confirm that Tim Flowers was recently offered the position as Head Coach of the team but has declined that offer. However, we are hopeful he will remain at the club in a coaching capacity moving forward.

Football Development Director, Colin Gordon, will take the team for the forthcoming week and for the two games against Bromley on Tuesday night and against Barrow on Saturday.

The club hopes to have a new, permanent Head Coach in position for next Saturday’s home match with Welling and are working towards this end as we speak. 

The move brings to an end a successful time with the club for Whild, who first came to Harriers as Assistant Manager in 2010, before being appointed Manager in March 2014 at the start of one of the most troubling periods in the club’s history. 

His reign as boss started with a run of one defeat in more than a dozen games to finish the 2013/14 season.

Then, amid financial uncertainty, the team remained strong play-off contenders until half-way through last season before losing many of its key players.

His transfer acumen is arguably unrivalled in non-league football; Gary is credited with ‘unearthing’ close to £1 million worth of talent over five years, including Jamille Matt, Matty Blair, Joe Lolley, Jack Byrne, Callum Gittings, Nathan Blissett, Marvin Johnson, Chey Dunkley and many others. 

As a result, the Board are keen to retain Gary’s knowledge as an asset and have made an offer for him to take up another position within the club, which he is considering. 

Commenting on behalf of the Board, Chairman, Rod Brown, said: “This has been very difficult decision to take, for nobody more so than myself – to say Gary is hugely respected by everyone at the club would be a huge understatement, and I think recent results and performances have masked some of what he has done for us. 

“We cannot thank him enough for everything he has given to the club and we remain hopeful that he will feel able to stay with us in another role as his knowledge at this level of football and skill for finding talent is absolutely second to none.”

Moving forward, the Chairman commented: “Colin will take charge of affairs for the next week or so but our hope is that we’ll have a new Head Coach in position to take training in the lead up to the Welling game.

“We’ve made it  very clear that stabilising the long-term future of Kidderminster Harriers is the number one priority and nothing will jeopardise that – so we are not in a position to recruit a ‘Manager’ in the conventional sense and give him a pot of money to spend; at this stage that would be reckless and irresponsible. 

“Our priority is to find someone with a proven record of working with young players and getting the best out of them on the training field and match situations.

“Our supporters have remained very patient during what was always going to be an extremely difficult start to the season – you cannot reduce your playing budget by more than 50% in comparison to what the club has been used to, and not expect a serious impact to be felt by the team.

“We all pointed out that it would be that way, and it’s not a job that is going to get any easier. I just hope now that the fans will continue to get behind the players and the staff.”