Non-league football club moving into stadium bigger than Premier League ground - The Mirror

An eighth-tier football outfit is set for a significant upgrade in the summer, moving into new digs boasting a bigger seating capacity than one Premier League club

Eighth-tier Worcester City are set to move into a new home - and it's bigger than Premier League outfit Bournemouth's stadium.

Come the end of the season, the Northern Premier League Midlands Division club will trade the familiar turf of Claines Lane for the expansive Sixways Stadium - a ground that might have some away fans wondering if they've come to the right match.

Sixways - once the home of now-disbanded Premiership rugby side Worcester Warriors - boasts an 11,000-seat capacity with 500 additional hospitality seats, and there are plans for further expansion. For context, Bournemouth's Vitality Stadium, the smallest in the Premier League, holds 11,379.

Life in non-league football is far from easy, and securing a permanent home is often crucial for a club's long-term sustainability. Few understand this struggle better than Worcester City.

Forced to play outside the city for years, they returned in 2020 to share Claines Lane with the Worcestershire FA. While it was a homecoming of sorts, the set-up at Claines Lane was far from ideal.

The pitch has struggled to cope with growing attendances - now the second highest in the league - and lacks the infrastructure to support a club on an upward trajectory. Club owner Simon Lancaster acknowledged these challenges: "Claines is a good place to watch football on a good day and I think we all enjoy watching football there, but in the time that I've been involved with the club, the pitch has been a problem, and it would be very costly to improve that.

"There were lots of costs involved in improving the ground following promotion to step four, and there would be even more costs if we were promoted to step three. If we were to get promoted, I think Claines would struggle to accommodate the sort of attendances we'd be looking for."

Sitting third in the table after securing promotion last season, Worcester City are a side showing ambition with plans for a permanent home at the Worcestershire Community Sports Park at Fernhill Heath underway. In the meantime, Sixways provides an interim home until at least the 2029/30 season.

This isn’t the first time the Blues have had to adapt. The club’s storied home at St George’s Lane once hosted one of the FA Cup's greatest giant killings when Worcester defeated Liverpool in a third-round fixture in 1959.

But the ground was vacated in 2013, leaving the team to embark on a series of ground shares - from Kidderminster to Bromsgrove - before returning to Worcester. Efforts to secure a permanent stadium have faced numerous setbacks, with proposals for new facilities falling through due to rejected council planning applications.

"We're working hard on getting our own home and we will continue to do so," added Lancaster. "But while we are doing that we need to simultaneously look out for the short term and secure the best available option."

The move to Sixways offers more than just an increase in capacity. The stadium’s facilities include modern function rooms, extensive parking and ample space for the club’s growing fanbase.

Expansion plans are already in motion, with proposals for an events centre, padel courts, and improved hospitality offerings. These will benefit both the football club and the wider community.

Sixways has its own complicated history; once a fortress for Worcester Warriors, the rugby club was kicked out of the league in February 2023 due to financial troubles. For Worcester City, this provides a unique opportunity to breathe new life into a stadium left in limbo.

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