FA Cup: Behind the scenes with Kidderminster boss Russell Penn before West Ham tie

It is a giant week for Kidderminster Harriers as they put together for Saturday’s FA Cup fourth-round tie with West Ham United at their Aggborough floor.

Throughout this week, Kiddy boss Russell Penn is counting all the way down to the tie by taking readers behind the scenes at the membership with his BBC Sport FA Cup diary, which can be up to date day by day.

Friday, 4 February: Hair and sweetness

The hair and sweetness salons of Kidderminster have no idea what’s about to hit them.

The gamers have been instructed that there can be tv cameras inside the dressing room recording them before the West Ham tie, at half-time and full-time.

That’s prompted a flurry of bookings for moisturising therapies and hair cuts though Jimmy O’Connor – my assistant – and I would not have to fret relating to a brief, again and sides.

It’s the eve of tie and, for me, the hardest day of the week.

This morning I can be asserting the group to the squad and I’m underneath no phantasm how tough it’ll be telling some very upset gamers that they won’t be beginning certainly one of the greatest video games in the historical past of Kidderminster Harriers.

My activity would have been made a lot simpler had we been going into the tie on the again of a defeat, however we have gained 5 out of seven since knocking Reading out in the final spherical.

You have to remain sturdy in these conditions and I would like to select a group I consider can keep in the sport and current West Ham issues.

I’m braced for some disappointing reactions which is why I’m revealing the group to the group 24 hours before the match. If I left it to the morning of the sport then these omitted could be upset and aggravated for the remainder of the day.

This method, they will be capable to sleep it off and they’re going to arrive at the floor in a greater way of thinking.

I’ll be at Aggborough before 8am. I do not need to be racing round all burdened on a match day. I would like to have the ability to have a cup of tea, a little bit of breakfast, take in the environment and see the followers coming into the floor.

My speech in the dressing room 10 minutes before kick-off can be primarily based on emotion. All the gamers can have household and associates in the sell-out 5,000 crowd and I’ll be telling them to go and make them proud.

I’ll actually not be scaring them by telling them they’re about to face a West Ham group that value tens of thousands and thousands of kilos.

On Sunday, I’m going to look at my son, Harley, play rugby union for Old Halesonians in Hagley.

My plans are more likely to change, nonetheless, if we do pull off certainly one of the nice shocks. If that occurs then you might be more likely to discover me on a yacht in the Mediterranean sipping Champagne.

Thank you for studying my diary all through this week. Whether you might be lucky sufficient to have a ticket or watching on BBC One, I hope you take pleasure in the sport.

Thursday 3 February: World Cup and rock star royalty

Two days before the large sport and I really want to cellphone my dad and speak pink wine.

Post-match drinks with an opposing supervisor at National League North stage would possibly include a few cans of lager, however it’s not each week Kidderminster get to host a Premier League membership.

I’m going to push the boat out and choose a bottle of pink and I’ll invite David Moyes for a glass after the tie.

The bother is I do not know my Malbec from my Shiraz, which is the place my dad is useful.

On a critical be aware, I can’t wait to welcome David to Aggborough and chat to him about administration. While I’m actually simply beginning out, he has loved a stellar managerial profession spanning almost 25 years and is somebody I’ve unimaginable respect and admiration for.

The dugouts are solely two yards aside so I’ll have an interest to see how David and his managerial group function throughout the tie.

I’ve simply caught sight of the VIP checklist for Saturday and it features a World Cup winner and rock star royalty.

England’s 1966 hero and West Ham legend Sir Geoff Hurst is coming and so too is Led Zeppelin star Robert Plant.

Like me, Robert is a passionate Wolves supporter, however Kidderminster is his native non-league membership and he’s an everyday customer to our video games and was at the match on Tuesday.

It tickles me that whereas Robert’s upcoming reveals with Alison Krauss in the United States and Europe are promoting out, he’s watching Kidderminster towards Leamington on a chilly February night time at Aggborough.

He sits with the remainder of the followers and may be very humble and all the way down to earth.

Today I’ll be going by way of some analytical stuff on West Ham with my gamers. We’ll maintain coaching mild and enjoyable with a very good vibe as a result of the gamers have had eight video games in 24 days. We’ll spherical the time off with a swim at a neighborhood fitness center.

Things are beginning to really feel very actual and there’s nice pleasure round the membership.

I walked into certainly one of the rooms in the essential stand yesterday and it has been remodeled into a wise studio the place Gary Lineker will current BBC One’s protection alongside with Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.

I used to be very tempted to go and sit in Gary’s chair.

Yesterday’s digital information convention to preview the tie lasted about an hour and was attended by about 20 media retailers. I’ve heard Kidderminster’s story has made the Toronto Star in Canada.

News is spreading quick and I really feel like a child at Christmas.

Wednesday, 2 February: Lost in London

Today I’m getting all the way down to some critical prep work with my backroom group watching West Ham’s defeat at Manchester United from two weeks in the past as a way to put a gameplan in place for Saturday.

Jimmy O’Connor, my assistant, and I’ve already seen West Ham reside since the draw was made though our journey to London Stadium was not with out incident.

We have been in the crowd for his or her 3-2 house defeat by Leeds on 16 January however issues didn’t go in accordance with plan.

The sport kicked off at 2pm and the very last thing I stated to my spouse, Kylie, as I left the home early that morning was I’d be again again house by 7pm.

Ten minutes before full-time and having made a great deal of notes, Jimmy and I made a decision to make our method again to the automobile, which we had parked at a close-by procuring centre.

Could we discover it?

We appeared like two misplaced souls wandering the streets and it was a full hour after the sport had completed that we finally discovered the automobile. Then we needed to combat our method by way of site visitors and it was one other 4 hours before I ultimately walked by way of the entrance door.

The day before, we had performed Darlington away so my spouse and youngsters noticed little or no of me that weekend.

Saturday’s tie feels much more actual in the present day after getting our rearranged sport with Leamington out of the method. There was an actual vitality on and off the pitch as we ran out 3-0 winners to maneuver to inside 4 factors of leaders Gateshead.

There was additionally an elevated media presence at the sport – the Guardian, Talksport and the BBC.

I’m certain David Moyes can have briefed his gamers what to anticipate this weekend.

But I can already inform them that the opposition dressing room at Aggborough is a world away from the luxurious West Ham’s gamers are used to in the Premier League.

It’s clear however it’s small and has wood seats. I’m certain they’ll go ‘oh my goodness’ after they stroll in however there are lots worse locations than Kidderminster.

By the time their gamers step out on to the pitch they will be considering ‘this is not that unhealthy in spite of everything’. I believe they are going to be pleasantly shocked.

Tuesday, 1 February: Cheese, wine and FA Cup fever

Now I understand how Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola should really feel after they do the meals store.

Normally I’m able to sprint round my native Tesco with out a care in the world, however not throughout FA Cup fourth spherical week.

I used to be nonetheless in my membership coaching gear gathering the weekly groceries with my spouse, Kylie, and youngsters Harley and Lyelah on Monday afternoon after I seen folks pointing.

I might hear them speaking about Kidderminster in the cup as we walked previous the frozen peas. It was a surreal expertise.

If I needed a reminder of how momentous Saturday’s tie is, I actually obtained one after popping into the grocery store for some cheese and wine.

I’ve misplaced depend of the quantity of people that have requested ‘have you ever obtained any West Ham spares?’. I’ve even had folks I have never heard from for years textual content me wanting tickets.

Interest in tonight’s match with Leamington isn’t fairly on the identical scale. Nevertheless our league attendances have elevated on the again of our FA Cup run. To get 2,000-plus in National League North isn’t unhealthy in any respect.

After tonight’s sport I’m up vivid and early tomorrow for the faculty run before heading again to the membership for our information convention to preview the large sport.

Although Covid restrictions have been eased, the membership made the choice to carry a digital press convention to minimise the threat forward of what’s a profitable tie for a membership of Kidderminster’s dimension.

A standard sport would maybe entice the native radio station and in-house membership media. This week, nonetheless, is off the scale.

The final time I checked there have been 30 tv, radio and newspaper retailers from throughout the world . I’m additionally on account of communicate to former England striker Rodney Marsh, who co-hosts a radio present in the United States, about Kidderminster on Friday.

The floor is beginning to take form for West Ham’s go to. Scaffolding for the tv cameras is beginning to go up and there can be digital promoting boards round the floor in place for the weekend.

Everyone has a spring of their step, from the espresso woman to the chairman, and all of us need Aggborough to look its glowing greatest on Saturday.

Monday, 31 January: ‘All I’m enthusiastic about is Leamington’

So right here we’re. It’s Monday morning and the begin of certainly one of the greatest weeks in Kidderminster’s 136-year historical past.

West Ham have been on everybody’s lips since the draw was made – however in all honesty, all I’m concentrating on is our rearranged house league sport with Leamington on Tuesday.

While the FA Cup run has supplied us all with large positives and once-in-a-lifetime experiences, successful promotion stays the primary precedence.

Of course I’d have favored a free week to organize for a tie of such magnitude, however it’s important we return to successful methods on Tuesday after a irritating 0-0 towards Gloucester City on Saturday.

I spent Sunday watching Leamington’s 1-0 weekend win over Blyth Spartans on my laptop computer, planning Monday’s coaching session and getting some contemporary air by watching my 13-year-old son Harley play rugby union for Old Halesonians in Hagley, near our house in Stourbridge.

My brother Michael played professionally for a number of golf equipment together with Worcester Warriors and Edinburgh, so he should get it from him. Harley loves it and will get caught in, whereas I’ve all the time been fascinated by the disciplinary aspect of rugby union.

Before coaching on Monday, I’ll attend a enterprise occasion in the Aggborough Suite at the floor. Richard Lane, Kidderminster’s proprietor, is making an attempt to get extra firms concerned in the membership. He is a salesman and pitches the membership very well.

This is my first job as a supervisor and I’m studying an terrible lot from him about the enterprise aspect of working a membership.

We are so near the West Ham tie. I would like the gamers to take pleasure in Saturday and all the media consideration that comes with it.

We’ve had Sky Sports and Talksport at the membership already, whereas the BBC One vans will quickly be arriving to get able to broadcast to the nation.

I can’t ban my gamers from speaking about West Ham before our league sport on Tuesday. If I did that, how would that make me look?

But the sooner Leamington is out of the method, the sooner we are able to take pleasure in the build-up to Saturday.

Russell Penn was speaking to BBC Sport’s Neil Johnston.