Graham Allner, who was in charge at Aggborough for 16 years, has been appointed as newly promoted Cheltenham Town's new manager.

He steps into the hot seat just vacated by Steve Cotterill who has been appointed as the new man at First Division Stoke City.

Allner was dismissed from Aggborough in 1999 after losing the inspiration to take the Harriers any further.    He arrived here in 1983 and took us from being a small town club struggling in non-league football to probably one of the most famous non-league sides of all time.

His pinnacle was the stunning FA Cup run of 1994 that saw us beat Preston and Birmingham City before losing out to, Premiership, West Ham in a close 1-0 reversal.

That same year we were to win the Conference Championship for the first time only to see our promotion to the Football League turned down through a laughable ground grading decision.

After leaving the Harriers Graham had a short unsuccessful spell managing Worcester City but then joined Cotterill as first team coach at Whaddon Rd.

Allner said today:
"I am honoured and delighted to have the opportunity of continuing the success the club has enjoyed in the last few years under Steve Cotterill.
I have enjoyed working with the players in the past and I am sure that together we can meet the challenge of the 2nd Division"

Harriers-Online wishes Graham well in his new role.    Luckily he seems to have the backing of the majority of Cheltenham fans judging by comments made on various Cheltenham websites.