Harriers-Online / 14-12-2004 / It's Birch at last

After months of trying by various former managers the Harriers finally got their man when they signed Gary Birch from local side Walsall this afternoon.

He has signed on a free transfer for the remainder of the season and has come hoping to score the goals that will keep us in the Football League. At only 23yrs old he has youth on his side but he has got to improve on his scoring records at previous clubs.

Walsall fans have mixed views on him. Some are sorry to see him go and some couldn't wait to see the back of him, siting his lack of effort and his tendency to put on the pounds. A few weeks under Stuart Watkiss will sort that minor problem out.

Gary did intimate that the reason he signed for us and not anyone else, Rotherham, Barnsley and Reading were thought to be interested, was because of the Harriers new manager and the esteem that he held him in.