Solihull Moors

Solihull Moors go into the season in the National League, still chasing the one prize that has kept slipping away: a place in the Football League. Two play-off final defeats, in 2019 and in 2024, have left promotion as the club's unfinished business, and last season's run to the FA Trophy final, lost to Gateshead, showed the squad can go deep in a cup without getting over the line.

The club itself is younger than its rivalries. It was formed on 10 July 2007 through a merger of Moor Green and Solihull Borough, two West Midlands sides with separate histories stretching back to 1901 and 1953. Everything Solihull Moors have won belongs to the club that came out of that merger: the National League North title in 2015/16, and the Birmingham Senior Cup the same season. Damson Park, known commercially as the ARMCO Arena, holds 5,500, and the team plays in yellow and blue hoops.

Boxing Day belongs to Tamworth. The fixture has become a fixed date in the calendar, the kind of match neither set of supporters needs reminding about, while games against Kidderminster Harriers carry the same local edge without a name attached to it.

Marcus Bignot ran the team from 2011 to 2016 and was in charge for the club's only league title, the season that also took Solihull Moors into the National League for the first time. Among those who passed through under his successors, Omar Bogle stands out: 62 goals in 111 appearances, Conference North player of the season in 2014/15, before Grimsby Town paid to take him on and he scored twice in the play-off final that sent them back into the Football League.