CHAMPION BEES HAVE GOT THEIR BUZZ BACK
BOSS John Edwards revealed that Studley’s title celebrations might never have taken place after three turbulent years that almost finished the club.
The Bees were crowned Hellenic League Division One champions without kicking a ball on Wednesday night as rivals Worcester Raiders exited the last chance saloon with a 3-2 home defeat to Pershore Town.
It comes 30 years after the Warwickshire club’s only other senior Saturday championship success and marks a return to Step 5 nine years after suffering relegation.
But Edwards, initially appointed in the summer of 2018, readily admits the final curtain threatened to drop even before Covid hit with the pandemic then contributing to him stepping back.
In April 2019, club president and co-founder Dave Robinson, who remained a stalwart behind the scenes, died unexpectedly while at work.
Less than a month later, chairman Barry Cromwell also passed away and by August the ground had been sold by its landlord to Solihull Moors to develop a training facility.
“All of that had a massive effect,” said Edwards.
“Robbo did every job at the club, he was Mr Studley. His loss closely followed by losing Barry was a huge shock.
“The club did well to survive. The new chairman Alan Smith and the secretary Bob Fletcher, who has been there for years, deserve a lot of credit for keeping it going. With the upheaval at the ground as well, the easy option would have been to say enough is enough.
“That gave us added impetus this season, everyone here now is doing it for Robbo and Barry as much as anyone else.”
Despite that, Edwards’s men were well placed to go up from Midland Football League Division One when Covid stopped
play in 2019-20 and as the pandemic raged again early in 202021, the boss dropped a bombshell by standing down.
“Where I work is very labour intensive and you come across a lot of people,” he explained.
“I had enough on my plate with trying to make that environment safe without the added pressure of everything in a dressing room, probably the worst type of place to be when it came to Covid.
“It got to the stage where I thought (competitions continuing) was untenable at our level and I was proved right in the end because a week or so later they stopped it again.
“Work, football and everything else, it all got a bit much.”
Time away proved the perfect tonic, though, and Edwards was “over the moon” to return over the summer.
It took a few weeks to settle into a new league – Studley lost three of their opening six league matches – but 20 wins out of 24 secured top spot with two matches to spare.
“It has been a long time coming. The club has been treading water for a while and it was about time we did something,” said Edwards.
“It is difficult to say now whether I envisaged coming back. There were never any thoughts of going elsewhere, it was just a case of having a break, clearing my head and seeing where we were.
“It has all worked out well. I am just so pleased for all the lads and those people who put so much into keeping the club going.”