Who Ate All The Pies – Best Pies I’ve Eaten in the National League

The recent sad passing of Brian Murdoch who was 81 years old has encouraged me to write this blog. Brian and his family had a huge impact a local community and many people across the country who have used their services over the last 60 years and have always come away very satisfied. (no, not those types of services!!). You may very well ask, who was Brian Murdoch? It’s not an outlandish question as he is hardly a household name unless you happen to reside is a certain part of Worcester and follow a certain football team. 

As a person Brian was well known for his "incomparable character and warmth" according to his obituary. More importantly, for six decades. Brian and his family have provided food and catering facilities for supporters at The Aggborough Stadium, home of current National League North side Kidderminster Harriers. You may say, “big deal”. He provided food for supporters at football for years and lived till a ripe old age. This is true but where Brian’s food differs from other fare you will find at football is that he has patented the famous “Harriers Pies”. 

I heard a great deal about these pies before I made my one and only trip to the The Aggborough Stadium in October 2015. My team Boreham Wood had just been promoted to the National League for the first time and unfortunately only had one season in the same division as the Worcestershire side before The Harriers were relegation to the National League North. Sadly, they haven’t come back up since.   

To be honest, I was looking forward to sampling one of the pies more than I was the match. Our team weren’t adjusting well to life in the National League so I expected the game to be awful. (It was). I suspected that unlike my team, the pie wouldn’t let me down. It was by far the nicest food I’ve ever had at football, at any level. There was a wide choice of pies on offer including Cottage Pie, Steak and Kidney Pie, Cheese and Onion Pie and Chicken and Mushroom Pie, as well as Bangers and Mash, Chilli Con Carne, and Chicken Curry. They also had the usual options of burgers, hotdogs and chips. It was no surprise that they were left largely untouched. I opted for Cottage Pie at it appeared to be their flagship product!! 

I had done my research. I was aware that these pies were renowned for being the most expensive in football according to a recent survey of two hundred and thirty clubs across thirteen leagues in Europe at £4.50 a pie. Elgin City’s entry was the cheapest at £1. However if there was ever a classic example of “you get what you pay for”, it’s the Harriers Pie. I have never had better value for money foodwise and the £4.50 was a bargain. If I ate four and a half pies at Elgin City, it wouldn’t have been as good a value for money. You can imagine what they taste like at that price!! 

The Harriers Pie wasn’t the usual soggy cardboard meat-less pastry shell that you get at many football grounds but a hefty thing of beauty. The cottage pie consisting of almost a pound of beef, wonderfully sourced from a local butchers, accompanied by veg and mashed potato cooked to a crisp. It is a treat to behold. I was salivating which queuing up to buy it. I was also extremely sad to see one of our supporters buying a hot dog. To me that was like going to an Indian restaurant and ordering an omelette. He claimed not to know about the significance of the pies. I berated him for his lack of research. Fortunately he eventually saw the error of his ways and when I fancied my second helping of food in the 2^nd half, he joined me for a Chilli-con-Carne. 

I have had the privilege of going to countless football matches at many stadiums across England and anyone who knows me, knows I love my food.  As for going to football, I’ve been known to tuck into a large burger or a pie at many grounds across the country. I therefore like to think my opinion has some weight and I’m not speaking as an amateur. Ironically, one of my many lifelong nicknames, invented at school was Pieman. Strange as I didn’t really like pies in those days. 

Although the Harriers Pie wins hands down, I must pay tribute to a couple of other pies I have sampled over the years and are worth a mention. 

I watched Boreham Wood at Chester FC three times between 2015 and 2018 when we were in the National League together. On my first visit, I noticed the Chester Pie on sale among all the other items you usually get at football grounds. This was sold to me because when a product is names after the team or an area, I find there is a sense of uniqueness about it. The pie was a succulent item containing chicken and ham which was created specifically by the club caterers Doughty and Allen after feedback from supporters. It was good quality ingredients too. The chicken was thick chunks of poultry and the ham was almost gammon like in its taste. It was so nice I had two of them. 

I was looking forward to having a Chester Pie again when we play them on the final day of the 2016-17 season. However, because of the incompetence of the coach driver and his appalling sense of direction, we arrived 20 minutes into the match. This is the same bloke who asked why we were going to Kidderminster. (He was taking us from Boreham Wood Football club to Kidderminster Harriers Football Club – why did he think we were going there?). We’d have been better off with Stevie Wonder behind the wheel!! As well as being annoyed about missing half the first half, I was horrified when I found out that the catering woman in the away end assumed, no other supporters were coming so sent there stock of pies to the home end. I was quite vocal (some would say rude) to her. Apparently when I left the area, she was heard saying “what a wanker”. Fortunately I didn’t have to wait long until my next trip to the Deva Stadium as we played them at the beginning of the following season and fortunately Chester Pies were available on this occasion. Sadly Chester FC were relegated at the end of the 2017-18 season so that was that. 

The other pie, I would like to pay tribute to is the Steak Pie at North Ferriby United. North Ferriby a village and civil parish, by the banks of the Humber Estuary near Hull, somehow made in to the dizzy heights of the National League for the 2016-17 season. When played them in April 2017, I made my usual trip to the catering unit to find out what they had to eat.  When I enquired about their steak pies, the young fella behind the counter said “they’re the best in the National League”. His comment oozed so much confidence, I was duty bound to part with my £3 for one. Although there wasn’t anything particularly unique about it, the pie was lovely. It contained big think chunks of meat and zero gristle or pointless pieces of mushrooms and onions. It was so nice I had three of them. I also persuaded most of our core of travelling supporters to buy one as well. 

Sadly, just like Kidderminster and Chester, North Ferriby were relegated at the end of the season. There was definitely a pattern emerging. If you serve a decent pie, you’re team will get relegated!!     

Unfortunately most pies I sample at other grounds are a huge disappointment. They are usually a mass produced bundle of pastry with lots of gristle, gravy and onions in. I appreciate that not everyone has the willingness to make their own pies so they buy them in. In these circumstances, I tend to stick to the burgers. 

Coming back to the Kidderminster Harriers, following Brian Murdoch’s passing, his daughter Helen will run the Harriers Pie business when supporters are able to attend games again. I firmly believe these pies should be sold in supermarket chains and shops across Britain as its unfair that they should only be available to those attending matches at The Aggborough Stadium. I would pay through the nose for one in my weekly shop. I’m sure the great man’s legacy will live on when supporters in that part of Worcestershire can watch their beloved football team and eat Harriers Pies again, 

In the meantime I’ll continue to wait for Kidderminster’s promotion back to the National League or hope that we can draw them away in either the FA Cup or FA Trophy.   

To quote the late Brian Murdoch from an interview in 2012

 

"Barcelona have Messi, Real Madrid have Ronaldo and Kidderminster have our pies,"