Birmingham City legend Horsfield goes to Churchmen (From Redditch Advertiser)

Birmingham City legend Horsfield goes to Churchmen

6:20pm Wednesday 6th March 2013 in Local Sport

FORMER Birmingham City legend Geoff Horsfield has vowed to impart his vast experience on to Alvechurch’s youngsters after signing for the Midland Alliance club.

The 39-year-old, nicknamed ‘The Horse’ , is set to make his debut in Saturday’s home match against Tipton Town (3pm ko).

He brings a wealth of knowledge after a career which saw him score goals for Fulham, Birmingham, West Bromwich Albion and Wigan Athletic.

The Churchmen boast some exciting young goal-scoring talent in the shape of Omari Sterling-James, Jazz Luckie and Ryan Edmunds and now the 6ft tall powerhouse, who memorably scored for Blues in the Championship play-off final against Norwich, believes he can help them improve.

He said: “I’ve already watched one or two games and there is no doubting Alvechurch have some talented young players at the club.

“I feel my experience will only help them learn and improve.

“I’ve known the chairman Richard Thorndike for some time and he’s persuaded me to play.

“Alvechurch is a club with a great non-league pedigree. “I’ve played in the Northern League but this is my first time in the Midland Alliance and I am looking forward to it.”

Chairman Thorndike was delighted to have snared a player popular with Midlands football fans.

He said: “Geoff is a tremendous player and we’re delighted he has agreed to sign for Alvechurch.

“He will be someone the young lads we have at the club will look up to and learn from.”

Horsfield also confirmed he had got over a life threatening illness in January, when he was diagnosed with blood clots on his lungs.

He also suffered from a pulmonary embolism and pneumonia but has since recovered. This was the second time the striker has suffered a life-threatening illness after overcoming testicular cancer in 2008.

Meanwhile, Alvehurch have released more details of their 100th anniversary celebrations.

On Friday, May 17, Steve Claridge and Talksport presenter Ian Danter will be guest speakers at sporting luncheon.

A day later there will be the end of season presentation night, while on Saturday, May 25 Alvechurch will tackle Birmingham City all stars.

Alvechurch are hosting music festival Moduska on May 26 featuring four live bands, while on Saturday, June 8 there will be a white collar open air boxing show.

n The Churchmen have experienced mixed results over the last week. They came from 2-0 down to beat Studley 3-2 thanks to a Jack O’Donnell brace and one for Jake Allen.

On Saturday they lost 2-1 to Dunkirk, despite Joe Wright scoring.