SQUAD NEWS: TimBer!

Quorn Football Club are delighted to announce the signing of prolific forward Tim Berridge.

The former Coalville Town frontman joins after two seasons in the National League North with Leamington. Berridge earned his move to the Brakes after impressing at Owen Street, finishing as topscorer for the Ravens in 2023/24 season.

A Nottingham native, Berridge is looking forward to playing closer to his East Leake home, “whenever I’ve watched Quorn under Bez, they’ve played good football” he noted, “I’m hoping to hit the ground running, have another good season and score a lot of goals for the club.”

Berridge’s football journey began at an early age “⁠I just remember playing with my parents at a young age before going to a local football school. I got into junior football and then moved into men’s football with Dunkirk, one of my local clubs.” Tim’s goals help fire the Boatmen to the East Midlands Counties League title in the 2017/18 season, which is when the Ravens made their move.

In six seasons at Owen Street, Berridge helped Coalville to two playoff appearances, with the club narrowly missing out once more, as well as being well placed in the two covid-curtailed seasons. The Ravens narrowly missed out on promotion to the National League North in the 2022/23 playoff final against Rushall Olympic. Aside from some impressive league performances, Berridge helped Town to a couple of memorable cup runs.

In that same playoff season Berridge helped Coalville into the first round of the FA Cup. After beating Shepshed Dynamo, Macclesfield and AFC Sudbury, Town were rewarded with a fourth qualifying round match at Meadow Lane, where they knocked out Notts County 3-2, setting up a first round clash with Charlton Athletic at The Valley. The Addicks were 4-1 winners on the day but Tim remembers those away days as “special occasions”.

Aside from scoring in the Challenge Cup final in 2019 to help Coalville retain the title, there was also a memorable FA Trophy run in 2023/24. Victories against division rivals Royston Town and Alvechurch sent the Ravens into the 2nd round, were managed a 1-1 draw against step two Boston United. Town progressed after winning a penalty shootour 7-6. A third round tie against Walsall Wood was postponed three times, before being reversed to Owen Street, where Coalville won 2-0.

More higher level opposition awaited, as a trip to National League South Bath City ended in a goalless draw, with Town once again prevailing on penalties. A fifth round match saw another trip to a step two side, where Coalville won 3-0 at Bishop’s Stortford. The magical run finally ended with a 3-0 quarter-final defeat away to Macclesfield.

That would be Berridge’s final season with Coalville Town, but it saw him win the Golden Boot, scoring 16 times in 33 matches. In all, Tim made over 250 appearances in the black and white of the Ravens, scoring almost 100 times, before leaving for step two football at Leamington.

The Brakes finished a creditable 15th in their first season back at step two, but struggled last season, eventually finishing bottom and suffering relegation back to the Southern League Premier Central.

“I played upfront with Bill at Coalville, and I’ve played against Bez many times, as well as watching Quorn quite a lot over the past two years, so I know quite a bit about the club. I’m genuinely excited to sign and can’t wait for the season to start.”

Welcome to Farley Way Tim.