One of City's most successful players, Des Lyttle was with the club at the start and the end of his long career. He was first signed in March 1991. At the time he was a teenager and had just been released by Leicester City. It was soon apparent that City had a talented footballer on their hands and he won the Young Player of the Year award, despite having played just 12 games in Blue and White. Twelve months later he was the Player of the Year and his mature displays in defence were attracting a lot of interest from bigger clubs.

Swansea City were made aware of him by Terry Awford, who was a scout for the Swans, and they duly signed Des for £12,500 plus follow-ons in the summer of 1992. Des made his professional debut away to Burnley on the opening day of the 1992/93 season.

Twelve months later he moved onto Nottingham Forest, going on to complete almost 500 appearances in a professional career spanning two decades. Des helped Forest to third place in the Premier League in 1994/95, as well as winning promotion to the top flight with West Bromwich Albion in 2001/02.

Andy Preece brought Des back to the Lane from Forest Green Rovers in the summer of 2005. Although approaching the veteran stage and not as quick as in his younger days, Des gave City two good years, spending part of that time as captain, but was released by Preece in May 2007 because of budget constraints. The decision came as a surprise as Des had been tipped to become assistant manager following the departure of Andy Morrison.

Des signed for Tamworth for the 2007/08 season and carried on playing until October 2010 when he was appointed as caretaker manager following the departure of Gary Mills. Tamworth subsequently appointed Des as manager on a full-time basis, but he resigned the following year, claiming he was being undermined by the club's directors. He was appointed manager of Hucknall Town in October 2011, before departing seven months later. He had a spell as first team coach at York City, before becoming the Director of Football at Thomas Telford School in Shropshire in 2012.

City record: 159 appearances, 6 goals.

Article by Julian Pugh, Worcester City FC Historian