Various commentators will mention Hereford United over the next few days even if they are not their first club. Frank Keating, who writes for the Guardian, is one.
A fan is lumbered for life with one club. Neither devotion (nor exasperation) can ever waver. But you are allowed to watch out for a few other fond family favourites and, in my case, anxiety about Fulham has been calmed a tad by Hereford's nervelessly assured march into League One. Graham Turner's exemplary long stewardship at Edgar Street is almost knighthood-deserving.
Half a century ago, I cut my teeth reporting for the Hereford Times on the Bulls' away matches in the old Southern League. Home games were covered by the sports editor, crabby old-timer "Polly" Parrot, who had a spittoon beside his desk and would stamp his gammy leg in a self-harm fury every time I forgot the three semi-colons dividing the primeval 2-4-5 team formations, and when I invented the post-match loser's phrase "sick as a parrot" he'd violently excise it from my copy before hobbling to the editor's room again to demand my sacking.
Text at top (next game etc)
Next Game: Scarborough In The League At Edgar Street On Tuesday 19th November At 7.45pm