Former Hereford United manager Graham Turner will be back at Edgar Street next Saturday week for the FA Cup-tie.
He has already said he's well aware of Hereford United's current financial problems.
Back in 1998 Turner, who had to battle with funding problems, gave the following interview to Chris Jones from Talking Bull.
I thought the club was going nowhere fast. I was in attendance at the EGM and it struck home to me when one of the VP's who was prominent in saving the club in 1982 stood up and said he would not lift a finger to save the club whilst the present board was in place and I thought if that was the general opinion of supporters, and you got the impression that it was, all we would do was drift into oblivion. We were in a hell of a mess financially and I felt it needed some drastic action. Almost on a whim an offer was made to Peter Hill for his shares. I told him he had 24 hours to make his mind up. I'd called a press conference either to say he had accepted our offer or he'd refused it. It didn't seem to me at that time that the 5 business people from around here were ever going to get control of the club. It seemed a total impasse and drastic action was needed and that was why I went in with an offer. I was quite surprised in the end when he said yes. It was a long protracted deal which took nearly 6 months to sort out. I've not yet got Robin Fry's or those of Cosworth's. There have been one or two obstacles put in the way. There was agreement and his solicitors have had my bankers draft now for about 2 months. I'm still working on that. I've not given up hope of getting them but it's proving very difficult. I've said it often before there was a great deal of responsibility on my shoulders when the club went out of the league. There were mitigating circumstances; I can sit back and think did I really ever have a fair chance with transfer embargoes and the financial position of the club? That doesn't matter. I was manager when the club went out of the league and there is that determination to make sure that when I leave here the club is in a far better position financially, might have been relocated to a nice new stadium and to make sure we are back in the Football League. I feel that sense of responsibility. I've been in the game long enough to know that there are pitfalls in what I have done. There is a chance that somewhere along the line I might lose some money and I am not naive enough to think that with all the problems we have got that it's going to be easy. Through the summer it has been tremendously hard work until 8 or 9 o'clock at night, starting early mornings with letters to various people. We have had a tremendous response from the local business community and supporters all of which leads me to believe that we can pull everything round.
What do you now see as your role within the club?
Right at the moment I've no idea other than I have said to the staff that there is no demarcation in roles. Everybody has got to muck in and do whatever jobs need doing. I am fortunate in the quality that I've got; Joan Fennessey on the administrative side, Keith Downing on the football side. I've got Colin Oliver in charge of ground and stadium, Ron Jukes in charge of all my scouting so there are more people there who I can lean on quite heavily. Whether it ends up that I spend a little bit more time on the administrative side and less with the players remains to be seen. So far through pre-season we've mixed it up nicely between Keith and myself taking sessions. The majority of the time Keith has worked with the players but on several occasions I've been able to get out and get things done. It has been a difficult situation. We've had to almost prise money out of Chelverton. They still owed us somewhere between �,000 and �0,000 depending on how much the supervisor required. One of the problems was that they wanted a financially viable plan for the coming season and so obviously there had to be cutbacks. There has been a huge reduction in wages and expenditure to meet with Chelverton's requirements. We had the required �,000 to see us through the summer sent to us Thursday afternoon so at least now we should pay our way right up until the first league match.
So my role is not yet set as to whether it is managing director, manager of the team, chairman of the board. Whatever unfolds, whatever needs doing over the next few weeks I'm quite happy to do it and then see how the situation changes. See where we need help. See whether a new chairman is waiting. I'd love to think that there is someone out there prepared to put money in the club. I've said often enough that if there is anybody I'm quite happy to sell my shares and let them take the helm as Chairman but I've got to know it is for the right reasons and that is for the future benefit of the club and not for the benefit of developers or speculators.
What is Keith Downing's role going to be? Will he be in day to day charge of running the team?
I will still be in charge of day to day running of the team in terms of selection and programmes. Keith after consultation with myself take the training and the coaching. He is really fit enough and strong enough that he would like to think about playing again. Today for example he is on the bench and should get some part of the game against West Brom. He's very keen, very enthusiastic to play again so as I've said before no demarcation of roles. If he finishes up playing and coaching I'll be delighted because it will mean an extra experienced player available to select.He's got an important role for this season and I'm sure he can carry it out as he did at the back end of last season. He's got plenty of enthusiasm, wants to learn and be involved in different things and I'm delighted with his presence in the team.
How often are the players going to train?
We will train all day Monday and Tuesday. If there are no midweek matches then the next training will be on the Thursday probably evening time where the part-timers can come and take part in pattern of play, set pieces, all those sort of things if they are going to figure in the team. We have booked Leominster Leisure Centre on the astroturf, under lights, for that very reason. We've got that booked through the season on Thursday nights so I'm hoping that we can combine the part-time players with those on full time. We've been fortunate to get Stuart Evans from Halesowen. He's been able to train full time because he's a University student and he could go through the summer months training with us. John Snape is slightly different. He's got a good job and needs the time to spend at work. He has done a couple of days full time with us but he will train in the evenings with another club and then join up with us on Thursday nights. We've got to make sure that we integrate them into the team as well as we possibly can. They have got to feel part of it. I've got to say I've been impressed with both of them so far and I'm sure we can make it work
.
Does the loan that we have had from Chelverton mean that we are now breaking even on a day to day basis?
What we've had to do is set a budget for the coming season which has included variable income such as the sale of players and cup revenue. What we've done is base it on last season's figures. It might have been a decent cup run. We might improve upon those figures. It remains to be seen but we had to put something in there so I thought the best course of action would be for the league gates to work on an average of 2,500. I think we were about 13 short of that last season so that was realistic and worked on the figures from the FA Cup. So that financially viable plan has gone in. The problem we have got is the paying off of accrued debts notwithstanding the £1m we owe to Chelverton and Bristol Stadiums or the £90,000 we owe to the bank (over £25,000 we owe to the bank from the 1982 company) we have to service some past debts and some commitments to leases, hire purchase, all those sort of things I think the budget we have set down should see us break even but it doesn't allow for things like the debts to taxmen, to one or two other clubs, to more recent debts that were not included in the CVA. So we'll have our work cut out making ends meet but the plan we've put into operation I'm sure can see us through the season with a strong enough squad which is the important thing. If we are going to succeed we have to attract more people through the turnstiles. If we are going to attract more people through the turnstiles we have got to do well as a side and be up there near the top of that table. So we've got to make sure we put a squad together good enough to do that. I just feel very optimistic about that. I think we've worked hard during the summer to persuade people to come and join us and it's not finished yet. We still need another couple of players. I think we'll have a squad good enough to mount a challenge. I think we've got a strong enough squad to please the supporters.
Do we have any idea on what the Herefordshire authority's views are on relocation or redevelopment?
I think that's very premature at the moment. Obviously Bristol Stadiums and Chelverton think that they will gain planning permission for Edgar Street and we will relocate. I don't think it's an absolute foregone conclusion. It's possible that the stumbling block might be timescale rather than the actual refusal of planning permission or otherwise. The developers perhaps think it would be in the near future. You talk to people around the local authority and they think it will be in the longer term rather than perhaps the next 2 years. What we have to make sure is that we don't finish up in a position like Brighton where developers have got control of things and we finish up without a stadium. We've got to guard against those sorts of things.
Are there any possible sites in the pipeline?
There's been a lot talked about Bullinghope. I've my doubts as to whether we will ever end up there. There is talk of relocation from the cattle market. I think the sensible thing would be for the football club and the cattle market to relocate together. They use the same sort of facilities and infrastructure, car parks and so on. I think that would make a sensible and logical conclusion but we will have to wait and see.
We are obviously going to have to butter up the Herefordshire authority. How are we going to do this?
Well first of all I don't think buttering up is quite the phrase. I think there has been a lot of aggression shown towards them in the past. I think it is dealing with them in a sensible manner. Without a shred of a doubt we need their co-operation but money is tight for them as for most local authorities. They haven't the money to throw around but we do need their co-operation in terms of relocating. We need planning permission for Edgar Street. All those sort of things have to be done hand in hand with the local authority. The fact that we've got George Hyde, who is leader of the new unitary authority, on the board might help the matter. He's made it clear that he has a clash of interests so therefore he will step aside for meetings that take place in the council when football matters are discussed but I'm delighted to have him on board because I think he's a very knowledgeable and sensible man, speaks his mind. I think he'll be an asset to us.
How are we going to repay the loan?
That is the stumbling block. There is May 1999. Without a benefactor coming in and putting that money in it is going to be very difficult to meet that deadline. I've been told repeatedly that Bristol Stadiums will not impose their wish to get the money back immediately. They are accruing interest on it anyway. There are enough assets around this ground to cover that loan and interest. So I think we'll have a bit of leeway. Whether it is paid in May 1999 or later out of the proceeds of the sale of Edgar Street it remains to be seen, but without a benefactor coming in it is almost impossible to raise that sort of money in the timescale demanded and what we need is the co-operation of Bristol Stadiums. I would love to get that millstone from round our neck so that we can work at our pace but it is there and we have got to live with it. Perhaps put it to the back of our minds because we can't raise that sort of money and make sure we operate on a viable basis in terms of day to day running of the club and hope something comes along with that.
I've heard that you would like Hereford United to be run as a community based club. Do you have any ideas about that?
We've talked about the community being involved. What I want to appoint is a liaison committee, a steering committee of supporters, Vice Presidents, basically of the different departments attached to the club; the board of directors would have a couple of representatives on it and get the views of a cross section of supporters. I think that for too long the decisions of the board have been foisted upon supporters and it is time we listened to what they want. It has got to be done within the financial restraints of the club. I think that most thinking supporters will understand the plight we are in. They are desperate to see the club survive but the only way we are going to ensure it has a future is to work together, so I'm hoping that we can get this cross section of supporters together to help us steer the club into the year 2000 and beyond.
Would you be looking to have a supporters representative on the board?
No. I don't think it works. I don't think it is feasible. I don't see any sense of it whatsoever. I think we're far better getting a cross section of views by having perhaps a liaison committee of up to perhaps ten people on it where you do get that cross section. The board of directors would be responsible for the ultimate decisions but I'm sure that with already a representative of HUISA on the board and one or two who have been very keen supporters I'm sure they will not ignore the views of supporters.