Harwood Bull accepts that success for Hereford United is only occasional but when it happens it's all the sweeter.
In my time we’ve had the epic win over Newcastle and the subsequent election to the Football League, followed by promotions to the old Divisions Three and Two, all by 1976. Then came relegation, and relegation again followed by long periods of very poor football, financial struggle and three times when we had to apply for re-election. We had a brief moment of hope under Turner when we made the playoffs, before the awful day against Brighton. More mediocrity followed, before two near misses in the playoffs and then the relief of the triumph over Halifax at the Theatre of Crisps. Since then we’ve had another promotion and two relegations, and here we are, deep in the mire. By my reckoning that’s 5 promotions and 8 relegations or re-elections in 48 years, and 35 years with nothing too good or too bad to get agitated about.
I don’t have the time or inclination to do too much analysis, but my hunch is that that’s pretty much on a par for most small to medium size teams, who tend to settle at a level, occasionally stepping up or down a division before returning to the level which they can just about sustain. We are currently where we deserve to be based on resources and performances. A period of consolidation and regrouping may allow us to recover league status, but we have to find some sort of sustainable business model with better off the field income, and more home grown players, and budgeting on what’s known, not on fantasies of cup runs.
I know a lot of it is inspired by passion for the club, but there are some fairly nonsensical complaints on Bulls Banter about Keyte, suggesting that he should keep putting his hand in his pocket, or be out there finding some new investors. If what he says is even half true he’s already put a substantial amount of his own money into the club, even if it hasn’t always been spent very wisely. As Alan Sugar once said, the best way to make a small fortune out of football is to start off with a large one. As for new investors, people generally invest in something in the expectation of making a return – where’s that going to come from? The best prospect probably lies in the redevelopment, but as we all know, things like that can move painfully slowly in Hereford.
Another frequent cry is for Foyle to go. Understandable, but what would be achieved? Probably a brief resurgence under a new man but then normal service would be resumed. Also paying him off would cost a lot of cash we don’t have. I agree some of his decisions and selections have been hard to follow, but with better players at his disposal he put a team together that finished 6th last season, so he is capable of leading us to better things.
Keyte has learned the hard way what running a football club is all about, and spent wildly to begin with. There has been a lot of debate about Turner’s comments about leaving the club with money in the bank. I don’t think there can be any dispute. The money was there – Keyte spent it all recovering the leases, which made sense from the point of view of redevelopment, but has left us completely skint.
We have to rebuild slowly. Even if wealthy individuals could be found, how long would that last? We have no right to be a league club, we have to earn it - it took 9 years to get back last time and it could be that long again. We have to understand that success is only occasional, and all the sweeter because of that.