Ian Pritchard has looked after the Edgar Street turf for the past three seasons but no more.
Ian Pritchard, who has
been grounds man at Hereford United for the past 3 years, has decided
that he cannot continue working for Hereford United at Edger Street and the Training ground as the new owners have failed to pay for
works during June as part of the contract terms agreed for the 2014/2015
season
Ian says that whilst he was owed money from the outstanding
seasons contracts amounting to circa £20k, throughout a 3 year period he
was promised by both Tommy Agombar and Andy Lonsdale that he would be paid this
outstanding amount over a 6 month period together with weekly payments
for the new seasons agreed contract value starting the 2nd week of June
for 44 weeks.
Prior to there first training day at Victoria park Mark Ellis asked
a supporter to cut the grass with a farm tractor knowing full well that
I was the grounds man and knowing that I was owed money. The grass was
cut leaving a large amount of grass all over the training ground however
I had been promised my first Backlog payment so agreed to overcut
the training ground if I receive payment, which Tommy did immediately
when I threatened to lock the gate.
I carried out grass cutting and marking out at Victoria park that
week and continued to cut the grass for a further 2 weeks with grass
cutting and seeding taking place at the stadium twice a week until the
last week of June and promised payments nearly every day by Andy
Longsdale
So I decided enough was enough and stopped doing anything, maybe
its what I should have done during David Keytes reign but I was loyal
to the club and fans to keep going to the end of the season
I had received my agreed weekly payments for the period July to
November 2013 then the cash crisis came and I was paid lesser amounts
leaving me £18k outstanding with David Keyte promising that I would get
my money immediately when a new investor buys into the club.
Well fool me to believe this, as the new investors are no different
not wanting to pay for anything, totally unprofessional
and consistent liars.
This is how they think,
Mark Ellis thought the club owned my equipment and was going to use it to avoid paying me.
Mark Ellis in a meeting said I was part of the cancer in the
club and should show more support to the new owners then asked me to
help him organise some friendlies.
Mark Ellis has now hired a tractor mower to cut the pitch from a
local supplier, spending money that could have been paid to me to do it.
Andy Longsdale stated that they had set up a direct debit but clearly had know intention to do so.
So my highs are that I was proud to be the groundsman for Hereford United with the ground voted one of the best surfaces in the conference
last year.
My lows are that I was instructed to flood the pitch by the manager
to cancel a game over the xmas period when it was more than playable
losing important revenue.
They say what goes around comes around and as they have no class it wont be long, and to all my friends hope to see you soon.
Update: Ian Prichard has confirmed it was the Newport game from December 29th that he was asked to flood the pitch for due to injuries.