The following was sent to Herefordshire Council Leader Tony Johnson by a concerned resident nine days ago. The resident is yet to receive a response:
Dear Mr Johnson,
I write
as a born and bred Herefordian that is becoming deeply concerned at the
rapidly diminishing offering of sport now available in the County.
This weekend's Regatta at Hereford Rowing Club has been
cancelled, and in the same week Hereford Racecourse and Hereford United
FC are in the news for the wrong reasons.
The
regatta has been a fixture on the County's calendar for many years, and
several family members have taken part in years past. To lose this along
with other sport in the County is the beginning of removing
Herefordshire from the sporting map entirely.
Hereford Racecourse's ongoing closure, with
apparently nothing the Council can do thanks to a badly negotiated lease
according to Cllr Nenadich, is a national embarrassment putting the
County in a very poor light.
The Racecourse ran successfully for over 200 years
until an uncaring business from outside the County took control. The
same can be said for the football club.
Hereford
United's plight has also seen national coverage, with the Council
seemingly unwilling to take firm action despite the record of lies from
the new owner in terms of paying the debts of the club which apparently
they were fully aware they had to settle.
Graham Turner proved successfully, for over
10 years, that the football club could exist on the gates they attracted
last season. Their current woes are solely down to the mismanagement of
one man, who racked up huge losses but chose to blame anyone but
himself for the errors and sold the club to the first person who turned
up without asking too many questions.
The current Hereford United is so badly wounded,
financially, that it is realistically unsalvageable. The projected
income in the proposed CVA is a work of fiction - they realistically
expect to increase overall income on half the gates and also pay half
the VAT they were due to this season? They claim a £200,000 profit to
clear a £400,000 repayment each season, relying for full repayment on a
man who has repeatedly failed to meet deadlines and continues to owe the
Council a substantial sum.
But there is a huge support for the club and a group
of people have already approached the Council with a sensible,
credible, plan to reform the club and re-establish professional football
on a sustainable basis at Edgar Street.
With the Racecourse all but gone, and Hereford
United now in a semi-professional league, is there any truly
Professional sport left in the County?
Do you
want that to be your legacy? You have the power to stop it, put the
sporting assets of the County into the safeguard of the County, and
forge a way forward where the people who are living in the thousands of
new houses actually have something sporting to do with their time.
Yours Sincerely
