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Thursday, November 20, 2014

Property Developers Not Football Men At Edgar Street


The investigative blog, Save Edgar Street, has published the first of two articles which claim to prove that those currently running Hereford United are 'property developers not football men'.

The blog has trawled through hundreds of e-mails which have been obtained under 'freedom of information' requests.

Here are their conclusions:

On 12 February 2014 Herefordshire Council and Hereford United finally completed the negotiations and signed three new leases for Edgar Street. One for the Blackfriars End, one for the Meadow End and a third lease for the remaining area of the ground. The leases for the two ends included rights for development. The profits from this development were protected for the club to use.
Just eight days later on 20 February 2014, former club Chairman David Keyte sent an email to Geoff Hughes, Herefordshire Councils Director of Economy, Communities and Corporate. In his message Keyte requests a meeting to introduce a consortium interested in investing in the club. The email goes on to say the investors ‘wish to eventually get their money back from ground developments’and ‘They would propose to do the developments themselves’.
On 24 February 2014 the consortium met with Hughes at Brockington. As well as Keyte the attendees were Jed McCrory and Stephen Murrall.
Here’s Keyte’s email to Hughes:

The next email comes from 17 April 2014 from an unknown source, again requesting a meeting with Geoff Hughes. The senders name is blacked out; but as they were an attendee at the meeting which took place on 24 April 2014 we know it was one of: David Keyte, S.J. Merchant, D. Price and Mo Omar. We also know from the email that one of them is an architect. The subject of the meeting was to be: PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT EDGAR STREET STADIUM’. We know from previously released emails that these representatives are connected to Jed McCrory. We also know that this was the meeting where a 999 year lease was discussed.
Here’s the email in black and white:

These emails finally provide conclusive proof that our club was sold to investors only interested in the profits they could make for themselves from redeveloping the two ends at the ground. The very fact that the consortium ‘proposed to do the developments themselves’ screams of a group of people looking to maximise their returns with little interest in football.
The date of the first email also begs the question: how long had this consortium been waiting in the wings? The bulk of the remaining emails are mainly run of the mill content around the completion of the new lease agreements. The tone of the emails is one of co-operation and understanding. Two sets of solicitors and their clients clearly working to the same shared aim. Both sides appear to trust one another. But one thing is apparent: the club were very keen to complete.
To the Council the club put over the point of view that they were keen to complete because of a pending winding up petition. When this prospect first appeared in January 2014 the club became nervous. Naturally so. But this nervousness was exacerbated because the Council would not agree the new leases if the club had a winding up petition against its name. The Council made substantial efforts to release the remaining bond money put aside for refurbishing the Starlite Rooms to assist the club. Many fans dug deep and donated what they could. The club was in court on 27 January. The hearing was adjourned and the petition dismissed on 30 January. But knowing that another winding up petition was imminent the leases needed to be signed. This was finally done when a special courier brought the documents from Birmingham to be signed. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The future of the club was now secure. Or was it?
Sadly, no. An additional reason why the club were nervous and keen to complete the negotiations was because David Keyte clearly saw the new leases as his way out of the club. This is demonstrated by the fact that as soon as the ink was dry on the documents he quickly introduces the Council to the dishonest characters that currently pollute our boardroom and shareholdings. It is becoming fairly obvious that the investors were waiting in the wings for sometime. Quietly siting in the background whilst the lease negotiations were complete. Being careful not to rock the boat at such a delicate time. Leaving everything to the local boy who had quietly built a relationship with the key council figures. No doubt former Hereford United Director Councillor Nick Nenadich was a helpful in smoothing the way forward too. If only the Council had been a bit more wary.
The emails also reveal that the club were prepared to do pretty much anything to get their hands on some money from the Council to stave off the winding up petition. Keyte tried to loan money off the Council in lieu of profits from future development. He even offered to sell the Meadow and Blackfriars Ends to the Council. Both these offers were turned down by the local authority. What would they do with the benefit of hindsight?
This blog does not believe that David Keyte will be the saviour of the club with his rumoured legal action over the ownership of the club. As has been well established Agombar agreed to pay Keyte £2,5000 a month as part payment for the debt which Keyte left in the club at the time of takeover. He’s clearly just protecting himself and eking out as much cash as possible from the crooks before the clubs seemingly inevitable demise.
Now the above emails have confirmed once and for all what we already knew. Share them as widey as possible. We must toughen our resolve and work harder than ever to clear out the mockney mafia before it is too late. We must make it as difficult as possible for them to succeed. If we fight hard enough and long enough we can beat them and SaveEdgarStreet.
.