The unofficial Archiver thinks about the future:
What in my view needs to happen over the next few months, and years to help shape a community football club we can all be proud of. Some of this maybe obvious and I would imagine will have already been thought of.
We will skip over the very obvious bits – form a new club, that club playing at Edgar Street, and in a new league
· Colin Addison & Graham Turner – Club Ambassadors/Active in some form of capacity – these are 2 extremely experienced managers, with experience of board room level, and they both have the respect of the supporters, and care deeply about the now defunct club – it would be criminal not to have them involved in some capacity – both will also have massive contacts within the game that will come in very handy
· Do not screw over Westfields and the other local teams – The reformed club will most likely enter in the Midland Football League, the same league as Westfields. What we must not do is damage them in our revival – with our gates of 500 (personally feel that this is a low estimate, especially if we are successful – people will come and watch a successful team no matter what level) we will be a big fish in a small pond, but we SHOULDN’T be at this level long – if we do things properly. What we can’t do is strip their squad bare (with our gates we will probably be paying higher wages) just to get promoted leaving them in the learch – the ethos of the new team must, and will be about the community, and that community is about Herefordshire Football, not just HUFC
· There is already a youth set up in place - We have by all accounts a decent United in the Community team from under 7 to under 18’s – this must become our youth set up and we simply put a senior team on top of this. Rob Purdie is a person who gets what the old was about, and is more than a canny footballer still – he has the passion for the job and has produced a winning team this year and in my opinion must be involved on and off the field.
· Get someone experienced at the helm – On the forums/social media Purdie, Steve Guinan and other ex-players have been mentioned as the manager, but we need someone who knows the level of football we are at. We will have some momentum in August and a good start is essential – this cannot be left to a novice, even if they are true legend in HUFC fans eyes.
· Me and You and a Dog Named Boo – Its our song and must be played as we walk onto the field
· You cant win it with just kids – I’ve spent this season watching the United Counties League – lucky to have two teams within 10 minutes of my house – Oadby Town and Harborough Town - which is the same step as the Midland Football League – and the format is very similar each week – you’ve got some good young players but it’s the teams that have real experienced players at the spine of the team, and these are guys that know how to put their foot in – especially as the pitches have somewhat turned now.
· Every game must have a match sponsor/ball sponsor/mascot – Even if it’s a prize given away to a school or a community project – other the last couple of season’s there has been big gaps where no mascots/sponsors were around and it looked awful – for me, their needs to be someone on a Friday cold calling local business/schools trying to fill these slots if they are vacant – even if it only brings in £20 – that business who paid £20 quid may include a couple who hadn’t been before, that liked what they saw and start to come weekly.
· If you have a Season Ticket with a League Team you get reduced entry – I’d expect to pay £5 at Midland Football Lge level – it’s what I pay to get into Oadby and Harborough and these 2 teams compete with Leicester City for football fans so it seems a reasonable price. Hereford will have a large percentage of football fans that don’t support Hereford – we have to reach out to them and get them into the club – even if this only adds 10-15 to the gate each week this could be another player on the books.
· Forgive and Forget – I don’t care which side of the fence you were on, whether you were best mates with Keyte, Lonsdale, Tommy or hated their guts or were somewhere in between – this is YOUR opportunity to help shape OUR team – get involved, come along, and be part of it. We cannot be having the arguments in 2/5/10 years time about who did what, who supported who. Draw a line in the sand and move on
· Never mention their names again – As part of the healing process never mention the names of the people who destroyed our club again