Text at top (next game etc)

Next Game: Pre-Season

Monday, December 22, 2014

I'm Weighing Up All My Options Said Lonsdale


Lonsdale Coming Out Of The High Court Last Monday
Former Hereford United owner Andy Lonsdale has told BBC Hereford and Worcester that he will be meeting with his advisors tomorrow to decide whether to take any action after the club was put into liquidation last Friday at the High Court.

Lonsdale said he had been stuck in traffic with documents but the resistrar had had enough and so liquidated the club.

"We e-mailed a copy to the barrister but they wanted to see the original," said Lonsdale.

"We had to send the original to the Court.

"It wasn't a good day but we are looking at appealing.

"I think we have seven days.

"I'm weighing up my options.

"I've read a lot on social media and I'm wondering if it's worth it.

"I am interested. If I wasn't interested I wouldn't have stuck with the club as long as I did.

"It was never about the leases.

"All we were interested was in building the team and getting back into the Football League.

"The fans weren't with us, they were all against us.

"We had a £750,000 investment which was read out in court on December 1st. 

"Within five minutes it was on Bulls News and then he got phone calls to his office and he pulled the investment.

"When I first went to the club in May I was only advising Tommy (Agombar). It was only later on when I was made chairman I became more involved.

"Alan McCarthy was meant to invest, he got intimidating phone calls and decided to pull out. We then went to Duggie Carroll and he decided to pull out. Then it was left up to me to sort it out.

"They blame me for not keeping them in the Conference. If I had looked at the deal from day one as a pure business deal I'd have walked away because it was so heavily in debt.

"People berate for what we've done but we've paid a lot of the football creditors, we paid the wages, kept the club alive for six months and we paid the council.

"We spent a lot of money at the club and yet people say we were only there to rob it."

"Why didn't you walk away three or four months ago," asked presenter Andrew Easton.

"I think I got bitten by the bug. I used to go to every single game home and away.

"I suppose it was to keep the passion alive and keep the integrity and history of the club. Something that I care about obviously no-one else does."

Back to the last Friday and Easton suggested Lonsdale should have been there earlier and ready to pay the money.

"Not really. Other times e-mails have been acceptable.

"It's not over yet, hopefully an appeal will be done or something will happen.

"I read a lot of social media and they're really happy about their fans team and HUST.

"Maybe there will be a chance to discuss with them but they never wanted to discuss with us in the past.

"All they really wanted was to get me to a meeting like a kangeroo court. Just me and them. They weren't interested in football just financial.

"I would say I've put in in excess of £50/60K. The total money invested in the club to date was probably close to £600/650K.

"People don't realise the club was heavily in debt and when we done the CVA there were a lot of people claiming money that they were not due.

"If they had agreed to the CVA, the club would be flying now."

Easton then asked Lonsdale given the Council have reprocessed the ground, the fans aren't big fans of yours, the players are not there now, 'why would you bother going any further, why not chuck in the towel?'

"As I said earlier, I'm weighing up my options. There's always things that can be done. The Council have got a legal right to go for the best offer."

Easton - "So you're not going to walk away?"

"No, not completely.

"There's lot of people in Hereford over the last six months have put in a lot of hard work. And I'd like to thank them for the work they've done there.

"I'd like to thank Jon Taylor and Neil Phelps under a lot of pressure from the locals.

"There was a woman at the club that got berated on Bulls News, well not Bulls News, Bulls Banter because she had a party at the club.

Former Employee Gail Gibbons Booked Party At The Starlite Rooms
"Absolutely disgraceful, absolutely disgraceful behaviour.

"I don't mind people having a pop at me. I'm the face of the club but not at anybody else who is trying to make a go of it and make it happen."

Easton: "Would you like to think you'll ever set foot in Edgar Street again?"

"I will set foot in Edgar Street again."

Easton "In what capacity?"

"I don't know yet. We'll weigh up the options but nothing has been decided yet.

"There are a lot of things that haven't been answered yet.

"I still think there is a hidden agenda with this lot and by the New Year I think we'll know exactly what it is.

"And I think a lot of people will realise that we weren't the liars and the crooks we were made out to be.

"We paid £220K on football creditors, £52.5K to the Council, we kept the club running for six months, we had to spend about £40/50K to get the ground upto safety standard and the security for every game and what the council required.

"Again it didn't cost the club that last year but because it was us it was a different ball game. The water bill was £8K and general bills running the club.

"I did stand in the background for a long time and I did pay a lot of bills".