With Hereford United back in court again this coming Monday, one supporter looks back over the past seven months.
- In May 2014, Thomas Agombar purchased Hereford United for 2 pounds
from the previous Chairman, who turned a club with a positive bank
balance into one which was well known by fans to be at least £1 million
in debt
- Two of the first acts under Agombar were:
- A Nonpayment of a bond to the Football Conference which meant the Club was relegated 2 divisions to the Southern Premier League
- Agombar asking the local Council to move the leases, the clubs ONLY material asset, likely worth millions, to one of his companies.
- Agombar subsequently failed the FA's fit and proper test due to previous criminal activity and was ordered to sell his stake
- He sold to a "dealer in distressed debt", Alan McCarthy in August, who has never made a public statement about the club
- In November, the FA charged Alan McCarthy with a breach of regulations for not taking the fit and proper test
- Rather than take the test, McCarthy transferred ownership in December to Andrew Lonsdale, who was originally announced in June as an "advisor" to Agombar, but who had passed the fit and proper test and become a director in November
- Chairman and Owner, Andrew Lonsdale, has a fly tipping conviction, a string of liquidated companies, a bankruptcy order in 2007 and from 2006-2012 was disqualified from being a company director.
-Those liquidated companies left more than 7 million pounds in unpaid debt
- Lonsdale was involved with football club Feltham FC when:
- they arranged with the council to redevelop the ground. This never materialised and in fact left the council with a 300,000 cleanup bill
- Feltham FC disappeared as a standalone club, merging with neighbour Bedfont
- Two of the first acts under Agombar were:
- A Nonpayment of a bond to the Football Conference which meant the Club was relegated 2 divisions to the Southern Premier League
- Agombar asking the local Council to move the leases, the clubs ONLY material asset, likely worth millions, to one of his companies.
- Agombar subsequently failed the FA's fit and proper test due to previous criminal activity and was ordered to sell his stake
- He sold to a "dealer in distressed debt", Alan McCarthy in August, who has never made a public statement about the club
- In November, the FA charged Alan McCarthy with a breach of regulations for not taking the fit and proper test
- Rather than take the test, McCarthy transferred ownership in December to Andrew Lonsdale, who was originally announced in June as an "advisor" to Agombar, but who had passed the fit and proper test and become a director in November
- Chairman and Owner, Andrew Lonsdale, has a fly tipping conviction, a string of liquidated companies, a bankruptcy order in 2007 and from 2006-2012 was disqualified from being a company director.
-Those liquidated companies left more than 7 million pounds in unpaid debt
- Lonsdale was involved with football club Feltham FC when:
- they arranged with the council to redevelop the ground. This never materialised and in fact left the council with a 300,000 cleanup bill
- Feltham FC disappeared as a standalone club, merging with neighbour Bedfont
Since June:
-Two other Directors have had to resign since they would have failed the fit and proper test, one being Agombar's son, the other described by Lonsdale as the Club's Accountant
- "Investment" into the club has been continually promised, but never materialised
- Creditors from Season 2013/14 are still allegedly unpaid despite this being a condition for Hereford United to play 2014/15 season
- The club has faced 8 Winding Up Proceedings with the next scheduled for 15th December
- The Council has tried to evict the club for nonpayment of rent, but when faced with this the club paid most of the rent the same day
On the football side:
- crowds are down by more than 75% this season over last due to a fans boycott based on the clubs repeated failure to pay creditors
- Despite being the only full time team in the league, the club sit in 15th place, having used almost 50 players this season, and having been knocked out of the FA cup in the first qualifying round.
Lonsdale is on record as stating he will now personally put money into the club up in an amount of up to 5 million pounds to clear all debts. A financing letter was submitted to court on December 1st stating that Lonsdale owns $9 million of a commercial mortgage backed security (a complex financial instrument) that is to be used by an Italian bank as collateral to extend a loan in British pounds. We await developments at the Winding Up Proceedings on December 15th eagerly.
-Two other Directors have had to resign since they would have failed the fit and proper test, one being Agombar's son, the other described by Lonsdale as the Club's Accountant
- "Investment" into the club has been continually promised, but never materialised
- Creditors from Season 2013/14 are still allegedly unpaid despite this being a condition for Hereford United to play 2014/15 season
- The club has faced 8 Winding Up Proceedings with the next scheduled for 15th December
- The Council has tried to evict the club for nonpayment of rent, but when faced with this the club paid most of the rent the same day
On the football side:
- crowds are down by more than 75% this season over last due to a fans boycott based on the clubs repeated failure to pay creditors
- Despite being the only full time team in the league, the club sit in 15th place, having used almost 50 players this season, and having been knocked out of the FA cup in the first qualifying round.
Lonsdale is on record as stating he will now personally put money into the club up in an amount of up to 5 million pounds to clear all debts. A financing letter was submitted to court on December 1st stating that Lonsdale owns $9 million of a commercial mortgage backed security (a complex financial instrument) that is to be used by an Italian bank as collateral to extend a loan in British pounds. We await developments at the Winding Up Proceedings on December 15th eagerly.