Hereford FC, the club formed just last December after Andy Lonsdale failed to come up with any money to keep Hereford United afloat, play their first ever friendly this evening at Malvern (WR14 2EQ) kick-off 7.45pm.
Whilst
there's no doubt that plans for a new Hereford club were in place
months before the old one went bust, nothing was for certain until an
agreement with the owners of Edgar Street, Herefordshire Council, had
been signed.
Before
that lease deal went through, Hereford FC had to prove to the Council
they had enough capital and business acumen to ensure Hereford FC was
viable.
So the four supporters who backed the new club with £50K each so that it had some working capital deserve our thanks.
And
even more importantly, chairman Jon Hale and his three business
partners, later joined by Chris Williams and Martin Watson from HUST,
who have got us to where we are today.
However
the directors couldn't have achieved everything without the help of
Chris Ammonds, Ken Kinnersley, Jamie Griffiths, the army of volunteers,
the companies who have helped spruce up Edgar Street, but probably most
of all the supporters of the new club.
Because
without supporters you can't have a club. And the way supporters have
got behind Hereford FC before a ball has even been kicked shows their
appetite for the new club.
Manager
Peter Beadle has a difficult task putting a 'new' squad together on a
cautious budget. No doubt some of the younger trialists will be quite
nervous this evening playing in front of what could be a 1500 plus gate.
However they perform, whatever the result, perhaps supporters should not expect too much this evening.
But
at least we now have a club to follow. It may have a different name but
it will still be a Hereford club, the Whites or the Bulls and its home
is still at Edgar Street.