The new chairman of the Southern League, Terry Barratt, reportedly defeated former chairman Ken Turner 'by a landslide' when a vote was taken a couple of weeks ago.
Turner, according to the Non-League Paper was 'a difficult man to get on with. A lot of people, it seems, have a story to tell. Few are glowing.'
Hereford supporters will remember how Turner dealt with Tommy Agombar when the latter took the club into the Southern League after failing to pay a bond to keep the club in the Conference.
But there were other matters that suggested the League was badly run. Sponsorship was one of them with the Northen League obtaining five times what the Southern League could acquire.
Barratt wants change.
“It’s a big challenge ahead. There are still opportunities out there
for the league. We have to move forward, we mustn’t live in the past.
“As an organisation, we have missed out on a lot of things, a lot of chances for us to grow and become better. The Isthmian and Northern Premier have taken their chances. We’ve said ‘no, no, no’. Why?
“We have got to sell ourselves now. We have one more year to run with Evo-Stik, and one of my big concerns previously has been that we do not look after our sponsors.
“Ryman have sponsored the Isthmian League for 20 years. Evo-Stik have been with the Northern Premier for seven years. In that time, we’ve had five.
“People do seem to think some of what’s happened before reflects on the Southern League as a whole, but it shouldn’t. Some of it has been embarrassing, but we’ve got to try to move forward. We’ve got a lot of work ahead but I still believe this league is a very good league.
“It has history, it offers fine tradition and we’ve got a duty to try to make it great again.”
Full story at: http://www.thenonleaguefootballpaper.com/latest-news/southern-league-step-three/16416/new-chairman-terry-barratt-lets-make-southern-league-great-again/