Those Were The Days

Tom Owen-Evans - Jewel In The Crown

Gomez the Mexican Cat Looks back at Hereford FC's first season in the National North League.

When the season dawned on 4th August 2018 with a 3-0 win over Blyth Spartans and the sun shone on all that was HFC, little did we know what kind of season was ahead. Only the most optimistic of fans foresaw another promotion, I and many others saw consolidation, mid table obscurity and perhaps a run at the Trophy. As the season whimpered to a final defeat and a very familiar 17th place, this is what I think:

Positives:

· We didn’t get relegated – unthinkable back in August, but a frightening reality in November.
· Tom Owen Evans – the jewel in the Harris/Richards crown, though I’d question how long we will be able to hang onto him.
· Josh Gowling – a great return to the club, his experience in defence has been vital, and he’s not too shabby going forward either.
· Keiran Thomas – a good signing by Beadle has done well since arriving in the summer, despite the number of bookings.

Negatives:

· The sacking of the management team – still don’t agree with it, especially how it was done, but what’s done is done and we have to live with it.
· Selection of loan players over HFC players – particularly in the case of goalkeeper, Yates kept the shirt, even when Horsell regained fitness and that lead to him moving on. No goal keeper is perfect, but Horsell was a good keeper at our level and how short sighted this particular move might be remains to be seen.
· Injuries – we have been unlucky this season, even before it began. It can be argued that a fully fit Symons, Lance Smith and Reffell would have made a huge difference to the beginning of the campaign and had their experience been available, things might have been different. The clash of heads against Welling also did for Horsell and McGrath.
· National League North – with the teams relegated from the National League going south, we are stuck at least for next season and probably for the foreseeable future. Though it may be questionable whether south would have been easier from a footballing point of view, the travel certainly would have been simpler, selfishly for myself as a London Bull, but also for the team. I’ve never had to claim so much back from the railway companies for delayed or non-existent trains, even going to Hereford, and lost £60 on the Guiseley postponement. I will be very selective next season on which away trips I take.
· Smoke bombs – we were lucky not to get reported at Leamington, mainly because that one didn’t end up on the pitch, but there were obviously issues at FCUM. Seriously, haven’t we learnt our lesson from the near postponement last season at Farnborough. At times I despair of the rank stupidity of some of our “fans”.

Reasons to be cheerful:

· Not many, but to be fair to the management team, which I assume we are stuck with, they probably need the summer to finally stamp their authority on the squad and get it as they see it going ahead. While we may not have agreed with some of their decisions they have shown a ruthlessness in decimating the squad Beadle put together last summer, and it is now up to them to get their choices ready to face the coming season. Rowan Liburd has made a reasonable start, so if he can start scoring early on, then we may do okay. If not, well I hope they have some more aces up their sleeves,

All in all it has been a pretty depressing season and what has dismayed me most of all is the schism that developed between some of the fans and the club following Beadle’s sacking. There are gaps on the terraces that used to be filled by dedicated fans who have voted with their feet and I can’t see some of them coming back. Okay, so the football has been less than inspiring at times, Guiseley at home was one of the worst games I’ve ever seen at Edgar Street, but their absence isn’t just down to what is happening on the pitch, it is reaction to what happened off it. It will be interesting to see how many season tickets are sold this summer. As a London Bull I can’t make it to every home game, but I literally couldn’t give my season ticket away on the days I couldn’t make.

There was no “dead cat bounce” following Beadle’s sacking, one wasn’t needed with us in 12th position, instead we plunged downward and barely recovered all season. Yes, we had been spoilt the previous three seasons with goals going in left, right and centre, and that was never going to last, but the goals dried up, and the performance levels haven’t inspired. The new management team lack credibility and the position they came into hasn’t helped. You can’t blame them for taking the opportunity when it was offered yet the manner in which it happened put them on the back foot from the start. Richards comes across as an intelligent, thoughtful coach but do he and Harris have the contacts within the footballing world to get the kind of loan players Beadle was able to source? We’ve heard relatively little from Harris and nothing from the rest of the backroom staff, so it is difficult to get any impression of them and the work they are doing. While they give the impression of it all going well in training, that hasn’t translated onto the pitch. At home the second half against Darlington and the last few minutes getting the draw against Stockport were the only bright spots for me.

Perhaps Leamington away summed up this season for me. The game was fair enough, ie we didn’t lose, but off it, not so much. My train from London to Coventry was late, so I missed my connection and by the time I got to Leamington there was little time to have a wander around what is a lovely town. Travel to the ground was well organised by Leamington FC but once there I was confronted by drunk Hereford fans, totally inadequate facilities and it was freezing cold (okay maybe I can’t blame HFC for that!). The only light at the end of the tunnel was a lift back to London (one of several this season for which I’d like to record my thanks). A colleague asked me at work on the Monday do you enjoy it and to be honest, at times I don’t. Before you scream glory hunter, I’ve been going home and away for years, and more often than not I’ve been more likely to go away when we were in trouble. However, this season I’ve not felt that compulsion, that obligation almost. That’s not to say I haven’t spent Saturday afternoons frantically refreshing Twitter to get updates, but even when I was offered lifts to the northern most parts of the league, I declined.

Last season I went to 40 games, this season half that number, the least I’ve attended for some years, but I am more than ready for a break this summer. I’ve had more enjoyment down at Park View Road watching a few games as Welling head for the National League South playoffs.

So what’s next? The title of this article comes from a song – “Those were the days my friend, we thought they’d never end” but they did, and somewhat abruptly. It will be interesting as ever to see who comes and who goes this summer, what kind of squad Harris and Richards put together and what loan players they are able to obtain. What do we want for next season – consolidation, a cup run, mid table obscurity but with a few more goals? We certainly need to hit the ground running in August. What happened this season, more than anything else, was a shattering of illusions and that will take some recovering from.