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Next Game: Pre-Season

Thursday, June 06, 2019

Kinnersley Played Large Part In Setting Up Hereford FC

Ken Kinnersley, who is stepping down as chairman of Hereford FC, played a vital part in setting up the club after Hereford United collapsed.

"The first thing that happened, I was not involved at all just sitting at home one Sunday, was when the phone rang and it was Martin Watson," Kinnersley told BN recently.

"He said that he'd been asked to ring me to find out if I would be willing to accept a role organising the volunteers at the football club.

"I said is that short or long term and he said short term it would be fairly hectic but there would be a longer term role.

"So I said yes, my pleasure, and that's how it started."

Kinnersley became chairman in January 2017. He admitted it took up a lot of his time sometimes starting at 8am in the morning and not finishing until 9pm at night.

"It is a labour of love.

"I love this city, I love this county, I'm a Herefordian through and through and very proud of it and I can put something back just through a little bit of my time and if that's football at Edgar Street then I'll be well pleased.

"Most of the directors run their own areas of responsibilty and I make sure they are on top of it."

Is there any area of the task you particularily dislike?

"The thing that we dislike the most is when we have crowd issues because the fans just don't realise how much work one silly act can cause us.

"We don't go public about it, we just get on with it behind the scenes and try and deal with it the best we can but we are very well aware that we sit here and act as judge and jury and we try to be as fair as we can, we don't want to ban people, why would you want to kick customers out?

"But if we don't act when we have to act then we will land up in a far worse position. We are also very determined to make sure that any ban we do impose is proportionate to the actions of the person.

"We are very keen that Edgar Street is a safe place for families because families are our future and we want people to feel comfortable bringing their young children here without being exposed to a lot of inappropriate behaviour.

"I know people say Kinnersley wants to stop swearing at Edgar Street. That's not the case.

"There are things that cross my lips at times when I'm sat up there!"

Finally BN asked what pleased him most?

"The biggest reward for me was when Stig Ammonds and I opened the front door here back in early 2015.

"And there were people coming in, many people in tears, saying I never thought I'd come in here again.

"We hadn't done anything then, we hadn't got a manager, we hadn't got any players or a league but they still wanted to buy season tickets.

"What a fantastic fanbase!

"It's an honour and a pleasure to do the job."