Hereford FC have released the following statement:
Following the recent reports in the press regarding Lenell John-Lewis and his contract we would like to make the following comment:
As previously reported here, we can confirm that the issues, relating to clauses that the FA requested to be deleted, also applied to a number of other contracted players and that following an internal investigation, we have identified issues with a total of nine contracts.
Chairman Rob Crawford said: “The situation first came to
light mid-January when Lenell brought it to our
attention whereby we immediately launched an internal investigation.
“We can confirm that the contract lodged with the FA at the start of the season and the contract we held on file at the club did not match the contract that Lenell himself received. Our internal investigation identified that the same issue applied to the other eight player contracts.
“We have now held talks with the players concerned and they have all agreed to the amendments requested by the FA and have signed accordingly. As we have said previously, we thank them for their commitment to the club.
“We are appalled by these events and cannot defend these actions. These types of practices will not be tolerated and we will not hesitate to make difficult decisions to ensure this behaviour is dealt with swiftly.
“We have submitted our report to the FA and await their response. We
hope that this unpleasant episode will come to a conclusion soon and we
can all move on”.