A list of 'agents' fees for National League clubs for the year to January 31st 2023 has been released by the FA.
Hereford are on the list with payments of £1770.
As expected Wrexham top the list with £163,737. Second are Kidderminster with payments of £10,228.
Top National North spenders are AFC Fylde with £22,771.
Total for all National clubs is £663,237.
The deadline for applications to become Hereford's next manager passed at 4pm this afternoon.
The club board will now have the task of sifting through the applications to see if they can find someone suitable for the post.
Earlier today interim manager Yan Klukowski was asked by BBC Hereford and Worcester if he was going to apply but didn't give any indication one way or the other.
A list of fixtures in the National North League tomorrow.
AFC Fylde v Brackley
AFC Telford v Peterborough Sports
Alfreton v Leamington
Banbury v Blyth Spartans
Buxton v Spennymoor
Chorley v Kings Lynn
Curzon Ashton v Bradford PA
Darlington v Chester
Farley Celtic v Kidderminster
Hereford v Boston
Kettering v Scarborough
Southport v Gloucester City
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It’s now four games without a goal, and while the Bulls’ points total remains stuck in the nervous forties, with more and more clubs with smaller budgets gradually trudging past them on their way to mid-table security, the threat of relegation remains. Boston, having spent most of the season in the relegation zone, are now just a point behind Hereford, and given the form of the two sides you’d be a very brave punter to back the Bulls finishing higher than the Pilgrims. Leamington, who currently occupy the final relegation spot, are just seven points behind. That would be a concern if they were any good, but luckily they’re not, having picked up just two points in their last five matches. If that form continues Hereford are safe, but if Leamington suddenly win one and Hereford lose this, it’s suddenly very dicey.
The Pilgrims gave ex-manager Paul Cox seven months in the job (and a month of this season) to prove his worth before sacking him, bringing in Ian Culverhouse, who also replaced Cox at Kettering. I haven’t checked what Cox is doing now, but if he’s on the make-up counter at Boots in Spalding you’d assume Culverhouse will end up replacing him there too.
Culverhouse has eventually found a way to effect an upturn in the Pilgrims’ progress, with Boston winning five of their last nine games, making them the form team of the bottom half of the table, and distancing them from a relegation threat that’s hung over the club since the start of the season.
Despite that upturn they, and indeed Saturday’s hosts, wouldn’t have envisaged being bottom-halfers by this stage of the season, and both clubs will consider this season to have been one in which no progress has been made. It’s scant consolation to Hereford fans that Boston’s regressive season will have cost more money than Hereford’s.
Despite a very poor season for the club generally, Scott Pollock managed 14 league goals for the club before moving to our old friends Yeovil just a few weeks ago, and ex-York striker Jake Wright has ten. Fellow striker Tre Mitford, who scored for Gloucester at Edgar Street earlier in the season, has been away on international duty this week with Guyana, but is back for this one.
Ex-Bull Ben Pollock has been an ever-present for Boston this season, and will presumably get a good reception from the crowd as a well-liked and fully committed performer. Like Pollock, midfielder Will Atkinson joined the Pilgrims in the summer, from Southend. Probably quite a wise move given the malaise the Shimpers currently find themselves in financially.
Boston scraped into the play-offs last season, where they lost to York in the final. They were hoping, and clearly budgeting, for something a lot more convincing this time around, but it wasn’t to be.
The Pilgrims are typically no strangers to managing the ref and the clock when it suits them, and Culverhouse’s Kings Lynn were the same, so a bit of gamesmanship will probably rear its ugly head at some point here.
And what about Hereford? Well, the Bulls have simply seemingly run out of ideas in the final third of the pitch. Inexplicably Aaron Amadi-Holloway is continuing in defence, when there should now be enough cover, including actual defenders who joined the club to defend rather than sit on the bench watching a player signed as a striker play in central defence, to allow him to play up front and at least offer some hope of a goal.
To echo something Son of Eric alluded to recently, I was very much in the ‘sad to see TOE go’ camp last summer (and I appreciate that there were at least two campsites when it came to that player), and given that he doesn’t seem to be getting a game at Aggborough and his contract’s up in May, and if he’d consider flipping back to part-time (assuming there isn’t going to be an exciting and fully-costed announcement about going full-time at Edgar Street this summer), I’d have him back in a heartbeat and playing just off AAH.
TOE and AAH admittedly sounds like a painful accident involving a sleepy person and the leg of a coffee table, but that’s a front pairing with some potential, one that would put bums on seats and feet on terraces, and that would persuade people to buy season tickets, which in turn funds strengthening in other more boring bits of the pitch that I never think about too much, albeit areas that are quite important, like stopping goals going in.
One consolation to bear in mind is that the final match of the season will be won as it’s against Blyth, and that’s what always happens against Blyth. The only slight fly in that ointment may be that they could have to win to stay up, which would presumably mean they’d be throwing the kitchen sink at it.
Roll on May and a completely fresh start.
COYW
A former Hereford United player has been banned from every UK football stadium for three years.
Andy Ferrell along with three other Newcastle United fans were said to have been fighting with Chelsea fans when the two clubs met in Newcastle last November.
In 2013 Ferrell was jailed for drug related offences.
He spoke about his time at Edgar Street in 2021 during the 15 year anniversary of the Play Off Final win -> MY HEREFORD UNITED STORY | Andy Ferrell - Herefordshire’s Independent Source of News & Information (yourherefordshire.co.uk)
TALKING BULL - WHO FOLLOWS YAN - ISSUE 138
Hereford Football Club are still on the look out for a new boss with Yan Klukowski operating only as interim manager until the 2022/23 season ends.
In another packed 48-page full colour edition we ask the question what do fans really want to see? We look ahead to who the National League newbies might be - assuming Hereford manage to avoid relegation that is!
We outline the impact the new National League TV streaming service may have, and assess whether it will add any additional revenue to the near-empty Edgar Street coffers.
Some fans are complaining about the flat atmosphere surrounding the stadium on match-days, so we're endeavouring to find solutions so Hereford supporters can once again be "loud and proud".
We say so long to Trampas aka Alan Jones as sadly another of the famous FA Cup giantkilling squad has passed away. However, we welcome Sean Lawton as he joins the club on-loan from Crewe, with Simon Wright detailing all there is to know about "Singalong Sean".
Ruth Walkden has virtually attended every Hereford match this season, so there can be few fans best suited to handing out a plethora of this season's Football Oscars, with the pie, peas and gravy at Chorley winning in the best food category.
Chris Jones recalls a two-leg Milk Cup victory over Bristol City in 1985 in which the Bulls managed to score 5 goals at Edgar Street - a rare win over the Robins.
We look back at the career of John Motson - who became the 13th man in the Hereford win over Newcastle - with a loving tribute to the famous commentator.
In our Letter from America, Adam Pergament wonders whether Hereford should have brought back the swede worshipping ceremony ahead of the Portsmouth FA Cup tie.
All this and much, much more, including an insight into why play-off positioning matters and we have a special interview with the former Hereford United striker Stuart Fleetwood too.
We really don’t know how we’ve managed to jam so many articles into issue 138. It’s amazing.
The cover price for this absolutely packed 48-page, full-colour edition remains at £3 despite ever-increasing publishing costs, so please grab yours before they run out!
Watch out (and listen out) for our fantastic volunteer team of sellers who will be outside Edgar Street from 1:30pm on Saturday ahead of the Bulls’ National League North match against Boston United.
Alternatively you can buy a copy online via the Talking Bull store.
Talking Bull – Online Shop | Talking Bull
If you buy online a printed copy will be sent to you in pristine condition, but if you are happy to receive a copy electronically, which thus saves you postage and packing (and gives you the choice of reading the edition off-screen) you can purchase a copy at any time for just £2.99.
If you buy a digital copy you can even print the issue off at home.
All proceeds benefit Hereford FC through official match-sponsorship, or via the ‘Boost the Budget’ initiative.
Total funds raised and donated to date = £10,000
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| Ryan Mclean Scored Against Boston Last Season At Edgar Street |
Despite not having scored in their last four games, Hereford are 15/13 to defeat Boston on Saturday.
Currently Hereford are 16th in the table, Boston are 17th with one less point.
Last Saturday Hereford lost 1-0 at home to second placed Kings Lynn. Boston won 2-0 at 21st placed Leamington.
Hereford's home form is seven wins and five draws in 20 games. Boston's away form is five wins, five draws and ten defeats.
Boston have scored 57 goals but conceded 60, whereas Hereford have scored 42 goals and conceded 46 goals.
Recent form:
Hereford WLDLL
Boston LWDWW
Hereford 15/13 Draw 23/10 Boston 23/10
Results from the games played in the National North League this evening.
Upset of the evening was at leaders AFC Fylde who were beaten by 22nd placed Blyth Spartans.
AFC Fylde 0 Blyth Spartans 3
Alfreton 3 Spennymoor 2
Banbury 0 Darlington 0
Kettering 0 Peterborough Sports 0
Eight years ago this week Chris Ammonds was appointed to the post of commercial director of the newly formed Hereford FC.
So with speculation that 'Stig' may be about to take on another challenge at the club we look back to March 2015.
Hereford FC is pleased to announce that Chris Ammonds has been appointed the club’s Commercial and Office Manager and will be starting work officially on Wednesday 1 April.
Chris has been part of the Hereford FC group for many months. He was originally approached back in June to offer PR and communications advice when the group first decided to go public with the plans they had in place to launch a phoenix club should the worst case scenario occur and Hereford United go out of business.
Welcoming this important appointment, Hereford FC’s Commercial Director, George Webb, said:
‘The Hereford FC business plan contains a detailed commercial strategy to maximise income opportunities and ensure we are a sustainable club moving forward.
‘We are therefore delighted Chris Ammonds has accepted our offer to become the club’s full time Commercial and Office Manager, as we see this as a key position.
‘Chris – or ‘Stig’ as many people know him – has worked extremely hard behind the scenes as we have fought to secure the Edgar Street lease and the football club knowledge he has brought to the table having worked as Media Manager at Wigan Athletic for over three years earlier in his career has been invaluable.
‘He is under no illusions how vital his role is if Hereford FC is to succeed, but the Board have absolutely no doubt he is up to the challenge ahead. We believe he is the right man to drive our commercial plan forward and we feel lucky he has agreed to come on board in an official capacity.’
Giving his thoughts on his new role, Chris said:
‘I’m proud and honoured to have been asked to become Hereford FC’s Commercial and Office Manager and cannot wait to get started.
‘I am, however, in absolutely no doubt how important it is for Hereford FC to maximise its commercial income as sustainability is what the whole club will be built around. It will be my job to hit, and then exceed, all the targets that are included in the budgeted income sections of the business plan.
‘Working with the Commercial Director, my immediate priority is to get season tickets on sale in the very near future and open a temporary office at the stadium that fans can visit. We then have a detailed strategy to work through over the coming months, the aim of which will clearly be to achieve as much commercial income as we possibly can.
‘In the next few weeks I will be making contact with all Hereford United’s old sponsors and will also be approaching new ones. We want all our sponsors – old and new – to feel a real part of the journey Hereford FC is about to set off on and we want businesses to be proud to have their name associated with this club.
‘The club’s 2015/16 sponsorship and hospitality brochure will be finalised shortly and it will then be sent to the many businesses that have already made contact with us.
‘If you’d like to have a brochure sent to your business, please do make contact by e-mailing commercial@herefordfc.co.uk.
‘I very much look forward to hearing from anyone who’s interested in
finding out more about the sponsorship and hospitality opportunities
Hereford FC will be offering.’
Darlington FC have released details of their financial results for 2021/22.
In essence the supporter owned club lost £142K last season but their boost the budget campaign, which is not included in the profit and loss account, raised £136K.
Revenue was £719K with average gates of 1491.
Read more at: https://darlingtonfc.co.uk/news/202122-financial-results
There are four National North League fixtures this evening.
AFC Fylde v Blyth Spartans
Alfreton v Spennymoor
Banbury v Darlington
Kettering v Peterborough Sports
Whatever happens Hereford will remain in 16th position.,
This from Hereford FC:
Hereford FC can confirm that applications for the position of First Team Manager are now being invited in readiness for the 2023/24 season.
As previously confirmed, the current management team of Yan Klukowski and Kevin Phillips will remain in charge until the end of the current season.
Hereford FC General Manager Jamie Griffiths said: “We’re very grateful that Yan and Kevin agreed to take charge of the first team until the end of the season and they continue to have our full support. However, we are conscious that our recruitment process for a long-term manager needs to be completed in time to allow the incoming manager a chance to assess the current squad and give the club the best possible chance of hitting the road running in preparation for the 23/24 campaign.
“We’re now accepting applications in the hope of making as seamless appointment as possible when moving from this season to next.”
Anyone wishing to apply for the post should email their CV and cover letter to Football Secretary, Nik Marsh nmarsh@herefordfc.co.uk
The closing date for applications is 4pm Friday 31st March.
Harwood Bull had hoped to be at Edgar Street last Saturday but because of National Rail watched AFC Fylde instead.
He explains why.
According to Wikipedia groundhopping is “a hobby that involves attending matches at as many different stadiums or grounds as possible. Participants are known as groundhoppers”. Well, I’m not one of those. I’ve been to just over 50 different football grounds in my life, which is nothing really. My co-contributor to BN, Son of Eric, has been to more grounds in Europe than I’ve been to in England, and overall has seen more dodgy stadium catering than I’ve had hot dinners.
However, I found myself attending a game on Saturday which I no great interest in, just to see some live football. I had planned to be at Edgar Street for the King’s Lynn game, but trains were cancelled , and the only option was a zigzag route involving a replacement bus service and multiple changes which probably would have got us to Hereford halfway through the second half. Given what I’ve heard about the game, National Rail may well have done us a favour.
So…. we were at a bit of a loose end. Consulting the fixture lists we found that Accrington Stanley were away, as were Clitheroe Town (Northern Premier League). Blackburn, Burnley and Preston weren’t playing due to the break for the international games, hence we found ourselves watching Fylde at home to Gloucester.
The game was fairly entertaining. It was easy to see why Fylde are top of the league. They move the ball quickly and accurately and have an abundance of pace down both flanks. They beat Gloucester 2-0 but the margin could have been much bigger. All of which makes our 3-1 victory there a few weeks ago all the sweeter. Gloucester were much like Hereford. Competent in defence (most of the time), neat in midfield, and completely lacking in any attacking threat. Yet they are just outside the playoff positions. What does that say about the quality of the league?
More interesting is the set up at Mill Farm, as the Fylde stadium is known. The club has grown from little more than a village team in Division Two of the North West Counties League 15 years ago, to a team with a very attractive modern stadium, with serious aspirations to make it into League Two in the EFL. Promotion this season looks highly probable, but they’ve been promoted before, and after a strong start and a couple of good seasons then found life pretty tough and were relegated at the end of the 2019-20 season.
The thing that intrigues me most is where the support comes from. The Fylde area is a low coastal plain stretching from the Ribble estuary up to Fleetwood and Morecambe Bay. It has some fairly affluent small villages and the posh areas of Lytham and St. Annes on the coast, but I’m not sure how it can muster the support needed to sustain a football club at the level they would like to be at. The attendance at Edgar Street on Saturday was very poor, but was still better than the one at table-topping Fylde. The ground is near the two small towns of Kirkham & Wesham, total population of around 11,000 , i.e. about the size of Leominster. Fylde have average crowds of just over 1,000 according to the Non-League Matters website. I can’t see that sustaining a football league club in an area where they are competing for support with Preston, Blackpool and Fleetwood, none of which is more than about 25 minutes away.
The success of the club is due to the financial input from chairman David Haythornthwaite. He’s a wealthy man (you can Google him yourselves), but what happens if he loses interest in football, or his businesses start to struggle and he has to cut back? With no real deep tradition to fall back on, the club could easily disappear and the stadium become something of a white elephant.
While talking about the stadium, I was staggered to find that they don’t offer concessionary admission to students or old blokes like me. £18 for a seat seems like a lot to watch football in the 6th tier of the sport in England. I was chatting to a lady in the queue for a pie (very good I have to
say), who said that the regular supporters are petitioning the club to ask for concessionary tickets to be introduced, so I’m not alone in thinking that they are asking too much. I will be writing to the club to complain – I’ll let you know what reply I get.
It's an interesting phenomenon. Looking around the very well furnished bar before the game which was doing a roaring trade in burgers in brioche buns with chips in nice little bowls it was hard to relate that to the more down to earth facilities at grounds like Southport and Farsley. One of the most prominent advertising hoardings was for a Porsche garage, and the hospitality suite at the back of the main stand appeared to be full of very well dressed people enjoying a pre-match meal and a glass or two.
It all seems very nice, but is it sustainable? The business model of most football clubs doesn’t seem rooted in reality and this looks like one of those where it’s all dependent on the continuing interest and goodwill of a wealthy individual, and we all know how that can end up.
The Hereford FC board has been short of a director since Jon Hale stood down several weeks ago.
However it looks like the board could confirm the name of a new director probably later this week.
It seems that his name has been put forward by the initial shareholders.
It's also thought that the board will elect a new chair this week. Who that might be remains uncertain but there is a view it will be one of the three HNDs (HUST Nominated Directors).
They are Joanie Roberts, Tony Taylor and Mike Langford.
The former Hereford United coach and manager joined me for a chat about his time at Edgar Street.
Click to read -> MY HEREFORD UNITED STORY | John Trewick 2004-2009 - Herefordshire’s Independent Source of News & Information (yourherefordshire.co.uk)
Boreham Wood FC Chairman Danny Hunter has weighed in the furore caused by a host of proposed changes to the FA’s standard Non-League contract sent to the Club Secretaries that appear to penalise Non-League players should they get a long-term injury or illness.
Hunter said, “I’m honestly aghast at some of the proposals put forward to us by the FA, but particularly the proposal that looks to penalise an injured player and allows clubs to terminate a player’s contract if he receives a long-term injury.
“Without going into too much detail, as I would like to discuss things further with the FA, PFA and National League board, I simply could not in good conscience expect my Manager to ask our players to put their bodies on the line for our Football Club and when their bodies are broken through no fault of their own, then look for loopholes to cancel their contracts.
“I have five sons and 14 grandchildren, and if that’s what the world of football has come to, then I want no part of it. However, I am part of it and someone has to stand with the players and insist that clubs do the right thing and simply say NO to these proposals as a collective. In the meantime I have spoken with my players personally and I’ve assured them that while I’m Chairman here they are looked after…
“The last two seasons we’ve had players needing all kinds of operations from ACL’s, ruptured Achilles, muscles coming away from the bone, and all things in between… We cannot get suitable insurance from people to cover these eventualities and the player insurance that we are forced to take from the National League is beyond a joke and is not fit for purpose.
“I’ve met with the league’s hierarchy a number of times over the years, but I gave up in the end, as I got no support from anyone in power to find or create an insurance policy that gave all players at our level decent health cover.
“As such I went and created our own in house player insurance, but that does mean my players have to trust me to always do the honourable thing by them and trust me to look after them when they get long term injuries… I’m more than happy to do that but there are players at other clubs who are not that fortunate and when they really need a clubs help, some do not get their operations paid for, x-rays covered, their MRI’s dealt with and their consultancy fees paid for, even though they put their bodies on the line for their clubs.
“I feel the FA have misjudged the feeling in this particular room and these talented lads are simply trying to earn an honest living and deserve to be respected within their own industry as they are the entertainment.
“So, now is possibly the right time as a collective for Owners, Chairmen, Managers and Players to simply stand up side-by-side and say enough is enough – let’s do the right thing. For me we need to take time out, get round the table and find a sensible solution that we can all sign off on, but if we don’t and the players decide to take action, then I can only support their solidarity.” Hunter concluded.