Downes and Pell have been tremendous - now they need to recruit well

Harry Pell and Aaron Downes after Hereford avoided relegation

Hereford's management duo of Aaron Downes and Harry Pell have got to hit the ground running this summer with their recruitment.

That's according to one of the club directors, who said last summer the recruitment was poor and he doesn't want to see a repeat of it.

Hereford have had a torrid season, including the slow start to the season and postponements from Edgar Street pitch problems, leaving them with a mountain to climb.

Commercial director George Webb hopes that coming so close to relegation, only avoiding it by goal difference after Curzon Ashton failed to beat Alfreton, will be the "kick up the bum" the club needs.

Now Webb is focused on a good summer, including good recruitment and the board putting as much money in the playing budget as they can.

Webb said: "Let's have a good summer. Let's get the pitch done.

"But let's recruit well. We've got a great fan base. Let's have a real go next year, and I think it might be a bit of a turning point today, a bit of a kick up the bum for us, as well.

"It's just relief at the moment. We're still in the league.

"It would have been a disaster if we'd have gone down, if I'm being honest. Not just financially, which it would have been a disaster if we'd have gone down financially, but it would have lost our momentum, and it would have been hard to come back."

Speaking before the two-year contract extensions for Aaron Downes and his assistant Harry Pell were announced, Webb added when asked about lessons the board will learn from the season: "I think there's probably a lot of things that went wrong, if I'm being honest.

"I think the recruitment last summer was poor. We went into a the season where we had a few panic signings.

"We didn't really get going, it's all about recruitment in that close season. You've got to go into the season with some sort of settled side, and we didn't. We got behind the curveball.

"We just made it difficult for ourselves. I think the big lesson is to make sure that whoever's manager, that he works hard on his recruitment."

On the impact of Downes and Pell since joining the club in February, Webb said they had done a "tremendous job", clawing their way back after being 11 points from safety.

He said: "They made some great recruitment signings as soon as they came in from day one. I'll go back to those two wins at Worcester, I think that's been pivotal.

"It's been proven to be pivotal for us. They've made great signings, they've bought into the club, they bought into what the fans are about.

"It's all about being a team and we've got to be a team on the pitch, off the pitch."

He added: "We've got to actually realise that we are a big club, and start not training ourselves as the underdog, and I think that's what they've done."