Short-List Of Candidates To Be Drawn Up This Week

With more than 30 applications for the vacant Hereford FC manager post, a short list is expected to be drawn up this week.

It had been thought that the board might have allowed more time for applications to arrive, but yesterday's 5-1 defeat at Southport is likely to have put pressure to make an early appointment.

Before previous manager Paul Caddis was chosen, a group including Graham Turner looked through the applications.

However the former chairman has had an operation recently and is unlikely to take part.

Three or four of the applicants will be short listed and, hopefully, interviews will take place as soon as possible.   

Highlights From Southport

 

Highlights from yesterday's game between Southport and Hereford are online.

To watch: https:herefordfc.co.uk/2026/02/highlights-southport-5-1-hereford-fc/ 

Beadle interested in Bulls role?

Peter Beadle and his side at Wembley for the FA Vase final in 2016

According to the Non-League Paper, former Hereford manager Pete Beadle is understood to be interested in a a remarkable return to the club. 

The article leads with ex-Bath City boss Jerry Gill being a leading contender. Mark Cooper -  who was previously at Yeovil having manager Forest Green - is also mentioned mentioned, as well as Andy Whing, who went on to manage Banbury, Solihull and Barrow after being Russell Slade's assistant at Hereford.

However, the NLP also say that Beadle is also interested in a director of football style role at the club.

Beadle was first in charge of the youth team at Edgar Street before becoming Hereford United's first team manager at the end of the 2013/14 season when Martin Foyle was sacked.

Featuring players like Jarrod Bowen, Beadle kept the Bulls up in the Conference thanks to a memorable final day win at Aldershot. However, off-field issues led to the club being thrown out of the league, and they started the following season in the Southern Premier.

Further turmoil ensued and Hereford were wound up in the High Court in December 2014.

Beadle would return to the club the following summer when Hereford FC was formed. In his first season, he led the club to a historic treble, including a first trip to Wembley for the club. That was a disappointing 4-1 defeat to Morpeth, with many Bulls fans still perplexed why he didn't start Mustapha Bundu and John Mills.

Under Beadle's stewardship, Hereford went on to gain two more titles to earn promotion to National League North in 2018, where they've remained to this day.

At the start of that season (2018/19), the Bulls claimed 10 points out of their opening four games. However, three defeats in their next four - followed by a County Cup loss to Westfields - saw Beadle axed.

Beadle would remain out of the game for two years before he joined former club Barnet shortly before the start of the 2020/21 season.

However, his tenure would only last four months. Since then, Beadle has managed in the lower leagues, first at Yate between May and October 2022, then at Shortwood, where he has been since last September. 

Beadle has been approached regarding his reported interest in Hereford.  

Second Half Pictures From Southport

A selection of pictures from the second half of yesterday's game between Southport and Hereford.

 

Keeping The Police Amused

Hereford FC supporter Chris Hare, sometimes known as the 'Mind Boggler', spent part of the game at Southport yesterday keeping the Police amused.

Hare, a member of the 'Magic Circle', seldom misses a game and combines his card tricks with watching his team. 

Badges On Sale At Darlington Match

A large selection of HFC pin badges will be on sale pre match this Tuesday v Darlington at Sixways Stadium Worcester. The badges pictured are available at £1 or £4 each ( cash only ) from a prominent sales point possibly near the turnstiles alongside our Golden Goal / 50-50 ticket sellers. All net proceeds will go directly to HFC.

 

First Half Pictures From Southport

A selection of pictures from the first half of yesterday's game between Southport and Hereford.

Bath fan on why Gill is a good fit for Hereford

Jerry Gill, fourth left in the back row next to Graham Turner, during a charity match at Edgar Street in 2023

A Bath City fan who lives in Hereford has outlined why he thinks Jerry Gill will be a good fit to be the next Bulls manager.

Gill is one of the contenders for the job following Paul Caddis' sacking, with a source close to him telling BN that he sees "huge similarities" between Hereford and Bath, including the fan-owned, part-time model.

He managed Bath for seven years between 2017 and 2024, reaching the play-offs on three separate occasions. He won 44% of his 335 matches and helped increase attendances from 600 to 1,400.

Gill also sold nine players with transfer fees totalling more than £100,000, with Jordan Thomas ending up signing for then League One club, Cheltenham. 

He also managed future Manchester City player Antoine Semenyo during a loan stint in 2018, while Tommy Conway - who is now at Middlesbrough - was at Bath during the 2020/21 season. 

Since leaving Bath, Gill has held coaching positions at Yeovil Town, Dagenham and Redbridge and Solihull Moors.

Adam Matravers is a life-long Bath supporter, moving to Hereford in 1990. He forged a close relationship with Gill due to him producing the club's match-day programme.

Matravers believes Gills' experience at Step 2 makes him a suitable candidate to take over at Hereford, as well being able to work with part-time players and staff. 

He also knows the set up at Solihull, where the Bulls train. 

"He has seven years of Step Two experience, implementing several different styles of play to suit the needs of the team," said Matravers.

"He always had a knack of finding hidden gems. Adam Mann, Jordan Thomas and Joe Raynes were plucked from lower level non-league and thrived at Step 2, and in Thomas, case, beyond.

"His contacts in the game are vast. At Bath, it wasn't just the local league clubs. He brought in players from Colchester, West Brom, Reading etc.

"A whole list of players that came to Bath as young, inexperienced loans went on to establish themselves back their parent club after leaving bath, like Semenyo, Conway and Noah Chilvers.

"We sold Thomas, Robbie Cundy and Donovan Wilson to EFL clubs that made the club thousands in transfer fees.

"He has an ability to relate to all people at the club and has time for everyone. He is fairly local with lots of contacts in the Birmingham area.

"His two sons live in Solihull where Hereford train, so that's another plus point. 

"It's absolutely the right fit for him and he's keen to prove himself again as a manager having had experience as a number two at several National League clubs.

"His role as assistant as Solihull helped them stay up a couple of years ago. Jerry has all the attributes to be the next Hereford manager."

Pre Kick-Off At Southport

Plenty of Hereford Flags at Southport yesterday and a new striker in the squad.

In The Middle Striker George Munday, On Loan From Cambridge United

 

Match Report - Southport v Hereford

Consolation For Hereford - Munday's Penalty Beat Pickford

Sam Cummins reports from Southport.

The Adam Rooney and Shaun Edwards era begins with a tough to take bitterly disappointing heavy defeat on Merseyside against the Sandgrounders. The only goal of the game for Hereford scored by George Munday from the penalty spot with his first for the club on his debut. It was quite apt that Adam and Shaun's first game in interim charge was against the Sandgrounders following the dismissal of Paul Caddis as it was also the first game in interim charge for Yan Klukowski and Jared Hodgkiss following the departure of previous manager Josh Gowling also around the same time of the year three years ago, that game ending in a 2-0 victory for the Bulls at Edgar Street.

Adam and Shaun's first team selection lined up with 1 Theo Richardson, 2 Aaron Skinner, 14 Keenan Quansah, 5 Matt Preston, 3 Lewis Hudson ©️, 20 Kaziah Martin, 24 Harley Hamilton, 4 Gus Mafuta, 18 Cormac Daly, 16 George Munday and 10 Andy Williams.

On the bench was 21 Ollie Lewis, 15 Mitch Roberts, 28 Kyle Howkins, 22 Cherif Baba Yaya, 12 Justin Donawa, 25 Charlie Pavey and 17 Adam Rooney.

The first proper opportunity of the game came from the hosts when Chris Sze was went through one on one with Theo Richardson who was equal to his effort and saved well with his legs early on.

Cormac Daly had the Bulls first chance of the contest when he cut in from the left to the edge of the box and hit a right footed shot which was collected by Southport’s new on loan goalkeeper George Pickford. We then had a corner on the right which was played into the box by Kaziah Martin and found the head of new loan signing George Munday but his effort was over the bar.

After a good ball into the box by Harley Hamilton it found Andy Williams whose flicked effort was blocked before the ball came to Kaziah Martin whose shot was blocked, the rebound came back to him and but his volleyed effort was saved by George Pickford.

Hereford’s good start to the game continued and we continued to keep up the pressure when Gus Mafuta’s right footed volley was saved for a corner by George Pickford. 

 

From the resulting corner on the right we had a big chance to try to open the scoring when Kaziah Martin swung the ball into the box which was met by the head of Gus Mafuta on the penalty spot but he put his gilt edge header past the left hand post.

Kaziah Martin then had another cross into the box from the right which found Andy Williams but his right footed shot was well saved by George Pickford who was having an excellent debut for the Sandgrounders.

We were then awarded a free kick on the right which was swung into the box by Kaziah Martin, it was flicked on by Gus Mafuta and found George Munday who was waiting on the the left hand side of the box but his left footed shot from a tight angle was saved by George Pickford.

 

Our relentless pressure continued with a ball into the box by Kaziah Martin found Keenan Quansah but he could only lift his effort high over the bar before Harley Hamilton's low strike from the left hand side of the box was saved by George Pickford before Cormac Daly went on a run down the left and his low left footed strike was tipped away by the left hand of George Pickford for a corner.

After we hadn’t opened the scoring when we were on top, against the run of play Southport opened the scoring midway through the half when a cross from the left into the box by Malakai McKenzie which found the head of Max Woltman who was central but his header was pushed away by Theo Richardson but only into the path of Chris Sze at the back post who tapped in from what looked like a debatable offside position. Despite protests from the Hereford players the officials awarded the goal.

Southport started to get more into the game after they broke the deadlock before we went back on the attack with a big chance through Gus Mafuta who's powerful left foot drive was beaten away by George Pickford.

Theo Richardson then caught a cross, he pinged a good ball out to the left wing to Cormac Daly who advanced into the box and drilled a low effort which was tipped away by George Pickford.

The hosts then went down the other end and doubled their lead with a killer second on the stroke of half time when Malakai McKenzie beat Lewis Hudson on left and advanced into the box and saw his right foot shot saved by Theo Richardson low to his right but the rebound fell kindly into the path of Jordan Slew who slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the net before half time to double the Sandgrounders lead.

So despite dominating much of the first half we didn't take our chances and went into the break 2-0 down.

 

HT Southport FC 2-0 Hereford FC 

Into the second half and it was starting to look like a difficult afternoon when Southport grabbed a third early on. Malakai McKenzie got his second of the game with a left footed shot into the top left hand corner. 

 

Four minutes later they got a fourth when Chris Sze got his second of the game with a right footed shot high into the roof of the net.

Those two early goals in the second half put us further on the back foot and Southport had a period of sustained pressure and you could tell we were lacking in confidence to try to get a foothold back in the game.

Our first chance of the half came when Cormac Daly delivered a good ball into the box from the left and found Harley Hamilton but his header was straight at George Pickford who tipped the ball over the bar for a corner.

A bad afternoon would get even worse for the Bulls when Southport grabbed a fifth goal on the counter attack after Cormac Daly crossed from the left hand side of the box towards George Munday but the ball was cleared by Southport and they broke at speed with Matt Preston being beaten by Max Woltman who then squared the ball across the face of the goal to Jordan Slew who slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner.

Southport’s Josh Miles then had a left footed shot from inside the box which went wide of the right hand post before Harley Hamilton had our next opportunity with a right footed effort from the edge of the box which was collected by George Pickford.

Late on we scored a consolation from the penalty spot after Southport captain Tom Moore brought down Arron Skinner inside the box, up stepped George Munday who sent George Pickford the wrong way and slot the ball into the bottom right hand corner to get his first goal for the club on his debut.

FT Southport FC 5-1 Hereford FC 

After starting the first half well but not taking our chances when it was 0-0 in the first half it was disappointing and embarrassing how we capitulated in the second half to fall to a humbling 5-1 defeat, if we'd have taken our chances in the first half it could of been a different game but it wasn't to be and a reaction is now needed next up when we're at our temporary home Sixways Stadium in Worcester on Tuesday for the visit of Darlington. COYW