Several fans are beginning to wonder if Graham Turner is to depart the Bulls after finally achieving what he said he would nearly thirteen years ago.
During those heady days in early August 1995 a newly appointed Turner told supporters that his intention was immediate success and that he would "get Hereford United out of Division Three". After a failed play-off bid the club slid out of the League the following season, with Turner's words being thrown back at him, and the true picture of the state of the club was revealed.
Fast forward on to the present day and Turner has achieved what he truly meant with those words. It may have taken longer than his initial three year contract, the club did require a major financial rebuild in the process, but he has successfully delivered on his words. Mission Accomplished, so to speak.
He has spoken several times this season of his desire to have 'one more job' before his retirement from football, the most recent last week to Brian Viner of The Independent. He turned 60 last October having already had a better innings in management than most get, with his name amongst only around 20 who have managed for over 1,000 games and he is one of only five still currently employed.
Even at the promotion reception, his words suggested an imminent departure: "I think we will leave the club in a far better state than we found it. Divisions higher. Players will come and go. I'll go but supporters they support their club for a lifetime". The only part of the jigsaw yet to be done is the stadium itself but the timescale of that being completed seems to be forever dragging on with the pre-Xmas planning permission application still yet to be submitted.
If, or indeed when, Turner departed for pastures new it would mean the club would have new owners. League rules are simple enough that he would have to sell all but a tiny fraction of his shareholding in order to take a prominent position anywhere else. But who would he sell to, and at what price?
What would a relatively debt-free League One side fetch these days? Every football club is unique, leaving sales of other clubs fairly irrelevant. Most are broke when they are sold, leaving sale prices for token amounts in lieu of clearing debts. In recent weeks that has been the case at Luton and Bournemouth. Even Swindon's £4million takeover was virtually entirely spent on clearing debt than purchase of the actual club.
Who would buy? There appear to be plenty of people looking to buy into football clubs at the moment, with a Russian, a Portugese group, and the infamous John Batchelor sniffing around a few clubs, even if a few of them are struggling to finance deals with the current 'credit crunch'. None of the existing board would be expected to want to take on the task, for various reasons, while the miscellaneous local businessmen ready to step in are always to be expected as some of them have done in years past to prop the club up financially. Turner may even choose to turn the club into a family business, passing Edgar Street onto his children to control.
And, of course, the bigger question, who would manage the side? Would John Trewick make the step up to the hotseat rather than following Turner as his right hand man? 'Tucka' has certainly dispelled the suggestions in his first season that he was unpopular with the players, and he has won over all but the staunchest of whingers. Or would it be a clean broom - a new board, manager, coach, with strange visions of the Premiership in three years.
Whatever happens, whenever he goes, one thing will probably stay true. Graham Turner will have left the club in a better state than he found it.