HUISA in October 1997

Here's the sixth HUISA newsletter in our short series from 1997. This one was written in late October.

Welcome to yet another thrilling installment in the life and times of Hereford United. Hands up all those who think we can still win the Conference?? Hands up all those who don't think we are going to go bust??

HUISA has continued to grow steadily in recent weeks. Membership is now 178 (as at 26th October) and the insert in TB has brought us many new members. Our thanks to Nigel/Elaine and Chris!!

Liaison Committee

The latest Liaison Committee meeting with Graham Turner took place at Edgar Street on 6th October. The following is a summary of the main events (and what an exciting time we all had as well):

Telford: The Club received an official complaint from the Directors of Telford FC about the idiots who were throwing stones at the Telford keeper. Fortunately the Ref is not going to include it in his report of the Club could have been fined. I trust no HUISA member was involved. From what I understand there were only a couple of people involved, but if anybody knows who they were, please have a word in their shell like will you. I can just see Bill Adolfson laughing his head off. The last thing we want is to prove that idiot right and get ourselves banned from away games.

Youth Team: GT explained his reasoning for withdrawing the Youth Team from the League, which was partly to save money and partly to save them from the "battles" their games were increasingly resembling. The intention now is to spend more time working on their technique and the competitive edge will be drawn from their inclusion in the squad/team for Reserves fixtures. Whilst he intends to continue with the Youth Policy and the Club's Centre of Excellence, this will be with reduced numbers, again with he focus on quality. GT estimates that he can save about 50% of the budget with the new approach; withdrawing from the league however, cost the Club �0. We have entered a Team in the Midland Youth Cup and got a plum tie away to ........ Grimsby Town! Peter Boulton the Youth team Physio paid �0 out of his own pocket to help meet the costs of the game, in which the boys did magnificent and won 3-1. Stand up and take a bow Pete!! In the next round we play Aston Villa or Port Vale away.

Player Update: GT was meeting Andrew Quy (pronounced as in "Bridge over the River...), the Kettering keeper who saved them from a right hiding the other week, on 7th October with a view to offering him an 18 month contract (he has subsequently signed to the end of the season, as he can't afford to go any longer without being paid!!). He becomes the first choice keeper and Mark Gayle returns to Crewe at the end of his first month loan (he's now gone to Chesterfield). You will all know this by the time you get the Newsletter, but I thought I would give you the background anyway. Oh and by the way Quy is FA Cup-tied, so its DeBont with Macca having departed - save the bets on making the first round proper. On Milner GT is not yet convinced but is coming under some pressure from Chester for a decision. Apparently some other Club is interested in him, according to Kevin Ratcliffe. On his performance at Telford it is probably one from Saudi Arabia (where the other camels come from). His loan has now been extended for another month, which proves the point! The only offer for DeBont has come from Gateshead, who wanted to take him on loan, which he rejected. All those surprised at this, take one step forward. GT is still looking but there were no other names available at the time. With subsequent events don't expect to see any either!

Emergency Ward 10: Grayson is out for about 3 weeks, having pulled a quad muscle (whatever one of those is). McGorry and Norts may be fit for Southport (but don't bet on it) and it looks like mid-November for big Tony. We asked GT whether there was something, perhaps our training methods that were the cause of all these injuries. His response was to the effect that having discussed it with Shakey, he did not think so. Grayson did himself an hour into the game (GT complained that he should still have got his shot in), Norts caught his studs in the turf when trying to turn, McGorry's injury stems from his loss of condition whilst affected by the virus and Agana was the sort of injury what affects most Pros at some stage in their career.

Away Shirts: We can't use the red/black stripes as they have the Nationwide logos on them and the GM Vauxhall Conference people get very upset apparently. The new "Andy 3-0 Graham) Away Shirt went on sale at the Southport game (18th October), and we can only assume that the "Del Boy - Cash Only" approach to their sale was to ensure that the Club were able to pay Mark Ellis some of what they owe him. They are nice though. Mine's a (Triple) X Large one please, Mr. Ellis, sir.

Programme: We passed on the complaints received from HUISA members about the quality of the programme. Trying to be constructive we suggested that perhaps the Bengy the Bull column, could be used to keep fans informed about the goings-on behind the scenes at the Club, instead of marking us out of 10, for the quality of the support. Keith Benjamin (who got quite shirty) said that his articles were written as the "Mascot" and the intention was for it to be a "gossip column", relying on input from the fans. He saw no need to expand it beyond that, but did say that if the fans didn't like it, he would simply stop producing it! Let him know what you think, by writing to Bullseye direct.

Food Prices/Quality: Again responding to complaints received from HUISA members, we raised the issue of food quality and pricing at Edgar Street. Stadia Catering have the contract for this season and the Club, having pocketed the money, have no say on their pricing and quality policy. Its good to know they care so much about us. GT agreed to give us the details of the firm and HUISA will be writing to them to seek a review of both aspects as soon as possible. The best way of exerting pressure on them of course, is not to buy their grub. I know many members (including this Cult) have already stopped doing so.

Balls to Turner: As no member objected, HUISA has agreed to buy 20 of the Spalding Match Balls for the Club, from its funds. The cost will be �0 of thereabouts. In return as well as being extremely grateful, GT has agreed to arrange for them to be presented to the Club, on the pitch before a home game, in the near future and for a photograph and an acknowledgment to go into a subsequent programme (more PR for HUISA). If there is anybody out there who would like to be the HUISA representative, and make the presentation, (perhaps one or two of your little ones - to their favorite player) then can they contact me please, ASAP. All we would ask in return, is a modest donation to HUISA funds.

Hereford United Book: This is the one advertised in TB recently. Apparently the Chairman has now read it, knows who Hereford United are and has agreed to stock it in the Club shop (so it obviously doesn't refer to him as a Cult then). All copies sold will make �clear profit for the Club. With Christmas coming - fill your boots.

Carlsberg Suite: There was some confusion at the meeting as to just what is going on with the Carlsberg. It would appear that the new manager has agreed to pay for the improvements himself and will then pay the club a rent for its use and keep the (any) profits for himself. As at 6th October however nothing had happened so this may yet live to be another monumental commercial cock-up; time will tell. Still we can always go and drink in the Richmond Club, as he told us after the Stalybridge game!

Next Liaison Committee Meeting: Monday 10th November 1997. As always if you want us to raise any issues with GT, just contact any co-ordinator. Many thanks to those members, who brought the above issues to our notice.

FANS FORUM - 13th October 1997

A Fans Forum with the Players, will never be better timed. Immediately prior to this Forum, the news about players wages broke and I don't think I was alone in feeling just a wee bit ashamed of the abuse I gave some of them at R&D, for what was in truth a remarkable performance, in the circumstances. Its just that we didn't know at the time. Although in truth the rumour doing the rounds at R&D, that the receivers were due to be called in on Monday, was if anything worse.

The Forum was attended by Norts, Dodge, Fishlock, Tony Agana and Jenny Pitman. I estimate that around 150 fans turned up. Needless to say perhaps but financial issues dominated the meeting, and the mood of the fans was very sombre. The one real plus of the night was the very positive attitude of the players. Despite everything, they all came across as committed to the cause and actually said that if anything, the crisis had brought them closer together as a group. They even talked of winning the Conference, although I for one would settle for still being in existence, at this precise moment in time!! The realism was there for all to see however, then they talked of "hanging on for as long as they could at the Club", but accepting that they had to have one eye on a potential future employer.

The one issue that struck most present, as representing the worst aspect about the whole affair, was that neither the Chairman or indeed any of the other Directors, had had the common decency to explain to the players, why they had not been paid and when they might expect to see some of the money they were due. Peter Hill apparently had not been near the Club for almost two weeks and it was suggested that he was deliberately avoiding the Players! Think about that for a minute and ask yourself how you would react in similar circumstances. I think the Manager and Playing Staff are a credit to the Club - and yes that includes one Mr. Hargreaves (oh no I've said something nice about him - Bollox will never let me forget it!!).

I rang Peter Hill, on the Tuesday after the Forum, and sparing you all the excuses, he did admit that "perhaps he could have handled the communication with the Players a bit better, but he was a busy man". He went on to say that he had made sure that his messages had got through to the Players through Gary Watts, the Club's financial manager (????). What have we done to deserve a Chairman of this enormous stature? One other thing he did let slip in the conversation (and I have only just remembered this), was that he had been talking to Scarboro' about "players". I don't think we are buying do you? So who's he trying to flog (they are reported to be looking for a striker??). Answers on a postcard - and don't forget you read it here first!!

Next Fans Forum - To be arranged (if you have any ideas let me know, but I somehow doubt that PH will be prepared to meet us again!).

BULLS 1100 CLUB or so they're calling it)

I was invited to a meeting at HUFC on 16th October to discuss this idea. The invitation came from Keith Benjamin, who claimed that the idea was his and Tony Cole's (decent enough member of the VP Club) work. He also invited Peter Hill to the meeting, "to listen to the proposal". The fact that PH did all the talking and seemed to know the detail of the scheme in advance, suggested that its original source might not have been the Supporters after all!!!!

The idea is as follows:

To set up a Ltd. Company, shares in which would be sold to fans at �0 each. A total of 1100 shares would be sold (hence the name).
The Ltd. Co., would then lend the Club some �0,000, in return for one seat on the Board and 10% of any profit from the future sale of Edgar Street for redevelopment. (Redevelopment still being the only way to save the Club, according to PH). It was estimated that this could net the fans/investors a return of 50%, in about 2/3 years time, although this could not be guaranteed!
In addition, it was suggested that the Board of the Ltd. Co., could form a shadow or second tier Board below the main Board of the Football Club, "to give them the help they need". This second tier Board would have no executive authority.
Whilst I think the notion of the fans taking a financial stake in the Club, is sound, I expressed personal reservations about what was being proposed. Quite apart from the fact that the Fans were being asked to make an investment, some 8 times that of PH (who would retain his share-holding) himself, or indeed that of any of his Board of Directors, the "return", a completely ineffectual one vote on the Board and the rather dubious pleasure of doing all the Board's work, through the second tier (perhaps they need more "Directors" to serve sandwiches in the Boardroom, after matches) is, in my view, little short of an insult. My personal view was then and remains now that if fans were to come up with that sort of cash, they deserve a complete change at the Club. Why should we the fans, bale out the people who led the Club into the mess in the first place?

Other issues critical to the scheme had also not been made clear and would require to be so, before any fans could be asked to contribute funds. In summary these include:

If the Club were to try and sell the idea as an "investment" then they would need to disclose the true financial state of Hereford United (1939), so that potential investors could judge the risk (Ho Ho).
The Legalities of creating the Ltd. Co. and precisely who would do the work (they would have to be independent from the Club) and at what cost, had still to be resolved. These were no mere technicalities. For example, how would the Board of the new Company be formulated, who would be the Board Member at the Football Club, what would be the precise terms and mechanics of making the loan etc.? And it has subsequently been suggested that there could also be significant Capital Gains Tax problems, with the proposed approach.
The full nature of the Club's agreement with the BS Group would also have to be disclosed, so that the Ltd. Co. could know what it was getting into (10% of nothing = nothing!).
Tony Cole had prepared some comments on the proposed scheme, in advance of the meeting and these said much the same thing and also highlighted the need for further information to be disclosed. There was also a very nice comment about the Board showing some humility and taking responsibility for the crisis at the Club. I attach a copy of his notes to this Newsletter. As a result of my comment and those of Tony Cole, a further meeting was arranged for 21st October, which was intended to allow time for consultation with HUISA members and for PH to prepare a response, to the points raised.

In the light of this, whilst PH was eager to get the scheme made public, it was agreed that any publicity would merely talk about the principles of it, making clear that the details had still to be resolved and it was not yet ready to be launched. I also told Keith Benjamin and PH that HUISA's name was not to be used in this publicity, until such time as the Association had formed its view and passed that to the Club, which I intended to do at the meeting on the 21st.

Whilst it should not have come as too much of a surprise I suppose, the publicity put out by the Club about the Scheme, was grossly mis-leading. Those of you out there, that are also members of the Official Supports Club (as they are now calling themselves), should have a quiet word with Mr. Benjamin. I have been informed that kids were sending in their pocket money, in the belief that this was going to save the Club. Doesn't he have any shame??

Given the unanimous view of HUISA members expressed at our meeting on 18th October, and in response to a number of requests from members afterwards, I put out a Press Statement on 19th October, formally disassociating HUISA from the scheme. I also attach a copy of this to the Newsletter, so that members can see the full text of the comments given to the Press. For PH to trivialise our objections, as being because "it wasn't our idea" is typical of the man. To call into question our loyalty as supporters is a disgrace, but then we can expect no better I suppose!.

Subsequently neither PH nor any representative from the Supporters Club attended the second meeting on 21st October. This is disgraceful in my view, and highlights once again, PH's disregard for the views of supporters. Whilst he may have been aware, from the Press Statement, of those held by HUISA, he still had a duty, particularly to the members of the VP Club, who had put themselves out and attended the meeting at his request, to come and provide the detail of the Scheme, that he had both announced publicly and started taking money from supporters for. GT and Joan Fennessey who together with Shakey were present, had not been told that PH was not going to attend and were clearly very embarrassed. I now have copies of the minutes of that meeting which makes this point very clearly.

Association Members, voted unanimously to reject the Bull 1100 Scheme on the 18th October. Please do not subscribe to it therefore, (if indeed it gets off the ground now). Please also make a point of telling anybody you know who is thinking of subscribing to it, not to do so. Give them the facts behind it and try to persuade them to keep their money, for the time when the Club really does need it! Tell them to join HUISA! The only way we will get "Hill Out" is to make his position financially untenable!

A few other snippets of information to come out of the meeting on 16th October which will be of interest to Members are as follows:

The �0k from the BS Group is a loan which the Club has to pay back whether relocation goes ahead or not. The BS Group are charging interest on it at an undisclosed amount, but this is likely to be several points above the Bank's base rate. The BS Group may be prepared to make another �0k "loan" in return for another 25% of the relocation deal. The "London Property Developer" wanted a similar return although at least his �0k would have been a "punt" not a loan. The impression that I got of the latter deal, was that its development extended to no more than a few phone calls and PH had yet to meet the individual making the "offer". Businessman of the Year is obviously in the bag again then!!
There were two other offers in the Summer apart from that of the BS Group. One of these was from Sun Life who were prepared to pay �0k for essentially the same deal, but on more favourable terms for the Club. Some of the money would also have been a "gift" to the Football Club, not a loan. PH blames Barclays Bank for not giving the Club the two weeks they needed to complete the deal. Ask yourself the question: What Bank Manager in his/her right mind, faced with the choice between �0k and �0k, provided evidence was available of both deal, as PH claims it was, is going to refuse a cash strapped Club the time (only two weeks) it needs to bring in 50% more cash on better terms? No I don't believe it either! So why did they go for the BS Group, do you think????
All the Club's debts are due to the loss of 50% of the League Funding, the Dean Smith Tribunal, the "New Directors" not coming on Board and of course the Fans not coming through the turnstiles! (I kid you not, he said all this!). Thankfully his prudent and expert financial planning had averted a real crisis!!
The BS Group get 25% of any profit from the sale of Edgar Street for re-development, the Club gets 75%. This is after any fees and charges have been paid.
PH has resigned from Cosworth Developments for undisclosed reasons.
PH has a letter from the Football Licensing Authority stating that Edgar Street will be obsolete by 1999. He wouldn't show it to us.
It will cost at least £5m, to bring Edgar Street up to standard. I asked for sight of the professional costing to support this figure. He promised to send them to me but they must have got lost in the post. PH said we might get grants for .75m - 1m for the work.
A new stadium would cost £6m, and if the Local Authority put their name to it, 90% grants would be available - according to PH.
The Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise are owed �k each. They are preferential creditors. The Club have been repaying both at a rate of �k/7.5k per month respectively. Last month's payments were not made!
The Bank have reduced the overdraft from �0k to �5k, and the Club are at the limit. PH said that the Bank would want this repaid from the �0k, if it is raised and would then want to change the formula for agreeing the O/D (i.e. they would want to reduce it). The Chairman and other Directors have guaranteed the largest part of the O/D, so why let them get of "Andy Graham" free??
"Last week" Babcock Wines launched a winding up order, against the Club for unpaid bills of £9k, which the "Directors" paid, to stop the action.
All in all it was a really fun meeting and I got the distinct impression that the Chairman doesn't like HUISA very much. (Oh no now I'll never get to wear that Bull outfit!!!).

Members Meeting - 18th October 1997

A very well attended Members Meeting (there must have been 100+), was held at the Richmond Place Club prior to the Southport game. Much of the meeting was taken up with discussion of the proposed scheme and as I have already said the vote against was unanimous.

Also present at the meeting were Alistair McHarg and Ian Griffiths who are two members of the "5 Herefordshire Businessmen". They informed the meeting for the reasons for their interest in the Club and what they were trying to do to save it. They are not in support of the Bulls 1100 scheme. They answered questions from HUISA members and made clear their preference for staying at Edgar Street, whilst admitting that if the business case was strong enough, they could be persuaded to relocate to another site. They do not think that the Grafton site is a starter and told the meeting that they found it interesting that Robin Sly had been on to them, trying to sell both his stake in Grafton and shares in the Football Club (both offers, politely declined). They also made it clear that if they do gain control of the Club they would look to get the fans involved as much as possible, indeed they would have to reply on the fans considerably, whilst they attempt to put the Club back on an even keel. I believe the meeting was also unanimous in the view that this help would be forthcoming.

Both Alistair and Ian answered a number of questions from HUISA members, unfortunately I am unable to print all the views they expressed for a number of reasons. Lets just say it was very positive! And of course you should have been there!!!

Other points from the meeting are as follows:

We have arranged a meeting with Chief Inspector Suzette Davenport for Monday 3rd November, at 7pm (at Hereford Police Station). She has agreed to meet a group of about 6 or 7. According to Andy Graham's notes from the last but one Members Meeting, Elaine, Mike, Les, Phil, Jolyon, Sarah and Heather volunteered to attend on behalf of HUISA. Would they contact me to confirm that they are still available/interested. Subjects for discussion, will include, Cheltenham KO Time, supporters treatment at Away games and Keith Hall. If you have any other subjects you would like us to discuss with the Police, then please let me know.
The HUISA Constitution circulated with the last Newsletter was agreed. If new members want a copy then please let me know. And nobody picked up the bit about Scum Fans!!!
In accordance with the Constitution, we now need to elect Officials and Committee Members. Ideally a good number of these should live in or be based in Hereford itself. If HUISA is to flourish it will need a strong active set of Officials and Committee Members, so please come forward. In accordance with the Constitution, all nominations will need to be proposed and seconded, by a HUISA member. With Membership forever increasing, this should not be difficult! I would hope that we can put the new structure in place at the next members meeting (see below).

Date of Next Members Meeting: Saturday 8th November 1997 (Yeovil Town - H). 12.00pm in the Richmond Place Club on Edgar Street as per usual (thanks Mike).

Save Our Football Team Collection: The SOFT Collection raised �96 and some strange foreign coins! My thanks to all those who helped on the day - it was a magnificent effort by all concerned. Thanks also to my missus who did most of the running around during the week, to get it organized (as I was poorly).

Social Evening - Llandrindod Wells: A fantastic evening and those of you who missed it, really did lose out on a good time. Personal favourite for me was seeing Billy Bollox murdering the Karaoke machine. At the last count however we raised �90 on the night and particular thanks go to all those who gave so generously, to make it such a great success. On half of HUISA I should like to thank Big Phil, Little Jan and Sadie, whose efforts gave us all a night to remember. Oh yes and to all of those of you who contributed to the collection, that led to my appearance in front of the microphone singing the internationally famous hit "Playing Football with Palace", I would just like to say - I will get my own back!!

HUISA Funds: These stand at a very healthy �00, including the sums mentioned above and a donation of �0 from Sally, Mary and Heather of the Ledbury Supporters Club. I have to say however that donations from individual HUISA members had all but dried up, prior to the meeting on 18th October and there remains a significant proportion of members, who have not made any contribution to our funds. If you are one of them (including you Copper) how about putting it right before the next Newsletter is issued. We are all in this together, don't forget.

Membership Fees: These have been paid by some 98 members only. Membership is currently 178. This is the last Newsletter that will be sent to Members who have not paid their Membership Fee. With numbers booming, we simply cannot afford to do so. Cheques made payable to HUISA can be sent to: Mike "GFB" Quarrell, 17 Bowbrook Grange, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY3 8XT. If you are not sure whether you have paid or not, then please contact me.

HUISA Expenditure: As the players have been paid up to date (18th October), GT has asked us to hold onto the money we have raised and not make any payments to players, for the moment. We are however looking into the idea suggested by Jeremy Woolfe, to open an account at a Petrol Station in Hereford, to allow the players to fill up their cars whenever they come to training and on match days (rather conveniently one of our new members owns/runs his own Petrol Station, in Hereford!!). GT also asked us to pay for the overnight stay at Sittingbourne. Initially the Club thought that the FA would pick up the tab, but the rules have changed and unless the home Club agrees (and the money comes out of the gate, so this is unlikely), it is virtually impossible to get the money. Basically Torquay would have to be playing Carlisle, before the FA would allow it! Without HUISA funds, the Team would have had to travel down on the day and given the importance of the game, we have agreed to meet the cost (approx. �0).

As we are not paying anything to the players at this stage, we have also implemented an idea put forward by Mike Worthing that HUISA send a bouquet of flowers to the players wives/girlfriends (one only!) as a small token of the fans appreciation, and our support for them, in what have obviously been difficult time, for the families as well. I trust that HUISA members will agree with this expenditure, which has cost approx. �0.

Allowing for the Spalding Match Balls we have also agreed to purchase, this will leave HUISA with funds of approx. �00 (including Membership fees of �5).

Southport Demonstration: A truly magnificent response from fans and HUISA members. It was never expected that PH would come and face us but our message got home load and clear. The media coverage was also excellent and will help heap and keep the pressure on the Board. PH has threatened legal action against those responsible for circulating the leaflets, claiming they were libellous. We look forward to seeing him in court and the opportunity to cross-examine him!!! To keep the pressure on however, we believe that there should be another demonstration after the Yeovil game. Please come and join us, get others to do so - but don't forget it must be PEACEFUL.

Legal Assistance: Not directly connected with the above but it did remind me. HUISA could do with some access to (preferably free or very cheap) legal advice on a number of issues (e.g. commercial law), and also perhaps some auditing expertise. If any member(s) would be able to help with this, then please get in touch as soon as possible (we might let you off making a donation!!).

Lottery Syndicate: Only 5 returns so far. If the response doesn't pick up then we may lose this idea - which would be a great shame in my view.

Bulmers: Steve Harries got HUISA �0 out of Bulmers. Well done Steve.

Membership Cards: These will be handed out at the Members Meeting on 8th November, simply because we haven't had the time to fill them in yet!

Travel to Sittingbourne: HUISA has written to the FA and "606" (although I still think Mellor is a Cult) to complain at the Referee's attitude over the Kick Off time for Saturday's game, on behalf of all those who suffered on the M4! Details of their reply will be included in a future Newsletter. (My thanks go to Shogun Rob!!).

BACK THE BULLS - BACK TO SOLVENCY

MIKE "GFB" QUARRELL

HUISA CO-ORDINATOR - FOUNDED ON THE PRINCIPLE OF EATING MORE PIES THAN ANYONE ELSE!!

26th OCTOBER 1997

PS. I am sorry that this Newsletter is so long and boring, but a) there is a lot going on and b) my brain hurts!

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