Ron Parrott, the Hereford FC Historian, beleives that Rob Purdie has already made 400 appearances in a Hereford shirt.
It comes as BN and others had been told that Purdie would make his 400th appearance, assuming is he selected, next Saturday.
Ron has issued the following statement.
“To settle the argument, the definitive answer is that Rob has made
401 first-team appearances for Hereford United with the 402nd to come
on Saturday. The discrepancy lies in
two fixtures last July, which were billed in the programmes and on the
team-sheets as pre-season friendlies, which would not normally count as
first-team fixtures.
The
first of which was at Kidderminster Harriers on 26th July 2016 and this
was played for a trophy named in honour of former Harriers’ Independent
Supporters’ Trust Chairman Steve Millington and it was hoped that the
match would become an annual fixture. With a trophy at stake, it becomes
a competitive game and therefore classed as a first-team fixture.
The
other discrepancy was the game at Edgar Street on Saturday 30th July
2016 against Merthyr Town, which again was described on the front of the
programme and on the team-sheet as a “Pre-season friendly”. However,the
game was actually the invitation final of the Herefordshire Senior Cup”
and as such, is again classed as a first-team fixture.”