On May 11th 2015, Hereford FC were the subject of an interesting article in the Times.
Entitled 'Not United But Unified, Hereford Can Look Forward', the article is written by George Caulkin.
On the day the doors were locked, the day something died, Jon Hale stayed away. Other supporters trooped towards Edgar Street, not to cheer and to drink, to fret or celebrate, but to witness and to mourn, to leave scarves and say goodbye; that old match-day ritual perverted by mismanagement and incompetence into a cortege. Hale stayed away, afflicted by a sorrow which touched every aspect of his life.
"The emotional side got to me on December 19th," Hale said. "Nothing can feel worse than that. It was the very bottom of the pit. So at that point you think after all the years you've been going to the games and what it means. My old man is dead now but I'd gone with him since the 1980's and its things like that really. I didn't come down here. A lot of people wanted to but I couldn't, I just couldn't"
Just as going to Hereford United had become a habit for Jon and David, his father, staying away was now engrained. As the club unravelled he joined a boycott led by the Supporters Trust.
"Very painful," he said. "It was desperately difficult when I knew I could have been here. There were Saturdays when I felt like putting a hat on and coming to stand on the Meadow End but I didn't. It was very difficult.
It became worse than that. "If I saw the name Hereford United in the paper it disgusted me. That will always stick with me. I couldn't drive past the ground. I couldn't read their name and I didn't want to see their results although obviously you found out. I often thought to myself I'm glad my Dad didn't have to go through this. He would have been absolutely devastated."
Hale's words jab the ribs; whoever you support the essence of clubs is not business or players but relationships and memories built upon and shared. They are family and mates swaying in the pub, anger pride and solidarity.
"It was desperately upsetting that a club with Hereford's tradition could be exposed to a set of ..... a group of people who had total disregard for that history."
But this is not a sad story, not now, and on the day the doors opened, the day something was born Jon Hale was there rummarging through a plastic ice cream container crammed with 30 sets of keys.
"Until that morning I could still see it going wrong somehow, but to have those keys, to feel in charge of our destiny, to know we could take this club back to the supporters was a brilliant feeling."
Hereford FC is a phoenix club and the phrase is appropriate because they have taken flight, soaring. They are United no longer but united one again and as the rest of the sport begins to wind down they are picking up pace, mowing and scrubbing, reinventing and plotting, talking to players, setting up matches. On Thursday they will discover which division they will be playing in this August. They have already sold 700 season tickets.
Pivotal to their survival, to their reimergence, has been the dedication of their supporters, those prepared to starve out the previous owners who led the campaign to expose catastropic failings, those who have invested in an uncertain future and the 200 supporters who have now offered help. Crucial too has been Herefordshire Council leasing them Edgar Street for the next five years.
Hale is the new Hereford chairman. His Dad had been a vice-president of the old club but he has also chaired the Supporters Trust, three members of which sit on the Hereford FC board (there will be an opportunity for fans to own 50% of the club). Material backing has come from four local businessmen who have each invested £50,000.There is a hubbub at the stadium now but it was different on March 27th when Hale prised the double doors apart. "It was upsetting.The whole place felt grey and flat and dark. There were no lights."
Edgar Street was fosillised. Playing kit and towels were strewn on the dressing room floor. Christmas decorations were still up in Addison's Bar. In the manager's office there was a sheaf of fine procedure forms (No player is to strike or punch a team-mate) and in one of the rooms overlooking the pitch there were sleeping bags; players who had not been paid had moved from a bed and breakfast. Televisions and spirit optics were missing.
The angle of Hereford's decine was vertiginous. In September 2008 they played at Elland Road in League One in front of 25,000 people. Six years later their final picture was against Dunstable Town in the Southern League a 1-1 draw which kicked off 40 minutes late because nobody had informed the match officials that Hereford's suspension from all football activities had been lifted. Official attendance 167.
By that stage Hereford United were a shell. Last June they were expelled from the Conference after failing to pay a £350,000 bond. A day later their media officer resigned writing on Facebook "As expected my wages have not been paid in despite a 5th promise in 7 days. Eviction is on the cards fo my wife and I."
It is a shoddy, familiar narrative, a complex web of financial irregularity and crass decision-making spreading out and infecting. Having avoided relegation from the Conference on the final day of last season Hereford were sold, but creditors were not paid and the tumble continued and, after eight adjournments, they were finally wound up in a five-minute court appearance. Andy Lonsdale, the chairman, was absent, claiming to be stuck in traffic.
And so, after 90 years, the doors were locked and something died, but even then there was a stirring. "We had a group of people who had been talking about this eventuality, we had four benefactors behind us, all longstanding supporters, and we realised we had an opportunity," Hale said. "We wanted a club that everyone can be proud of."
The endeavour has been draining, but having won the support of the council, Hale and his colleagues submitted a business plan to the FA, proving everything was in place to restart the club. They expect to be playing in the eighth or ninth tier of English football. "We’ll take it on the chin, but the level we go back in is almost irrelevant to a lot of people," Hale said. "Bit by bit, we’re piecing it back together, regaining trust."
United no longer, but unified. "The pressure put on by supporters during the last few months, uncovering the truth behind what was going on, ultimately led to the last lot being forced out,"Hale said. "Everybody has been supportive. Over 200 people have registered to volunteer to get this ground ready for July 11. Brushing, cleaning, painting, washing, clearing up bird poo. Whatever it needs."
July 11 will mark Hereford FC’s first home fixture, a friendly against FC United of Manchester. "There’ll be a range of emotions," Hale said. "We thought we might not have a club full stop. It was a real possibility. I came here for a site visit with the council and I found that emotional. To see a few thousand people going through the same process . . . I think there’ll be plenty of tears."
They have a manager in Peter Beadle, the caretaker who kept them in the Conference and who has already appointed their former kit-man and physio. Hugh Brooks, who was finance director during Graham Turner’s spell as manager, is back on the board. Hale thinks his father would be immensely proud. "I’ve got a four-year-old son, Matthew, and I hope he’ll be a season ticket holder here in a year or two.” His new baby girl will be next in line.
Hereford, "still see ourselves as a Football League club", Hale said and perhaps, one day, the phoenix will have risen that high. In the meantime, there is work to do, turf to reseed and leaks to mend. "We’re a message to every board of directors in the country that supporters can have the final say," Hale said. "As fans, never accept what’s going on at your club. Shout and shout loud, because it does work."
Sitting in the dressing room, Hale considered this lonely death, this happy birth. "Owners have to understand what clubs mean to their communities and the FA needs to step up as well," he said. "It could have killed our community because there were so many people who used this ground, for junior football, meetings, weddings.
"It’ll be very nice to talk about football again, because there have been so many months of talking about things you’d never think about; finance, liquidation, problems with the water supply and you think, ‘my God, how are we ever going to get through this?’. But we have and we will. It will happen. Fans are bursting to get back in here."