BN looks back to the Summer of 2014. The players and staff were owed money. Most had left. One of them, captain Luke Graham, summed up his time at Hereford.
Graham Says Goodbye
Luke Graham has written an open letter to Bulls fans after officially joining Alfreton:
I feel sad writing this to be honest especially with the way the club is left at the moment!
Firstly I can confirm as my
contract ended on June 30th, I am currently owed three months money as
well as the £500 bonus signed by DK. The players in the PFA have
received some emergency funds recently to help with bills and most of
the lads have had a bit of monies through me and CC's taxback business to
try and deal with these difficult circumstances. Its ironic that the
players who contributed to the clubs relegation to the conference have
received every penny by DK, where as the players who have been trying to
pick the pieces up on half the wages are left out of pocket, that's
football I guess.
Hereford was somewhere I could
have stayed for a significant period of time, you have some great
people and fans, which has been proven during the most difficult times a
footballer could even dare begin to imagine. Its fair to say I adopted
Hereford and during my two years I have improved as a person, footballer
and a leader that I am sure of. Life is about memories not money (even
though it makes the world go round), I have some great ones:-
FA CUP
run where the lads didn't get paid for the first time in October 2012,
most of us grew our moustaches for Movember and we looked mustard!
Matched Cheltenham all the way and deserved penalties at the very least!
Cheltenham races where the Mini Bus got stuck in the Mud and we had to push it to get back on track!
Telford Away,
we had no pre match meal so a group of us got together and made
ourselves Beans and eggs on toast in the Starlight Room's kitchen. Dodge
the physio drove us up to Telford in the mini bus and we smashed them
4-0, having a great end of season party back in Hereford
Afc Hornchurch, where we were terrible but managed to nick a 1-0 win through the 'ghost' JOK and earn our pay cheque for the next month
Dec/Jan 13/14 where the young
players started showing improvement and fight with some great results,
after an epic Xmas Do in Cardiff which brought us all together
Mar - Current, how the Players fought on with the support of the fans to secure the impossible task of staying up
Picking up Players' Player of the year two years in a row by two different sets of players was an honour
Finally Apr 26th 2014 - Who will forget it? What a great night out after with a great bunch of lads
Its great to see all the lads
getting clubs which justifies our decision to play on without pay for so
long. Purdie has a job away from football and Evans is a smart guy who
will get sorted with a job soon. I think they would form a formidable
management duo if the club reformed, Purdie adopted Herefordian and
Evans no nonsense and professional approach, where both great support
for me at the end as were all of the lads.
After a lot of thought I have
signed for Alfreton part time on a 2 year deal. I spoke to a lot of
clubs this summer and had some interesting offers but in the last four
years, three of them have been plagued with financial turmoil (
Kettering and Hereford). I haven't got many clubs within an hour and a
half of me, so i had to consider the commute and sacrifices again. But
gaining a first class degree in my BA Sports Journalism and Writing
course yesterday, it has opened up doors for some interviews in Colleges
to be a qualified teacher. I felt this was the right path for me with
the way football in the lower leagues is going financially and Alfreton
have gave me a deal which enables me to pursue another avenue as well as
playing Conference football.
Good luck to you all, will be keeping an eye out as a member of the trust now!
Thanks for the memories!