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A new start for Hereford FC then, with a new coaching team and, with the exception of club veteran Mark Derricott, a brand new playing squad. The cricket’s been fun, it was an exciting Tour de France for those of us happiest on two wheels, but 3pm on Saturdays and 7:45 on Tuesday evenings are about to have a purpose again, rather than just being nondescript times on the clock.
In a summer that’s seen big changes to squads across the National League North, the Bulls travel to Kings Lynn on Saturday for the seasonal opener to lock horns with a much-changed Linnets side. In contrast to Hereford, the hosts seem if anything to have weakened as a result of their changes, bringing youngsters in to replace more seasoned campaigners, presumably for financial reasons.
Aaron Jones, Tai Fleming, Tyler Denton, Theo Widdrington and captain Michael Clunan have all left the club, but the most notable departure is undoubtedly Gold Omotayo, who scored 25 goals last season, before jumping aboard the AFC Fylde promotion bandwagon. Some experience has been added to the mix in the shape of Sion Spence, Quaine Bartley and Kian Ronan, but on balance they look depleted.
Along with Chester and Fylde, Kings Lynn were markedly better than the rest last season, before ultimately crashing out of the play-offs to promoted Kidderminster. They did the double over Hereford, although the Bulls competed toe-to-toe in the away match and should have got something out of it. The home defeat was a typically meek capitulation however.
The fact that they finished just two points behind champions Fylde and absolutely miles ahead of third-placed Chester last season was based largely on a very strong home record. They won 17 of their 23 games at The Walks, losing only three. Whether that fortress has been weakened by the departure of those established players remains to be seen.
The visitors travel in fairly depleted shape themselves, although that’s due to injuries and suspensions rather than summer squad losses. Andy Williams is out until well into autumn, as is fellow striker Jason Cowley. At the back, Kyle Howkins is a doubt as he continues to come back from a nasty ACL injury (I’ve no idea what that is, but it’s a term that gets bandied about these days with gay abandon and I didn’t want to miss out). It also looks like Lassana Mendes and Aaron Skinner will be missing due to inherited suspensions. For a small squad that’s quite a chunk of absentees, and being down to the bare bones in early August is some achievement.
On the plus side, Koby Arthur looks to be a more than capable attacking threat alongside influential Adam Rooney up top, and that veteran Mark Derricott will presumably get a start here as more than adequate cover for big Kyle. New signing Connor Stanley looks, in common with much of the squad, to be a potentially smashing signing, and he’ll hopefully do enough over the course of his ‘short-term deal’ to make a ’long-term deal’ essential to arrange. Funding for that could come from copying what Chester seem to be doing. As mentioned here a little while ago, they’ve got a pre-season friendly with ‘a Manchester United XI’ arranged after the season has started. If the board can attract Real Madrid, Juventus and Bayern Munich to Edgar Street for similar pre-season friendlies between league games throughout autumn, and again redirect the gate receipts into the playing budget, money worries will be all sorted. I know, I know, I should be on Dragon’s Den.
There’s been talk of
bringing a loanee or two in to plug some holes, which now seems more of a
necessity than a luxury after the bad luck with injuries and possible oversight
with the suspensions. Encouraging noises have been made about trying to find
borrowed players who add something rather than just using hole pluggers, so that
particular recruitment process will be another mini-test of the new manager’s
network of contacts in the game. Presumably one or two will feature in some capacity here.
It would be interesting to hear an honest appraisal from Jordan Cranston of how this hurriedly put together Bulls squad compares to the championship-winning Fylde side he was part of last season. Obviously he’d be far too diplomatic to say if it was nowhere near, but any such insight could be revealing.
With the squad changes on both sides this is impossible to call, but one thing that looks certain is that this won’t be one of those lovely sunny shirt-sleeve seasonal openers. The weather looks challenging. The sun will no doubt shine on the righteous next Saturday at the home of football when Darlington come to town.
In the seven matches between these clubs, Hereford have drawn one and lost the rest, so there’s certainly some room for improvement there, and Bulls fans can perhaps travel across to Norfolk with more optimism than usual, and what a statement of intent it would be to come away with the points.
COYW