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BN goes back 25 years for this article in which Hereford United manager Graham Turner was interviewed by Sky Sports.
GRAHAM Turner has been interviewed about his time at Hereford United by Sky Sports for their website (http://www.skysports.com), ahead of Saturday's season opening against Barnet, live on Sky Sports.
The interview, by Joe Bernstein, is featured below:
You can't think of Hereford United without the image of Ronnie Radford's goal and a jubilant pitch invasion by hundreds of fans, all wearing Parka coats, flashing through the mind.
Trouble, is that famous - nay, legendary - FA Cup win against Newcastle was 30 years ago and life has been rough at Edgar Street since then.
This season marks their fifth attempt to regain Football League status, snatched away by Brighton's Robbie Reinelt on a dramatic May afternoon in 1997.
Graham Turner was the manager then and, despite offering his resignation within hours of relegation, remains the manager today - and he is now chairman as well.
"Every time a potential cup giantkilling is featured on TV, they show the Hereford goals against Newcastle. We're not sick of it at all, we have a picture of Ronnie Radford's goal hitting the net in the boardroom," he says.
"Like many clubs, Hereford have found it difficult to survive in the modern era. We've had to live on our wits, and will have to carry on doing the same."
It was only Turner's personal intervention that kept the club afloat. After the club were loaned £1million by property developers - money that Hereford still owe - the chairman decided he wanted out. With nobody else willing to buy his 35 per cent stake, Turner stumped up the money to become the club's major shareholder and chairman.
"I wake up every morning and think it was a ridiculous thing to do," admits Turner.
"I'm a football man but circumstances meant I had to do something or the club really looked as if it was going to fold. I thought a few years later, I would be able to sell the shares but so far nobody wants them!
"The real reason I got involved was for the fans. When we dropped out of the league, I felt responsible despite not being allowed to sign players for a lot of that season.
"The fans sent a delegation around to let me know they wanted me to stay on. I doubt that happens to many managers whose team drop out of the league. It was the start of a fantastic relationship with the supporters.
"Hereford have among the largest support in the country based on population. If we do well in the Conference this season, we would average 3,500 and the town's population is only 65,000. Our supporters are involved in the decision-making process.
Turner believes his side can mount a serious promotion challenge this season and Barnet - who dropped out of the League in May - will be a good test on Saturday in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
"We have a couple of players who catch the eye," said Turner. "I have managed at a high level and in my opinion one of our youngsters Gavin Williams is capable of being a First Division player. He will play as a striker on Saturday, he's very quick and mobile and came through the youth ranks.
"Paul Parry looked the part a couple of years ago before he got glandular fever. But he's got a lot of ability wide on the left and scored a good goal against Everton in pre-season.
"Two years ago, we played Leicester in the FA Cup and Paul went on a terrific run past two defenders and hit the post with a shot. If it had gone in, he might have become as well-known as Ronnie Radford!"
Although Hereford are in the Conference, their manager Turner has an impressive CV.
He took Shrewsbury from Division Four to top eight in the old Division Two with a young side that included Steve Ogrizovic and Nigel Pearson.
He then went on to Aston Villa in 1984, Doug Ellis' first managerial appointment in his second spell at Villa Park.
"The timing wasn't great because the European Cup-winning side was breaking up and our good young players like Steve Hodge, Martin Keown and Mark Walters weren't quite ready," he recalls.
Turner went from Villa Park to spend nearly eight years at Wolves, again taking them from the bottom rung of league football into the First Division and then paying the price for missing out on promotion to the Premiership.
"The first two or three seasons at Wolves were great and then Sir Jack Hayward came in and expectations went through the roof," he admits.
"In my first two years, we won two championships, went to Wembley and put a million pounds in the bank. But the money went into a magnificent stadium and I started getting flak from the fans because we weren't challenging for the Premiership.
"We had an FA Cup quarter-final at Chelsea in 1994 and decided I would resign if we lost. We were beaten 1-0 and I decided I'd had enough.
I'm still friendly with Sir Jack and visited him in the Bahamas this summer. I think his biggest mistake was he didn't get actively involved, he really wasn't around that often, and I think he would accept that now."
With promotion play-offs from the Conference looking likely - there is a proposal on the table that Conference teams who finish between second and fifth go into play-off matches and meet the Conference champions for the right to win promotion - there may be a couple of chapters to add in Turner's Football League book.
GRAHAM TURNER CHATLINES
Playing Career: Chester 1967-72, Shrewsbury 1972-83
Managerial career: Shrewsbury 1978-84, Aston Villa 1984-86, Wolves 1986-94, Hereford 1995-
Predict the Conference champions: If not us, Doncaster Rovers. They were destitute when they were relegated into the Conference but have re-organised, moved ground and look a good side now
Star Conference player: Gavin Williams of Hereford. And Ken Charlery, who is with Boston. He has a good pedigree for a striker in this division.
Best player you worked with: Steve Bull at Wolves was the best at what he did, which was scoring goals. He was a coach here at Hereford last season.
Your dream for this season: There is prize money for winning games in the FA Cup from the very first qualifying round. So it would be financially so important for us if we could have a cup run like two years ago when we took Leicester to a replay.