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Friday, November 07, 2014

Another Statement About HUST From Lonsdale


Hereford United chairman Andy Lonsdale has issued a further statement about HUST and their response to his request for a meeting about possible investment.

A further response regarding HUST.


It has indeed been a very interesting 48 hours following our invitation to HUST to engage in exploratory meetings surrounding resolving the issues upon which a large number of supporters are refraining from attending matches at Edgar Street.

Many strange comments have been made regarding my being some sort of middle man that can be discounted, and that investors attracted to Hereford United should in fact be dealing with an organisation with no interest in maintaining the current Club.

There remain continuing disingenuous comments surrounding outstanding creditors and the numbers of those that have now been settled.

We never expected instant resolutions, we had hoped that some groundwork may be laid upon which an inclusive approach could be adopted that would see a genuine partnership evolve, along the lines of many Clubs whereby trusts such as HUST are fully involved and part of the steering of the Club. Cambridge City among many others provide a working model on which we could have built.

The basis upon which HUST were contacted was not to give the idea that they were paramount to any successful conclusion to the incoming investment, rather, the investors were very concerned that the support remained divided and asked us would it be possible to be the route to resolving these issues. I approached Martin Watson in good faith and offered a blank sheet approach whereby we could sit down and initially discover the main problems, and over time find ways of resolving these.


I expected there to be some considered thought given to this, what we have seen is a quite febrile reaction and knee jerk announcements across the media he controls and on Radio Hereford and Worcester. The basis for this reaction has been the idea that I was in some kind of impossible position, and without the tacit support of HUST the investment would be lost and I would be forced along with the owners to leave the Football Club.

Many supporters are aware that we are rebuilding the Club from scratch; we inherited a colossal amount of debt. HUST claim that only one area of this debt has been dealt with. Why they choose to ignore the £200,000+ that we have ploughed into the football Club is a matter for them. The facts are that the Players from last season have been paid. Staff from last season have been paid. Utility bills have been paid. Other football creditors have also been paid. The council debt and others were going to be paid at the last winding up hearing, events that morning though made these untenable at that point, nevertheless the outstanding inherited debt to the council has been cleared. The original inherited winding up order instigated by Martin Foyle has been settled by an agreement of payment. Alongside these the football offering has been rebuilt from nothing as well.

The level of animosity towards not only us, but also towards those that can see what is actually happening at the Club has been quite appalling. Again, we will not make direct comment on this, but leave it to the people of Hereford to draw their own conclusions on what has gone on.

Therefore, we feel a clear picture has now formed on the situation surrounding the football Club. HUST are clearly not going to involve themselves with Hereford United unless we leave. This will categorically not be happening.

The investment opportunity is on offer to Hereford United, we as owners and directors are the ones that have secured this and HUST had and will continue to have no involvement in these matters. There was never an offer to HUST of negotiating with these investors on the table. The offer was to meet and find a way through the impasse between the Club and HUST, nothing more. HUST may have misread or misinterpreted the invitation.

The situation then is now crystal clear. We as owners have secured investment, for which the investor had hoped there would be a positive approach from HUST, and we took the initiative in trying to bring the current impasse to a close. The investment is not dependent on this, and some of the reaction and vitriol has clarified for them the historic and somewhat poisonous atmosphere that has produced the conditions that has seen this football Club find itself in the financial mess that it was and is in.

We therefore feel we have done all we can to include HUST. We are disappointed that HUST have reacted in the way they have. We felt that a way forward could have been found from an inclusive position. HUST are determined that we are forced out. HUST now imagine they should be talking to investors they didn't find and have no interest in them.

This then forms the basis on how we proceed from this point. HUST have rejected everything we have offered, they therefore form no part of our effort to move Hereford United forward. We will no longer take any interest in demands from those whose sole intention is to either remove us or destroy the football Club if unsuccessful in doing so.

We have secured investment, and these people now have a clear understanding of the issues that will have to be confronted over the medium to long term, in rebuilding the Club, team and support base.

We will not be leaving Hereford United.

It is for the supporters to draw their own conclusions based on the events we have seen since the invitation we made to HUST. It is also for them to decide whether the aims of HUST remain the aims of themselves.

A clear path is ahead of the Football Club. There are many obstacles still to overcome; we though can assure people that we will do so.

The war of words is over. The Club will not engage with nor respond to organisations that have no interest in working alongside us as we rebuild the Club.

We have a long hard road in front of us; I can only ask the people of Hereford to take the time to evaluate the last 48 hours.

I would hope that people can see we are already providing what any other proposed project would struggle to reach within a decade.

I again thank those that have shown their support this season, and again invite those that haven't to come and see what we are doing.

Andy Lonsdale
Chairman