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Next Game: Banbury Away On Friday March 29th Kick-Off 3.00pm

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Fans Are Nothing Without Football


Ken Kinnersley feels that 'fans are nothing without football'.

Many Bulls fans didn't think the nightmare of the past 9 months would ever end! But it has and to a large part the creditors, who were also fans, played a big part in seeing off Agombar and Co.

The creditors parted with their money, some very large sums, or continued to supply goods, or services, in order to keep our club afloat over recent years. Last August they voted against the totally unrealistic CVA offered by the regime and supported the winding-up petition(s). They put our club before their financial interests in full knowledge that they were effectively signing away any chance of recovering their losses. Thank you, all of you!

Our club “is” all the fans - it's intangible just as all our past memories and history are intangible but they are our memories and our history. As such, they will live on forever, no matter what name is eventually attributed to the limited company that follows. It now seems that we are likely to be known as Hereford FC and I'm very happy with that.

Sadly, as we all know, the current FA “Owners and Directors Test” is totally inadequate. It is only applicable “after” a share holding has been acquired rather than before. Thus in our case all the damage had long been inflicted before the result of the ODT was made public and disqualification ensued, albeit, not enforced.

To save other clubs from our fate the FA must review their regulations and in this respect “thanks” are also due to Jesse Norman MP, for his Parliamentary debate on Football, the pressure he has continued to apply on the FA and Herefordshire Council and for his very public support of our club.

Repossession of Edgar St. followed very quickly after insolvency, thus “thanks” are also due to Hereford Council for keeping to their word and repossessing the stadium. This was an important step and it can now reasonably be assumed that with repossession, the “undesirable” interest in Hereford United has followed the European Finance Guarantee – Proof of funds. However, we still have to make a successful bid to be able to rebuild at Edgar Street.

My long held view is that Edgar Street is crucial in successfully establishing a new club. I very much doubt that any other location would garner the home attendance required for the club to be sustainable. Edgar Street is our “home” and we must do what we can to ensure it remains so.

Hopefully, through the work of Jon Hales in putting together a consortium and working in conjunction with HUST we are in a position to submit a strong proposal to Herefordshire Council. The recent update that makes reference to limited shareholdings and democratic decision is very welcome.

What I really didn't anticipate was that there would be an urgent need to repair the division in our fan base. Sadly, our individual decisions whether to boycott or not has proved to be very divisive. It was always acknowledged by HUST that the boycott was a matter of personal choice. It is also the case that not all those staying away from games were members of HUST.

There is no doubt that there have been some particularly strong differences of opinion between fans – and this is to understate the situation! This has saddened me because we are all fans of a fantastic club. We are the club! There is a misconception that there was a “right” and a “wrong” decision regarding the boycott. Not so in my view, it was a personal decision that each of us, as a fan, had to make, based on how we saw the situation.

I fully respect the decision of the fans who have continued to support the team and I am hopeful that they will respect my decision not to support the team. As a fan the only sanction open to me was to withhold my money. I had no issue with the players but I just could not pay money to help sustain what I believed was a regime that had not acted, and, on the evidence of deeds, were unlikely to act in the best long term interests of my club.

The fans that didn't boycott games could well claim that “owners come and go” but, no matter, they were continuing to support the team as part of their club and with whom they had no disagreement. An equally valid opinion.

Similarly, I could not continue to be a member of HUISA given the principal aim of the Association was to provide financial support for Hereford United. Thus, my formal proposal to the 2014 HUISA AGM, for the Association to be “wound-up” and the assets passed to HUST. Setting aside the division of the assets, the majority were in agreement but I am well aware that there were fellow HUISA members who were, understandably, very upset at the dissolution of HUISA.

At Aldershot in April 14, we were unified fans of Hereford United, whether we went to games this season, or not, we are still the same people, we still have the same feelings for our “club” and each and everyone of us now needs to consider whether the continuing abuse and dissent aimed at fellow fans, just because they took a different decision, will change anything. In my view it won't.

The only effect is that the departed regime will gain some consolation if they believe they have, at least, divided the fans. So, my plea to any of us who still holds a grudge against another fan or thinks an individual should not be welcomed at Edgar Street in future, or posts derogatory or obscene comments on public bulletin boards is to please reconsider and, if you care for the club, please try to accept that we can have different opinions but still be united as fans.

If we really want a successful new club then we are going to need each and every fan we can muster. The more fans that join HUST the more evidence HUST and the consortium can put before Hereford Council to prove that football at Edgar Street is sustainable. We are going to need a large volunteer base to help in getting any new club established. We are also going to need fans to pay at the turnstile and the more support we get the quicker success may come.

It is still very much to be hoped that many fans who have not yet joined the Trust will
consider doing so.To this end I have requested the HUST Board to consider hosting a meeting just for non Trust members, so that, any reservations or questions fans still have can be aired and addressed in an atmosphere of reconciliation.

Finally, I'd like to wish every Bulls fan who reads this, where ever you may be in the world, “A very Happy Christmas and a Healthy, Prosperous and Happy New Year” and I'll leave you to reflect on the words of that old Scottish “Striker” Rabbie Burns who scored in 1788 with,

“Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon; the flames of love extinguished, and fully past and gone.”

They say that “Football is nothing without fans!” I take a slightly different view in that “Fans are nothing without football!”