From the Independent:
THE cattle market next to the football ground was in full swing the day the new manager arrived at Hereford United last summer. Graham Turner jokes that he thought the crowds were there to welcome him, but the Bulls, rather than the bulls, will indeed be the cause of a clamour on Saturday.
Hereford, 15th in the Third Division, tackle Tottenham Hotspur, 80 places above them at fourth in the Premiership, in a classic third-round FA Cup encounter at Edgar Street. For Turner, whose last run in the competition ended when his Wolves team lost at Chelsea in a quarter-final, it is the kind of occasion he craved during 16 months spent seeking suitable employment in the aftermath of that exit.
So much has happened at Wolves since then - Graham Taylor came and went, while Mark McGhee has come and is still there at the time of writing - it seems incredible that Turner's tenure did not end until two years ago in March. He appears destined to be cast as a failure, a version he disputes firmly but without bitterness.
Wolves had suffered three successive relegations when he took over and were lower in the former Fourth Division than Hereford are now. They had also endured two receiverships, making Turner's pounds 60,000 outlay on a raw reserve from West Bromwich a major gamble.
Steve Bull went on to play for England. Turner, meanwhile, led Wolves to the upper First via Wembley. Crowds rose from 3,000 to 23,000 and there was almost pounds 1m in the bank. All that, he adds pointedly, was before the Hayward family bought the club, raising expectations to frenzied heights.
When Turner finally accepted he would not be the one to realise them, he resigned from the club he supported as a child. "I'd like to think I'll be remembered with respect by the Wolves fans," he says. "I got some abuse in my last 18 months, but I hope that if I ever took a team back there they'd show some appreciation for what we did over my seven and a half years.
"Most of the Haywards' money when I was there went into rebuilding Molineux. It was only the last summer that I had money for players, though nowhere near as much as Graham Taylor. The feedback I've had since I left is that they now realise how difficult the job is.
"I felt I'd half-completed it, and it was the belief that I could see it through that kept me there. A lot of the stick was coming from people who wouldn't go near the club when they were at rock bottom.
"It all came to a head at Chelsea. I actually resigned after we played Portsmouth s few days later, but that was academic. I'd already decided that was it."
Did he feel sympathy for Taylor when he faced similar vilification? "I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Yet if anyone had ample opportunity to do things right with what I left there plus pounds 7m..."
Turner was confident he would soon find a club and rejected offers from Greece and Cyprus. For three months it was "very pleasant" to spend more time with his family and to wake up on Saturdays "without the twinges in the pit of your stomach". Then the withdrawal symptoms started.
"I desperately wanted to get back in. I haven't known anything else in life, so I missed the adrenalin flowing on match days and working with players in training. I had a near miss with the Ipswich job, and with Notts County, but I began to think about Chris Nicholl, who did well at Southampton but was out of work three years before going to Walsall.
"You just have to wait for someone to suffer the same misfortune as you. It's a unique situation in that you can actually study the vacancies on Teletext as they happen. But there's nothing worse when a manager is under pressure than to see out-of-work managers sat in the stand and talking to a director.
"It's a horrible profession when it's like that, though there's not many about who are that predatory. When I was scouting for Derby I'd turn down certain matches because I knew the manager was under fire."
Eventually, Hereford offered Turner the chance to join Kenny Dalglish and Steve Coppell in the elite band who operate under the title of Director of Football. Famed for their giant-killing - Ronnie Radford would be a rich man if he received a royalty every time his goal against Newcastle was shown - they were facing an 18th successive season in the bottom flight.
Even the Cup tradition had lapsed, Hitchin, Bath and Yeovil having put them out in the previous three seasons. "You could understand people's apathy," Turner says. "When you've been so low for so long you lose credibility with your public."
He has been unable to spend in order to improve on last season's 16th place (their highest in five years), but believes the 2,500 gates would double if they were to mount a promotion challenge. Hereford could have cashed in by switching the Spurs tie to White Hart Lane; Turner insisted they kept faith with the faithful.
"It's costing us £100,000 profit to be here," he says, pointing to a compact stadium and pitch that was cutting up even before the recent bad weather, "but we're hoping for that romantic underdog's victory. It'd be foolish to say we'll stop the likes of Teddy Sheringham and Chris Armstrong playing. However, if they're slightly off their game, and we raise ours, you never know."
Turner's wife and children now live in a rented house on a working farm, and enjoy "a good quality of life". While describing Hereford as "a lovely city to work in", he still hopes to take charge of a big club again and, at 48, has time to do so.
He also has an answer for those who might argue, in the wake of events like McGhee's defection to Wolves, that fulfilling his ambitions would mean betraying Hereford. "They asked me if I was going to use this place as a stepping stone, and the answer was yes," Turner admits. "But to get myself back up higher I've got to do a good job here first."
Spurs on Saturday represent the ideal opportunity to take the bull by the horns.
Thursday January 4th:
From the Daily Mail:
Yesterday, as the free-men of Hereford United - only £75,000 defender Dean Smith is a transfer debit on the balance sheet - prepared for Saturday's challenge of multi-million pound Tottenham Hotspur in the steam bath, jacuzzi and pool of the Holme Lacy Holme Lacy their manager explained: "I've done it before, when I was at Shrewsbury, and then we reached the quarter-finals twice, beating Malcolm Allison's Manchester City and Bobby Robson's Ipswich on the way.
"I wanted them to relax, not be uptight. They will need to be if they are to play above themselves."
Indeed, they will have to. There can scarcely be a greater contrast in the professional game than the record eight-times FA Cup winners, and Premiership conquerors of Manchester United on Monday night, and their hosts, resident in the lowest league for the last 17 years, and their 16th placing last season a significant highlight.
Yet, tradition alone suggests that once again, come Saturday, Hereford could be feted as a side of Cup heroes rather than merely for its excellent beef.
A load of bull? Turner, for one, is adamant United will not suffer the fate that awaits most of the county's famous four-legged breed. Not least because their cause is assisted by the club's brave-hearted decision to play the tie in front of fewer than 9,000 at home rather than the more financially beneficial alternative of White Hart LaneFor the railway station of the same name, see White Hart Lane railway station.
But Turner, whose resignation from Wolves two years ago - the 1986 first-round defeat of Wanderers, under his management, by non-League Chorley still haunts him - was followed by months of unemployment before joining Hereford last year, maintained: "The supporters deserve something to shout about, they haven't had much in recent years."
He added: "With an element of luck, a few individual inspired performances and a hope that Tottenham will be below their best gives us belief that we can pull it off.
"They've had an outstanding season and Teddy Sheringham and Chris Armstrong are a threat to anyone, but Spurs won't fancy coming to a place of traditional giant-killers. I'm sure everyone in the country remembers the Newcastle result in 1972."
Ronnie Radford and Ricky George achieved sporting immortality that day with their goals in the 2-1 victory and United's 1996 strike force, Steve White and Nicky Cross, combined age 71 and both well travelled along Football League byways, would relish emulating that duo.
"I'm past my sell-by date, but the motivation's still there and I still enjoy scoring goals," enthused White, who turned 37 this week. In 19 years the former Bristol Rovers, Luton and Swindon player has scored 237 goals, including 13 for United this season.
One of the vagaries of the draw is that it has matched him against Gary Mabbutt, with whom he performed as an Under 18 player at Eastville nearly two decades ago and Spurs manager Gerry Francis, whom he played under at Bristol Rovers' more recent home venue, Twerton Park.
"I've so much respect for Gerry, he's done exceptionally well as a coach," said White.
"But although Spurs have every advantage in ability, we're at home, Edgar Street is an intimidating little ground and the pitch may not be to their liking. The pressure's all on them because the FA Cup is so important to Tottenham."
Saturday January 6th:
HEREFORD United players will not receive a bonus even if they defeat Spurs today reports the Mirror.
Hereford's managing director Robin Fry said: Hereford's managing director Robin Fry said: "The players are on their normal weekly contract, which averages pounds 313 for our 17 professionals.
"Hereford have in fact forfeited an extra £100,000 by not switching the tie to White Hart Lane"
HEREFORD United will travel to London next Wednesday week for a FA Cup replay after this afternoon's game finished one each at Edgar Street. John Brough equalised for the Bulls after Ronny Rosenthal scored for Spurs after 31 minutes. The attendance was 8,806
A report by Ian Ridley from the Independent:
Brave Hereford. The Third Division team might have given it all up as a bad job when their captain, Dean Smith, missed a penalty on the hour, but their spirit was to prevail. After John Brough, 23 tomorrow, had swiftly headed an equaliser, they might even have gone on to win and make further nonsense of a 79-place difference in English football's hierarchy.
As it is, there will now be a replay at White Hart Lane on Wednesday week, to the relief of the Spurs manager, Gerry Francis, whose organisational abilities in his work with the Tottenham defence should make them potential Cup winners. "It was the longest last 25 minutes I have ever had to suffer," he admitted.
It all conjured up memories of that Ronnie Radford "what a goal" day at Edgar Street 26 years ago when Newcastle United were sunk by a then non-League team: rain lashing down, pitch cutting up and crowd roaring full-throated support. This result may not have matched that win but at least for a modern generation to whom it is but a curio, and who probably think that the Beatles are a rip-off of Oasis, Hereford provided something new to savour.
For much of the first half it looked unlikely. There was an initial flurry as Hereford's adrenalin and first wind saw Spurs under pressure. Brough volleyed wide, the darting left-back Murray Fishlock saw his shot blocked and, with their best chance, Nicky Cross turned inside Gary Mabbutt and seemed certain to shoot home until the Spurs captain got a foot in and the ball cannoned to Ian Walker.
But there was a control to Tottenham's defending and a penetration to their attacks. Rosenthal volleyed wide from Fox's cross before Chris Armstrong blazed wide after a neat move by Fox and Darren Caskey had set him free.
It soon became third time lucky. Armstrong escaped down the right, crossed low, Teddy Sheringham's attempt to turn the ball home was blocked and it came to Caskey on the edge of the penalty area. His shot was going well wide until Rosenthal's head intervened to divert the ball home.
It seemed that Spurs might go on to win comfortably but, fortified by the break, Hereford came out with renewed determination: when you've got nothing you've got nothing to lose. Spurs, meanwhile, began to show a distaste for the mud, the wind and the rain.
They were lucky not to concede an equaliser when Dean Austin headed just wide of his own goal from one of a steady stream of high balls and crosses; they were luckier still when Smith lifted his penalty over the bar after Rosenthal and Caskey had between them brought down Tony Pounder.
"Don't worry skip, we'll get one," said Smith's central defensive partner, Brough, as he ran back and duly, three minutes later, he did. Keith Downing's corner from the right came in and Brough at the near post rose well to head the ball home.
Tottenham might have stolen it when Jason Dozzell headed down for Sheringham, whose shot from a few yards was smartly saved by Chris Mackenzie, but it was Hereford who finished the stronger. Indeed, the veteran striking partnership of Steve White and Cross, who linked cannily, almost combined for a winner, White driving Cross's low ball in from the right over the bar.
"People keep congratulating me, but at the end of the day we have not achieved that much," the Hereford manager, Graham Turner, said. It was a little harsh and probably said in disappointment, even if their best chance of progress has probably now gone.
Before the match a magnificent prize one-ton Hereford bull named Cudos was paraded; 90 minutes later, United had at least earned some of that quality for themselves.
Jan 8th:
AGAIN from the Independent:
It was a familiar scene, Teddy Sheringham fighting his way through the crowd, signing autographs, posing for photographs, smiling as he headed for the sanctuary of Tottenham's coach.
If the scene was familiar, the scenery was not. This was the spartan foyer of Edgar Street, humble home of Third Division Hereford United. It was an hour after the clubs had drawn 1-1 in Saturday's FA Cup third round, and more than 100 people were crammed into a room no bigger than a household lounge. Most of them appeared to be Tottenham fans...with Hereford accents.
Oh, the loneliness of a small-town club. In this age of glossy football magazines, sports supplements and Sky TV, supporters can follow the over- hyped Carling darlings more easily than their local team. They rarely get to see them in the flesh, but it is a Premiership shirt they wear in the playground or the pub, not an Endsleigh one.
Whether this is regarded as pathetic or understandable it has serious consequences for a club such as Hereford. While the top clubs find it increasingly difficult to provide enough seats for their supporters there is plenty of space on most terraces in the lower divisions. Thus, when the miracle happens and Hereford draw Tottenham in the Cup, hard decisions have to be taken. Does the club take the money? Or take the gamble? For Gravesend, with an inadequate ground and negligible chance of winning, it was an easy decision. At Hereford the equation was less clear cut.
Peter Hill, the extrovert chairman, said: "Playing here we earn about pounds 30,000. Playing at White Hart Lane would have been worth about pounds 150,000. We wondered about changing but Graham Turner [the manager] felt we needed to give the club some impetus, to give something to the fans and recreate the atmosphere that used to be here.
"It was a massive gamble, but it has paid off. Now we can get the transfer embargo lifted to help Graham strengthen the squad. We are solvent, but only just. You cannot get by on 2,000 fans a week."
Those regulars were swelled by 5,000 fairweather supporters (though the weather was anything but fair), 1,500 travelling fans, a prize Hereford bull and several hundred local Spurs fans in various stages of football schizophrenia. Their view was best summed up by a 40-ish woman standing in the foyer. Having cooed "We love you, Teddy" at Sheringham and posed for a picture with him she added: "you were lucky". She wore a Hereford scarf around her neck, and her love for Spurs on her sleeve.
Sheringham agreed Spurs had been fortunate. His captain, Gary Mabbutt, concluded: "We are just pleased to be in the draw."
Before the game Mabbutt said the tie filled him with dread. Recalling Hereford's famous 1972 win over Newcastle, he said: "My recurring nightmare is to be in a Ronnie Radford situation. The Newcastle players must despair, every time the Cup comes around they turn on the television and there they are, watching him score. I do not want to be seeing it happen to me on Match of the Day in 25 years' time."
It could have done. Mabbutt was one of the few Spurs players to give his all in the driving rain and mud while only Darren Caskey, who had the added incentive of playing for his place, could feel happy with his performance. Hereford had 11 heroes, none better than the former Wolves midfielder Keith Downing, who drove them forward, and the right-winger Tony Pounder, who reprised the dying art of dribbling to give Justin Edinburgh a fearful chasing.
Spurs had arrived swaggering with confidence after last week's 4-1 drubbing of Manchester United. Despite absorbing some early pressure from Hereford's 71-year-old striking pair, Dean White and Nicky Cross, they created the better chances and should have scored before Ronnie Rosenthal cleverly diverted Caskey's wayward shot past Chris MacKenzie. It gave Spurs the edge but, after half-time, the game changed.
"We had gone quiet," said Dean Smith, Hereford's captain and, at pounds 75,000, both the club's record signing and the only current player they had paid for (except they are yet to pay Walsall for him, hence the transfer embargo). "The gaffer [Turner] said if you are going to go out, don't go out with a whimper, give it your best shot."
They did and, 16 minutes of pressure later Smith was stepping up to take a penalty, won by Pounder from Rosenthal's reckless challenge. It was not the best penalty ever, possibly the worst. Only the roof of the Meadow End stand prevented it nestling in the poplar trees behind.
Hereford could have buckled but, two minutes later, Pounder won another corner and, when Downing swung it across, John Brough headed it in. Now Spurs' character was questioned. It passed the test and only MacKenzie's reflex save prevented a Sheringham winner.
"I have been to these places and if you do not match them for 'battle' they will cause you problems," said Gerry Francis, the Tottenham manager. "For 25 minutes in the second half they out-battled us. What pleased me is that, when they equalised, unlike at Coventry [where Spurs lost a 2- 0 lead in the Coca-Cola Cup], we came back strongly."
Hereford will probably lose at White Hart Lane on Wednesday week but nothing is certain. Unlike Spurs, however, they are advancing on Wembley on two fronts. Tomorrow Hereford meet Northampton in the Auto Windscreens Shield. Having upset some regulars by doubling prices for Saturday, Hereford have reduced them, but there will not be 9,000 there. Endless seasons in the wrong half of the bottom division have taken their toll on the spirit of Ronnie Radford.
Goals: Rosenthal (31) 0-1; Brough (63) 1-1.
Hereford United (3-5-2): MacKenzie; Brough, D Smith, Lyne; Pounder, Evans, Wilkins, Downing, Fishlock; White, Cross. Substitutes not used: Steele, Stoker, C Smith (gk).
Tottenham Hotspur (4-4-2): Walker; Austin, Nethercott, Mabbutt, Edinburgh; Fox (Dozzell, 61), Caskey, Campbell, Rosenthal; Sheringham, Armstrong. Substitutes not used: Slade, Day (gk).
Referee: M Riley (Leeds).
Bookings: Hereford: Downing. Tottenham: Nethercott, Edinburgh.
Man of the match: Downing.
Attendance: 8,806.
Jan 9th:
HEREFORD United 1 Northampton Town 0 (Auto windscreen southern quarter final)
The Bulls will meet Shrewsbury Town in the next round.
Jan 10th:
Spurs has refused permission for Hereford United to parade ';Freetown Kudos' their one tonne mascot around White Hart Lane before the FA Cup replay next Wednesday.
Jan 13th:
HEREFORD United 5 Cambridge United 2 (report from the Sunday Mirror)
HEREFORD arrive in London on Wednesday minus their mascot for the FA Cup replay against Spurs.
But if Spurs think banning the one-ton bull will stop the underdogs they should think again - after a vintage performance from veteran striker Steve White.
White, 37, scored four to notch 19 for the season and give a reminder to Gerry Francis that the tie is not yet over.
White roared: "They've stopped our mascot but they've yet to stop the team."
And boss Graham Turner said: "This was a huge confidence-booster. Who knows what'll happen on Wednesday."
Jan 15th:
BEFORE the trip to White Hart Lane Hereford United captain Dean Smith gave an interview to the Independent:
As the only player at Hereford who the club paid a transfer fee for - I think I'm the record signing - it was inevitable that when I joined in 1994 I was ribbed a bit - but I wouldn't have it any other way. In the dressing-room atmosphere you are just one of the team, and that's exactly what I am.
Hereford are an ambitious club. When Graham Turner took over at the start of the season, we were very optimistic. When we beat Barnet 4-1 in the opening game, we were even more so. But we are too near the bottom of the League because we have drawn some matches which should really have been victories.
We felt like that about the Tottenham game. The atmosphere at Edgar Street was superb and I honestly felt we were the better side. There was a terrible mood of anticlimax after the game. We didn't quite know how we should feel: happy, sad, or what?
Everybody outside Hereford expects us to get turned over at White Hart Lane in the replay, but we matched them in the last game and so we have definitely still got a chance, still got something to prove. People say we haven't got anything to lose, but we have - if we lose, we are out of the FA Cup.
The financial rewards of the replay are of massive importance for the club - the bank manager is very happy. In fact, in missing the penalty in the first game, I've actually made the club a lot of money!
We'll maybe surprise a few in the replay, but we have a good chance of reaching Wembley anyway in the Autoglass Windscreens Shield. It would be absolutely superb for the whole town if we could get there, but the priority has to remain getting out of trouble in the League, and then to push for promotion.
I believe the team is capable of promotion. And if our performance against Tottenham hasn't given us confidence in ourselves, then I don't know what will.
And Ricky George also gave his views - this from the Mirror:
Ricky George will be suffering from a severe case of divided loyalties as he hits the road to White Hart Lane for Wednesday's FA Cup replay against Hereford.
As a lifelong Spurs fan George is desperate to see Gerry Francis's men take another step along the road to Wembley.
But the man who wrote himself into Cup folklore with non-League Hereford's extra-time winner against Newcastle back in 1972 just can't help rooting for the Third Division underdogs.
"Being a romantic I'd like to think Hereford might shade it but, realistically, I've got to go for Spurs," says George, a director of The Bury Hill Group, a sports footwear and clothing business in Potters Bar.
"They're such a strong, organised side that you can't see them slipping up at home. But you never can tell."
So whatever the result, George is on a winner. "I first stood on the terraces at White Hart Lane in 1953 when I was seven and I've been a fan ever since.
"My father and brother were also fanatical Spurs supporters and now my children, Daniel, Adam and Rebecca, are all season ticketholders.
"I was even luckier. I joined the club as an apprentice straight from school in 1961, the year they did the double. I used to clean the boots of players like Blanchflower, Mackay, Greaves, White and Jones. Legends!"
Just like Hereford's class of 72. And memories of their greatest day just won't go away either.
"We'd already drawn at Newcastle which was an incredible feat for a non-League club," recalls George, 49. "And the replay was postponed so many times we ended up playing it on the day scheduled for the fourth round.
"I was sub and didn't get on until Newcastle took the lead eight minutes from the end. I remember thinking: 'What am I supposed to do about it so late in the game?'
"But I managed to win the ball to start the move for that incredible equaliser by Ron Radford and then I nicked the winner in extra-time.
"The players have a regular reunion but I'm not conceited enough to think many people around Hereford would recognise me these days."
Hereford were elected to the Football League that year but George stayed in non-League football to concentrate on his business interests.
"I always thought I was good enough to make the grade full-time but a succession of managers begged to differ.
"Perhaps in the early days at Spurs I was too much of a fan. I forgot I was there to play football as well.
"After Spurs I had a few games at Watford, Bournemouth and Oxford before playing non-League for Barnet and Hereford.
"It wasn't until I went back to Barnet for a second spell that someone sat me down and told me what I'd been doing wrong all those years."
George is now a hands-on President of Barnet Youth FC, a club with 12 teams and over 200 youngsters.
"Ideally we will become a nursery for Barnet and other small clubs.
"As the Premiership and top half of Division One get stronger and stronger the gap between the haves and have-nots is growing. The little clubs need all the help they can get get.
"I've always been a bit sentimental about my football and I'd hate to see the Barnets and Herefords of this world go out of business. That's not what the game is all about."
And manager Graham Turner was confident - "We know we let them off the hook in the first game, but there is no reason why we can't win it," he said.
January 18th:
With Chris Armstrong heading the other two, Spurs' strike partnership (33 goals between them this season) is fast turning into one of the most effective around, and although Hereford were far from humiliated, there was never any possibility that they could live with Spurs once they had let in two goals in quick succession midway through the first half.
As the late arrival of some of the 3,500 Hereford fans caused the kick- off to be delayed by 10 minutes, it was hard not to feel that their team's only real hope of emulating the heroes of 1972 had disappeared into the Edgar Street mud 11 days previously. They made a steady start, and with 21 minutes gone nearly went ahead when Tony Pounder headed Murray Fishlock's cross narrowly wide. But from then on it was virtually all Spurs.
Their first goal, after 23 minutes, came when Darren Caskey took a throw- in from the left, Ronnie Rosenthal pulled the ball back from the byline, and Sheringham calmly drove it in. Six minutes later it was 2-0, Armstrong hanging back at the far post to head in Caskey's swinging corner, and when, four minutes into the second half, Nicky Cross, the Hereford striker, was carried off with a head injury after a horrible collision with Stuart Nethercott, some of his team-mates' spirit seemed to drain away.
Sheringham followed up a shot by Ruel Fox to score Spurs' third in the 55th minute, and a curling header by Armstrong made it 4-0 in the 58th. Sheringham did most of the work for his third and the team's fifth when, with 10 minutes left, he dispossessed John Brough.
Hereford have not lost the art of scoring spectacular Cup goals: in the final minute a superb dipping shot by the substitute Tim Steele beat Ian Walker from all of 30 yards.
Hereford United (3-5-2): Mackenzie; D Smith, Brough, Lyne; Evans, Pounder (Stoker, 80), Wilkins, Downing, Fishlock; Cross (Steele, 53), White, Downing. Substitute not used: C Smith (gk).
Hereford United had planned to take their mascot a one-ton bull named Free Town Kudos to White Hart Lane but were refused permission.
January 20th:
BARNET 1 Hereford United 3
January 31st:
Shrewsbury Town 4 Hereford United 1 (Semi final Auto-windscreen southern section)
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