May 1999

May 1st:

HEREFORD United's financial coffers are set for a £40,000 boost.

The Bulls have been celebrating concluding an extended sponsorship deal with Sun Valley.

The pre-packed food manufacturers, who have backed the Edgar Street club for the past three years, will be stumping up £30,000 for season 1999-2000, one of the largest financial agreements outside the Football League.

The cheque was presented before last week's 3-2 win over Rushden & Diamonds.

And the Bulls can also expect a £10,000 bonus as a result of Gavin Mahon's continuing success with Brentford.

Part of the £90,000 package deal which took the youngster to the Third Division Bees last November was a pay-as-he-plays bonus system.

WOKING 0 Hereford United 1 (report from the Hereford Times)

Hereford extended their unbeaten run to five games with a battling win in their last Nationwide Conference match of the season on Saturday.

Leading scorer Ian Wright's ninth goal of the season clinched the victory.

But, for a change, Hereford's top defender and player of the year had a chance to show his skills as a striker when youngster Gavin Williams cried off with a calf injury.

Wright showed plenty of energy against a tall Woking defence and took his goal well when goalkeeper Darryl Flahavan flapped a Mark Taylor corner out to him five yards from goal.

Woking had lost just one of their previous 12 home games.

But they were pushed on to the back foot within the first minute when a strong run and cross by Paul Parry caused problems before Eddie Saunders cleared at the expense of a corner.

Tony James headed Taylor's flag-kick just over and, as Hereford continued to have the better of the opening play, Robbie Dennison forced Flahavan into a save from a long range effort before Wright's goal came on 14 minutes.

On-loan striker Steve Cowe, whose lively running caused plenty of problems for the home defence, forced Flahavan into a couple of saves before the break.

But Hereford did not have things all their own way and keeper Andy Quy got down well to field a shot from Danny Bolt.

At the start of the second period, there was no-one lurking to profit when Wright headed a Taylor corner across the face of the goal but the former Bristol Rovers player was within inches of a specatular second himself when he threw himself at another Taylor corner.

Woking intoduced two of their substitutes at the start of the second period before the arrival of the third, Scott Steele, after 56 minutes began to turn play in the home side's favour.

He forced Quy into a fine diving save after 81 minutes and then Dennison did well to get back to clear a dangerous cross after Steele had combined well with Steve West.

Steele curled another shot just wide two minutes from the end, but Hereford's defence held firm to come away with the three points.

SEASON tickets for the new 1999/2000 season are now on-sale. Buy before 31st May 1999and save a small fortune and also help the club survive the summer months.

MERTON STAND (BLOCKS B, C & D)
Ticket Type Before 31st May You Could Save After 31st May
Adult £146 £70 £162
Child/Senior £91 £29 £101

MERTON STAND (BLOCK A)

Ticket Type Before 31st May You Could Save After 31st May
Adult + 1 Child £198 £87 £220
Adult + 2 Children £230 £124 £255
Adult + 3 Children £297 £126 £330
2 Adults + 1 Child £342 £135 £380
2 Adults + 2 Children £378 £192 £420
Senior £91 £29 £101

LEN WESTON STAND

Ticket Type Before 31st May You Could Save After 31st May
Adult £146 £70 £162
Child/Senior £91 £29 £101

GROUND

Ticket Type Before 31st May You Could Save After 31st May
Adult £110 £58 £122
Child/Senior £50 £22 £56

UNITED fans are to start canvassing in some key Council wards of Hereford in the summer. We aim to 'blitz' individual wards with 20-25 supporters to confirm our initial findings that many, many people want the Council to start supporting the club and to assist United by giving the club planning permission for a new ground.
If you feel that you could give the club just 30 minutes of your time please contact HUISA by e mail HUISA.mail@virgin.net or by writing to

HUISA, PO Box 1999, Hereford HR2 7WA.

Graham Turner has publicly backed the campaign and the Football Club will support each person standing for election to the Council in the 2000 Council Elections.

No HUISA money will be used in the campaign - all of the finance needed will be donated personally.

Looking ahead, if you believe that you can help with leaflet distribution, mailing, stuffing of envelopes, or even making tea in our Election HQ next year please let us know.

Graham Turner has confirmed that HUISA is now the 'Official Supporters Association' and has backed our membership of the Federation of Football Supporters Club and the Football Supporters Association.

If there are any fans of other clubs who have stood in Council Elections reading this we would welcome any support and ideas that you may have. Once again, please e mail HUISA or write to the PO Box address.

Other former Councillors from the area - and further afield - have come forward with guidance and ideas, if you have experience in the political arena as an agent or councillor, representative etc we would also love to hear from you.

We believe that many of the existing councillors are in for a shock - United have a much, much greater support than the present attendances figures reveal. We enter the elections intending to win seats, but realise that it's supporters pressure that could swing the balance of many wards. Those Councillors that support United are more likely to win wards than those who come out publicly against Hereford United Football Club.

Help us to fight for this club.

If you are not already a member of HUISA 'The Official Supporters Association' please contact us today.

Thanks for your continued support.

Stay United - Be United

VOTE HEREFORD UNITED

May 7th:

NUNEATON face losing a battle with Hereford United to sign Halesowen Town hot-shot Steve Piearce.

May 8th:

HEREFORD United have emerged as favourites in the race for Halesowen Town hot-shot Steve Piearce.

The Bulls look set to beat Nuneaton Borough to the services of 24-year-old striker - the top scorer in the Dr Martens Premier - as Graham Turner plans a revamp of his Conference squad.

The Edgar Street side have already been given a priceless boost to their plans by persuading highly-rated defender Ian Wright to sign a new contract.

Turner has freed five players to allow for incomings - and he hopes Piearce will fire their push for a return to the League.

He confirmed he had spoken with his one-time Wolves trainee, and a decision is expected early next week. Conference newcomers Nuneaton already accept they have lost out.

"I hope Steve Piearce will sign for us," said Turner. He has showed his goalscoring ability and I believe he can score at Conference level.

"One of our shortcomings this season has been our goals for column. We haven't scored enough goals and that, without a doubt, is our priority.

"The fact that Ian Wright, a defender, is our top scorer with nine goals, tells its own story."

Turner suggests Wright's decision to sign a new two-year contract, despite interest from a couple of other clubs, sends the right message to team-mates, fans and would-be signings - Hereford intend to be a force next term.

"Ian Wright has been a key player for us," said Turner. "I think the fact that he wants to stay at the club might be an influence on whether other players offered new contracts stay and on players we are hoping to sign."

Skipper Ian Rodgerson, striker Paul Fewings, and midfielders John Snape and Mark Taylor are thinking over new deals.

But Turner has had to wield the axe by releasing:

Defender Stuart Evans, a close season signing from Halesowen Town;

Former Wolves and Hednesford wide man Robbie Dennison;

Young full-back Matthew Cross;

Utility front-runner Gary Cook, and

Former Blues and Oxford midfielder Wayne Dyer, who joined mid-season from Walsall.

THE Nationwide Conference campaign is over. But the fun and games go on down at Edgar Street. And it pretty much sums up Hereford United's season that tomorrow's action revolves around a load of bull.

To mark the end of the club's traditional season-closing friendly betwen the supporters and the backroom staff, the Bulls will bring on their club mascot, a local prize bull by the name of Freetown Kudos, to make his own private contribution to proceedings.

As a departure from the traditional "Spot the Ball" contest, in an imaginative attempt to swell club funds, inventive Hereford are staging a "Spot the Pat" contest.

They've divided up their pitch into small squares and wherever the bull drops his load, as it were, not only will the grass grow greener, but one lucky winner will be all the richer.

To the tune of a new car, in fact.

The only snag is that bull's bowels are apparently none too reliable on the timescale front. The supporters could be in for a long wait.

I'd also recommend that Bulls supporters go well protected. If the bull is as successful in finding the target as the Edgar Street forward line have been this season, the "you-know-what" might end up hitting the fan.

May 13th:

BS Group, the Edgar Street leaseholders who loaned the club £½ million two years ago, unveiled a pre-tax loss of £880,000 for 1998. Chairman Ian Stevens said his board had rejected a proposed take-over bid and will continue to sell off its non-core development properties.

BS Group deferred repayment of the £½ million loan to United due this month. But Turner has still to receive written confirmation that the loan will not be repayable until May 2002 and that the interest will be capped from this May and rolled into the principal sum.

THE Hereford Times reports that Hereford United director of football Graham Turner is looking to Dr Martens League ace marksman Steve Piearce to add much needed firepower to his attack next season.

Twenty-five-year-old Piearce, who netted 30 goals this campaign and is out of contract with Halesowen Town, has signed a three-year deal with the Bulls. Turner has also recruited Piearce's Halesowen sparring partner Robin Elmes, a 28-year-old school teacher.

Turner said: "We can't afford the Nationwide League or Conference top scorers, so we have gone one division lower.

"Steve has shown his goalscoring ability and I believe he can carry on getting goals at Conference level."

Six-foot tall Piearce started his career as a trainee at Wolves when Turner was in charge at Molineux and he said: "A knee injury interrupted my progress but I have had two good years at Halesowen, scoring 60 goals."

Elmes, who will remain a part-timer, is a versatile player and he can operate in defence, midfield or attack. He is 6ft 2in tall and Turner said: "He supplied a lot of goals for Piearce and is very hard-working and enthusiastic."

Turner is also expected to sign two young players, James Wall and Craig Hanson, who have been released by FA Premiership club Derby County and impressed in recent trials for the Bulls.

Striker Hanson has completed YTS service at Derby, while tall central defender Wall also spent an additional year at Pride Park Stadium.

How many more new signings he will make will depend on the response from midfielders Mark Taylor, John Snape and Paul Fewings to the new contracts they have been offered. The contract offered Fewings, who spent most of last season on the injured list, will give United the right to cancel if he does not regain full fitness.

The Central Conference Doxhill Cup final between United and Stoke City, postponed last Friday, will now be played pre-season.

May 14th:

SOCCER fans held their breath as Napoleon the bull went down the wing, shimmied into the penalty area...and fired a perfect plop shot on the goal line.

Around 1,400 Hereford United supporters had paid pounds 10 each to predict exactly where he would deposit a pat on the pitch.

Father of three Tim Trimble mopped up the big prize - an pounds 8,500 Renault Clio.

And the hard-up Vauxhall Conference club netted nearly pounds 6,500 from the fun contest.

Napoleon's farm manager Simon Wells, 42, gasped: "He got one sniff of goal and scored.

"I've never seen a shot like it."

The one-ton bull did the business less than six minutes into his debut at United's Edgar Street ground.

Club supporter of the year Penny Bayliss, 42, said: "The tension was amazing. Then all of a sudden he lifted up his tail, and there you go.

"There was such a scream when he went. And it was incredible Napoleon chose to drop a cow pat right on the goal line, bless his heart."

HEREFORD United have completed the signing of Steve Piearce, top marksman in the Dr Marten League's Premier Division.

Piearce, who scored 30 goals for Halesowen Town last season, joined the Edgar Street club on a three-year full-time contract.

HEDNESFORD Town have completed their first signing of the close- season by snapping up Stuart Evans from Hereford United reports the Evening Mail.

Evans, who had been Halesowen Town's record signing before joining Hereford last summer, links up with the Pitmen on a free transfer after his contract with the Bulls was not renewed.

The Wolverhampton-based 27-year-old, who had also interested Stafford Rangers, has signed a 12 months deal with Conference outfit Hednesford. "I'm delighted to join a club like Hednesford which has had a fair degree of success over the last few years," said Evans. "Hopefully I can help them compete again next season."

Steve Piearce - non-League's most wanted striker - will be leading Hereford United's attack next season. Piearce, who topped the Dr Martens Premier goalcharts with Halesowen Town, has signed a three year full-time deal with the Conference side. Though Nuneaton Borough thought they had snapped up the 24-year- old, Piearce revealed the chance to re-join his former Wolves boss Graham Turner at Edgar Street was too tempting to resist. Piearce, who ended the season with 31 goals, had spent two seasons at Halesowen after joining from Doncaster Rovers but had been a free agent under the Bosman Ruling.

Hereford have signed a second out of contract player from Halesowen, with Rob Elmes, the other half of the Yeltz strikeforce, also joining.

May 15th:

STEVE Piearce has netted 60 goals in the last two seasons. But non-League's most wanted hot-shot will only have one goal in the Millennium season - to fire new club Hereford United back into the Football League.

The 24-year-old striker revealed the return to full-time football had given the Bulls the edge in a battle between a host of top clubs for his services.

And now having signed a three-year deal as a free agent under the Bosman Ruling, the former Halesowen Town man believes Hereford are ready to regain the Division Three status they lost in 1997.

The move to Edgar Street means Piearce links up with the men who took him to Wolves to start his career: boss Graham Turner and star-finder Ron Jukes.

Piearce, who spent five years at Molineux, said: "I'm looking forward to being a full-time player again. That was the big attraction with Hereford.

"Everything there is so professional, from the manager, right through the team.

"It's all geared up for the Football League. That's the aim of everyone at Hereford and, from a personal point of view, I would love to play in the League again. I can't wait to report for pre-season training on July 7."

Piearce's ability - ending the season as the Dr Martens Premier top scorer with 31 goals - had alerted a host of clubs. He had spoken to five teams, but he admitted all the speculation had been getting to him.

"It's flattering when there has been so much interest, but it was becoming stressful," said Piearce. "But I'm happy with my decision."

But the player also admitted he was sad to exit Halesowen after two highly successful seasons since joining from Doncaster.

"Halesowen are a first class club and I'm leaving with a tinge of sadness," he added. "But I want to play at the highest level I can."

May 19th:

"I don't think we shall be losing too much sleep over it," was the response from Nuneaton Borough coach Steve Burr after hearing of striker Leroy May's decision to join Hereford United on a full-time contract.

Burr admitted that tentative talks had taken place between May and boss Brendan Phillips but it was always expected that should the much-travelled front-runner get offered a full-time opportunity he would snap it up.

"Evidently Leroy is unemployed so it makes sense for him to take up the Hereford offer, especially if they are promising the sort of money which another one of the players - Steve Piearce - we have spoken to recently has gone there on," said Burr.

May 20th:

THE Hereford Times reports that striker Leroy May will return to Edgar Street for a second stint after Hereford United director of football Graham Turner signed him on a free transfer from Nationwide Conference rivals Kidderminster Harriers this week.
May, aged 29, was brought to Hereford from Tividale by the Bulls manager Greg Downs in 1992-93. Early in the following campaign he was given a free transfer after making 19 Football League and League Cup appearances and five substitutions, scoring four goals.

He did not have a happy time at Edgar Street and returned to Tividale. He also played for Stafford, Kidderminster, Walsall and Enfield before Graham Allner took him to Aggborough for a second time last summer. Despite the fact that he was Harriers' top scorer with 15 goals, he did not figure in new manager Jan Molby's plans.

Turner said: "Leroy is much more mature than when he first played for United. We needed two front men and I am looking to Leroy and Steve Piearce to get 35 goals between them. We also have Gavin Williams, who can play wide on the right or in the middle, and Paul Fewings as strikers."

Young Derby County striker Carig Hanson has also agreed to sign when his contract with the FA Premiership club ends in June, so the Bulls should be a much more potent force in the goal-scoring stakes next season.

Fewings and midfielder Mark Taylor have signed new contracts and Turner will be close to completing his squad if midfielder John Snape and goal-keeper Mark Jones agree to stay at Edgar Street.

He said: "I would then need a central midfielder and left-back to complete the squad. We are certainly much more advanced in team building than we were this time last season."

Ideally, one of the positions he still wishes to fill will be suited to the man he is seeking as a player-coach.

Company secretary Joan Fennessy said that there has been a steady sale of season tickets and she is now anticipating a bigger demand as discounted prices come to an end by May 31. So far Turner has arranged one pre-season friendly against Wolvess at Edgar Street on Wednesday July 21.

The sponsored football marathon raised over £3,000 for the club with over 200 supporters taking part. The senior winners were Tarrington Tornadoes and the junior winners, Brazil '99.

Central defender Stuart Evans, released by Turner, has joined Hednesford.

May 21st:

HEREFORD United boss Graham Turner has agreed terms with Derby County striker Craig Hanson.

Hanson will join the Edgar Street club when his contract ends with the Premiership club in June.

May 22nd:

LEROY May revealed the chance to train full-time - and to prove a point - had convinced him to join Hereford United reports the Sports Argus.

The striker, freed by Kidderminster Harriers despite finishing their top goalscorer, this week signed a two year deal with the go-ahead Bulls.

Hereford boss Graham Turner has made improving the strike rate the priority after their lack of firepower cost them dearly.

May, who averages around one goal every two games in his Conference career with Stafford, Kettering and Kidderminster, becomes the third new striker recruited in the close-season, following Steve Piearce and Rob Elmes.

Despite not being offered a new contract with Harriers, May has been on the wanted list of Nuneaton Borough and Forest Green Rovers as well as Hereford.

"I spoke to a few clubs," confirmed May. "It was never about money.

"It was about being able to do full-time training and the chance to win things.

"I've been impressed with what Hereford have got to say. With the manager putting on his tracksuit again, that swung it.

"He knows how to win championships - and it's about time I got some silverware."

Edgar Street will not be a new venue for the 29-year-old goal-getter who spent 18 months with the club in 1992-3.

But he admits that experience was far from enjoyable - and now he intends to show the fans what they missed.

Signed by Greg Downs from Tividale, May stayed for 18 months, playing 21 games, netting three times.

"The first season was a great experience but the second season didn't work out. My face didn't really fit," explained May.

"I'm sure this is the right more for me now. I know I am a better player. I'm a more mature person, a better player and I know I can score goals."

May 29th:

INJURIES are an occupational hazard for a footballer.

Now Ian Rodgerson intends to make an occupation out of injuries by becoming a fully qualified physiotherapist reports the Sports Argus.

The 33-year-old Hereford United defender has already passed the basic and intermediate stages and next week starts work on the diploma part of the Football Association's treatment of injuries course at Lilleshall..

It's a cerebral challenge, rather than usual full-back's challenge, and one he's looking forward to.

As he admits, he has been on the other side of the fence often enough.

In a career which started in 1984-85 when he joined Hereford from Pegasus Juniors. Rodgerson has been sidelined with pulls, breaks, twists to fill a text book.

"I've had most injuries going while I've been playing so I should know half of the symptoms from personal experience," smiled the player, whose League career has also taken in spells with Cardiff, Sunderland and Blues.

Having decided to further his knowledge, Rodgerson has been indebted to former Blues physio Paul Heath for his tuition.

And he has already been passing on some of his newly acquired skills with Hereford. Graham Turner has asked him to look after the rehabilitation programme of crocked players, while Keith Downing's exit to Wolves enabled him to have a backroom role coaching the YT players.

"I've always been interested in sporting injuries - probably because I've had a few myself," said Rodgerson.

"I'm coming to the age now where I have to look to the future.

"I would like to stay in football. I'm not sure I've got the nerves to be a manager. But I could myself as a physio."

Having got through the first two stages, studying part-time at North Birmingham College with Heath, Rodgerson, now takes the diploma over an intensive 10-day period at Lilleshall from Monday.

"It's pretty detailed stuff and of course all the names of the muscles have Greek names so it's a real education. But I'm really enjoying it!" he added.

"With the diploma, I'll be qualified to work in the League."

The next time Rodgerson goes down with an injury, now he'll know exactly what he has done!