Well, it has been an excellent week for British football, with an all English Champions League final and a Scotish team in the UEFA Cup final. But please forgive me for looking slightly closer to home, at my own little football club.
Yes, Hereford United have done it again. Last weekend they secured automatic promotion to Coca-Cola Football League 1, after just their second season back in the football league.
On average gates of 3,200 odd, the Bulls managed to secure the third automatic promotion place in League 2, an achievement comparable to Man United, Chelsea or Rangers.
It cannot be overstated how far this club has come in the 11 years since it dropped out of the league and, it's largely thanks to one person, Graham Turner.
Shortly after that fateful day, when a point against Brighton wasn't enough to keep league football in the city of Hereford, Turner offered his resignation to the then board of directors, who declined it. This would turn out to be a wise decision and, moreover, just over a year later, Turner found himself re-mortgaging his house in order to take over the club. I can't imagine Sir Alex Ferguson doing that, can you?
The rest, as they say, is history and, after a few very difficult seasons, and a few not so difficult seasons in the conference, Hereford's league status was restored, one fine day in Leicester. Now, less than 2 years after that momentous playoff final victory, they are going up again, into the third tier of English football, somewhere they haven't been for around 30 years.
So, as you can probably imagine, it's been a pretty enjoyable few days for me and my fellow Bulls fans. We realise that the hard work is only just beginning, and that staying in League 1 will be no easy task, but, for now, there's a party at Edgar Street on Saturday and what's more, you're all invited!
No comments:
Post a Comment