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FC United begin pre-season with historic Hereford fixture

Just 43 days after officially opening Broadhurst Park against European giants Benfica, FC United begin preparations for the 2015/16 season as the visitors for the newly reformed Hereford FC’s first home fixture at Edgar Street on Saturday afternoon. Craig Phillips provides this preview...

Hereford FC are; of course, a club born out of the ashes of Hereford United, who sadly found themselves wound up in December of last year. Thanks to the work of the supporters who formed the Hereford United Supporters Trust the new club are ready for the new season and it seems fitting that two clubs born in hope will contest the first home match of the new team.

The reaction to the game has been a hugely positive one and the home team have in fact sold out of their initial allocation of home tickets, with a capacity crowd of around 5,000 expected for the game. The match has even received some national coverage with a BBC article on Thursday describing the game as one between “the phoenix club and English football’s foremost protest club???.

In terms of United news, the majority of the first team from last season has re-signed for the club the exceptions being Joe Fox and Shelton Payne, with Margy looking to give the players who won the league title last term the chance to prove their ability in the more testing National League North.

At this stage - with a whopping 10 games before the trip to Gloucester City on the opening day of the season - Saturday’s line up and system may not necessarily be what we will see come 8th August.

The Reds have met the Bulls previously in an FA Cup fourth qualifying round match at Gigg Lane in October 2012, which was a close game with Hereford taking the lead on the half hour mark before Jerome Wright was sent off only moments before Ryan Bowman fired home his second to wrap up a 2-0 victory for the visiting team.

Saturday’s hosts find themselves playing in the ninth tier of English football this season in the Midland Football League and will also play their first competitive fixture on 8th August against an as yet unnamed opposition.

The reincarnated Bulls played their first game on Tuesday night as they travelled to Malvern Town, cheered on by a crowd more than 2,000 they won the game 2-0 and will be looking to bring that confidence and enthusiasm on what will surely be an emotional day to the field on Saturday.

On top of the great work done by the supporters, the club managed to get a five year lease on their old ground at Edgar Street back, something which will be vitally important for the future success of the club.

The club have appointed Peter Beadle as the manager. He was the caretaker manager towards the end of the 2013/14 season and enjoyed a great playing career, most notably for both Bristol Rovers and City.

So the time has come to down the gardening tools, leave the trolley in the supermarket and make our way back onto the terraces at three o’clock on a Saturday for what will surely be another thrilling season on and off the field.

Get yourself to that football ground.


First Posted ~ 08:39 Fri 10 Jul 2015
News ID ~ 6249
Last Updated ~ 00:47 Tue 16 Feb 2021