Hereford Utd-Expelled from Conference-Could they end up in our League?

Does anyone know what the implications of Herefords Expulsion from the Conferance will have on the Non-League Pyramid?......Could they end up in our League next Season?

There seems to be a lot of speculation about this on the Internet.

I could very well be wrong about this, but if Hereford go into Administration I think they would be dropped two levels - i.e. to the Southern League Premier Division. How an extra club would be accommodated in that division I don't know.

There's also speculation that the club could easily be wound up at the end of this month, and in that case it's been said that any reformed club (if one could be formed in time) would have to start at the level below us - possibly (my guess) the Hellenic League Premier Division.

But it's all up in the air at the moment.

There's also uncertainty about who actually owns the club at present, that would need to be resolved before the Southern League AGM.

There is a winding up order against the club from ex-manager Martin Foyle and if this fails HMRC will also issue a winding up order in respect of £100k unpaid VAT.

It's rumoured that the current debts owed by the club are in the region of £1.3million so there could be other petitions for a winding up order served by other creditors.

With Hereford being expelled form the Conference Premier, Chester are reprieved and keep their place in the Premier, Hayes & Yeading will be reprieved from relegation from Conference South.
That leaves the Calor League Premier a club short. Hereford may be offered a place in the Calor Premier.

AFC Totton may be unhappy with not being reprieved if Hereford were to be offered a place in the Premier Division and could possibly appeal.

Wandering wrote:AFC Totton may be unhappy with not being reprieved if Hereford were to be offered a place in the Premier Division and could possibly appeal.

The same could be said about Fleet Town in our Division.

Correct.

Jason Mills, secretary of the Souther League, advised the Hereford Times earlier this morning that the Calor League will release a statement later today regarding the issue.

It will probably be non-committal and indicate that the matter will possibly be considered by member clubs at the League AGM at the weekend.

Either way it may mean a delay in finalising the League constitution for next season, until the situation at Hereford is clarified.

http://bullsnews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/statement-from-1314-playing-squad.html

4mad.anubis wrote:
The same could be said about Fleet Town in our Division.

Actually, I'm wrong. Fleet were already reprieved relegation, as Thatcham resigned from our league.
Guildford could now be spared relegation.

GordonTheGopher wrote:With Hereford being expelled form the Conference Premier, Chester are reprieved and keep their place in the Premier, Hayes & Yeading will be reprieved from relegation from Conference South.
That leaves the Calor League Premier a club short. Hereford may be offered a place in the Calor Premier.

Ignoring the relegation issues from the Premier division for a moment - if the Premier division is short of a team, that could be filled by a playoff match between the Central and South and West play off losers. I wonder who would be involved.....   

GordonTheGopher wrote:With Hereford being expelled form the Conference Premier, Chester are reprieved and keep their place in the Premier, Hayes & Yeading will be reprieved from relegation from Conference South.
That leaves the Calor League Premier a club short. Hereford may be offered a place in the Calor Premier.

This would piss someone off. Chester not going down creates a space in the North, but a South team gets reprieved. That either leaves a club in the South (Gloucester City) not being allowed "home" and having to stay in the North, or another one being picked to play their games miles away from home. Worse, with the FA having abolished the need to consider the financial position of any club before moving them,. a new club from the South might be expected to play in the North without any financial package.

Year on year, the Northern Leagues seem to get shafted (although some is self induced). The Northern League itself is Step 5, but the top half, at least, would finish in the middle or top half of our Step 4 league. The Ryman seems very weak by comparison to either of the Southern or Northern Leagues.

Taffia wrote:
Ignoring the relegation issues from the Premier division for a moment - if the Premier division is short of a team, that could be filled by a playoff match between the Central and South and West play off losers. I wonder who would be involved.....

Well you never know! But my guess is any vacancy is more likely to be filled by clubs being reprieved from relegation.

To try and sum up some possibilities at the moment:

1. If Hereford are put in the Southern League Premier Division they will take up the place of Hayes & Yeading who will stay in Conference South.

2. If Hereford are put in our division they will take up the place of AFC Totton who will stay in the Premier Division. To complicate things though, some opinion elsewhere is that Thamesmead Town in the Ryman League Premier Division could be the club granted a reprieve from relegation at that level rather than AFC Totton. If so, that would mean some sideways moves, with (it's suggested) Godalming moving into the Ryman League and Fleet Town moving into the Central Division to make way for Hereford.

3. Opinion is that if a new Hereford club is formed it would have to start at the level below us (e.g. Hellenic Premier Division).

timshorts wrote:
Chester not going down creates a space in the North, but a South team gets reprieved. That either leaves a club in the South (Gloucester City) not being allowed "home" and having to stay in the North, or another one being picked to play their games miles away from home.  Worse, with the FA having abolished the need to consider the financial position of any club before moving them,. a new club from the South might be expected to play in the North without any financial package.

Yes - in fact the team being messed about is Lowestoft Town who had won promotion to Conference South but are now being put in Conference North:

http://www.lowestofttownfc.co.uk/news/lowestoft-disappointed-with-conference-decision-1235082.html

Salisbury City's new owners have until 17:00 BST on Thursday to pay the salaries or risk being thrown out the league.

Today's news from the Southern League:

'Following Hereford United's expulsion from the Football Conference, Hayes & Yeading United have been re-instated in Conference South thereby leaving a vacancy in the Southern League Premier Division. The League is in discussions with Hereford United FC to determine if there is a way forward for the club’s participation in its Competition and will make a further statement in due course.'

http://www.southern-football-league.co.uk/news/

A meeting of the Southern League has taken place in Gloucester this morning.

On the agenda was an application by Hereford United to join the League and it is thought that the outcome of the application will be announced later today, unless the League request further information from the Bulls. The club are still under a transfer embargo and the settlement of football creditors could also possibly be a demand of the Southern League at today's meeting.

The proposed takeover of Salisbury City looks as though it has fallen through and it appears doubtful that they will be able to find the £80k needed by 5.00pm this evening to meet the Conference deadline, this includes £30k owed for player wages and a £50k bond required to keep their place in the Football Conference.

The Southern League may be facing another application to join it next season at this rate!!

Is it fair that the Southern League and more importantly it's member Clubs has become embroiled in this farce thro no fault of their own!

Even if Hereford and Salisbury do end up in the Premier what guarantees are there that they will fulfil their fixtures next season!

Would be better for all Southern League Clubs that if possible  a motion could be passed in the AGM asking all Member Clubs to vote on any proposal to allow them into our League, I think the majority would be against and vote NO...... If the vote was YES then they should only be allowed in if they deposit a BOND of say £75K-£85K with the Southern League--I'm sure neither could come up with this cash and therefore the League would remain in it's current format.

Finally would add that this would speed up the process of both Clubs going into Administration/or Liquidation, which would allow Supporters to achieve the same aims as we have in owning their
own Clubs even if they have to start at the bottom of the Pyramid.

Finally would add that this would speed up the process of both Clubs going into Administration/or Liquidation, which would allow Supporters to achieve the same aims as we have in owning their
own Clubs even if they have to start at the bottom of the Pyramid

When we reformed we would have been allowed to drop two divisions, rather than 3, had Taffs Well had the appropriate ground grading,

The Western League did vote in fact vote to allow us in (thankfully), but the FA would have had a say in the outcome, had the vote gone against us.

I hope that Hereford United will move towards supporter ownership and have a similar outcome to us, not having to drop too far down the pyramid.

With their facilities and level of support I would hope they would not have to play at a level, where they are competing against village sides.

John Strand

The following has been posted on Bulls News site:

"Bulls News understands that no decision has been taken, as yet, about what League Hereford United will play in next season.

It appears that the FA have asked the Southern League to accept Hereford.

The Northern League were consulted but said no due to the travelling costs and concerns that the club might not complete their fixtures.

The Southern League constitution does not allow clubs to be placed in the highest division on initial joining unless formally relegated by the preceeding division, ie; The Conference. In the Bulls case, the club was expelled and not relegated therefore may have to start at the lowest rung which could mean the Southern League S&W.

As reported earlier on BN the Southern League AGM is currently taking place and one source suggested that Hereford would be invited to join but would need to accept any invitation by sometime tomorrow."

Salisbury owner Otail Touzar has been banned by the club, while they also make a request to the Conference for an extension to address financial issues.
They were given a 17:00 BST deadline on Thursday to pay £30,000 owed in wages, after players and staff had not been paid for the last two months.
The Football Conference are set to release a statement regarding Salisbury's financial situation at 13:00 BST on Friday.
More at:-http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/27815192

The latest on Hereford:

'HEREFORD United have been accepted into the Southern League Premier Division – subject to conditions.

'The club must meet ‘certain criteria within a time frame imposed by the league’.

'Jason Mills, league secretary, said: “Following discussions with Hereford United Football Club regarding their participation in the Southern Football League for the 2014/15 season, the League will accept their inclusion into the Competition to play in its Premier Division subject to the club meeting certain criteria within a time frame imposed by the League.”'


http://www.herefordtimes.com/sport/11277002.Hereford_United_accepted_into_Southern_League_Premier_Division_____subject_to_conditions/'

Don't know if this is good news or not. Reading about Hereford's Financial Liabilities it is doubtfull that they will even start the coming season let alone compete their fixtures.

To add to the ongoing problems the Conference have today told Salisbury City that they will be thrown out of the Conference on Tuesday because they failed to come up with £150k today as requested by the Conference (see BBC Sport and Salisbury Website for info), they are threatening to appeal to the FA but appear to be in as much a mess as Hereford.

Therefore Salisbury could end up applying to join the Southern Premier which would mean a further adjustment to the League and as they are a level below Hereford would probably end up in our Division!

In Herefords case it would be far better for their supporters if the club went into Administration/or Liquidation as this would give the Supporters a fighting chance of owning their own club and the ability to fulfil fixtures next season. No one like to see the demise of any Football Club but something needs to happen quickly to ensure the Southern league does not turn into a farce next season for being so accommodating to 2 badly run clubs that ultimately could have an effect on all other clubs in the Southern League if 1 or both cannot fulfil their fixtures next season.

cf482nt wrote:
Therefore Salisbury could end up applying to join the Southern Premier which would mean a further adjustment to the League and as they are a level below Hereford would probably end up in our Division!

Salisbury actually finished 12th in the Conference Premier last season, well above Hereford. But it's still all up in the air with both clubs as to what's going to happen. Speculation elsewhere has been that as Salisbury's expulsion from the Conference Premier means Dartford are reprieved in that division the knock-on effect would be Tonbridge Angels not being relegated from Conference South into the Ryman League. So If Salisbury went into the Southern League (at whichever level) it would mean a sideways move for a club from Southern to Ryman to make room for them.

And the latest is that Salisbury have been relegated no further than Conference South - although they do have further conditions to satisfy by 4th July, so it's not over yet!

http://www.footballconference.co.uk/news/details.php?news_id=12689

Hereford United to be in the Premier Division according to this report from the Hereford Times:

'Southern League secretary Jason Mills told the Hereford Times: "As Hereford United have satisfactorily met the conditions placed on it by the Board of the Southern Football League, it will accept Hereford United Football Club (1939) Limited into its Premier Division from Saturday 21st June 2014."

'He added: "Because League Directors and Officers are busy preparing for Saturday’s AGM and Presentation evening, there will be no further comment."

'Mills said: “The league recognises the concerns of everyone who is passionately involved with the club and this was one of the main reasons that an olive branch was offered to see if there was any way forward.

'“Any statement by the league before those involved have fully considered the requirements placed on them could jeopardise the outcome and at the moment only the club are in a position to provide any update.”'


http://www.herefordtimes.com/sport/11288706.Hereford_United_won_t_have_easy_ride_in_Southern_League_Premier_Division__warns_ex_Westfields_ace_Alex_Sykes/