(Picture: Steve Niblett)
By Chris Dunlavy
Hereford boss Peter Beadle says that the days of “smashing” divisions are over – but has refused to write off a fourth promotion.
Reformed at Step 5 following the collapse of Hereford United in 2014, the Bulls have since won three straight titles – each time notching over 100 points.
Along the way, they have scored over 350 goals and tasted defeat just ten times in a total of 130 league matches.
But with fellow fallen giants Kidderminster, York City and Stockport lurking in National North this season, Beadle knows things won’t be so easy.
“I’d never say we’ve had it easy,” said Beadle, the former Bristol Rovers and Port Vale striker who took charge when the club was reformed.
“But with all respect to the divisions we’ve won, this is probably our first major test. This is the first time we’ve come up against full-time teams.
“In the past, we’ve taken advantage of having a good squad and a big fanbase. We haven’t just won the leagues – we’ve smashed them. Well, I don’t envisige us smashing it this year.
“We’re not full-time. We haven’t got the budget of some other clubs. Some of those teams can work with their players two hours a day. We get ours for three hours a week. There has to be a sense of realism and I think 95 per cent of our supporters recognise that.
“But, all that being said, I fully expect us to be there or thereabouts. We’ve already shown we can do it in one-off games last year. We beat Dagenham & Redbridge, we beat Eastleigh. We took Fleetwood to an FA Cup replay and only lost to two set-pieces.
“We will be as competitive as anyone else on the day – and if we perform consistently there is nothing to fear.”
According to Beadle, that cause should be aided by the fact that Hereford – a Football League side for 31 of the past 45 years – have spent recent seasons as a lower-league scalp.
Desire
“We’ve seen the best of everybody this last three years,” he adds. “We’d watch games where teams didn’t look particularly good. Then they’d play us and be great. It happened over and over again.
“The interesting thing this year is that we’re not such a big fish anymore. In fact, we’re probably one of the smaller ones. There are clubs in there with much greater Football League pedigree than us.
“And what you’ve got to remember about teams who raised their game against us is that they only had to do it twice a season. We had to do it against every opponent. That’s made us play at a really high standard and that can only help in National North.”
So would going full-time, but Beadle says such a move was never on the agenda.
“It wasn’t even a discussion,” he insists. “We just aren’t at a stage where we’d be ready. It’s a big transition and can be very disruptive. We’ve got a good thing going here, a lot of momentum. It doesn’t make sense to jeopardize that.”
Bang centre of the divisional dividing line, Hereford would have preferred a place in the southern half of Step 2 after winning the Southern Premier last year.
“We’ve lost a couple of players who couldn’t commit to the travelling,” says Beadle, who now has 15 players signed up following the midweek acquisition of ex-Bristol City striker Jennison Myrie-Williams and Barry midfielder Callum Sainty.
“Had we been in National South, we’d probably have kept everyone together. But it wasn’t to be and we’ve brought in some fantastic replacements.
“We’ve gone for young players with potential who see a future with us. They bring hunger and desire, but also a huge amount of quality. I’m very optimistic.”
*This article originally featured in The @NonLeaguePaper which is available every Sunday and Monday
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