The Story of the Season - Hereford United

Former England manager Graham Taylor, writing in this morning's Telegraph, gives his view on the League Two promotion battle and how it is so important to take care of the lower league sides.

At the top of League Two there is the scrap for the title between Milton Keynes Dons, managed by Paul Ince, and Darren Ferguson's Peterborough United. In third place is for me the story of the season. Hereford United, managed by their chairman Graham Turner. I have the utmost regard for Graham, who is a football man through and through and nothing pleases me more than to see him hopefully getting some just reward for all of the effort and commitment he has put into the game over many years.

At the bottom it looks as if nothing can save Mansfield Town and Wrexham from relegation to the Conference, but let us hope they use Accrington Stanley as an example that there can be a football life after what is deemed to be a football death.

Tomorrow sees the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final played at Wembley between Milton Keynes Dons and Grimsby Town, the club where I started my professional football career in 1962. I'm sorry Incie, but it is "Come on you Mariners!" for me.

There is more to football in our country than just the Premier League and over the next month or so there are going to be many tears of both joy and sorrow. That's what makes the game part of our culture, and long may it remain so.

The financial support for grassroots football has had some recent publicity, and even though the figures are nowhere near as to what is actually required, the fact that the roots of the game are being supported is encouraging, because that is where we all start.

If you just keep feeding the top end of any plant it eventually withers as it has little to sustain it. We need to take care of all of our football clubs as best we can, and we need to recognise the part they all play in our lives.

Let's make sure we keep the football pyramid alive and kicking. It's all so much more interesting then.

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