Hereford will always be a part of me says Turner

Graham Turner has been looking back at his time with Hereford United and one particular event still, he says, makes him smile.

Back in January 1996, Hereford were drawn against Spurs in the FA Cup. the first game at Edgar Street was drawn and for the replay Hereford wanted to take their mascot, Freetown Kudos, to the game. However Spurs chairman Alan Sugar said no and so Turner sent the Bull to a china shop in Hereford's High Town.

"As a stunt for the TV cameras, and to show these magnificent creatures were docile and no threat, we took dear old Freetown Kudos down to this small china and glass store in town," Turner told the Mirror.

"We just about managed to squeeze him through the front door, horns first, and they cleared the central display cabinet out of the way to give him a bit of room.

"It was all going to plan until, er, stage fright took over. Let’s just say it brought a whole new meaning to shop-soiled goods."

Luckily no serious damage was done but Turner still has a copy of the photograph showing the ­'horrified ­expressions of everyone present'.

Currently Turner's Shrewsbury are on en route for a spell in League One, whilst Hereford could be playing in the Conference next season. He still remembers that awful day in 1997 when the Bulls last dropped out of the league and doesn't want it to happen again.

"The last thing I want, after spending 15 years of my life at the club, is to see Hereford slip out of the Football League again.

"I only left Hereford in 2010 because I felt they needed a change and I needed a change. When I stepped down, they had just agreed a new 125-year lease on the stadium with the council, the finance was in place to build a new stand and they were debt-free.

"I’d hate to see those solid ­foundations go to waste. The fact I migrated 60 miles back up the A49, to my first port of call as a manager, is immaterial – Hereford was, and will always remain, a part of me."

---