Lawrence signed Paul Parry from Hereford

Hereford United's new director of football, Lennie Lawrence, is no stranger to Edgar Street. Over the years he watched several players with a view to a possible signing.

Probably the most notable was Paul Parry whom he signed for Cardiff City in January 2004 however Lawrence took a long, long time to make up his mind.

In late November 2003 Lawrence approached Hereford United manager Graham Turner to take Parry on trial for a week. He had already watched him several times.

Parry pictured at Edgar Street in 2003

"We are looking at Paul Parry and hope he will be able to play for the reserves again next week," said Lawrence. "I have also pencilled in a trip to watch him play for Hereford later this month and we'll make a decision after that."

A couple of days later Turner confirmed the trial.

"The situation is that Cardiff wanted to have a look at him," said Turner.

"It's in his contract to do that."

On December 8th Turner spoke to BBC Hereford and Worcester about Parry.

"In accordance with the terms of Paul Parry's contract if any league club want him to go and train with them we would allow them to do so," said Turner. "Last week was a ideal time as we had no game on the Saturday. He went and spent a week with them. He played on the Wednesday in a friendly reserve match up at Derby. By all accounts he did extremely well.

"I've spoken to Cardiff since. In fact I've been down there to watch the reserves playing. What they want to do is watch him over the few matches so there will be a contingent from Cardiff watching him play, as I think there have been from other clubs in the League.

"He is 23 at the moment, coming 24. His contract is up in the summer but as we have said before there is no certainty that Paul would leave. Yeovil and Bristol Rovers have both asked about him sometime ago. The offers were not acceptable.

"I always thought he was better than a Third Division club. When you get a club the size of Cardiff being interested, you know that's the sort of area he should be looking at and should be going into."

The Bulls travelled to Forest Green Rovers on the evening of December 19th. Parry was in the Hereford squad and Lawrence was at the game.

It couldn't have been a better night for Parry and the Bulls as he scored a hat-trick in a 7-1 win.

"It was a good hat-trick," said Turner. "I understand that Cardiff were in force tonight, and although the conditions were not brilliant for wing-play, his contribution in terms of goals was excellent."

Lawrence was being very guarded.

"I treat Sam Hammam's (Cardiff owner) money like my own - I want to make an investment when we pay out for a player."

He said he would watch Parry again on Boxing Day.

Meanwhile Cardiff fans were getting impatient.

The time has come for Lennie to stop dithering. Of course there is no guarantee that he would be able to cut it at this level, but for £100,000, it seems like a worthwhile bet. He is a left sided creative player, just what we need to end this slump. If we don't take the risk, someone else will and we may be left regretting it. said the Sleeping Giant website.

The New Year came and went. However Parry did his reputation little harm when he scored the only goal of the game against Stevenage on January 3rd.

"It was an excellent finish by Paul, particularly considering that he had to carry the ball a long way on a bobbly pitch," said Turner.

Then, at last, on Wednesday January 7th confirmation that Parry was moving to Cardiff.

"I am delighted to have finally secured Paul," said Lawrence. I have watched him on several occasions over the past few weeks and we had the lad here on trial for four days and he impressed me.

"He's the best player in the Conference and he's right on top of his game."

The deal was to net the Bulls close to £200,000.

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