I am not ashamed to have two clubs. Liverpool is the team I grew up adoring as a five-year-old kid, seeing John Barnes fly down the wing and deliver something special. That moved on to the Robbie Fowler era and so on and so on. Was I a five-year-old glory hunter? I suppose I was but it is a love so strong I could never let go. Never! In relationship status, you would refer to Liverpool as like my wife.
Hereford F.C is my local club, formally known as Hereford United. It is the club from the city where I was born. My dad took me to Edgar Street when I was nine years old and I grew to love and appreciate my local side, with Simon Brain at the forefront of causing havoc in opposition defences. Great celebration at Northampton that time Brainy! YouTube is a wonderful thing. Since then I have seen relegation, promotion and reformation. Supporting Hereford fills me with immense pride though.
LFC and HFC are two sides that throughout my life I have spent a hell of a lot of money on, travelling up and down the country to watch. They have given me a great deal of enjoyment and grief at times. Last season was an example of the first world problems of a rollercoaster season. It is not as easy as it looks. Trust!
Both clubs came into the season with high hopes. Liverpool were looking superb under Klopp, coming in off the back of a runners-up spot in the Champions League and a fourth-place finish in the Prem. Hereford F.C were coming into the National League North with three consecutive promotions. Their seasons in truth went two different ways and it led to a different kind of pressure and emotion with every match. Not good for the stress levels at all.
With Liverpool, I just could not enjoy the season. We led at Christmas and by then I felt like we had to win something of note for the season to be a success. That meant (preferably) the League or the Champions League. Seeing as we have not won the big one domestically since 1989/90, I like most crave for this. Desperately. I still have the VHS with my vivid memories of that day, now I’m in my late 30’s. I was constantly looking at fixtures from about November on and seriously starting to get more technical by the turn of the new year. With every win came relief, not enjoyment, purely just from wanting it so much. Is this because I can really only count 4 times when I have been in a similar situation since 1990? Of course it is. Yes, we have been there or thereabouts on other occasions but only 4 times where I think it was anywhere near this level.
When it became clear it was a two-horse race the intensity obviously rose and this was higher than most. I would look at each upcoming fixture and prepare myself mentally for it. It was just a relentless race and one we would not lie down in. Sadly City were the same and it felt like the cruellest of blows. You just knew how all the anti-Liverpool brigade would be buzzing. Our starting eleven and bench had virtually-delivered week in, week out and could not be faulted. To finish the season with 97 points was an incredible feat and deserves to win the league. There is no point in being bitter, you just have to accept City were up to it. People say which match cost us the league. For me it is simple, it was losing to City away. The maths prove this.
The fact City produced as they did though, made it easier to take. You have to be realistic at the same time and say you can only do so much. I still felt exhausted though after the Wolves match. We still had the Champions League final to look forward to but we had ridden our luck slightly more through this. I still don’t know how we lost 3-0 in Spain. I was gutted. Was it just me or did the following three weeks seem like an eternity though? Deep-down I was feeling the pressure of being favourites for the European Cup Final. It sounds black and white but I felt losing in the final of the Champions League to Spurs would put a huge downer on everything. To get the result got me right back on it. I thought about was how many people would be gutted that we won it. It’s sad really but it is true. We were fantastic all season and had earned this. Players like Van Dijk, Mane, Salah, Bobby, Trent, Ali, Jordan, Gini etc etc had been outstanding (not forgetting Divock). They all had. Relief and Joy all wrapped into one.
For Hereford, it was very much the opposite. It was the same as with Liverpool in the sense I could not enjoy the season but that was because we were fighting a relegation battle for a large chunk of it. We got off to a flyer but after the win at Curzon Ashton on the 14th August we didn’t win again until the 1st December at home to Alfreton. I went to a fair few away games last season and Curzon Ashton was the only away win I witnessed. Thank god for home matches eh?? I was there for Alfreton at the start of December thankfully.
There was a lot of unrest at the club though, especially after the sacking of manager Peter Beadle in September. Understandably fans weren’t too happy with it and a lot voiced their concerns. When Richards and Harris took over the mood got worse and results didn’t improve. There was a spell where we got turned by all of our relegation rivals comfortably at home. Ashton United 0-2, Southport 0-3 and sandwiched between this was a painful 1-3 loss at Edgar Street to FCUM. Moral was very low at this period and there were a lot of comings and goings as well. It was very unsettling and the fans were concerned about our survival and the players felt it. The thought of going down after three straight promotions seemed like an utter disaster, with our aim to get back to league football.
I always felt that we were ‘too good to go down’ but the fact that even after a few wins at home over Kiddy and Chester at Christmas we still weren’t out the danger, meant for a squeaky time of things. We seemed to throw so many points away throughout the season. Wins would turn to draws (and sometimes defeats) and draws wold turn to losses. Sometimes it was self-inflicted and other times it was harsh. I think after we beat Darlington at home in March I finally started to relax a little. I seem to remember we came from 2-0 down there to win 4-2. It wasn’t quite how I had envisaged the season beforehand for the Bulls but ultimately we lived to fight another day in the Vanarama North, which by the way is full of quality. I thought Tom Owen-Evans and Rowan Liburd were two huge pluses for us and with the new signings this season, who knows.
We go again.
Up the Reds.
Hereford F.C from the cider country.
Al Davies.
The Gubbage and the Glory! 
GUB SALAD
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