BEADLE’S BACK ON THE PROWL
BULLS’ LOSS IS SOMEONE ELSE’S GAIN
IT’S not exactly breaking news that Peter Beadle was successful as manager of Hereford FC. Three seasons in existence, three titles to catapult from Step 5 to Step 2. Throw in an FA Vase final, a live replay with Fleetwood Town in the FA Cup second round proper, three Herefordshire Senior Cup wins, a league cup triumph and even The NLP’s Team of the Year award, it’s tough to see what more could be achieved. Less than two months into the new season he was out of a job. Football is football and surprises are never really all that surprising. Beadle and his assistant manager Steve Jenkins have been around long enough to know that. “We knew we’d had a great start but we also knew where we were as a club and where our place in that division would be,” Beadle says. “We knew that run of games we had coming up of Chorley, Bradford, York and Brackley was going to be really tough because they’re all established clubs in that league and, apart from York, were all in the play-offs last year. “Apart from probably Brackley, we weren’t a million miles away from getting something from all the games. We took a point at York when we should have won it, I felt we deserved a point at Chorley and probably against Bradford as well. Brackley, we didn’t play well on the day, but we lost 2-0 when we had ten men the whole of the second half before having another sent off at the end. “After those four games we sat down and spoke about it and we knew what we needed to do, we knew where we needed to be better and we were gearing up to put that right. We weren’t fazed, I didn’t feel under pressure or looking over our shoulder. We weren’t a million miles away. So it came as a complete shock.” The decision of the Bulls’ board sparked a similar reaction across Non-League. They were just eight games into the new season and, despite the run of four defeats in five games in all competitions, just three points outside the National League North play-offs.
Rationale
However, the club say this wasn’t a results-based axing. They see the club going in a different direction having consulted different figures around the game. Although, it would appear, not the man who had taken them up the leagues as they move to a Director of Football-Head Coach model. A statement on Thursday explained the rationale behind it. This is the right move, in their view, to get the club into the Football League in the long-term. It may well prove to be a change that brings the ultimate success. But why do it eight games into the new season? Why not the summer? Beadle, who thanked the fans in a statement last week, is hugely proud of everything the club has achieved but admits he was disappointed with how the news was delivered by chairman Ken Kinnersley. “They did it by phone and asked me to tell Steve,” Beadle says. “After everything we’ve done, I just felt the very least we deserved was to be told face to face, in my view. “The chairman said they had a lot to do and I get that. We’ve been in the game 30 years so it’s not like we don’t know there’s an awful lot to do when a decision like this is made.
Speculation
“But there is a right and wrong way of doing it. We were bitterly disappointed in the decision, but also in the way it was handled. In all the time I’ve been involved in clubs, I can’t remember releasing a player over the phone. At least you are looking them in the eye and tell them face to face. I just feel the very least we deserved was that.” Beadle has since had a personal letter from Kinnersley apologising, but for Beadle and Jenkins it’s time to look forward. Their availability won’t go unnoticed and, as Beadle says, they don’t leave with their chins on their chest. We’re desperate to get back in – we don’t want to take a break! It’s only been two weeks but it feels like a month already,” he adds. “You have to be careful and respectful of the games you go to because if you go in and around our level of football and people know you are there, all of a sudden the speculation starts. “Now it’s been a couple of weeks we can start going to other games, watching teams and looking at players to do some reconnaissance for whatever job may come up that we might be interested in and them in us.”