The 2013–14 season was the 93rd and penultimate competitive season of Hereford United Football Club and their second consecutive season, as well as their 11th overall, in the Conference Premier, the fifth tier of English football, following their 6th-placed finish in the previous season. The club also completed in both the FA Cup and the FA Trophy.
Season summary During the summer of 2013, Hereford lost three of their key players from the previous season, including top goalscorer Ryan Bowman. Bowman, along with Marley Watkins and Sam Clucas, were offered contracts but all three signed elsewhere, meaning Hereford were to be awarded a fee for each player at tribunal at a later date.
On 10 January 2014, Hereford were placed under a transfer embargo.
Manager Martin Foyle and his assistant Andy Porter left the club on 19 March 2014, with youth team manager Peter Beadle taking over as caretaker the following day.
Hereford entered the final day of the season in the relegation zone and needed to win at Aldershot Town combined with Chester failing to win at home to Salisbury City in order to stay up. Going into the 86th minute, Chester were winning 2–1 whilst Hereford were drawing 1–1 and looking certain to be relegated. Chester then conceded an equaliser before Michael Rankine scored an 88th-minute winner for Hereford to completely change the outcome in the space of two minutes, and ensuring Hereford avoided relegation.
This season Hereford gave future West Ham and England forward Jarrod Bowen his first appearances in professional football.
On 10 June 2014, the club was expelled from the Football Conference despite their final day survival, meaning they would be demoted to the Southern League Premier Division and Chester reprieved from relegation. The club commenced their campaign in the Southern League the following season, but would go on to be wound-up in court on 19 December 2014.
First-team squad As of 26 April 2014
+NameDate of birth (age)Signed fromAppsGoalsGoalkeepers 1 Rhys Evans Exeter City00 21 Daniel Lloyd-Weston Market Drayton Town00Defenders 2 Daniel Leadbitter Torquay United00 3 Chris Bush Gateshead60 5 Rod McDonald Nantwich Town112 6 Luke Graham Forest Green Rovers482 12 Dominic Collins Chester00 14 Joel Edwards Westfields00Midfielders 4 Kingsley James Port Vale211 7 Rob Purdie (captain) Shrewsbury Town20426 16 Frankie Artus Grimsby Town00 18 Danny Pilkington Kidderminster Harriers00 19 Sam Gwynne Brackley Town811 22 Jamie Edge Cirencester Town00 33 Billy Murphy Youth team00Forwards 9 Dan Walker Luton Town00 10 Chris Sharp AFC Telford United254 11 Sam Smith Cambridge United00 15 Michael Rankine Aldershot Town00 17 Jonathan Brown Suphanburi00 30 Cory Williams Youth team00 32 Jarrod Bowen Youth team00
Transfers
Transfers in
Date Pos. Name From Fee Ref.5 June 2013FW Dan WalkerLuton TownFree transfer19 June 2013DF Chris BushGatesheadFree transfer19 June 2013MF Danny PilkingtonKidderminster HarriersFree transfer26 June 2013GK Daniel Lloyd-WestonMarket Drayton TownFree transfer20 June 2013DF Dominic CollinsChesterFree transfer3 July 2013MF Rob PurdieShrewsbury TownFree transfer26 July 2013FW Jonathan Brown SuphanburiFree transfer26 July 2013DF Joel EdwardsWestfieldsFree transfer30 July 2013FW Michael RankineAldershot TownFree transfer31 July 2013MF Frankie ArtusGrimsby TownFree transfer31 July 2013MF Sam GwynneBrackley TownFree transfer1 August 2013GK Rhys EvansExeter CityFree transfer1 August 2013MF Kingsley JamesPort ValeFree transfer1 August 2013DF Daniel LeadbitterTorquay UnitedFree transfer19 September 2013FW Eric Odhiambo DenizlisporFree transfer18 December 2013MF Jamie EdgeCirencester TownFree transfer
Transfers out
Date Pos. Name To Fee Ref.22 April 2013MF Simon ClistReleased22 April 2013DF Andy GallinaghReleased22 April 2013GK Dan HanfordReleased22 April 2013MF Brian SmikleReleased22 April 2013DF Michael TownsendReleased17 May 2013DF Stefan Stam FC Den BoschFree transfer24 May 2013FW Ryan BowmanYork City£20,00010 June 2013MF Marley Watkins Inverness Caledonian ThistleTribunal21 June 2013MF Sam ClucasMansfield Town£20,00026 June 2013GK James BittnerReleased30 June 2013DF Chris CarruthersCorby TownFree transfer30 June 2013MF Will EvansEastleighFree transfer30 June 2013MF Craig JonesReleased6 July 2013DF Joe HeathChesterFree transfer31 July 2013FW Marlon JacksonBuryFree transfer17 September 2013FW Jake HarrisReleased7 January 2014FW Eric OdhiamboReleased31 January 2014MF Josh O'KeefeKidderminster HarriersUndisclosed
Loans in Date Pos. Name From Until Ref.12 June 2013FW Sam SmithCambridge UnitedEnd of season26 August 2013MF Michael WestCrewe Alexandra26 September 201329 August 2013MF Paul GreenForest Green Rovers29 September 201313 September 2013FW Richard BrodieGateshead16 October 201311 October 2013MF Kevin KransBristol City11 November 201311 October 2013FW Ross DyerMansfield Town21 November 201312 November 2013MF Damon LathropeTorquay United3 January 201426 November 2013MF Micah EvansBurnley26 December 2013
Loans out
Date Pos. Name To Until Ref.12 November 2013FW Chris SharpLincoln City12 December 2013
Pre-season
Competitions
Overview
Conference Premier
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches
The league fixtures were announced on 3 July 2013, with the season starting on 10 August.
Source: Football Web Pages
FA Cup
Hereford entered the competition in the fourth qualifying round.
Source: FCHD
FA Trophy
Hereford entered the competition in the first round.
Source: FCHD
Attendances
+DateTimeOpponentResultCompetitionAttendance 10 August 2013 15:00 Braintree Town 1–1 Conference Premier 2,033 24 August 2013 15:00 Tamworth 1–0 Conference Premier 1,864 31 August 2013 15:00 Welling United 2–1 Conference Premier 1,527 13 September 2013 19:45 Aldershot Town 0–2 Conference Premier 1,851 24 September 2013 19:45 Lincoln City 1–0 Conference Premier 1,398 28 September 2013 15:00 Luton Town 0–0 Conference Premier 2,386 12 October 2013 15:00 Dartford 2–2 Conference Premier 1,583 19 October 2013 15:00 Barnet 0–1 Conference Premier 1,632 12 November 2013 19:45 Chester 2–2 Conference Premier 1,512 26 November 2013 19:45 FC Halifax Town 3–2 Conference Premier 1,158 30 November 2013 15:00 Woking 0–3 FA Trophy 1,041 7 December 2013 15:00 Nuneaton Town 0–1 Conference Premier 1,292 21 December 2013 15:00 Cambridge United 1–0 Conference Premier 1,558 28 December 2013 19:30 Forest Green Rovers 1–0 Conference Premier 1,848 18 January 2014 15:00 Southport 4–1 Conference Premier 1,569 25 January 2014 15:00 Salisbury City 1–0 Conference Premier 2,016 28 January 2014 19:45 Kidderminster Harriers 1–1 Conference Premier 2,014 25 February 2014 19:45 Macclesfield Town 1–2 Conference Premier 1,013 1 March 2014 15:00 Wrexham 0–2 Conference Premier 1,884 15 March 2014 15:00 Hyde 0–0 Conference Premier 1,378 29 March 2014 15:00 Grimsby Town 0–1 Conference Premier 2,545 5 April 2014 15:00 Woking 0–2 Conference Premier 2,140 12 April 2014 15:07 Gateshead 0–1 Conference Premier 1,783 21 April 2014 15:00 Alfreton Town 3–2 Conference Premier 2,445 Source: Football Web Pages
Squad statistics
Appearance and goals
The plus (+) symbol denotes an appearance as a substitute, hence 2+1 indicates two appearances in the starting XI and one appearance as a substitute Italics indicate player is/was a loan player Players with zero appearances were unused substitutes named in at least one matchday squad
!colspan="12" style="text-align:center" | Youth team players
!colspan="12" style="text-align:center" | Players who left during the season but made an appearance
Source: Soccerbase
Goals + Rank Player ConferencePremier FA Cup FA Trophy Total 1 15 FW Michael Rankine 7 0 0 7 2 12 DF Dominic Collins 5 0 0 5 3 8 MF Josh O'Keefe 3 1 0 4 11 FW Sam Smith 4 0 0 4 5 3 DF Chris Bush 3 0 0 3 9 FW Dan Walker 3 0 0 3 36 FW Ross Dyer 3 0 0 3 8 4 MF Kingsley James 2 0 0 2 5 DF Rod McDonald 2 0 0 2 10 FW Chris Sharp 2 0 0 2 17 FW Jonathan Brown 2 0 0 2 12 6 DF Luke Graham 1 0 0 1 16 MF Frankie Artus 1 0 0 1 20 FW Eric Odhiambo 1 0 0 1 22 MF Michael West 1 0 0 1 23 MF Kevin Krans 1 0 0 1 24 FW Richard Brodie 1 0 0 1 32 FW Jarrod Bowen 1 0 0 1 Own goals 1 0 0 1Total 44 1 0 45
References