After striking one of the biggest deals in its history, Hereford United is now looking forward and planning its long-term future at Edgar Street.

The Club has bought back the ground leases and settled a long-term loan of just over a million pounds from Carillion Richardson, the international development group, freeing the club of its debt and placing it in a great position for the future.

Club Chairman David Keyte told the clubs website: “This is a landmark for Hereford United. For the first time in years the club is free of debt and we can now move forward off the pitch to develop the club”

“When we took over in the summer it became very clear that to start building for the future we had to be in control of the leases. This gives us a free run and hopefully will open up some exciting opportunities for both the club and the city,” added Keyte.

During the 1990s, the then board secured the future of The Bulls by taking out two large loans totalling over a million pounds against the leases for the club. The leases then went through the hands of two development companies but those companies have since disappeared and the leases and the loan ended up in the hands of Richardsons Capital, who are joint-venture partners with Carillion.

It is a historic day for the club, its supporters and the people of Hereford and the deal has sealed the long-term future of the club as well as providing the board with more freedom when it comes to making decisions on and off the field.

Vice Chairman Tim Russon told Radio BBC Hereford & Worcester: “We have already had initial talks with the local council and the next step is for us to negotiate new long-term leases,” he said.

“We are looking at 100 years-plus because we need both the security for the football club to play here and then the next step after that is to start looking at ways to redevelop the Blackfriars End.

“We need that long-term lease in order to attract commercial partners who will need that future to be able to invest in the club,” he added.

However, the clubs short-term future has become vitally important and threatens to take some of the gloss of this deal if the situation doesn’t improve soon. Something which Russon is well aware of.  He appreciates that many fans looking at the League Two table might feel this deal is not the main priority but he insists that if United are to flourish in the longer term then this is a vital step: “We care desperately about the plight we are in at the moment and will be doing everything we can to make sure we lift ourselves up the table.

“But we have our future in our hands and we can go out and do something special for this ground and in years to come that will benefit what is on the pitch” he said.