HEREFORD United supremo Graham Turner spoke of his delight at the club's success in overcoming a major financial hurdle.

The Bulls chairman said he was proud the cash-strapped Edgar Street club had finally freed themselves of their long-standing Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA).

When the CVA was entered in 1998, more than £140,000 was owed to the Inland Revenue, more than £120,000 to HM Customs and Excise and around £47,000 to other creditors.

Over the last six years, Turner has worked on a shoe-string budget while repayments were being made to creditors under conditions that have not crippled the club.

The Bulls were boosted by a money-spinning campaign in 2003-04 which included the sale of Paul Parry to Cardiff for an initial £75,000.

Turner said the CVA was cleared after creditors agreed to accept a final settlement at a meeting this week and the club awaits official confirmation.

But it does not mean United can start splashing the cash on any new players.

They are still saddled with a £1million loan to property developers Chelverton, who hold the leases to Edgar Street, and purse-strings will remain tight.

Turner said: "We are very pleased to have settled it. It's a very big milestone for the club to come out of the CVA and there's a bit of pride in achieving that.

"It's been a long, hard struggle but we've proved that we can run the football club properly.

"If we had not settled within the next three years there would have been no other option for the supervisor to wind the club up because it would have been 10 years up of the CVA. We would have been out of business.

"We made an offer 12 months ago to our major creditors with regard to the final dividend but that was rejected. We returned with the same offer 12 months on and it was received favourably."

Turner added: "When the last board was here we were heavily in debt and that's when the club went into the CVA.

"They borrowed money from the developers to pay off the debt but they took the leases. So at that point we lost the leases and acquired a £1 million debt. But it's something that does not concern us too much on a day-to-day basis."