Hereford United players may not get paid (From Worcester News)

Hereford United players may not get paid

8:00am Friday 26th October 2012 in Sport

THERE are big question marks over whether all of Hereford United’s players will have been paid going into their match at Southport tomorrow (3pm).

The crisis club could not afford a pay-as-you-earn tax requirement (PAYE) this week and seem set to struggle to pay the full wage bill of £77,000 today.

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are now likely to start legal proceedings to recover the PAYE debt and the Bulls are under a transfer embargo.

United chairman David Keyte said: “We have had two figures this week — one was the £35,000 PAYE on Monday and the other is the payroll today.

“HMRC wouldn’t accept only a part of the PAYE bill — they wanted it in full — so we agreed that we may as well pay nothing at this stage.

“We would rather keep the money to pay some wages and salaries at the club.”

But Keyte has admitted they will struggle to afford the full amount, meaning players could give Hereford two weeks’ notice for breach of contract if they wish.

The Bulls have suffered after last season’s relegation from the Football League and are around 600 under their required break-even crowd average of 2,400.

Manager Martin Foyle, appointed in the summer, has a job on his hands to keep the players’ morale up for the north-west trip this weekend.

Hereford drew their last two Blue Square Bet Premier games against Nuneaton and Braintree 0-0 to make it five league games without a win.

They are level on points with Southport but the Bulls squad has been stretched lately due to injuries, including to captain Luke Graham (hamstring), left-back Chris Carruthers (heel) and winger Marley Watkins (groin).

On the plus side, Hereford have a money-spinning FA Cup first round home tie with local rivals Shrewsbury a week tomorrow which will earn an extra £6,325 after being picked for an extended television highlights deal.

United supporters have raised around £15,000 since Keyte revealed the extent of the club’s financial problems last week.