WHEN Hereford United kick-off the new season against Farnborough on August 14, the match will mark the start of director of football Graham Turner's 10th season in charge at the club.

His period of office makes him by some way Hereford's longest-serving manager in the club's 65 years as a limited company, with Joe Wade's six years in charge, from 1956-62, left comfortably behind.

With the modern pressures of football, it is extremely rare these days for a manager at any level to lead a club for so long. In fact only three current Football League managers, Dario Gradi at Crewe Alexandra, Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, and Alan Curbishley at Charlton Athletic, have surpassed the Bulls boss's length of service.

In the Nationwide Conference, only Morecambe manager Jimmy Harvey, who secured his own place in Hereford folklore as a player, and Canvey Island boss Jeff King have been in their jobs longer than Turner.

And, while King is also a director of the Essex club, the Hereford chief has much more on his plate than either of the other two whose duties revolve substantially around the playing side of the club.

Turner, as well as masterminding matters on the pitch, is, as the club chairman, responsible for everything that goes on off the field, too. Mowing the pitch, helping to build walls, negotiating sponsorship deals - and all the time providing a media-friendly face for the club - are all tasks which the 56-year-old has taken in his stride during his nine years in charge.

In that time, he has had to steer United through some rocky financial waters, but now, although the club remain more than £1million in debt, the day-to-day finances are back on an even keel.

Improved crowds over the last two seasons have eased the burden and the sale of Paul Parry to Cardiff City for a substantial, and growing, fee in January should ensure that the figures for the club's financial year which ended on May 31 are the best for some time.

Parry was the latest in a line of players developed by Turner who have moved on to better things. And it has been a feature of his management that young players who have either not made the grade at a first club, or needed a helping hand to get their career back on track, have been brought in and then moved on at a profit.

Gavin Mahon, Michael Rose, Chris Lane, Michael McIndoe as well as Parry and Gavin Williams, who both came up through the club's youth ranks, count among the big successes.

Scouring the list of free transfers has been the only way to maintain playing staff levels. In his nine years Turner has been able to pay a fee for just one player, Neil Grayson, who had to be moved on within a matter of months as the financial crisis really began to bite.

During the darkest days, players sometimes had to be transferred out to ensure that the wage bill for that week could be met and Turner and his trusted ally, club secretary and director Joan Fennessy, themselves often went without wages to ensure that others could be paid.

Those days are, hopefully, now behind and Turner and his new right-hand man, John Trewick, with the assistance of fitness coach Tony Ford and goalkeeping coach Bernard Day, can concentrate on their bid to regain the club's lost league status during a season which will see the landmark of his 500th match in overall control of the club reached.

THE TURNER YEARS

Competition P W D L F A League 92 31 28 33 115 112

Conference 294 123 76 95 443 341 Play-offs 4 0 1 3 3 5

FA Cup 25 12 4 9 35 30 FL Cup 6 1 1 4 6 16

FA Trophy 20 8 5 7 29 26

LDV Vans 11 4 2 5 19 20

Hfds Sen Cup 4 3 0 1 7 3

Conf'nce Cup 6 2 0 4 7 10

President's Cup 1 0 1 0 1 1

Doxhill Cup 1 1 0 0 0 0

Total 464 185 118 161 665 564

NB: During 2001-2, then player-coach Phil Robinson ran the team for 27 matches contained within the above, during which time there were 11 wins, 5 draws and 11 defeats with 43 goals scored, 31 conceded and 25 points gained.