Hereford United chairman David Keyte says donations have arrived from Cape Town, Cyprus, New York and Norway (From Hereford Times)

Hereford United chairman David Keyte says donations have arrived from Cape Town, Cyprus, New York and Norway

10:42pm Wednesday 24th October 2012 in Sport By Ian Morgan

Hereford United chairman Dave Keyte says he’s been ‘humbled’ by the £15,000 raised by fans – and revealed 50% of donations have come from outside the county.

“Hereford United has a strong name and we have had 115 donations – and at least half of those are from people living outside Herefordshire,” said Keyte.

“It’s been quite humbling that people have been raising funds from their own pocket and I am aware of the planned events like the sponsored walk, disco and legs waxing.

“We have had money from people from Cape Town, New York, Cyprus and two separate donations from Norway,” he said.

“We know that the word is out there and the online option through the Hereford United Football Club shop is bringing in a majority of donations from outside the county.”

Keyte revealed the club had a major cash-flow crisis last week and appealed to the fans for help.

He said that the board of directors had been bankrolling the club for the past 12 months.

Keyte said the club had failed to meet their PAYE payment this week.

“With the old VAT issue we agreed to pay £2,000 a week to clear that and we paid four weeks,” he said.

“HMRC have the right to cancel that agreement for non-payment of PAYE and it’s possible they could demand the total sum of £77,000.”

Keyte says the cost of running the football club is £120,000 per month and two home matches a month with gates of just 1,500, will not cover the costs.

He said relegation from the Football League, the loss of Football League Premier League TV money and the cut in Football League funding had had an enormous impact.

He said the club had budgeted for gates of 2,400 and could not survive on just 1,500 people coming through the turnstiles.

“We are the first year into it and we are carrying 10 players with Football League contracts. Being Football League players their basic level is higher than Conference players.

“For the Shrewsbury match, we will probably share £50,000 if we can fill the ground.”

Keyte admits it hasn’t been any easy ride since taking over the chair – he has pumped around £350,000 of his own money into the club.

“I went from being a supporter, thinking the club was stagnating a bit, and wanted to step in and take it forward.

“Two and a bit years into it, you do wonder whether Hereford wants to support a professional football club.”