THE first manager of Hereford Football Club has been appointed this morning - and he's a familiar face to football fans in Herefordshire.

Peter Beadle will take charge of the fledging club, ending a lengthy selection process lasting more than a month.

Beadle was the man who helped the now-defunct Hereford United escape from Conference relegation at the end of last season when he guided the club to back-to-back wins over Alfreton and Aldershot.

Sadly, the Bulls were later demoted to the Southern Premier for unpaid bills before being wound-up in the High Court in December.

Arriving at Edgar Street as Beadle’s assistant will be Matt Bishop who currently works as a coach educator for the Football Association.

Bishop is a UEFA Pro Licence holder and, having featured for a number of Welsh Premier League clubs during his playing career, he has since gone on to be assistant manager at Newport County and Aldershot Town, and also for the Welsh Under 17 and England Under 20 teams.

Speaking about his appointment, Beadle said: "I’m delighted and very proud to have been appointed as manager of Hereford FC and cannot wait to get started.

"Matt and I are hugely excited by the journey that lies ahead and although we are under no illusions about the challenges we will face in our new roles, we have no doubt that we are the right people to take this club forward.

"It will come as no surprise to people when I say that Edgar Street has a special place in my heart and the support I have had from people who felt I should get this job has been truly humbling.

"We have a lot of work to do between now and the start of the league season in August because we are going to be putting a squad together from scratch.

"However, with the contacts we have we believe we can put a squad together that Hereford FC supporters deserve after all the hard work that has been done by so many people to ensure football will be played at Edgar Street from the start of the 2015/16 season.

"I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the Hereford FC Directors for giving us this opportunity at Edgar Street – we will be doing all we can to prove their decision is the right one and give all supporters a team they can be very proud of."

Meanwhile, Hereford FC’s football director, Martin Watson, has given his thoughts on Beadle’s appointment.

"This is an extremely important decision for the club and one that we have taken a lot of time over," he said.

"The calibre of the applicants we had for the job was excellent and all the people we interviewed came across well.

"The decision we faced was as hard as we expected which is why we decided to conduct a second round of interviews.

"However, in the end, we felt that the way Peter Beadle and Matt Bishop intend to work together as a team offered us the best possible chance of achieving the targets we are setting in terms of climbing up the leagues and we are delighted they have accepted our offer to become our management team.

"Peter is obviously well known to football fans in Hereford, but Matt also comes highly recommended and has a great deal of experience to bring to the club.

"Gareth Davies – who has helped us with the interview process – knows Matt’s qualities as a coach and is really pleased with his appointment too.

"I must thank Gareth for all the help he has given us over the past five weeks and there is no doubt the football knowledge he brought with him to the table was vital to the interviews we conducted.

"He was able to ask searching questions about the footballing philosophies of our candidates and that really helped us test each of them thoroughly."

Watson said he hopes to organise a fans forum with Beadle and Bishop in due course.

"There is no doubt that today is a significant day for the club and is one that only serves to build excitement for the future even more," he added.