IT has been an incredible 12 months on all fronts at Hereford FC, none more so than on the retail and club shop side.

I’ve been delighted to control all aspects of the club shop from the very start, and it’s been hugely enjoyable, as well as somewhat stressful trying to keep on top of demand.

Denise and Luke Powell are well known to supporters and have volunteered to help on matchdays for years.

They have both commented they’ve never seen it so busy on a consistent basis.

Both Denise and Luke have been fantastic, I can’t thank them enough.

I’m not sure they’ve known what’s hit them on certain match days, with queues out of the door.

Personally, the most pleasing aspect of running the shop to date has been seeing the amount of younger supporters in store with their families, wanting to buy merchandise with the HFC badge on.

This was summed up perfectly one day when two young lads walked in the store with a Juventus and Barcelona shirt on respectively,.

They both walked out in their new Hereford FC shirt, with a beaming smile across both faces.

It’s brilliant to see children (and adults) of all ages proud to be a Hereford fan.

The enthusiasm shown by the younger fans has been further enhanced by the brilliant work done by Jane Griffiths in relaunching the fantastic Junior Bulls – with over 250 members currently – and three full coach loads going to Wembley.

Since our win at Salisbury, and us making it through to Wembley, interest in all Hereford FC merchandise has rocketed.

We have new items arriving all the time – with the match specific embroidered replica shirts now in stock.

We were delighted to launch our Wembley ‘pop up’ shop in the Old Market yesterday, which will be open every day – a huge thank you to the Old Market for helping us launch so quickly. Be sure to pop in – there’s something for everyone.

This will hopefully add to the already huge buzz around the city in the lead up to our big day at Wembley.

I’m also excited to mention that we have ‘commissioned’ ten bespoke, hand painted, commemorative Hereford FC Subbuteo sets, marking our appearance in the FA Vase Final. Each set contains a squad of 16 players and will be sold in our Wembley pop-up shop as soon as they are with us.

As I’m mentioned, it’s been an incredible 12 months – who would have thought back then that we’d be launching a pop up shop and a commemorative Subbuteo set ahead of a trip to Wembley?

Here’s to a successful end of season, and a day to celebrate and savour at Wembley.