A FOOTBALL coach who helped Hereford United in pre-season believes the team can turn around their fortunes despite not being able to see the team perform.

Irfan Kawri was brought to the club by football consultant Mark Ellis and helped coach the players, as well as introduce sports science nutrition and recovery information.

Other commitments has meant that Kawri has been unable to continue working at United, but he is hopeful he can return soon.

"I have not had the chance to see any of the games or been into training lately, but what I will say is that Jon Taylor and Neil Phelps are working very hard and Jon has good experience of the league," said Kawri, who lives in Bolton and works at Wigan Athletic as a scout.

"They have had a lot of challenges due to injuries and the unavailability of players due to players not getting international clearance.

"But after a great pre-season, what I can say is that the squad has a lot of ability and potential.

"It is a very young squad and are in their infancy in terms of a group.

"I will be speaking to the manager and looking to get back in soon.

"Since the season started I have been very busy due to my work commitments for Wigan."

Kawri, who is also a part-time physical education at a secondary school, said that the job Ellis did in assembling the squad was "outstanding".

"I have learnt a lot from working with him because he has a lot of experience in professional football," said Kawri.

"I got involved because it is great experience for myself and Hereford, for me, is a big club and should be in the Football League where it was a few years ago.

"Hereford is a great club with special supporters."

Bulls' supporters first heard about Kawri's involvement with Hereford when he was asked to make a statement to explain a photo of the players enjoying a traditional Islamic meal that was posted by United's official Twitter account.

The picture, taken prior to Hereford's pre-season friendly against Droylsden, caused anger among some Bulls supporters because it was shared during the month of Ramadan.

But Kawri said that he felt it was a good idea for the squad to embrace the Islamic culture.

"Unfortunately comments were made on twitter due to a lack of awareness," said Kawri.

"When I came in, I was just getting on with what I had to do.

"The club did plan to officially make people aware of me via their website, but due to the events on twitter, I was asked to make a statement from the club.

"We have had very good support from Riz Rehman, who is part of the PFA equality and education department .

"He is looking to organise raising awareness workshops for people to attend to help educate and raise awareness on the matter."

Kawri is a big Liverpool fan and played football for his school teams a local junior clubs.

He went on to represent Rochdale at schoolboy level and was a youth team triallist at Bradford City.

Kawri also played for the former Leigh RMI and Accrington and represented Zambia at under-20 level.

He went into coaching youngsters at Rochdale before scouting potential FA Youth Cup opponents for the club's academy.

Work at Barnsley and Notts County followed before he joined Wigan as first team scout at Wigan.

However, he said his proudest moment was helping take charge of Hereford against Besiktas for a pre-season friendly.

The Turkish giants were managed by former Croatia boss Slavan Bilic.

"The feedback we got from him after the game was very complimentary," said Kawri.

"We said we really competed against them and gave them a game.

"He said that the players were very fit, had a good tempo, and could tell that they were well coached and organised.

"Another great moment for me was in 2012 when Steven Gerrard lent his support to a physical activity and health programme I have been co-ordinating with Liverpool's first team doctor Zaf Iqbal and the Zesh Rehman Foundation (ZRF.)

"To have someone of his profile to give up his time and spend time with us was a great moment and adds real weight to the messages from the programme."