STEVE Bull sees his new coaching role at Hereford United as the first step on the road to management.

The former Wolves and England legend joined the coaching staff at Edgar Street last month on the invitation of Director of Football Graham Turner, his former manager at Molineux.

Now he wants to follow in Turner's footsteps, saying: "Being a manager is my main ambition, and coaching is the start of the ladder. If I can get some experience at Hereford it will help me a lot."

Bull, who scored a record 250 goals in 13 years at Wolves - the vast majority of them under Turner's management - says he was happy to help out the man who put him on the road to fame.

"Wolves offered me something that wasn't good enough to take, but I am still doing 10 hours of public relations work a week for them.

"But Graham phoned me up and said do I want some experience, and I was happy to oblige. I am keeping my foot in the door at Wolves and also keeping in with the coaching side, and I am really enjoying it."

Bull says the Hereford players have responded well to his tough regime. "Some of them are saying I am a little bit of a battleaxe, but you have to work hard to get things out of people."

He is optimistic that Hereford can challenge for Nationwide Conference glory this season. "I think any team has a chance. They haven't got the money of teams like Rushden and Diamonds but they've got a good squad and they should be up there."

Bull has also finally laid to rest any suggestions that he will be pulling on a Hereford shirt. He retired from competitive soccer a year ago because of a knee injury, although he played for Wolves recently in a farewell game.

He said: "There is no chance of playing again - the injury doesn't allow it any more. 20 minutes is enough."