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| Councillors At Shire Hall This Morning |
Keyte, who was sat alongside Martin Watson vice-chairman of HUST, began with a look back at the financial problems of the club.
After mentioning social media, he admitted that the club had never replaced Graham Turner.
"In May 2012 the club was relegated although there was a budget of £1.2M.
"From that point Hereford United became a backwater, unlikely to reach national level again."
He then reminded those listening that when he took over as chairman he had set-up the youth system.
He felt that Turner used to cherry pick players but this system gave local youngsters a chance.
However after dropping out of the Football League it was difficult to fund the youth set-up.
"We tried to get support for the youth system but no one came forward."
Keyte also contrasted the ability of some councils.
"There was no funding from Herefordshire Council, other authorities might have helped."
He was also critical of the new youth system as backed by the premiership clubs.
"The new 'pathway'system stopped small clubs sellimg players on.
"We had a successful youth system but we couldn't fund it."
Cllr Terry James asked Keyte why he had sold to Tommy Agombar but the question was ruled as not revelant to the proceedings.
"From January 2014 I made clear the club needed £300K to keep going," continued Keyte.
"Funding from the Fooball League was down to £47K.
"The board (at the time) were not prepared to put in any more funds. Perhaps the board wasn't large enough.
"So we went public, we were seeking investment.
"So we went public, we were seeking investment.
"The 'usuals' didn't want to get involved, they were not prepared to put their heads above the parapet.
"No one came forward to help so we went wider and one of the two groups we spoke to included this 'Agombar character'.
"The Trust offered £1 on May 7th and after that meeting we issued a joint amicable statement.
"They had to go away and seek advice on a number of points that were raised such as the confidentiality clauses, proof of funding etc.
"And they never came back so that answers why we didn't sell to the HUST because they never came back to complete negotiations. This was May 2014.
"We were always mindful of that word insolvency.
"They had to go away and seek advice on a number of points that were raised such as the confidentiality clauses, proof of funding etc.
"And they never came back so that answers why we didn't sell to the HUST because they never came back to complete negotiations. This was May 2014.
"We were always mindful of that word insolvency.
"We took legal advice, advice from the club auditors, we called in a firm of administrators in December 2013.
"We took steps to overcome our problems.
"We took in £80K from our share issue, we were never insolvent."
Keyte then looked back over the years and suggested Hereford United had always been in debt.
"In 1995 the debt was £1M, it was £1.3M when we took over with no leases.
"My strategy was to bring the club back to the people of Hereford.
"Turner was superb with football but was a 3pm Saturday afternoon man.
"We set out to get the leases back and we did which gave the club a £608K paper profit.
"The debt fell to £379K in May 2011.
"Then there were opportunities with new 30 year leases but relegation sunk the football club.
"And it was talked out by other people's agenda including Bulls News writing about Agombar.
"We were pushed to the edge by local people with their own agendas."
Keyte said he still had doubts about keeping football at Edgar Street but if it was to be then he felt it might be worth considering an all weather pitch.