EACH week, leading figures from Edgar Street have their say.

This week, HUISA treasurer Nicki White gives a female perspective.

MANY of you may know me from seeing me sitting in town sipping my coffee, or from my day job working for a high street bank.

But I expect most of you know me from walking the terraces shouting ‘half-time draw, 50/50’.

When I first started following the club, women were certainly in the minority and I was very often the only female travelling to away games with a bus full of men.

I was, therefore, a ladette before it was fashionable to be one.

I have supported Hereford United for 37 years and for 31 of those years I have been involved with fund-raising committees for the club.

It all started in 1982 when the Supporters Club signed their premises over to the football club so that they could raise money to pay off creditors and a moratorium was set up.

I became part of the SOS (Save Our Soccer) committee, mark 2, as at that point we were all youngsters and were not part of the main committee.

I then joined the Supporters Club committee and, finally, when the Supporters Club was destroyed by fire, I joined the HUISA committee.

While I have been disappointed with our home form this season, I have nothing but praise for Martin Foyle and Andy Porter.

They came in to take over a job which could be classed a poisoned chalice following the managerial merry-goround which we have seen in recent seasons.

Of all the managers that I have worked with, Graham Turner was the one who impressed me the most.

As a football man with no experience of running a football club, he took on the position wholeheartedly and fully embraced everything that was asked of him.

The views on running a football club will always vary.

Graham and his board took the view that any monies available to the club were generally used on on-field matters. The current board have invested monies offfield with the regeneration of the old Supporters Club which will hopefully enable the club to have an income stream from non-football related activities over a 52- week period, not just from August to May.

We all know, at this level, we need to maximise our income especially during the close season. So there are arguments for and against both strategies.

It seems quite ironic that even though home gates have fallen, our main income stream throughout the season, the 50/50 draw, has gone from strength to strength.

When I think back to when HUISA first took over the draw, our first payout was in the region of £50.

Even with the gate against Dartford, we still paid out £205.

HUISA recently donated £1,500 to the club to assist with the finances and a further £1,000 where we purchased squares in the six-yard box at the Meadow End as part of the pitchregeneration scheme.

Donations like this are only possible by the supporters buying the 50/50 tickets and joining HUISA so I, on behalf of the committee, would like to thank everyone who has bought tickets and given generous donations this season.

However, this is not all about me. We are, after all, Hereford UNITED, and as I have said numerous times in the past, it doesn’t matter who directs the club, who manages the club, or even who plays for the club.

Hereford United is OUR football club and we should never forget that, and at this time our support is of the utmost importance.