After striking one of the most important and biggest deals in its history, Hereford United is now looking forward and planning its long term future at Edgar Street.

The club has bought back the ground leases and settled a long term loan of just over a million pounds from Carillion Richardson, the international development group.

"This is a landmark for Hereford United. For the first time in years the club is free of debt and we can now move forward off the pitch to develop the club," said Chairman David Keyte.

"When we took over in the summer it became very clear that to start building for the future we had to be in control of the leases. This gives us a free run and hopefully will open up some exciting opportunities for both the club and the city," added Keyte.

The next step for United is to negotiate a brand new long term ground lease agreement from Herefordshire Council who own Edgar Street.

"We've already had a very positive first round of talks with the council and hopefully we're looking at the next 100 years and beyond," explained United Vice-Chairman Tim Russon.

"Our aim is to make Edgar Street of vital importance not just to the club but to local commerce and the community. It's crazy to only open the gates 30 times a year. Everyone should be able to use and share it in some way," he added.

The club is also likely to seek commercial partners to help develop the Blackfriars End of the ground. One idea is to build a hotel and conference centre, which would benefit the city and bring much needed revenue to the club on match days.

"Hereford United is at the heart of the city and the community and we want to help shape the future," added Keyte.

Log on to the Bulls Official Facebook Page and tell us what you think of the news!