A CONFIDENTIAL email sent to Herefordshire Council suggested Hereford United’s Edgar Street home could be offered to Tesco and Morrisons if the club folded.

Fans of the troubled club have regularly voiced concerns that the ground would be sold for development.

The email, made public under the Freedom of Information Act, has heightened those fears, especially as it came to light in a week when the local authority, as landlord, made a failed attempt to take possession of the ground from the club’s current owners.

However, the council has moved swiftly to reassure fans there are no plans to pursue the sell-off suggestion made in January by the then Hereford Futures boss Jonathan Bretherton.

And council leader Tony Johnson added that since the email was written, it has further protected the ground with extra restrictions on the development agreement which means a percentage of any profits from developing the ends of the stadium must go back into the ground.

"What better evidence of our commitment to football at Edgar Street could there be," Mr Johnson told the Hereford Times this week.

The council described the email as simply comments from Jonathan suggesting possible options for the Edgar Street site" and added: "These comments have never been formally considered or progressed by the council.”

Mr Bretherton outlined 12 development scenarios for the Blackfriars end of the ground and added a 13th option stating: “If you want to be really radical, if the club folds, offer the site to competitive bids from Tesco and Morrisons.”

The email, marked ‘HUFC – commercially confidential,’ was addressed to two senior council officers – director of places and communities Geoff Hughes and Tony Featherstone, strategic asset manager.

Councillor Johnson confirmed this week that the council had held talks with groups interested in continuing football at Edgar Street if the club was wound up in the High Court on December 1.

He said: “We will do everything we can to keep football at Edgar Street. Under the development agreement, value from the leases must go to the ground not the club – these conditions were imposed by this council.

“We have indicated to interested parties that we will consider negotiated leases up to 250 years for commercial and 999 years for residential which is the norm for such arrangements.

“In his capacity as CEO of Hereford Futures, Mr Bretherton looked at a range of possible tenants for the developed ends as part of his job requirements – none of those has ever been discussed let alone decided on.

“The e-mail pre dates the development agreement with its restrictions imposed by this council and in any case no tenants for the ends have been discussed since no development plans have yet been made.”

Hereford Futures (HF) was set up by the council in 2010 as an “arm’s length” company to drive redevelopment in the city. It was a successor to Edgar Street Grid (Hereford) Ltd.

With the council acting as guarantor, HF was not subject to audit and accountancy obligations applying to local authority companies.

HF was tasked to help Hereford United to identify potential development partners for the ground.

An HF business plan from 2011 reveals the role the company also played in advising the council over the future for the ground and to lead negotiations with development partners.

In 2012, Mr Bretherton was the first signatory on the re-assigned ground leases, followed by Mr Hughes and the then owner of Hereford United, David Keyte.

When HF was wound up in May last year, the council had paid out nearly £3 million in financial support to the company.