Benjamin Alexander Herd (born 21 June 1985) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender. He is currently manager of Hertford Town. Starting his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

career with

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

in 2003, he made his name at

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

between 2005 and 2009. In July 2009 he signed for

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area i ...

before dropping into non-league football.

Playing career

Watford

Born in

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

, Hertfordshire, Herd began his career as a trainee at

. He signed his first professional contract with the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club in March 2003, but was released two years later, having never played a game for the club.

Shrewsbury Town

In June 2005, Herd signed for

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

, following a recommendation from Herd's former Watford manager

Ray Lewington Raymond Lewington (born 7 September 1956) is an English retired footballer. He was most recently assistant manager of Watford. Born in London, he started his playing career in the city at Chelsea. He went on to play for Vancouver Whitecaps, Wim ...

. He made his Shrewsbury début on 6 August in a 1–0 defeat at home to

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

. He was almost ever-present for Shrewsbury in his first season with the club. Herd1

In the 2006–07 season injuries restricted Herd to 31 league appearances. However, he was a late inclusion in the Shrewsbury side for the League Two play-off final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

, after Luke Jones picked up an injury in the warm-up; Shrewsbury lost the game 3–1. He signed a fresh two-year contract at the end of the season. In the 2007–08 season, Herd was again almost ever-present, missing only one league match through suspension. The 2008–09 season started well for Herd, but a suspension meant that he was replaced by

Darren Moss Darren Moss (born 24 May 1981) is a former Wales under-21 international footballer who is currently running his own football coaching academy. Playing career Moss started his career as a trainee at Chester. He made his début for the club back ...

. Moss maintained a rich vein of form, resulting in Herd making only five further appearances after mid-November; he was released at the season's end.

Aldershot Town

After receiving interest from numerous clubs, Herd signed a two-year contract with

side

in July 2009, to his great relief. He was voted Aldershot Town's player of the season in 2010, and players' player of the season the following year. At the end of the 2012–13 season, as a consequence of the club entering administration, Herd was released.

Dunstable Town

Herd signed for

Southern League Premier Division The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English foot ...

side Dunstable Town in the summer of 2014, following the club's second promotion in a row from the

Southern League Division One Central The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English foot ...

, immediately being handed the captaincy by manager Darren Croft. He made 27 league appearances during the 2014–2015 season, scoring eight goals.

Boreham Wood

Herd joined

Boreham Wood Borehamwood (, historically also Boreham Wood) is a town in southern Hertfordshire, England, from Charing Cross. Borehamwood has a population of 31,074, and is within the London commuter belt. The town's film and TV studios are commonly known ...

in February 2015 and played a part in their promotion via the play-offs to the

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

for the very first time. However, following the conclusion of the season, Herd left the club.

Hemel Hempstead Town

After leaving Boreham Wood, Herd signed for

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

side

Hemel Hempstead Town Hemel Hempstead Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Affiliated to the Hertfordshire County Football Association, they are currently members of the National League South and pla ...

in June 2015.

St Albans City

After one season with Hemel Hempstead, Herd joined league counterparts St Albans City in May 2016 reuniting with his former Boreham Wood manager

Ian Allinson Ian James Robert Allinson (born 1 October 1957) is an English football manager and former player and former manager of St Albans City. In his playing career, Allinson amassed over 300 league appearances for Colchester United in two spells, an ...

. He remained at the club until the end of the 2018–19 season.

Managerial career

In May 2019 Herd was named as the new manager of Hertford Town.

Personal life

In the summer of 2009, Herd helped to coach

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

youngsters, along with teammates David Edwards, Gavin Cowan,

Stuart Whitehead Stuart David Whitehead (born 17 July 1976) is an English former footballer. He played as a right-back or centre-back. Career Born in Bromsgrove, Whitehead began his career at his hometown club Bromsgrove Rovers. After a season with the club, h ...

and Ben Davies.

References

External links

Ben Herd profile
at

Aldershot Town F.C. Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

*
Ben Herd's weekly column at BetfairBen Herd's weekly column at Bigtips.co.uk
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Herd, Ben 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from Welwyn Garden City English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Watford F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Aldershot Town F.C. players Dunstable Town F.C. players Boreham Wood F.C. players Hemel Hempstead Town F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players National League (English football) players English football managers Hertford Town F.C. managers Footballers from Hertfordshire