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Halifax Town F.C.)
"Halifax Town" redirects here. For the club of the same name which ceased to exist in 2008, see
Halifax Town A.F.C..
Football Club Halifax Town, otherwise known as F.C. Halifax Town are an English football team currently playing in the Northern Premier League Division One North. The club replaced Halifax Town A.F.C. who went into administration during the 2007-08 season.
[edit] History
[edit] Formation
Huge tax debts buried Halifax Town after almost 100 years as a football club. New figures put to a reconvened creditors meeting in May 2008 showed the cash-strapped Shaymen owed over £800,000 to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. The Revenue refused any deal and that effectively finished the club – already over £2 million in the red.[3] Administrators had been trying to broker a rescue package but speaking after five hours of talks that left liquidation near inevitable, administrator Rob Sadler said: "Halifax Town will probably perish." It was originally thought the club owed the taxman around £500,000, which might have left scope for a deal. But the news that it owed £814,000 meant that even if all the other creditors had accepted the 2.5p-in-the-pound offer originally on the table it would not have been enough.[4]
At a meeting of the Football Association, discussing the makeup of the football pyramid for the 2008/09 season, Halifax Town were not placed in either the Conference National, the Conference North or the Northern Premier League Premier Division. Halifax appealed against the decision to remove them from the Football Conference.[5] Though the appeal was rejected on June 11, the hope was that Halifax could play in the NPL Premier Division.[6] This did not materialise, and eventually Halifax Town were accepted to play in the Northern Premier League Division One North in the new season under the new name F.C. Halifax Town.[7]
[edit] 2008-09
The club's first game under the new name FC Halifax Town was a friendly away against Tamworth FC on 19 July 2008. There was to be no fairytale ending however, and the game ended in a 2-0 defeat. The club's first ever victory was against Alsager Town on 26 July, 2008 by a 2-0 scoreline. Colin Hunter will be credited as the scorer of the new club's first ever goal after six minutes. Their first competitive Northern League Division One North match was at The Shay against Bamber Bridge FC on 16 August, 2008, however the game resulted in a 3-0 loss for the Shaymen.
The club got off to a poor start, despite recording their first competitive victory in the next match. However, a 7-1 home win against Salford City in late September seemed to turn the tide for Town. They went on an 8-game unbeaten run, 7 of those being victories, and shot to the top of the league table. The run eventually came to an end against Rossendale United, who ended up doing the league double over Halifax and finishing the season bottom of the table.
Despite the loss, Halifax remained top and more good results, including 5-1 and 4-1 victories against Garforth Town and Wakefield FC respectively, kept their promotion hopes alive. After the Wakefield match however, Halifax won just 2 of their final 14 league games, the wins coming against Harrogate Railway Athletic and Clitheroe FC, both 2-1. The automatic promotion places were certainly out of Halifax's reach going into the final 5 games, but the club needed to win a minimum of 3 of these final 5 games to have any chance of reaching the play-offs. They could only manage 2 draws and so a poor ending to the season cost them dearly, and they had to settle for a final position of 8th.
[edit] Players
- As of 25th April 2009.
[edit] Current squad
[edit] Club Officials
[edit] Current Staff
Boardroom
- Chairman: David Bosomworth
- Vice Chairman:
- Directors: Bobby Ham, Stuart Peacock
Management
- Manager: Neil Aspin
- Assistant Manager: Trevor Storton
- Physio: Alan Russell-Cox
- Fitness Co-ordinator: Ian Helliwell
- Club Mascot: Freddy the Fox
[edit] Performance
[edit] League Standings
| Year |
Round Reached |
Notes |
| 2008-09 |
2nd qualifying round |
Lost 1-4 to Nantwich Town |
[edit] West Riding County Cup
| Year |
Round Reached |
Notes |
| 2008-09 |
1st round |
Lost 1-2 to Wakefield FC |
| Year |
Round Reached |
Notes |
| 2008-09 |
1st round |
Lost 1-2 to Curzon Ashton |
[edit] Unibond League Presidents Cup
[edit] External links
David Bosomworth [1]
