Halifax Town

Halifax Town is a football (soccer) club from England.

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Halifax Town Association Football Club were an England football (soccer) team who most recently played in the Conference National. Halifax Town went into administration during the 2007–08 season, and after finishing 20th in the Conference National, were demoted by three divisions to the Northern Premier League Division One North when Halifax Town failed to get a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) passed. Halifax Town was reformed and renamed F.C. Halifax Town in July 2008.

Halifax Town play at The Shay (hence the reason for their nickname "The Shaymen") in Halifax, West Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, which is now the home of F.C. Halifax Town.

History

Early years

Halifax Town was formed in 1911 in football (soccer), they played in the Yorkshire Combination and the Midland League and were one of the founder members of Football League Third Division North in 1921 in football (soccer), and remained in that division until restructuring in 1958 in football (soccer).

Financial Struggle

Halifax Town nearly always struggled financially as well as with its discipline. It was relegated from the Football League Third Division in 1963 in football (soccer) and was re-elected several times in the Football League Fourth Division in the 1980s after finishing near the bottom of the football league. After the introduction of automatic promotion and relegation between the Fourth Division and the Conference, Halifax Town continued to struggle before being finally relegated in 1993.

Glory Days

The club's fortunes were turned around in 1967 when Alan Ball Senior took over as manager of the club. He achieved promotion with Halifax Town in 1969. Ball left soon after, however Halifax Town enjoyed some measure of success in the Football League Third Division in the early seventies, finishing one place short of promotion in 1971, and many of Halifax Town's supporters tout this era as the "Glory Days". Also in 1971 Halifax Town beat the current European cup champions Manchester United 2-1. Manchester United fielded a full strength squad that included Bobby charlton, Denis Law and George Best. However, Halifax Town was relegated back to the fourth division in 1976.

Glory to Gloom

Ever since the relegation of 1976, Halifax Town saw a long period in the fourth division with very little success, but a lot of financial problems. Halifax Town always languished near the bottom of the football league, managing no better than a single mid-table finish in 1983. Many say that the goals of Steve Norris were what allowed Halifax Town to survive in the football league. However, Norris left in 1992, and the subsequent year, Town were relegated.

Conference

Halifax Town found the Football Conference no easier than the fourth division. After several poor seasons with dire financial constraints, Halifax Town was demoralised as there seemed to be no way out. However, like with Alan Ball, George Mulhall came on the scene towards the end of the 1996-97 in English football and avoided relegation out of the Conference. The next season Mulhall and O'Regan made a number of additions to the squad including Jamie Paterson, Mark Bradshaw and Lee Martin to put together a title-winning team. The Shaymen were crowned champions of the Conference and regained Football League status. Free scoring Geoff Horsfield was also the conferences top scorer that year with 30 goals.

Back In the Football League

For unknown reasons, at the start of the 1998/1999 season, manager George Mulhall chose to retire and Kieran O'Regan was promoted from assistant to manager. Striker Geoff Horsfield, who scored 30 goals for Town in the previous season, only managed ten games before he was sold to Fulham FC for £300,000 in October 1998. Halifax made a strong start to their league campaign and were amongst the leaders until December after which their results started to drop-off and they slipped into mid-table. Still only three points off playoff positions O'Regan was sacked as manager by Chairman Jim Bown after a 0 - 0 draw with Rochdale in April 1999. For the next three seasons, Town had three different managers, none of whom were able to bring success to the club. After two poor seasons, Town became the first team to be relegated to the Conference twice in 2001-02 in English football.

Chris Wilder

Chris Wilder took over Halifax Town in administration with 5 players. However, the first season back in the Conference National saw the Shaymen push for promotion and, for a short while, the automatic promotion spot. However, it was not to be and Halifax Town finished in 8th position.

The following season Halifax struggled to make any kind of impact in the division, lurking around mid-table for almost the entire season. The disappointing season ended with Halifax Town in 19th place, a rather dangerous position to be in, but Halifax Town were never in serious danger of being relegated.

The 2004-05 in English football season was much brighter. Halifax Town managed to put a very credible promotion push together and spent much of the season around the play-off zone. However, after a dismal run of results in the last two months of the season Halifax Town dropped from 2nd place down to 9th.

In 2005-06 in English football the Shaymen once again put together a strong push for promotion. They finished the season in 4th position and earned a place in the play-offs. An exciting play-off semi-final against Grays Athletic F.C. ended with a 5-4 aggregate victory over 2 legs to set up a Conference National Playoff Final 2006 with Hereford United F.C. at Leicester's Walkers Stadium on May 20, 2006. Goals from Lewis Killeen and John Grant put Halifax 2-1 ahead but Guy Ipoua levelled the score for Hereford in the 80th minute and the game went into extra time. Minutes into extra time substitute Chris Senior scored a third goal for Halifax but it was disallowed for offside. Ryan Green scored the winner for Hereford in the 109th minute and Halifax's dreams of a return to the football league were shattered.

With continuing financial problems off the pitch Halifax struggled to maintain this form in the 2006/7 season and only avoided relegation from the conference on the last day of the season. Chris Wilder found himself again in a relegation battle in 2007/8 after Halifax Town were docked 10 points when they were placed into administration by a local consortium trying to buy the club. Halifax again survived relegation on the last day of the season, only to find out later that they would be relegated anyway due to Halifax Town failing to meet the creditors demands to bring Halifax Town out of administration.

End of the Club

These tax debts continued to threaten Halifax Town after the end of the 2007/08 season. In May 2008 it was revealed that Halifax Town owed over £800,000 to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, making Halifax Town over £2 million in the red. they were unsuccessful and Halifax Town was wound up.

Halifax Town was reformed under the name F.C. Halifax Town and were accepted to play in the Northern Premier League Division One North in the 2008/09 season.

Managerial History

- 1911 Joe McClelland
- 1930 Alex Raisbeck
- 1936 Jimmy Thompson
- 1947 Jack Breedon
- 1951 Billy Wootton
- 1952 Gerald Henry
- 1954 Bobby Browne (caretaker manager)
- 1954 Willie Watson (England cricketer)
- 1956 Billy Burnikell
- 1956 Harry Taylor (footballer) & Vivien Booth
- 1957 Harry Hooper (football manager)
- 1962 Don McEvoy
- 1964 Willie Watson (England cricketer)
- 1966 Vic Metcalfe
- 1967 Alan Ball, Sr

- 1970 George Kirby (forward)
- 1971 Ray Henderson (footballer)
- 1972 George Mulhall
- 1974 John Quinn (footballer)
- 1976 Alan Ball, Sr
- 1977 Jimmy Lawson
- 1978 George Kirby (forward)
- 1981 Mickey Bullock
- 1984 Billy Ayre (caretaker manager)
- 1984 Mick Jones (football manager)
- 1986 Billy Ayre
- 1990 Jim McCalliog
- 1991 John McGrath (footballer born 1938)
- 1992 Mick Rathbone
- 1993 Peter Wragg

- 1994 John Bird (footballer)
- 1996 George Mulhall & Kieran O'Regan
- 1996 John Carroll (football manager)
- 1997 George Mulhall & Kieran O'Regan
- 1998 Kieran O'Regan
- 1999 David Worthington
- 1999 Mark Lillis
- 2000 Peter Butler (footballer) & Tony Parks
- 2000 Paul Bracewell
- 2001 Neil Redfearn & Tony Parks
- 2001 Alan Little
- 2002 Neil Redfearn (caretaker manager)
- 2002–2008 Chris Wilder

- - Fifth Round - 1932/33, 1952/53

- Football League Cup
- - Fourth Round - 1963/64

- FA Trophy
- - Fifth Round - 2002/03, 2003/04

- Football League Third Division
- - Third Place - 1970/71 (56pts)

- Football League Fourth Division
- - Second Place - 1968/69 (57pts)

- Conference National
- - Champions - 1997/98 (87pts)

- Record Attendance
- - 36,885 Vs Tottenham Hotspur, FA Cup Fifth Round, 14 February 1953

- Most Appearances
- - J. Pickering, 402 appearances from 1965-74

- Most Goals Scored
- - E. Dixon, 132 goals (127 League, 5 Cup) from 1922-30

- Most League Goals in a Season (individual)
- - S. Norris (1990/91) - 35
- - Albert Valentine (footballer) (1934/35) - 34

- Most League Goals in a Season (club)
- - 83 (1957/58)

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