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Halifax Town
Full name	Halifax Town Association Football Club
Nickname(s)	The Shaymen
Founded	1911
Ground	The Shay Halifax (Capacity 14,000)
Chairman	Vacant
Manager	Chris Wilder
League	Conference National
2006–07	Conference National, 16th
Home colours 　 Away colours

Halifax Town Association Football Club are an English football team currently playing in the Conference National. The club's current ground is The Shay (hence the reason for their nickname "The Shaymen") in Halifax, West Yorkshire. The Shay Stadium is run by The Shay Stadium Trust Ltd, a not-for-profit company.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Early years 1.2 Financial Struggle 1.3 Glory Days 1.4 Glory to Gloom 1.5 Conference 1.6 Back In the Football League 1.7 Chris Wilder 2 Players 2.1 Current squad 3 Club Officials 3.1 Current Staff 3.2 Managerial History 4 Honours and Club Records 5 Notes 6 External links

The club was formed in 1911, and were one of the founder members of Football League Third Division North in 1921, and remained in that division until restructuring in 1958.

The club nearly always struggled financially as well as with its discipline. It was relegated from the Football League Third Division in 1963 and in the Football League Fourth Division up until the late 60s was re-elected several times after finishing bottom of the football league. This a possible reason for the strong rivalry of the club with Huddersfield Town F.C., as Huddersfield would tend to vote against Halifax remaining in the league.

However, in 1967, Alan Ball Sr took over as manager of the club. He achieved promotion with the club in 1969. Ball left soon after, however the club enjoyed several strong finishes in the Football League Third Division in the early seventies and many of the club's supporters tout this era as the "Glory Days". However, the club was relegated back to the fourth division in 1976.

Ever since the relegation of 1976, the club saw a long period in the fourth division of very little success, but a lot of financial problems. The club always languished near the bottom of the football league, and many say that the goals of Steve Norris were what allowed the club to survive in the football league. However, Norris left in 1992, and the subsequent year, Town were relegated.

The club found the Football Conference no easier than the fourth division. After several poor seasons with dire financial constraints, the club 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 1996/1997 and avoided relegation out of the Conference. The next season, out of the blue, The Shaymen were crowned champions of the Conference and regained football league status.

Star striker Geoff Horsfield, who scored 30 goals for Town in the previous season, only managed ten games before he was sold to Fulham for a six figure fee. However, after Mulhall's retirement, Kieran O'Regan was promoted from assistant to manager. A good start to the season based mainly on the goals of Geoff Horsfield turned into a dramatic drop in form once Horsfield left. With money in the bank and a board crying out for team strengthening the manager was unable to identify new additions. This led directly to the sacking of O'Regan. 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 2001/2002.

Chris Wilder took over the club in administration with 5 players and a hungry cat. However, the first season back in the Conference saw the Shaymen push for the play-offs, and for a brief while, the automatic promotion spot. However it was not to be and the club 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 the club in 19th place, a rather dangerous position to be in, but the club were never in serious danger of being relegated.

The 2004/05 season was much brighter. The club 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 the club dropped from 2nd place down to 9th, and another season in the Conference beckoned.

In 2005/06 the Shaymen once again put together a strong push for promotion. This time they managed to stay inside the play-off zone at the end of the season. The club finished in 4th position, and a play-off with Grays Athletic was at hand. Halifax won the tie 5-4 on aggregate to set up a play-off final with Hereford United. However, Halifax lost 3-2 in extra time in a game in which they were denied an early penalty. [1] However, most of the fans now regard Wilder as one of the club's best ever managers, because under his leadership he turned a club on the brink of going out of business into a strong force in the Conference. However, the following season, team strengthening had the opposite effect and the club avoided relegation on the last game of the season.

As of 16 October 2007.^[1]

No. Position Player 1 GK Craig Mawson 2 DF Rob Scott 3 DF Matt Doughty 4 MF Steve Bushell 5 DF Adam Quinn 6 MF Tom Kearney 7 MF Danny Forrest 8 FW Andy Campbell 9 FW Darryn Stamp 10 FW Lewis Killeen 11 FW Jon Shaw 12 DF Ryan Toulson 14 DF Jake Wright

No. Position Player 15 MF Nicky Gray 16 DF Greg Young 17 MF Daryl Taylor 18 DF Cortez Belle 19 MF Anthony Griffith (on loan from Doncaster Rovers) 20 MF Steve Torpey 21 GK Adam Legzdins (on loan from Birmingham City) 22 DF Peter Atherton 23 FW Michael Branch 24 GK Lee Butler 25 DF Alex Bailey 26 FW Dean Oliver (on loan from Sheffield United) 27 MF Simon Heslop (on loan from Barnsley)

Boardroom

• Chairman:
• Vice Chairman:
• Directors:

Management

• Manager: Chris Wilder
• Assistant Manager: Peter Atherton
• Coach: Lee Butler
• Physio: Alan Russell-Cox
• Fitness Consultant: Ed Baronowski
• Fitness Co-ordinator: Ian Helliwell
• Club Mascot: Freddy the Fox

1911 Joe McClelland 1930 Alex Raisbeck 1936 Jimmy Thompson 1947 Jack Breedon 1951 Billy Wootton 1952 Gerald Henry 1954 Bobby Browne (Caretaker) 1954 Willie Watson 1956 Billy Burnikell 1956 Harry Taylor & Vivien Booth 1957 Harry Hooper 1962 Don McEvoy 1964 Willie Watson 1966 Vic Metcalfe 1967 Alan Ball Snr.

1970 George Kirby 1971 Ray Henderson 1972 George Mulhall 1974 Johnny Quinn 1976 Alan Ball Snr. 1977 Jimmy Lawson 1978 George Kirby 1981 Mickey Bullock 1984 Billy Ayre (Caretaker) 1984 Mick Jones 1986 Billy Ayre 1990 Jim McCalliog 1991 John McGrath 1992 Mick Rathbone 1993 Peter Wragg

1994 John Bird 1996 George Mulhall & Kieran O'Regan 1996 John Carroll 1997 George Mulhall & Kieran O'Regan 1998 Kieran O'Regan 1999 David Worthington 1999 Mark Lillis 2000 Peter Butler & Tony Parks 2000 Paul Bracewell 2001 Neil Redfearn & Tony Parks 2001 Alan Little 2002 Neil Redfearn (Caretaker/Manager) 2002 Chris Wilder (Current manager)

• FA Cup
  • Fifth Round - 1932/33, 1952/53

• 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, 14th 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
  • A. Valentine (1934/35) - 34

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

• Official site
• ShaymenOnline.org (statistics archive)
• Independent Messageboard
• Halifax Town BBC Page
• Freddy the Fox (club mascot) website

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