Halifax Town Association Football Club was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire. They played in the Football League from 1921–1993 and 1998–2002. The club was dissolved in 2008, but reformed that July under the name of

F.C. Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 seaso ...

. The club's stadium was

The Shay The Shay is a sports stadium in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is owned by Calderdale Metropolitan Borough Council and leased by the Shay Stadium Trust, a not-for-profit company set up to preserve the ground as a sports stadi ...

History

Early years

The club was formed on 24 May 1911 at the Saddle Hotel. It initially played in the Yorkshire Combination and the

Midland League The Midland Football League is an English football league that was founded in 2014 by the merger of the former Midland Alliance and Midland Combination. The league has four divisions that sit at levels 9–12 of the football pyramid. History T ...

. It was one of the founder members of

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

in 1921, and remained in that division until restructuring in 1958, when it became a member of the

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following th ...

. Its highest league position prior to World War II was second in 1934–35.

1960s–1990s

They finished third, one place off promotion in the

in the 1970-71 season. The next season, they finished in 17th place despite scoring only 17 goals, 4th lowest goals for that season. They just avoided relegation on goal difference after

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

lost on the last matchday to

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

for Halifax to move up. In 1976, they were relegated to

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for the Nine Network between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first dramas to follow up on the enormous success o ...

. In 1993 they were relegated to the

Football Conference The National League (named Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons) is an association football league in England consisting of three divisions, the National League, National League North, and National League South. It was called the ...

Conference

The club found the Conference no easier than the fourth division. After several poor seasons with severe financial constraints, the club was demoralised as there seemed to be no way out. However, previous manager

George Mulhall George Mulhall (8 May 1936 – 27 April 2018) was a Scottish football player and manager. Born in Falkirk, Mulhall played as an outside left for Aberdeen and Sunderland. He was capped three times for Scotland. He became the manager of Bradfor ...

returned towards the end of the 1996–97 and avoided relegation from the Conference. The next season Mulhall and

Kieran O'Regan Kieran Michael O'Regan (born 9 November 1963) is an Irish former footballer and football manager who played and managed in England. He now works as a football commentator for BBC Radio Leeds with Paul Ogden, covering Huddersfield Town matches ...

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 thus regained Football League status. Free scoring

Geoff Horsfield Geoffrey Malcolm Horsfield (born 1 November 1973) is an English former professional footballer and football coach. He made more than 300 appearances in the Football League playing as a striker. He was a "strong and forceful" player, able to h ...

was also the top scorer in the Conference that season, scoring 30 goals.

Back In the Football League

At the start of the 1998–99 season, manager

chose to retire and O'Regan was promoted to manager. Striker and top scorer

only played ten games before he was sold to Fulham 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. Although 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.

Return to Conference

Chris Wilder was appointed Halifax manager in July 2002. In their first season back in the Conference the Shaymen finished in eighth position. In 2005–06 they finished 4th, and reached the Conference play-off final, losing to

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

Financial failure and dissolution

In 2007, the club was placed into administration by a local consortium trying to buy the club. In spite of being docked 10 points for entering administration, the club again survived relegation on the last day of the season. However, the club failed to get a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) to bring the club out of administration, Though the club appealed against the decision to remove it from the

, the appeal was unsuccessful and the club was wound up. In May 2008 it had been revealed that following a major error, the club owed over £800,000 to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, making the club more than £2 million in the red. The Supporters' Trust prepared a back-up plan to form a new club should it be required. However, the club was re-formed by the same directors of the previous legal entity under the name

and was accepted to play in the

Northern Premier League Division One North The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Division ...

in the 2008/09 season.

Stadiums

The club moved to

in 1921 (hence the team's nickname "The Shaymen") and remained there until it folded. From the mid-1990s on the Shay underwent substantial development, and

Halifax RLFC The Halifax Panthers are a professional rugby league club in Halifax, West Yorkshire, which formed in 1873. Halifax were one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895. They have been Rugby Lea ...

moved in and shared the venue. The

Football Trust The Football Trust was a Government funded body to improve the safety of sports stadiums in the United Kingdom. It was set up by the Labour Government in 1975, with the assistance of the pools companies and the English Football League. Its origina ...

assisted in providing funds for the redevelopment.

Players and managers

Notable players

''For a list of notable Halifax Town players in sortable-list format see List of Halifax Town A.F.C. players; for all Halifax Town players with a Wikipedia article see :Halifax Town A.F.C. players.''

Managerial history

* 1911 Joe McClelland * 1930

Alex Raisbeck Alexander Galloway Raisbeck (26 December 1878 – 12 March 1949) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. After playing junior football for Larkhall Thistle, he was signed by Hibernian where he made his professional debut at t ...

* 1936 Jimmy ThomsonThe Definitive Halifax AFC by Johnny Meynell * 1947 Jack Breedon * 1951 Billy Wootton * 1952 Gerald Henry * 1954 Bobby Browne ( caretaker manager) * 1954 Willie Watson * 1956 Billy Burnikell * 1956 Harold Taylor and E. Vivien Booth * 1957

Harry Hooper Harry Bartholomew Hooper (August 24, 1887 – December 18, 1974) was an American professional baseball right fielder who played in Major League Baseball (MLB). Hooper batted left-handed and threw right-handed. Hooper was born in Bell Station, Ca ...

* 1962

Don McEvoy Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

* 1964 Willie Watson * 1966 Vic Metcalfe * 1967 Alan Ball Sr. * 1970 George Kirby * 1971 Ray Henderson * 1972

* 1974

Johnny Quinn Johnny Quinn (born November 6, 1983) is an American bobsledder and former gridiron football player. He is a member of the U.S. National Bobsled Team and competed in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Quinn is a former wide receiver for the Saskatchewan ...

* 1976 Alan Ball Sr. * 1977 Jimmy Lawson * 1978 George Kirby * 1981 Mickey Bullock * 1984

Billy Ayre William Ayre (7 May 1952 – 16 April 2002) was an English footballer who played for three clubs in a sixteen-year professional career, making over three hundred League appearances in the process. After retiring from the playing side of the gam ...

(caretaker manager) * 1984 Mick Jones * 1986

* 1990

Jim McCalliog James McCalliog (born 23 September 1946) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He played in the Football League for Chelsea, Sheffield Wednesday, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Manchester United, Southampton and Lincoln City, as well as in ...

* 1991 John McGrath * 1992 Mick Rathbone * 1993

Peter Wragg Peter Wragg (12 January 1931 – 24 June 2004) was an English footballer who played as an inside forward. Career Born in Rotherham, West Riding of Yorkshire, Wragg played for Rotherham United, Sheffield United, York City and Bradford City. He ...

* 1994 John Bird * 1996

* 1996

John Carroll John Carroll may refer to: People Academia and science *Sir John Carroll (astronomer) (1899–1974), British astronomer *John Alexander Carroll (died 2000), American history professor *John Bissell Carroll (1916–2003), American cognitive sci ...

* 1997

* 1998

* 1999 David Worthington * 1999

Mark Lillis Mark Anthony Lillis (born 17 January 1960) is an English former professional football player and manager. He is assistant manager of League Two club Scunthorpe United. Playing career Lillis was born in Manchester. He started his professional ...

* 2000 Peter Butler &

Tony Parks Anthony Parks (born 28 January 1963) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career spanning over 20 years, he was on the books of 15 different clubs, making more than 250 league appear ...

* 2000

Paul Bracewell Paul William Bracewell (born 19 July 1962) is an English former professional football player and manager. Bracewell played as a midfielder. He was a member of the Everton side that won the League title in 1985 and 1987 as well as the Europe ...

* 2001

Neil Redfearn Neil David Redfearn (born 20 June 1965) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder, who was most recently head coach of Sheffield United Women. Redfearn played 790 matches in the Football League, the sixth highest ...

* 2001 Alan Little * 2002

(caretaker manager) * 2002 Chris Wilder Sources:Halifax Town managers – official site

Honours and club records

* FA Trophy **Winners – 2015-16 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

**Fifth Round – 1932–33, 1952–53 *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

**Fourth Round – 1963–64 *

**Third Place – 1970–71 * Conference National **Champions – 1997–98 (87pts) *Record attendance **36,885 versus

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

, FA Cup Fifth Round, 14 February 1953 *Most appearances ** John Pickering, 402 appearances (367 in League) from 1965 to 1974 *Most goals scored ** Ernie Dixon, 132 goals (127 league, 5 cup) from 1922 to 1930 (other source indicates 128 League goals and that he played for the club in two separate spells) *Most league goals in a season (individual) ** Albert Valentine (1934–35) – 34 *Most league goals in a season (club) **83 in Division Three North (1957–58) *Record transfer fee paid **£150,000 for

Chris Tate Chris Tate is a fictional character from the British ITV soap opera, ''Emmerdale'', played by Peter Amory. The character made his first appearance on 14 November 1989, when he arrived in the village alongside the rest of the Tate family – h ...

in July 1999 *Record transfer fee received **£350,000 for

in October 1998 * A blue plaque honouring the club was erected by the Halifax Civic Trust.

References

External links

Official site of successor club
{{Authority control FC Halifax Town National League (English football) clubs Defunct English Football League clubs Association football clubs established in 1911 Association football clubs disestablished in 2008 Defunct football clubs in West Yorkshire Defunct football clubs in England 1911 establishments in England 2008 disestablishments in England Sport in Halifax, West Yorkshire Yorkshire Combination Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom es:Halifax Town AFC