FC Halifax Town: “Some people suggest we lack ambition but that could not be further from the truth” - Shaymen issue update to fans

Season Ticket Prices for the 2021/22 campaign are: Adults (21/22 Renewal) – £279, which equates to £12.13 per game, eAdults (New Ticket) – £349, which equates to £15.17 per game. 12-17-year-olds – £75, which equates to £3.26 per game, under 12s - one free with a full paying adult or £46 per extra child.

On the day prices for the 2021/22 season are: Adult £21, concession £18, 12-17s £9, u12s £4.

The club said their annual accounts for the year ending 30 June 2020 showed a loss of £59,000.

“We cannot hide the fact that the situation for year ending June 2021 will when published before end of March 2022; represent a significant loss simply due to the full force of the pandemic, no crowds and no grant monies from January 2021,” the club said.

“This has resulted in an application for a loan from Sport England. The details of which will be confirmed once the contract is signed and as strictly required by Sport England as part of the conditions for the loan.”

BUt the club said they are eligible for about half the loan figure that was suggested a couple of months ago, which was £400,000.

The club said they were doing “everything in our power” to provide Town boss Pete Wild with the same budget in 2021-22 as there has been in recent seasons.

“Some people suggest we lack ambition but that could not be further from the truth,” the club said, “but ambition to a large degree does come with a pound sign, which has become more acute in recent years.

“For those of you who are frustrated with a lack of publicised figures, here are a couple of snippets.

“In the recent accounts for 2019-2020, income through the turnstiles and season tickets cover only 51% of the playing budget or 47% of the players and management staff costs combined.

“This is all before you have all the remaining running costs of a football club, medical, match day costs, stadium rent, training ground costs etc. Consider last season’s fixture when we entertained Chesterfield in the last game of the season in front of returning fans......a great day to be able to see supporters in the Shay Stadium.

“We had 842 fans attending the game and yet our bill for stewards, SIAs (registered stewards) and medical staff for the crowd was over £4,000, a significant increase on the previous season. This was answered by the providers that staff had to undergo additional Covid training, wage increases and under Covid regulation we had to have higher numbers of stewards. We cannot ignore any longer these and other increasing costs.

“So we move on to how can we protect our current cash flow position and how we are going to balance the books in the 2021-2022 season, whilst as we have said protecting the current level of investment in the playing staff.”

The club said the pressure of retaining cash and generating income “has never been greater”.

“As you can see, we are announcing player signings as soon as we are able to do so, some take longer than others and we all have to be patient.

“With everyone’s support and commitment, we will hopefully be able to present a side capable of being ‘up there’ at the business end of the season. We can assure you that we ‘don’t sit on signings’ but you simply can’t announce a player when you don’t have a signed contract!”

Season tickets will go on sale on Wednesday.