FC Halifax Town: Bosomworth has faith in Shaymen’s long-term vision

The Shaymen switched from being a part-time outfit training two nights a week to training three mornings a week at the Leeds University Sports Centre.

Bosomworth admits the process is a learning curve for everyone concerned, but thinks it will have a positive impact in the long-term.

When asked if the move to full-time had been justified, Bosomworth said: “You obviously look at it in terms of where you are in the table, and at the moment, we’re similar to where we were last year.

“But longer-term, this is our first season doing what we’re doing, and I think it will evolve and develop, and we’ll see the fruits of those labours.

“I think you get more time to spend with players, you get more time to harness them, and Jamie (Fullarton) will have had another season under his belt.

“The facility at Leeds is working very well. We’ve got our gym coming on stream, Jamie’s got an office adjacent to the training pitch.”

On the job being done by Fullarton - Bosomworth’s sixth permanent Town boss - the chairman said: “I think it’s a learning curve for all of us from a full-time perspective.

“It’s Jamie’s first full season in senior football management, so I’m sure as confident and articulate as he is and the work ethic he puts in, you want to see these results come to the fore.

“I know there’s a mixed feeling amongst the fans, and I think the reality is we’ve got to stick with how it’s evolving and I think we’ll see the benefits in the longer-term. Let’s hope so.”

Bosomworth has been encouraged by Town’s recent performances.

“Like everybody else we want to turn draws into wins, and we were sad to go out (of the FA Trophy) against Solihull.

“We got back into the game really well having been 2-0 down, and had a chance of finishing it in the home leg.

“But when you look at the performances, be it Barrow, the two against Solihull, Salford, they’re teams above us but there doesn’t look a lot of difference to me.

“The big difference is we’re getting more players back, less square pegs in round holes.

“When more players are around, it keeps those in the team on their toes, and you’re just looking to keep progressing.

“We fully appreciate the fans want to see goals raining in, and getting wins.

“I always use the adage that I think sometimes, people would be happy for us to be top of the Evo-Stik Prem scoring 100 goals in a season.

“The higher up you go, the tougher it gets. It isn’t wall-to-wall wins.

“But the game against Salford was an entertaining 0-0 draw, against one of the most fancied sides in the league, and we shaded it.

“The unfortunate thing was we didn’t get the vital goal. You’ve just got to keep pegging away.”

When asked how the club was performing off the pitch, the Town chairman said: “January and February is your toughest period of time in a season for various reasons.

“We’re out of the cups so we don’t have the puddles of profit that come through prize money, so it’s belts and braces.

“You still want the fans to keep coming, even though we’re not in the promotion mix at the minute.

“We all accept they want to see goals, they want to be entertained.

“But I hope they can see the improvement in the squad and hopefully now the goals will start to come, and we can move up the table a little bit.”

A common gripe among the Town fan-base is why the board doesn’t invest more money into the club.

When that question was put to him, Bosomworth said: “I said in the programme notes a couple of weeks ago that the revenue we’ve brought in through the turnstiles and season tickets accounts for 53 per cent of the salary cost of players only.

“It only accounts for 46 per cent when you add in the management staff.

“So if you consider we’ve to make the rest of that up, and then you’ve got your off field staff like Ben Bottomley, Louisa Green and all the matchday costs, add-on costs like scans and consultations.

“Football hemorrhages money, no matter how hard you try and keep your costs tight. Football eats money.

“We’ve invested heavily in the team, both last year and this year to bring the players to the club.

“But the reality is we don’t have the spending capacity of a Solihull or a Salford or other teams, on different bases.

“One may be the crowds coming in on a regular basis, one may be because of an investor backing them.

“Dagenham and Redbridge is the prime example. First third of the season, they were in the bottom four.

“A pair of gentlemen have come from America and invested in the club, because it’s in the London conurbation, all of that, and all of a sudden they’re able to pay £3,000 a week on 52 weeks for a striker.

“At the end of the day, we are not in that league, simple as.

“Our job is to try and develop players and unearth players, which has served us well previously with players going in to the Football League.

“I think we have one or two - we’ve signed Jacob Hanson, we’ve got Cameron King on board - these are players for the future.

“We’ve got to keep looking for gems and look to develop them, and help generate additional income for the club.

“We came into this season with a £200,000 gap in our budget, and we’ve narrowed that with TV money and prize money from the cups, but it doesn’t cover it all.

“So we have gaps to fill. But we will always try and support the manager in the best way we can.

“We brought in James Ferry and Scott Quigley, but we’ll have to see what we need or what is available.”

Bosomworth said that effectively the club was spending its reserves.

“Last year, the year end figures for June, we lost a sizeable amount of money, and this year, we will lose as well.

“But it’s controlled in the sense that we’re managing it out of the reserves we’ve got.

“Yes we are utilising the reserves. But they can’t go on forever.

“We have to look at how we can take the club forward and whether we feel we can give Halifax the best chance it can have.”