FC Halifax Town: Bosomworth open minded as talks set to begin with potential investors

The Shaymen released a statement last week inviting appropriate confidential discussions with anyone interested in investing.

And Bosomworth says the club is in the early stages of talks with two parties.

He said: “There’s never been any interest (prior to this). Apparently somebody offered to invest in the summer, but I don’t know who it was. That’s rumours for you!

“We’ve had a couple of enquiries, expressions of interest, which I will discuss and have a look at, and we’ll see how we go.

“They’re in the early stages. One of them is anonymous at the moment, and the other is not locally-based.

“But it’s still early days.”

Bosomworth wouldn’t be drawn on what kind of figure would be sought from any investor.

“I have an idea of what could help us,” he said. “We’re not talking about millions.

“You’ve still got to bring the right characters in who will fit into the team.”

And the chairman said no time-frame could be put on any deal.

“I don’t think you can put a time-frame on it. There’s due diligence to do, you’ve got evaluate whether the person is going to complement the club. You don’t want any hidden agendas.”

Bosomworth said Town’s terrific start to the season, which sees them sitting third in the National League, has played a part in the timing of last week’s statement.

“It’s quite an open league this season,” he said. “It’s surprising that Chesterfield, Fylde and Wrexham are all near the bottom at the moment.

“Solihull, who were strongly-fancied, haven’t quite clicked into gear.

“Notts County and Yeovil are teams that you would expect to be there, not only do they have good crowds for the National League but they have the parachute payment of circa £850,000.

“We’ve managed to get to the top of the table, and we’ve been able to sustain it. Despite some indifferent results, we’re still up there.

“I think the timing’s right to give it our very best shot, and the feeling is that we need to provide a little bit more revenue to give a bit more depth in the squad, to give ourselves the very best chance.

“If you do bring two or three players in, it doesn’t guarantee you success, but it was felt that if the correct opportunity presents itself, then it may well be a consideration.”

When asked if Halifax’s exit from the FA Cup had anything to do with the timing, Bosomworth said: “Not directly, but you can’t be blind to the fact that when you do a budget, you don’t allow for funds from the FA Cup, but there’s a wish to generate funds, and it’s probably circa £100,000-£125,000 that we’ve missed out on.

“We’d have had the Portsmouth game televised, plus the gate from that game, and the prize money, it’s certainly over £100,000, and the chance to play for the £36,000 by winning the game.”

The Town chairman said a number of factors will be taken into consideration when assessing potential investors.

“There isn’t a fixed criteria,” he said. “It’s a case of looking at what’s out there, who’s prepared to come forward.

“I think there’s a number of factors that come into it, and that will unfold as and when conversations take place.

“I’ve got to take a pragmatic view and say ‘what can help the club going forward to realise what we’ve all been striving to do’.

“We’ve worked hard, I think the club’s got a very good name in football circles, I think it’s got a good name with suppliers.

“We’ve always tried to run it to the best of our ability. We’ve made mistakes along the way, but there’s been successes along the way as well.

“I’ve always said if I was to leave, I would leave the club debt-free, and that’s hopefully what we can do as and when that arises.

“Everything’s possible. I think it’s very important we give the club every chance to get promotion, but it’s got to be the right opportunity on a number of bases to give us that chance.

“I hope that we are in that position to guide the club into the Football League because I do feel that the opportunity, while difficult, is probably easier to manage financially and otherwise, than this league.

“As we’ve seen, all the clubs that have got promoted have done extremely well, other than Macclesfield, who have found it difficult.”

The Town chief feels the club is very attractive to an investor.

“It would be debt-free, we’ve got a stadium that is all-but able to walk into the Football League, and there’s a potential support-base that wants to see Halifax in the Football League again.

“I think there’s a lot of positives why somebody would be interested in the club.”

When asked if the move is the beginning of the end of his time at the helm, Bosomworth replied: “It’s primarily ‘let’s see what’s possible’. It’s really an exploration, and you never know.

“Sometimes people do these things quietly. I don’t think we’re in a position where we could do it quietly.

“You’ve got to look to see who’s interested locally, and who has the means.

“And you’ve got to look further afield. I know people were horrified that people from Bradford were interested in investing into Halifax, but we have done for 11 years.

“You can’t be blinkered, but you have to do your due diligence to make sure you get the best possible outcome.

“A lot of work has gone in, and you don’t expect people to see it or appreciate it, to get it to where it’s at now.

“We’ve had trials and tribulations along the way, but we’ve had more successes than failures.

“We’ve probably tried everything. We’ve done the season ticket offer, we’ve virtually gone full-time.

“Everything we’re doing is geared to the next level, and I’d love to be able to take the club into the Football League.”

When asked if there has to be an investment of extra funds to make that happen, Bosomworth said: “If nothing happens, it’s business as usual.

“We want to give it the best shot. Football’s chicken and egg, if you’ve got success on the pitch, people come through the turnstiles.

“if you’re not having success, they don’t.

“Unfortunately the season ticket campaign wasn’t as successful as we hoped. At £8.65 per game we expected a bigger take up to be honest.

“We have to look at what’s going to give the best outcome for the club with regards to investment”