FC Halifax Town: Chairman David Bosomworth on why he chose Pete Wild as Town's new manager

Wild managed Oldham for 17 games over two temporary spells last season having worked his way up through the club's academy.

He succeeded Jamie Fullarton last week after the Scot ended his 17-month reign in charge at The Shay, and guided Halifax to a 1-0 win at Oldham in Tuesday's pre-season friendly.

"We had a tremendous response, and got down to a shortlist of three or four," said Bosomworth.

"It always becomes very difficult to make that final choice.

"But Pete did well in a short space of time at Oldham.

"We do like to give opportunities to people if we can, some more successful than others.

"I just felt he deserved the opportunity and we're delighted to have him on board.

"I think he's honest, straightforward, understands the game, really hungry for the opportunity, and all that goes a long way."

Bosomworth said the fact that Wild did not play professionally was not something that came into his consideration.

"Only time will tell," he said. "You don't judge somebody at the beginning, you judge them during and at the end of their role.

"But he's embraced everything. He's been here less than a week and a lot of hard work's gone in.

"There's obviously a lot of decisions to be made on players. We only had 14/15 so he inherited a very difficult set of circumstances. Some of which are of course are injured.

"So all credit to him. He's trying to push us forward and have us ready.

"Normally you'd say you'd judge someone on maybe 12 games, but I think with Pete it'll be a period of getting to know the team, getting to understand how we can play, getting to understand the grounds and the pitches in the league.

"It's a real challenge. It's early days but there are some encouraging signs in how we are trying to play."

Halifax have just finished what has been a chaotic pre-season, involving a change of manager, rearranging or cancelling almost all their friendlies and trying to bolster a thin squad.

"It's probably been the worst pre-season I've known in football," said Bosomworth.

"You can't do your first pre-season friendly because you don't have enough players, then Jamie left.

"Then we find gypsies have broken into the training facility so we have to move to somewhere else, just when you want the boys to focus on football.

"And then the Shay pitch. That's hit us quite hard financially losing three pre-season friendlies has crippled us really.

"So it has been really difficult. Just crazy."

Bosomworth said he expects Wild's budget to remain at the same level that Fullarton was working with.

"There was some of the initial budget left so Pete's got something to work with," he said.

"We have to, because obviously there are gaps in the squad.

"We've got three games in the first week, eight games in August. It's a challenge but we'll be ready and we'll be up for it.

"Everybody starts with a clean slate. Pete's very keen to do the best he can."

Bosomworth says he understands from Calderdale Council that Halifax's game with Hartlepool next Tuesday will go ahead at The Shay.

When asked what would be a successful season, the Town chairman said: "Let's get the season underway and let's see where we're at.

"The first target is always 50 points, and that doesn't change.

"And then, depending on how soon you reach that, dictates where you go from there.

"There's a lot of big clubs in this league. We can't compete financially with some of them, so you've got to be a bit clever, astute and wise."