"If I didn't believe we could get promoted, I wouldn't want to be chairman" - David Bosomworth on the future of The Shay, finances and fighting for promotion

Life on the football pendulum has seen The Shaymen get to within an arm's reach of the promised land - reaching the National League play-offs four times under Bosomworth's chairmanship - but also swing the other way, with relegation to the National League North in 2016.

Town's current trajectory as they enter their third season under Chris Millington's management, despite the myriad challenges brought about by one of the lowest budgets in the division, seems to be oscillating back towards pushing for promotion; Halifax finished 11th in 2022-23 and then 7th last season.

"Yes, we have a club that is well respected on and off the field," Bosomworth says.

"I think we've achieved a lot - two Wembley appearances with two Wembley wins.

"We've had four promotions and four National League play-off finishes.

"I think that record would be the envy of most of the teams in the fifth tier this season wouldn't it?

"There's so much hard work that goes into all of that, from a lot of people behind-the-scenes who care so much about the club.

"Everything we do at the club is geared towards success on the pitch.

"Do we always get it right? No we don't, but no professional clubs do or very few, football is riddled with mistakes, no matter at what level and some are more magnified than others.

"But we always try to do what's right for the club within our capabilities.

"We're very proud of what we've achieved and the success we've had but it doesn't stop our ambition to reach that next level of gaining promotion to the Football League, which would probably eclipse everything else if we did."

Town took just five years to complete their journey back to where the old club left off when they reformed in 2008, achieving three promotions under Neil Aspin.

Since then, taking that final step into League Two has proved elusive, prompting some supporters to question whether it will ever happen.

"Look, we realise there are some supporters out there who feel we should be doing this and we should be doing that," Bosomworth says.

"The reality is we do operate under certain constraints, because we want to ensure that we don't put the club under any unnecessary financial risk and that means we have to run the club responsibly.

"The future of the club has to be paramount.

"But I think most fair-minded supporters understand that and they've been very supportive over the years.

"We have no divine right to be up at the top of the table every season or have the ability to sign the best players or win trophies.

"Those things take time, hard work and a bit of luck.

"Just look at last season, it was incredibly challenging for lots of reasons, but the fans were brilliant, they stood by us through all the postponements and moving the games and whatever else yet we still reached the play-offs.

"We all want success on the pitch, and the fans do have a vital part to play in that by getting behind the team this season as much as they always have, through the good times and the tricky times.

"We need the numbers as we look at other clubs with such substantial gates, but let's see where it takes us."

Bosomworth says the club has tried to adapt its recruitment model to reduce the annual exodus of star names leaving for bigger and better offers elsewhere.

"We've worked very hard to ensure that we can have a more settled squad for longer by placing players on longer contracts when we sign them," he says.

"We've got a fantastic track record since the club was reformed of identifying and recruiting exciting young players, the likes of Jamie Vardy, Lee Gregory, Marc Roberts, Lois Maynard, Liam and Scott Hogan - the list goes on.

"And the current squad is no different, we have Kane Thompson-Sommers, Zak Emmerson, Adan George, Adam Senior, Ryan Galvin, Adam Alimi-Adetoro, Jack Jenkins, all of whom are promising young talents who we hope will excel during their time with us and help us achieve promotion.

"Our reputation is growing all the time in non-league that young players know they will get an opportunity of first-team football if they come here.

"Whilst not a young one, Jamie Stott was the latest player to progress into the EFL this summer, Milli Alli leaving us to join Exeter City in League One in January and that list is growing all the time too.

"There are lots of players who have gone on to play in the Football League having played with us at Halifax, we just hope the current squad get there with us!

"And, of course, it would be a wonderful achievement for our goalkeeper and captain Sam Johnson, who barring injury or loss of form reach 400 appearances for us this season, which is such an amazing feat.

"I know how passionate he is about the club and trying to achieve promotion with us, and I don't think anyone would deserve it more than him."

Challenges are another annual occurrence for Halifax, who don't have the resources or financial clout to overcome them easily.

"This is where everyone yawns isn’t it!," says Bosomworth when asked about the financial situation at the club.

"For most clubs at the moment, not all, it's really challenging.

"23-24 was without doubt our most challenging year to date.

"Year on year there's always a gap to fill between income and expenditure, and despite us running a very lean ship, the costs continue to go up far quicker than income arriving the other way.

"It's very difficult to pass that on anywhere.

"I'm conscious we've made an interim increase to the admission prices by a pound this year, yet it will still be a huge challenge.

"Reading the Non League Paper last weekend highlights issues

"Apparently, the new owners of Southend United have put £4m into their club since Christmas 2023, when you consider that club has gates of 6,500, producing annual income of perhaps circa £1.5m plus.

"Yes, knee deep in previous ownership issues, relegation from Leagues One and Two, ten point deduction but they still get gates of over 6,000 and have the ability to put such an amount of £4m into the club.

"Woking, since 2021, have had £3.5m pumped into them and more recently a loan of £600,000 just to get them to the point of reaching the kick-off for this season.

"That highlights some of the challenges going on. Woking finished in fourth place in 22-23 and avoided relegation on the last game of the 23-24 season."

Despite the gap between income and expenditure not getting any narrower, Bosomworth insists FC Halifax Town will not fall into the same trap as its predecessor Halifax Town AFC, who went bust in 2008.

"We pay our bills as we go along," he says.

"In the main, we pay our way and get everything sorted, but it is getting more and more difficult.

"The last thing I want to be seen as is a moaning director, but I'll give an honest answer. That’s why I say everyone has a yawn because it is not what people want to hear, but you have asked me the question.

"The challenges are there but we're not alone and until the distribution of monies throughout the football pyramid improve everyone is going to feel the pinch.

"The National League does what League Two does in terms of travel and the number of games but the distribution levels are way behind. There are stronger words that could be used but there you go.

"So when there's talk of a government led football regulator coming in, the one thing it doesn't help with is the funding and the financials because they can't be seen to be affecting that.

"The last thing clubs want is more regulation, which potentially means more cost for the privilege."

One of the criticisms levelled at the Halifax chairman is that not enough is done to increase revenue.

"We've done free children's season tickets," Bosomworth says.

"We have done reduced entry prices to certain games but we have to be fair to season ticket holders and we have to bring in the pounds to pay the bills

"Our average income at a home game is less than £10 per paying person, and the reality is, some of our midweek games, we're taking as little as £5,000 or £6,000 in cash terms over and above the season ticket income.

"So I re-iterate it is very challenging.

"It's very difficult to be able to cut the cloth any more than we do.

"The only way we can do that is the playing budget."

But is the club doing everything it can to maximise revenue and attract spectators?

"There's always things we can do," Bosomworth says.

"From a season ticket point of view, there's a window of opportunity to buy a season ticket.

"Everybody knows roughly what they'll be, they aren't going to go up or down that much in price.

"As for people wanting to buy them early, predominantly they don't.

"The fans leave it until the last week, not everyone, to buy their season tickets.

"There has to be hunger. Everything is based on the success on the pitch.

"We can do all the marketing in the world but it comes down to the green baise and results, and yet the level of communication we have through all the various channels is way up there in terms of output.

"We had John Williams as commercial manager, who moved on to a CEO role at Altrincham and then we appointed Rick Simkin, who had a magnificent offer from Manchester United and left us very soon after joining us.

"Now we have brought in Matt Davies from Rochdale, who's finding his feet and is now very active in trying to generate activity and income for us.

"There's been a lot going on in the background; one project alone has taken up a lot of time and ultimately hasn't come to fruition.

"I can't speak for the rugby club but my understanding is their gates are below where they hope to be.

"I think you have to accept that people are struggling with finances, so the knock-on effect is people will spend their money more choosingly and will have less disposable income.

"And if they are picking and choosing how they spend their money, that impacts the football club.

"As mentioned earlier, I'm guessing Southend's gate revenue is around £1.5m to £1.7m.

"York City, with an average gate of 3,500, over 3,000 season ticket sales, I'm guessing their revenue through the turnstiles is a million plus.

"That's a big difference to ourselves and we have to cut our cloth accordingly."

As if there weren't enough issues to contend with, Calderdale Council threw a stadium-shaped spanner into the works at the start of this year by announcing their intention to "dispose" of The Shay.

"Discussions are ongoing," says Bosomworth on the future of the ground, "there's another meeting in a few weeks time.

"It'll be discussed in detail at that point.

"The pitfalls of the stadium and associated costs have been highlighted this week - we found out that there was an issue with the water tank and provision of hot water, which amongst other things has an impact on showers for visitors and match officials as well as the home team.

"We've been informed it might take six to eight weeks to cure the problem, but there's no way we can go to the National League off the back of three home games having to be moved away at the end of last season and say we can't provide showers for the visiting club, our own players and match officials, which may be female.

"There's got to be a resolution but we've currently got a stadium at the moment that has no hot showers, which is an expenditure that's come along unexpectedly for the council.

"When you look at the potential running costs on an annual basis they are sobering figures, and whilst there may be ways of getting additional income to offset, it's a seriously significant commitment to take on a stadium.

"The cost levels are at three levels; one is to maintain a stadium where it's safe for people to come and go, then there is various significant capital expenditure requirements, and then there's another level to update parts of the stadium as well.

"So there's a lot involved."

Calderdale Council have made it clear they would like to see The Shaymen and Halifax Panthers run the stadium in partnership

"I really don't know," said Bosomworth when asked what the outcome might be.

"It depends what the financial commitment of each party would be to do it, because it's a very significant investment."

As for Bosomworth's preferred outcome to the saga?

"I think until there's a proposal on the table, generated by ourselves, the rugby club or the council, I don't know."

But whatever happens, Bosomworth is adamant that the future of the club will be at The Shay.

"It was the home of Halifax Town AFC and is now the home of FC Halifax Town, and I can see no reason why that should change," he says.

"There'd be no reason why it has to change."

That's not the only problem posed by The Shay though, with the stadium's pitch providing yet another annual headache.

"I'd like to hope so," Bosomworth says when asked if he feels there will be a long-term solution at some point.

"There's an interim measure gone in to the pitch this summer to help alleviate some of the issues from last season.

"But it doesn't cure the broader issues around the pitch.

"Proposals have been put forward again with a view to getting the situation resolved.

"I think there's some discussions to go on that so we'll have to wait and see what the outcome is."

All of which might leave people wondering what exactly is Bosomworth's motivation for remaining as chairman, given he seems to face a to-do list longer than the distance from Halifax to Yeovil.

"The key thing is that we're desperate to get promoted to the Football League because, at the very outset, when we set off, we wanted to get this club into the Football League, to follow in the footsteps of Halifax Town AFC," he says.

"That certainly hasn't changed.

"We got ourselves into a position at the end of last season where we were in the play-offs and no-one will ever know what the impact of having to play Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, then travel a round trip of 520 miles to Eastleigh on the Friday then play another game on the Saturday, so four games in eight days with a round-trip of 520 miles, before rocking up at Solihull on the following Tuesday.

"The legs clearly weren't functioning for the first half-hour, which has got to be to a large extent, down to what had gone on the week before.

"I'm sure there would be other clubs with bigger squads than ours who would have winced at what we had to do.

"To be 3-0 down, we showed great courage to get back to 3-2, then hit the underside of the bar, which could have made it 3-3.

"But those scenarios were damaging to us.

"I think we had 12 postponements in the season, which is unprecedented.

"That rolled the games to the end of the season and then we had to take three games to away venues and being able to stage the Oldham fixture was a huge headache that took four days to resolve.

"So we got into the play-offs with both hands tied behind our backs, and it was then a bridge too far.

"Nobody's saying we'd have definitely got to the final and won it, but we'd have had a better chance.

"But that's what we feed off.

"We were at Wembley the year before and finished a creditable 11th.

"I know some of the fans think we should be an automatic promotion team, but we just can't be.

"You can't compete with the revenue streams of the likes of Wrexham, Notts County or Chesterfield, you just can't."

Another criticism thrown at the Town chairman is that the club either isn't ambitious enough, or doesn't do enough to turn ambition into reality.

"Should we have different owners who put millions into the football club?," he says.

"The reality is money may or may not bring you success. Yes, of course it helps but it has to be in the right way.

"If I didn't believe we could get promoted, I wouldn't want to be chairman, because a lot of work goes into it.

"I believe we've got a very good management team, and the development of players is also something I like to see.

"Eventually, you hopefully have your day like Maidenhead have, with their reported £4m windfall.

"We might also have had a certain player make a move to the Premier League, so you need your little bits of luck like that.

"We're trying to work around certain things to give ourselves a bit of security around that.

"All we can do is keep doing what we do. Everybody's doing their best."

While Town's operating model may divide opinion, Bosomworth retains the belief that it's not an insurmountable barrier to the dream of promotion and the pendulum can complete its swing.

"Yeah, I do," he says when asked if he thinks Halifax can get promoted. "I'm not going to say automatic promotion, which I don't think is in the remit unless it moved to three up, three down," he says.

"But I do think there's definitely a chance through the play-offs.

"We've been in the play-offs four times.

"The chances are there but we haven't done it.

"This season, you never know, but this National League is unrecognisable from the early days of the Football Conference, the whole league has upped its game.

"In some cases the resources in the league are quite incredible.

"It's a tough gig but it's tough for everybody."