My Time At Town - Keiran O’Regan: “That year was incredible, it really was”

The campaign was oddly out of place in the former Irish international’s near four year stay at The Shay.

A year when something magical happened. When the toil and struggle the club had experienced since his arrival in 1995 was swept away.

”I got released by West Brom but I’d been travelling down from West Yorkshire, where my girlfriend, who is now my wife, was living and working, so I didn’t really want to leave the area,” says the former Brighton, Swindon and Ireland midfielder when asked how his move to Halifax came about.

”John Bird was the Halifax manager and I think George (Mulhall), who I knew from Huddersfield, was youth development manager.

“He invited me to come and train there, which I did, and I ended up signing for them.

“Cambridge kept ringing me up but I just thought ‘I can’t travel’.

“It’s difficult for any full-time professional going to a part-time club.

“We trained Tuesday and Thursday but some people worked nights, so some turned up and some didn’t.

“So it was a bit hit and miss, and we struggled. I probably struggled to be honest.

“We weren’t where the club wanted us to be, John lost his job and George and myself decided we’d apply.

“But they appointed John Carroll, and again, we struggled. Players came in and out, it was like a revolving door there were that many players coming in.”

The club had no training facilities, O’Regan says, and trained wherever they could get on a pitch.

“We trained at Savile Park, somewhere down near Heath Rugby Club, Spring Hall, or we’d train in the little five-a-side pitch at The Shay, well you’d probably only get three v three on there!” O’Regan says.

“Coming from West Brom, where we had our own training facility, albeit not the best, it was tough.

“When I was at Huddersfield, when we played Plymouth for example, it was an overnight stay.
“But there was none of that, it was a bus at seven in the morning for Dover away.

“Get off the bus at two o’clock, get changed and play.

“It was an eye opener and that’s probably why I struggled to begin with.”

When John Carroll was sacked towards the end of the 1996-97 season, Mulhall and O’Regan took temporary charge as they had when John Bird had left.
“He’d lost his job and we were asked if we’d take over again, until they decided what they wanted to do,” O’Regan says.

“George said we’d do it on the proviso that if we kept the club up, we’d be given the opportunity.

“I think we stayed up on the last day of the season.”

As far as the bookies were concerned, Town were in for another season fighting relegation, rating them at 66/1 for promotion.

“That season was bizarre, it really was,” O’Regan recalls.
“To sign Peter Jackson, great coup for the club, but then we lost him after 10 games because he got appointed Huddersfield Town manager, and you couldn’t turn that down.

“We were shell shocked because we had a good start, an unbelievable start.

“Then we got Brian Kilcline - you couldn’t make it up could you?

“Peter was a tough act to follow but Brian slotted straight in. him and Stoney (Paul Stoneman) were rock solid

“We didn’t have a big squad, but everyone complemented everybody else.

“After the seasons we had, we never spoke about promotion. We just needed to get some players in, but the boys he got in were quality.

“We spoke about it quite early and settled on playing three at the back because George would have been quick to know the players he had and Andy and Brads loved to bomb on.

“With Peter and Paul Stoneman you had two rock solid centre-halves, then either me or Browny would play in behind them.

“But all of them could play football.

“Kevin Hulme was magnificent that season, Andy Thackeray and Mark Bradshaw at wing-back, they must have scored 15 goals between them that year.

“Geoff (Horsfield) got 36, Jamie (Paterson) got plenty as well.

“I would either play sweeper or midfield, me and Browny (Jon Brown) switched about, so it’d be me and Kevin with Jamie, or Browny and Kevin with Jamie.

“Jamie wouldn’t come back to defend to save his life, but he was on the pitch to be creative. He was a great finisher and he complemented Geoff and Brooky (Gary Brook).

“Everyone talks about Geoff but Brooky, brilliant target man, second to none.

“We got knocked out in the cups quite early. At the time you think ‘oh no’ but looking back it was the best thing that could have happened to us.

“I think we played Stalybridge in the Spalding Cup, got beat 1-0, the pitch was shocking.

“Then we had to play them the following week in the league, and it was ideal preparation because all of a sudden we thought ‘right, forget getting the ball down in our half of the pitch’ so we didn’t take any chances at the back and beat them 1-0. Another three points on the board.”

As the team racked up the wins, the more excitement grew among the club’s supporters.

“Fabulous times. That year was incredible, it really was. Amazing.

“A great bunch of lads, and we played some great football.

“Telford home and away, they must have dreaded playing us. I think we put six past them in both games.

“The game at The Shay on a Tuesday night, we absolutely hammered them.

“And we dug results out. Kettering away, we had a lad on loan from Bolton, great lad, Tony Philliskirk, 1-0, Tony scored. Another three points.

“We beat Stevenage away as well, tough place to go. We picked up some fabulous results.”

As Town’s points total got bigger, so did the crowds.

“To go to The Shay from Christmas onwards, it was just rocking.

“The atmosphere was electric.

“We played Farnborough away, this was after Christmas, and we were flying, and credit to the directors, we stayed overnight.

“Everyone was pulling in the same direction.

“It was just a bizarre season. We got spanked 4-0 at Cheltenham early in the season.

“Our big rivals were Rushden and Diamonds, I remember them splashing out big money at the time. Brian Talbot, ex-Arsenal, was their manager and we were nip and tuck with them.

“When we rocked up at their place, it was like going to Buckingham Palace!

“You can have all the money you want but you have to have a changing room, which we did.

“We’d organise nights out, the lads who didn’t live in Halifax would stay over on a Saturday sometimes and we’d end up in the Coliseum. The atmosphere was fabulous.”

A remarkable win at home to Southport on Easter Monday put them within touching distance of the title.

“I remember we were getting beat 2-1, I’d got stupidly sent-off, and then Dave Hanson came on and scored twice and we won 3-2.

“But they were a great bunch. George was tough but fair. Training was good, we worked hard, everybody turned up when they could. It would take a lot for somebody not to be there.

“On the pitch we were encouraged to pass. There was no such thing as me knocking the ball to Andy Thackeray and getting it back and we’d go nowhere - we passed with a purpose. That was George’s motto.
“The other thing he used to always say was, if we won the kick off, knock it into the corner, squeeze in and then we get a foothold straight away. Pin them back in their half of the pitch.

“Everyone speaks about Jamie and Geoff, and rightly so, but all those players were absolutely top-drawer.”

And so was the manager.

“He was brilliant at man management,” O’Regan says of Mulhall. “He was a man of very little words, but when he spoke, you listened.

“You wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him, but luckily that season we didn’t!”

After Mulhall retired, O’Regan succeeded him for the following season, which he describes as “difficult”.

O’Regan wasn’t helped by the sale of Horsfield in October, and was sacked in April with Town three points off the play-offs.

But the end of his time at the club doesn’t even come close to souring that magical, remarkable promotion season.

“I was only coming to see (my career) out. To go from where we were, struggling and struggling, to have that one season where everything clicked, the atmosphere was unbelievable, it was amazing.”