Town chairman Bosomworth on the season so far, Chris Millington, the Shay pitch, finances, fans and his hopes for 2023

The Shaymen looked to be closer than ever to realising their dream of reaching the Football League last season before losing in the play-offs.

Manager Pete Wild's departure to Barrow then triggered an unsettled summer, with Wild's former number two Chris Millington taking over and tasked with rebuilding the squad.

A dreadful start saw Town slip to the foot of the table, having started the year joint-top, prompting strong calls from some supporters for Millington to go.

But Bosomworth stood by his man, and was rewarded when form and results drastically improved.

"It's been a little bit of a rollercoaster with Chris Millington coming in and taking over the running of the team and bringing together a new squad, so it was a difficult start for us," Bosomworth told the Courier.

"Particularly with a few departures to the Football League, losing Pete Wild but another factor was the short turnaround from the previous season.

"Our previous season was extended by the play-off game, but the start of this season was brought forward by two weeks, back to its pre-Covid early August start.

"Time was at a premium, including playing pre-season games away from home due to pitch works and with the majority of new players not yet in the building.

"You look back at the home Torquay game, which we totally dominated and ended up losing 1-0 when it could and should have been 4-1 or 5-1 to us.

"It's been a difficult start to the season but as time has gone on we have seen the shoots of improvement, we have kept our patience when others around have been worrying and patience can be seen as a real virtue at times.

"You've got to give people time to get settled in, by that both management and players, to get accustomed to their new roles, to allow the players to get settled in and for them to get accustomed to their new teammates and how they all fit in to a new playing system

"All that doesn't happen overnight, but bit by bit we seem to have got stronger and we now appear more resilient and creative all over the pitch, despite yet again an unprecedented number of injuries and a couple of recent illness bouts hitting the squad.

"It's been really challenging, but the beauty is that the players who've come in have acquitted themselves really well and you haven't necessarily noticed those that are missing, thankfully. When they are all fit, a great problem for the manager to have regarding team selection.

"That's been emphasised by the fact that we've won six in a row at The Shay, which is a great achievement. We now need to maintain fortress Shay and turn that into some away victories.

"We know we're not scoring the number of goals we'd want, but now we're keeping it relatively tight at the back and hopefully the goals will come.

"Obviously there are glaring exceptions where we conceded goals, such as Notts County and Woking, but in the main now we're keeping it really tight.

"At Yeovil, Sam (Johnson) had nothing to do all game apart from pick the ball out of the back of the net after a dubious penalty.

"That's just a day when we needed to get on the end of the few chances we created, but we didn't manage to.

"But having a really good, consistent home run has brought us right up to a position where we can at least see the play-off positions and I think that's going to be important in the second-half of the season."

Bosomworth added: "First of all, it's a bit of a step up from a number two to a number one and we all know, not necessarily does a number two make a good manager.

"But Chris went through a proper interview process, even though we knew him.

"It wasn't just an hour's worth of interview and there wasn't a fancy presentation, it was very much a belt-and-braces interview going through the differences in the roles of manager and assistant and understanding what Chris was seeking to do in the role going forward.

"At the end of the day, he came through the interview with flying colours and thoroughly deserved the opportunity to manage the club. We actually didn’t advertise the position, although as with most football clubs with a vacancy, we were inundated with applicants."

Calls for Bosomworth to get rid of Millington reached a crescendo in late September as Town's form hit a nadir, but Bosomworth held firm.

"One of the key outcomes from appointing Chris, was that it retained continuity within the backroom staff, the processes and routines, plus the familiarity with the players we retained and how he wanted to integrate new players coming in," said the Town chairman.

"It was important that our views were aligned regarding the shared vision of the club helping develop young players and trying to reignite the careers of other players, alongside solid established influential experienced players.

"I can remember clearly during our poor start to the season, one person coming up to me and saying 'the manager's not good enough, you need to get rid' and I said 'well, that's your opinion'.

"At the end of the day, you've just got to try and hold your nerve at times and give the time due for someone to thrive.

"Sometimes a person isn't suited to a particular job, but that’s not just in football but in business life in general.

"You don't get all the decisions right, but Chris has continuously shown a lot of the attributes we want to move forward with and he was assured that he has the full backing of the board and just keep doing what you are doing.

"He's got the full backing of the backroom staff and the players really want to play for him, and they've given everything.

"Some are beginning to excel and prove what good players they are, so it's all very encouraging."

When asked if there was ever a point he considered Millington's position, Bosomworth said: "I'll be absolutely honest - no.

"What goes on on the pitch is obviously the most important thing, but you have to take into account what's going on behind-the-scenes, all the hard work that goes on, the planning for games, the training alongside some of the difficulties we've faced.

"Every club has injuries but we were getting a lot of disruption, and when you've got that hand-in-glove with trying to put a new team together, it doesn't allow for things to settle down as quickly as you'd like.

"I think Chris has done a really good job so far and I think he's growing in confidence within his new role.

"He's brought Andy Cooper in as his number two and I think they work well as a team."

Progress has certainly been made on the pitch, but that could potentially be derailed in January should bids come in for players.

"You've got to judge each situation on its own merit," Bosomworth said.

"If there are approaches for any of our players, we'll deal with each one as and when they come.

"Nothing may happen, or we might get numerous requests. Who knows

"Until someone comes up with an offer, it's difficult to say what will happen." The key is we want a team capable of achieving promotion

Bosomworth isn't ruling out any incoming transfers, but says the club will be cautious in their approach.

"We're having to be careful because it's tough financially at the moment," he said.

"Obviously we've faced a lot of rising costs, the home gate is fairly static, despite the six-game winning run.

"We've had the benefit of the big away followings from Chesterfield, Notts County and Oldham, but we won't have those in the second-half of the season.

"It is going to be tight and we'll have to manage the finances as best we can.

"That said, we are always looking to strengthen the squad or bring in a great prospect for the future, so don’t rule out an odd new face!

"We want to reduce the level of disruption in terms of comings and goings as best we can to ensure we have got a solid nucleus of a team that we can hopefully look to build on."

Results aside, Town have faced further turmoil by the ongoing issue of The Shay pitch, which has caused fixture disruption this season as games have had to be postponed due to its condition.

"As we all know, It's really difficult. The cure for the pitch is not a small sum to sort out," Bosomworth said.

"I think the £150,000 sum that was spent on the pitch by way of a football grant and some contribution from the Council some five or six years ago, was viewed as a sticking plaster for a much larger problem.

"We managed to get extra drainage and incorporate a sprinkler system that has helped the pitch.

"There are a number of issues, but one of the main ones is the way the pitch retains water particularly the nearer you get to the South Stand end of the stadium and that is due to difficulties in drainage.

"Without going into detail there are a number of factors within that.

"We had a tremendous downpour on the Thursday before we played Boreham Wood and it looked like we'd lose the game but then Friday it was dry, which gave the pitch enough time to drain through and the pitch was actually perfect for the game.

"We've had the rain come very late before playing against Dorking and in vast quantities, and it's not given the pitch time to drain through.

"We accept it doesn't drain very well, so that creates issues if the water doesn't get away from the surface, it doesn't help the grass or the rooting and other unhelpful pitch ailments come into play'.

"There's all sorts of scenarios that don't help and we've just got to work with what we've got because, to replace the pitch to the required standards we'd need within the parameters of EFL requirements, you're talking figures of between half-a-million and a million pounds.

"Obviously it's a shared pitch, which makes the rules and regulations a bit more stringent.

"It's not simply a £50,000 fix, so there has to be a will for funds to be made available, but many factors come into play, without an effective close season for the pitch to ‘rest’ and have a proper close season refurbishment.

"Using a motor analogy, if you don’t service your car properly and on a regular basis it will break down. That is what we now have."

As for the answer to Town's turf issues, Bosomworth is struggling to see one.

"I'm afraid there isn't one without quite a lot of financial goodwill," he said.

"People have said we should get a grant. Yes of course we should and those channels are fully explored, but there are ways to apply for a grant but there are stringent rules within such applications and unfortunately, not all the rules match up with the requirements we have for entry into the EFL for example.

"It's just not an easy process, and there's so many people involved, there's the council, the rugby league club, ourselves and third party lenders.

"A lot of discussions have taken place between all parties and will be ongoing, but there's no light at the end of the tunnel at the moment.

"There are big problems with the fact that rugby league is now played in the summer, which means that the care and attention that needs to be afforded to a pitch is always compromised by minimum time availability.

"Pitches need a rest like our bodies need a rest and it doesn't get that.

"Four, five or six weeks is really not long enough, particularly as the pitch is not of a standard or structure to cope with the two codes or climate.

"The situation was exacerbated when our season finished late because of the play-offs, and the season was brought back to an earlier start time. Everything just gets squeezed.

"It is a huge problem."

Off-the-pitch, Bosomworth came under regular fire from a section of supporters, heightened during the team's poor start, who accused the club of under-investment and lacking ambition.

"There's no magic wand here," Bosomworth said.

"You look at the play-offs last year, we were in second or third for a lot of last season, what scuppered us was the end of the season when we had a bit of fatigue and we had injuries.

"The problem was we had a small-ish squad and you're going back to the same well if you like, with tired players, rather than being able to freshen things up.

"We lost a bit of ground just at the time we didn't want to, so that meant we'd have to play an extra game in the play-offs and Chesterfield were just that bit fresher and had the benefit of a bigger squad.

"That's where extra finances help.

"The argument is that it would be very difficult to win the league unless you pulled an outstanding team together, because the monied clubs tend to be at the top of the pile, but when it comes to the play-offs, they're one-off games and anything can happen.

"I feel we'd have had a really good chance particularly if we'd finished second or third in the regular fixtures last season. One less play-off game and a home semi-final

"As it was, sometimes it's your year and everything conspires to give you that chance and I think that was the case with Grimsby, who sailed through the play-offs.

"You need a bit of luck and you need to make sure you're doing the right things, like we're trying to do, and I think you have a chance.

"Yes we've made a slow start this year, which makes our chances of second and third probably a lot more difficult, but we've still got a chance of being in those play-offs.

"We've got to believe in that and then you make of it what you will.

"If it's your year, the results might go the right way."

Another criticism levelled at Bosomworth has been a perceived lack of activity in attracting more people to matches at The Shay.

"We're always working on that but the club can't do it on their own and," Bosomworth said, "at some point, it has to be down to the fans and the fans have to decide 'do they want football in Halifax?'

"Nobody has a divine right to fans, but in the main it comes down to what goes on on the pitch.

"Yes there are certain things we can do and try to do.

"We had the free season tickets for under 12s, of which there was a take up.

"Quite often we do under 12s free for games because it's the youngsters you're trying to attract.

"We did the incentive for season ticket holders of other clubs, to bring some extra fans in, and that's been a success.

"We had 100 to 200 at each game who were season ticket holders at Burnley or Huddersfield or wherever, and chose to come and watch us.

"We've been criticised because it isn't open to our fans in the same way, but all we're trying to do is bring more people here with a view that they might watch us when their team is away.

"Our social media channels are very active in all things ‘Town’, our audience grows month on month and we certainly produce plenty of meaningful content, our reach stacks very favourably against our peers

"I got an email from someone who I then met and had a chat with for a couple of hours.

"But people have only a fragment of understanding of what it takes to run a football club.

"People say we don't do enough in schools when actually we're all over the schools in Calderdale.

"The community arm of the club is now set-up as a registered charity so that would allow us to go through into the EFL with it all properly set-up.

"We've taken on another coach to help us do more work in schools, we invite schools on match days to be ball-boys and ball-girls, and they have their half-time games on the pitch.

"There's activity going on all the time but at the end of the day, people have to decide whether they want to watch Halifax or another club?

"We have to accept it's also very difficult with the economy the way it is at the moment, and it's a challenging demographic in Halifax, so obviously people will feel the pinch.

"All our costs have gone up and you have to balance the books as best you can."

On the financial health of the club, Bosomworth said: "We have to manage it day-to-day. We have a small group of people outside the ‘football’ department who work very hard to keep everything ticking over and bringing in sponsorship and sales and we punch well above our weight given the size of team we have

"We are now out of the FA Cup - Ebbsfleet was a blow with £41,000 of prize money for that fixture and the resulting £60,000 in the next round for live TV coverage, which may also have come our way for a National League club versus a League One club tie.

"We now could do with a run in the FA Trophy, the prize money is significantly less than the FA Cup but a run in the Trophy would certainly help our finances and surely no one would be disappointed with another trip to Wembley.

"Literally every little helps."

Town are set to be heading in 2023 in good shape, with injured players getting back to fitness and the team within touching distance of the top seven having produced a good run of form.

"I think we've got a chance of being in the play-offs," Bosomworth said.

"I think it'll be very tough.

"It's more than likely the top team will be either Wrexham or Notts County, although Chesterfield might have a say in that.

"Below that you've got Solihull, Southend, Boreham Wood who are never far away, Eastleigh are doing well, Dagenham and Redbridge and so on.

"We have to find a way of scoring more goals. You can hope to keep clean sheets and get 1-0's but you can't do that all the time so we have to show we have the capability of scoring more.

"I think we've got a good chance but it's about building a team that's strong enough and robust enough to do it.

"Whether we can do that, time will tell."