Chairman reveals how Halifax Panthers will 'entice' fans back to club

Grayson became the new chairman of the Panthers following the acquisition of the club by a five-man consortium.

When asked about crowd sizes, which have averaged under 2,000 last season, he said: “We have some fantastic fans and I am going to go back to 1987 – there were 30,000 of them at Wembley so they must be somewhere out there.

He added: “It’s going to be a journey in terms of enticing people back. Getting out in the community, watch out for Panthers coming around on roadshows, things like that.

“Taking the club to the fans as well as expecting them to come out to the Shay. Once we do that, we’ll get the right message. Success will breed success.”

When asked what caused the club to stagnate over the last two decades, Grayson said: “I think running a rugby club is a very difficult challenge to do and I would not criticise anyone who had done it in the past. I think what we need to do is learn from those issues, connect with the fans with the community.

“We were in Super League originally. Bradford Bulls, which is literally a few miles down the road, really embraced that and captured a lot of our fans as a result. The way they marketed the club. We’ve lost out on that a little bit, but it’s something that we want to put right.”

While getting this right off the field is one of the key aspects of Fax’s road to Super League, the club also needs to do the same on it.

Under head coach Simon Grix, the club have achieved back-to-back third-placed finishes in the Championship.

When asked whether the coach would be backed financially to bring in higher quality talent, Grayson said: “That’s one of the key drivers for the consortium. Yes, the club has to be a sustainable club, to be honest with you, that’s probably my job.

“But in terms of supporting Simon, there’s potentially some investment there in players, coaching staff, whatever support he needs from that consortium. That’s the key catalyst.

“If you look at some of the most successful clubs, they’ve usually go a money person behind them. We’ve tried to go and spread that a little bit, haver three, four and maybe five.”

Considering the current economic challenges, Grayson admitted that the timing of the takeover had not been ideal, but also believes that the ongoing world cup presents an opportunity.

He said: “The timing has not been great, I totally accept that. I think we’ve got to get on the back of the Rugby League World Cup. I think there’s an opportunity there to increase interest in your local club on the back of the World Cup which I’m sure will be a success at the end of the day.

“Success tends to breed success so I think once we get on that upwards spiral and start to get the brand out more, and the entertainment on the pitch – that’s vital, we’ve got to have a successful team on the pitch which we do with Simon.

“Hopefully getting it right on the field and getting it right off the field will be the way to go.”