Full name | Football Club Halifax Town |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | The Shaymen |
Founded | 2008 |
Ground |
The MBI Shay stadium, Halifax, West Yorkshire |
Capacity | 14,061 (5,830 seated) |
Chairman | David Bosomworth |
Manager | Billy Heath |
League | National League North |
2015–16 | National League, 21st (relegated) |
F.C. Halifax Town is a semi-professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. The club participates in the National League North, the sixth tier of English football. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. F.C Halifax are also known as The Shaymen as they play their home games at MBI The Shay
Huge tax debts buried Halifax Town A.F.C. after almost 100 years as a football club. New figures put to a reconvened creditors meeting in May 2008 showed the cash-strapped Shaymen owed over £800,000 to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. The Revenue refused any deal and that effectively finished the club – already over £2 million in the red. Administrators had been trying to broker a rescue package but speaking after five hours of talks that left liquidation near inevitable, administrator Rob Sadler said: "Halifax Town will probably perish." It was originally thought the club owed the taxman around £500,000, which might have left scope for a deal. But the news that it owed £814,000 meant that even if all the other creditors had accepted the 2.5p-in-the-pound offer originally on the table it would not have been enough.
At a meeting of the Football Association, discussing the makeup of the football pyramid for the 2008/09 season, F.C. Halifax Town were not placed in either the Conference Premier, the Conference North or the Northern Premier League Premier Division. Halifax appealed against the decision to remove them from the Football Conference. Though the appeal was rejected on 11 June, the hope was that Halifax could play in the NPL Premier Division. This did not materialise, and eventually Halifax Town were accepted to play in the Northern Premier League Division One North in the new season under the new name F.C. Halifax Town.