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History » The Council Takeover
The financial troubles of Halifax Town, and the fate of the Shay Stadium, never became more serious than in 1986. On 27 October, then chairman John Madeley announced that the club was close to collapse, and he called in a firm of accountants to look at the books. On 12 November they delivered the honest truth - Halifax Town were £425,396 in debt, with £76,000 of that owed in tax.
Many people looked to Calderdale Council to help save the club. It did, after all, still own the lease on the ground and any plans for the Shay from private companies would have to be given the council's go-ahead.
However, on 17 November it rejected two plans to save the club. One proposal was from a London property firm wanting to build shops on the Shay. The other, involving the development of a sports complex, including a ground for the club, was turned down because of difficulties over the conditions demanded by the Edinburgh property firm behind the move. These 'difficulties' concerned the lease of the Shay. Councillor Tom Lawler said: "They want to have the freehold but we cannot give that. We are not going to offer valuable land to what may turn out to be a speculator."
With the council unwilling to part with the lease, it came as no surprise when the Edinburgh firm pulled out of its bid to save the club. On 26 November, the Inland Revenue gave Halifax Town just six days to come up with proposals for paying the £76,000 tax debt. The situation became so serious that Halifax Town manager Mick Jones resigned for a more secure position at Peterborough United.
On 23 December, John Madeley announced he had signed an agreement with a property company which, he said, would safeguard soccer at the Shay until the end of the season. They were prepared to put money into the club, but wanted to move it out of the Shay so they could develop it after the season's close. In February 1987 it came to light that this property company was a local firm, Marshall Construction of Elland. They wanted to build a superstore for Gateway Foodmarkets on the Shay, though it would have involved buying the lease of the ground for £2,430,000.
Meanwhile, the football club had begun trying to find a new home for themselves. They looked into sharing Thrum Hall - the home of Halifax RLFC, but an old covenant banned 'soccer for profit' there. Halifax Town even looked at playing at Odsal in Bradford, though this was not a popular idea.
On 4 March 1987, councillor Geoffrey Butler put forward a plan to split the Shay - one half as a soccer ground with the other to be developed. He said: "We need to keep the Shay for sport, enhance the facilities for everyone, and secure the future of Halifax Town."
The scheme seemed exciting but like the plans of Marshall's and others, it was rejected by the council. Marshall's offered to build Halifax Town a 4,500 capacity stadium next to the nearby leisure centre, though they still wanted to build a superstore on the Shay.
But when, on 18 March, the new plan was also rejected, Marshall Construction - who had ploughed in more than £30,000 to meet the club's running costs - severed links with Halifax Town, and the club was no nearer to being saved than they had been five months previously.
Though many people in Halifax were not too bothered about the club's plight, soccer fans cried out to the council to make a positive move. That move came at a council meeting on Wednesday 8 April 1987, and it came completely out of the blue. It was a complete turnabout, but for some, a very welcome one. The council put forward their rescue plan - they would hand over £210,000 to the club, buy back the lease on the 11 acre Shay worth about £150,000, and take control of the club until the start of the following season (1987/88), sacking the current board in the process. All in all it meant that football was kept at the Shay and the club was suddenly on its soundest footing since formation in 1911.
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