Halifax already preparing for new challenges

FC Halifax Town manager Billy Heath celebrates their weekend play-off final victory over Chorley.

The Shaymen booked their return to the fifth tier of English football on Saturday at the first time of asking and will continue to operate as a part-time outfit, despite competing in a league where many of the teams are full-time and heavily financed.

On preparing for life back in the National League, Bosomworth said: “Financially, there is no great gain (from promotion). With the central distribution, it is £20,000 in this league and £60,000 in the next league. But by the time you have done your travelling and overnight stays, there is nothing there, really.

“There will be big spenders and the two who came down from League Two will get that £750,000 parachute payment, which puts us all on the back foot.

“If we feel, financially, that we cannot keep the club going on a sustainable basis, it is time we let somebody else take it. But we feel we can sustain it and give ourselves a fair and equal chance.

“There are a lot of challenges in the National League – the travelling, other teams being full-time, how are we going to bring players in, what is the budget and how many season tickets will we sell to fund the budget.

“We want to keep an attractive season ticket price, but we have to bring enough revenue in to allow us to pay the bills and get the players.

“If we do not have that, you might end up at the bottom and your gates fall; it’s chicken and egg.”

Meanwhile, Bosomworth believes that Saturday’s events have fully vindicated the decision to plump for victorious manager Billy Heath 12 months ago and not renew the contract of Jim Harvey, who led the Shaymen to FA Trophy success following relegation.

Bosomworth said: “Obviously you would never say no to a visit to Wembley, but you are also mindful that a season is a long time, and it might be more than a season. So we had to think hard. I know there was a lot of pressure about whether we would retain Jim Harvey, and it was a massively difficult decision.

“But we felt we needed to go with somebody northern-based, (who) understood the league and had demonstrated some results and Billy had done that. I think this has vindicated that choice.”