How did he Manage?

How did he Manage?

When we regained our place back in the Football League, everything was great. The fans had come flocking back to the Shay. The squad was not full of stars, but it was a squad who was prepared to fight for each other, and one that the supporters were proud of.

In the pre-season of our first season back, Jim Brown who was then Chairman of the club brought in his Son-in-law, Peter Butler, as a coach. This was all done without the backing of George Mulhall who was preparing to be the oldest manager in the Football League.

Nobody really knows the truth about what happened, but Mulhall felt that he had no choice but to resign, hoping that Kieran O'Regan was to be given the job. This proved to be the case, but a lot of people blame the arrival of Peter Butler at the club as the point of where things began to go wrong.

O'Regan was manager for nearly most of the first season back. He had decided to stay faithful to the majority of the players who had brought the club out of the Conference, and this was one of the reasons that Jim Brown gave O'Regan the sack.

The Shaymen were on the verge of the play-offs, which was a immense achievement, although admittedly we were not playing well, the season as a whole was a huge success. But with only a handful of games left, O'Regan along with his assistant Andy May was sacked. Once again nobody knows the truth about what happened. Whether O'Regan did not get on with Brown, or it was honestly a footballing decision, we will never know.

In the end up, the club missed out on the play-offs but it had been a decent first season back.

The search for the new manager did not take long to complete, and in the end up, Scunthorpe United's assistant manager, Mark Lillis was given the task of building on the first season.

His coaching qualifications were second to none, but it always felt that he was not always in total control. Peter Butler was his assistant and the great bond and spirit the squad once had, had been destroyed by the attitude of Butler. He had no respect for the Conference players, once referring to them as pub players.

Butler's attitude to the fans was also a major talking point. He was reported to have sworn many times at people at the Shay and was even once supposed to have been involved in a wrestling match with a supporter.

Mark Lillis' reign at the Shay came to an end after a big defeat away at Mansfield.

To everybody's disgust, Jim Brown installed Peter Butler and Tony Parks in temporary charge. But everyone thought that Butler would get the job long term.

Then came a big day for Halifax Town, with major changes happening across the board.

Jim Brown was given a vote of no-confidence by the other board members and Bob Walker took control of the club. Paul Bracewell was appointed manager which led to Peter Butler being released by the club.

Many Town fans celebrated the fact that the two bad apples of the club had gone and we had brought in a high profile manager who had done a decent job the season before at Fulham.

Bracewell was left with the task of securing League survival for Halifax Town. It took him a while to get his first points, but with his contacts he brought in some excellent young loan players which led to a excellent spell at Christmas time. In the end up, it went to the final home game of the season in which a 0-0 draw with Champions Brighton meant we had secured our league status for another year.

Through the summer, hard work was needed. The squad needed more quality and that is what it seemed had happened. But not long into the season it looked as though things were not going to plan. Bracewell decided to jump ship and we were left looking for another leader of the gang.

Neil Redfearn and Tony Parks took over as joint caretaker managers, and performances improved. They wanted the job, and the board wanted them to have the job. But they were wanting a three year contract, which, for a third division club is just asking for trouble. In the end up the contract talks broke down and Alan Little was quickly drafted in as manager.

A lot of the time when a new manager comes to the club, you can expect an immediate improvement, but this never happened. The players simply never performed.

In the end up, Alan Little got appendicitis, and that nearly saved the club from relegation. While he was off ill, Redfearn took charge once again and the performances did improve, but the gap was too big to close and in the end up we just were not good enough.

In 4 season's, we have had seven different combinations of managers. There has been no stability or consistency, and this has been damaging for the club. You can blame Jim Brown, Peter Butler, Bob Walker, or even the players, but when a manager is not given time to build the foundations of a decent team then what chances do we have.

The above table shows the story of the managers. The blue bar is the win percentage, and the orange is the chances of getting something from a match (draw or win).