Halifax FC Women-Led Group Outlines Vision for Community-Focused Future at The Shay

One of the parties bidding to take over the running of The Shay say they want to transform the stadium into seven-day-a-week community hub.

The bid from Halifax FC Women, backed by investment from a Dubai advisory group, say they would move the women's team to play at The Shay and regenerate the ground as a centre for social and economic activity.

It is one of three bids submitted to take over the running of the stadium, with others from property consultants Stewart and Beverly Charnock-Bates and a group calling themselves the Calderdale Community Stadium Consortium.

Brad Mitchell, who owns Halifax FC Women, has worked in electrical engineering and has a property maintenance company, which he envisages using to help run The Shay.

Speaking to Halifax Courier he says he is heading up a bid that wants to transform The Shay into one of the UK's leading community sports and health and wellbeing destinations.

"Our ambition is to create a financially sustainable stadium that serves the people of Calderdale every day of the week, not only as the home of sport, as a centre of community engagement, business, education, health and employment," Brad told the Courier.

"By developing diverse, year-round revenue streams, we aim to reduce the reliance on public funding while safeguarding The Shay for future generations.

"Our team brings together expertise in stadium operations, commercial development, hospitality, infrastructure, community engagement and partnership working.

"We believe this experience provides the foundation to unlock The Shay's full potential while placing the local community at the heart of every decision."

Brad says the cornerstone of their proposal is to establish a permanent home for Halifax FC Women, ensuring the club has facilities, stability and support needed to grow, while inspiring the next generation of female footballers across Calderdale.

"After years of inconsistent access to training and match facilities, we believe the town deserves a thriving womens's football club, playing and developing within its own community of Calderdale," he said.

"We will actively seek partnerships with the NHS and healthcare providers to explore how the stadium's facilities can explore rehabilitation programmes, physical activity initiatives, injury recovery and wider community wellbeing through access to sport and fitness facilities.

"Our vision extends beyond matchdays. We plan to develop flexible office accommodation for local organisations and businesses, alongside modern catering facilities that create opportunities for modern suppliers and independent operators.

"Creating employment will be a key priority, we aim to generate new jobs across hospitality, catering, facilities management, administration, coaching, community programmes and events, while supporting appren­ti­ceships, volunteering opportunities and work placements for local people.

"Accessibility and inclusion will underpin every aspect of our proposal. We are committed to creating a venue that meets, and wherever possible exceeds, modren accessibility standards, ensuring supporters and visitors of all ages and abilities enjoy a welcome, safe and positive matchday experience."

Brad says partnership working will be central to their vision, and that they are committed to working alongside FC Halifax Town, Halifax Panthers, local schools, grassroots sports clubs, charities, businesses and community organisations "to maximise opportunities for everyone who does and doesn't use The Shay".

"More than simply operating a stadium, our ambition is to create a vibrant destination where we can bring football together with rugby, education, health, business and community activity under one roof, making The Shay a venue that benefits Calderdale every single day of the week," he said.

Brad sees no reason why the stadium couldn't become self-sufficient under the group's control.

"We've got a lot of interesting people wanting to make it self-sufficient," he said.

"There's a potential hotel, there'd potentialy be a fitness centre there to help towards the regeneration of Halifax, which could be used seven days a week.

"We're not far from The Piece Hall, which has transformed itself into a fantastic area and we want to do the same with The Shay.

"We're looking at making it sustainable because there are two clubs who play there but the rest of the time, it's closed.

"There's nothing that happens there most of the time.

"We know the new pitch can now be used a lot more than it is now, we'd obviously work very closely with the groundsman and make sure it wasn't overused, but it needs to be used a lot more than it is now.

"Our aim is to be in the WSL 2 in the next three years, and the only way we're going to achieve that is building an infrastructure behind it to get where we want to be.

"We'd want to work alongside the men's team and the rugby team. We know the Panthers quite well because we used to train alongside them at the college.

"Calderdale is a big enough area that we should have better teams than we currently have.

"The admission prices can be quite expensive, but our approach is to make it a family fun-day where we have events on and people can come up to three hours before and have community programmes on the pitch and have flag bearers and things like that to make it a day out for people."

Brad says the group also has no issue with being given the leasehold rather than the freehold of the stadium, something that was a major bone of contention from FC Halifax Town fans regarding Ken Davy's proposed takeover.

"There's not an issue with that," he said. "It's been there for nearly 80 years and there's no ideas about taking the stadium away from where it is.

"We want to develop the area, the car park right down to where the Nissan garage is, it's a big area that's under-developed and under-used.

"It has to have some investment and I've had assurances from the advisory group that they want to invest into that and are looking at hotels, community centres - how they can make it a better site and something that can be used and be self-sustainable.

"It's costing the council half a million pounds a year just to sit there, and that's because there's only two teams using it. It can't carry on like that.

"It needs capital expenditure on it."

Brad has worked on developing several football stadiums, including Bradford City, Scunthorpe United, Sheffield United and Burnley

Brad's brother and father also have extensive experience of working on football stadiums.

His father was stadium manager at Sheffield United while his brother helped develop Stoke City's stadium.

"I will be heavily involved in the day-to-day running of The Shay if the bid is successful," he said, "working with the general manager and the stadium manager, working on how we can maximise the office space, which the council are in at the moment but we are in negotiations to see whether we could use that for local businesses, as I know there have been a lot of questions regarding the space being used to its full potential.

"I'm also concerned about reports over the quality of the catering. I've not personally tried it but I'm willing to speak to them and other companies about that."

Brad says he has been assured that the Shay pitch would be able to cope with Halifax FC Women playing on it full-time as well as FC Halifax Town and Halifax Panthers.

"Ninety per cent of the season for the football, the rugby wouldn't be playing anyway and we'd all be training at different facilities," he said.

"But it needs to be used. We only have two midweek fixtures and we're already in talks about playing our League Cup games at The Shay.

"We want to play there as much as we can.

"Our games are on Sundays and Thursdays so we wouldn't clash with the football at all and we'd be put on alternate weekends with the rugby."

Brad says he and "a group of UK based individuals that work alongside the Dubai advisory group" would form the board overseeing the running of The Shay if their bid was successful.

"Then we'd be looking at the commercial side of it and they have advisors who've worked on football stadiums previously, so you'd probably be looking at up to ten members," he said.

"The advisory group don't do things to fail, it's got to work. Whatever is needed, will happen and they'll make sure it happens for the people of Calderdale to make it something to be proud of, like The Piece Hall.

"Whoever has worked on that is someone we need to be working with as well because there's a lot of benefits that's created that should be passed around. They've done an amazing job with it.

"I love a proper, four-sided ground and it's such a travesty to be getting crowds of 1,500 in that stadium.

"I went to the play-off final against Chorley in 2017, my daughter was a flag-bearer, it was such a fantastic day. And I remember it being full, which is how football and rugby should be watched."

Brad says the Dubai-based group supporting the bid are "fully committed" to investing into the stadium.

"They're an advisory group, a very prominent family in Dubai and they're very interested in supporting this because they see the benefit of having Halifax Women back in Halifax and also having a sporting venue," Brad said.

"They've worked in another area previously in the UK but they want something in the north of England, and one of the members of the group is looking at moving over to Calderdale as well as he likes the area.

"They're one of the main families in Dubai, they've got companies and properties in the UK and worldwide.

"They've got a lot of contacts, it's not something they're just jumping into to have a go at, it's something they will make work.

"I think it's something to be really excited about for Calderdale, for the people of Calderdale to have something they can be really proud of.

"There's a lot of areas we can tap into - Brighouse, Hebden Bridge, Sowerby Bridge, West Vale. It's such a big catchment area but it's not utilised.

"The group have seen how passionate I am and how much I want to give back to the community."

Brad says the link to the Dubai group arose through a close friendship.

"We've been speaking for over a year about Halifax Women, since we got involved, and it's something he's really keen on.

"He was actually over here in the last month and he really understands the vision we have for the club and how hard we work to make it something we can be proud of.

"We should be proud of having an independent women's football club that works so closely with the community.

"We have a lot of close links with Calderdale College and used to have links with Brighouse Town but at the moment, we're having to play in Bradford, which isn't ideal.

"Bradford don't really want us but there's nowhere for us to go in Calderdale, we have to train in two different venues in Bradford.

"We're a full-time model, all the players are on full-time contracts. For a lot of them, it's their main job."

Brad says he wants people from all demographics in Calderdale to engage regularly with The Shay.

"We want to work with the community," he said.

"I've already spoken with some supporters of Halifax Town, who watch the women's team as well.

"I think the community is desperate for good things to happen, they don't want things to be run down. We need something to be proud of.

"The Shay is synonymous with the town, it's close to the train station and the town centre.

"We want things there which mean people come and use it, whether that's helping people access physiotherapy or opening it up for commercial activities, or making it a place where pensioners can interact with people to combat loneliness.

"It's about generating engagement right from kids to pensioners."

On why he felt his bid should be chosen ahead of the other two on the table, Brad said: "We're all about inclusivity, we want it to become a community hub and something Calderdale can be proud of.

"Something where there's a half-decent football team, a half-decent rugby team and half-denet women's team, that kids and adults can be proud of to come and see their kids playing at a venue that's been closed off for too long.

"We want people to get something back from it.

"We're the only one that will guarantee that Halifax Women come back to Halifax, which is such a massive thing.

"We want all three clubs to be successful and all be able to use the facilities, and for people in Calderdale to come and enjoy the stadium.

"We want it to become self-sufficient, and by doing that, everybody in the community wins."

In a statement, the Dubai investors said: "The Shay is far more than a stadium, it is one of Calderdale's greatest community assets with enormous untapped potential.

"Our ambition is to create a venue that people use every day, whether for football, rugby, education, business, health or community activities.

"By investing in people, partnerships and opportunity, we believe The Shay can become a source of pride for the whole of the borough whilst securing a sustainable future for generations to come."

The business cases submitted will be reviewed by cabinet members Coun Mike Payne and Coun Peter Hunt, with support from relevant council officers in readiness for a decision to be made at the meeting of cabinet in October.