By Rupe
April 25 2002

After a meeting by the club's Administrators and representitves of the P.F.A, it has been confirmed that the contracts of the majority of playing staff at Halifax Town A.F.C have been terminated.

Earlier this evening the majority of Halifax Town A.F.C's playing staff had their contracts terminated, after the Administrators acting on behalf of the club came to an agreement with the P.F.A. This decision was made as the Administrators agreed to paying a severance fee to all released players.

Matt Clarke has been kept on the playing staff as he is on the verge of joining his brother Chris at Blackpool, and with this being the only imminent prospect of recouping any cash from the current playing squad the Administrators decided not to keep anyone else on. This is a shame as I feel that the club could have generated some revenue by selling Paul Harsley as well, but with no prospect of a quick sale the Administrators have decided not to take the risk of paying him over the close season only for him to leave in early August.

This leaves a playing squad that totals just five, but with Matthew Clarke having one foot on the other side of the Pennines already this will drop to the following four:

Andy Farrell - Nick Heinemann - Robert Herbert and Craig Smith.

Although these players are very young, all four have featured in the first team on more than one occasion and have proved themselves to be bright prospects for the future.

So, what next for Halifax Town?

It has been said that some of this season's squad will be asked back at the start of next season, all be it on reduced contracts and wages. Possibly Graham Mitchell as Player/Coach and Craig Middleton, also, Paul Stoneman has said he would like to sign a new contract under Neil Redfearn. I would also like to see the club offer Steve Bushell a new contract because he has shown a lot of commitment to the cause and I feel he would be an ideal player in the Conference.

Neil Redfearn is all but guaranteed to be named as Player/Manager after the current Directors agreed to cover the shortfall of his wages while the club is in administration, and the contract has been agreed and drawn up and is just waiting to be signed. He has also been given full backing by both the Chairman and Directors, and will be presented with player's budgets for next season and the restraints of working under the Administrator.

The club has also been allowed to keep the youth policy running by the Administrators while they await a decision by the Football Youth Development Council on the 15th May, relating to  whether further funding will be made available to the club. Hopefully this will be granted as I personally feel that this is a very important part of the lower league club structure.

It is a shame the club cannot hang on to a few of our better players like Harsley, Fitzpatrick and Woodward, as I feel we would have a decent base to build on. And with the now confirmed collapse of ITV Digital (aren't I glad I've cancelled my subscription), when the summer holidays are over I can see a lot of players looking for clubs and who knows, we may just be able to pick some half decent players up for next to nothing.

Other clubs are also feeling the effects of this unexpected drop in income as Torquay have parted company with their Manager and Coach after contract talks failed, and Alan Buckley has walked out on Lincoln after they tried to renegotiate his contract with him. These are just a couple of examples of what I am sure is going to be a very turbulent summer for English football. At least we have the World Cup to look forward to which can maybe distract us from our current plight, if the National team does well in Japan and Korea.