Sox cause yet another stink!

The Blue Sox Situation

After the statement that the club have made this morning (here) it is quite clear that the Blue Sox have been telling little porkies.

They claim to be up to date with their payments, but this seems a false statement after what Halifax Town have said.

When the Blue Sox first came to the Shay, it became quite apparent that they were not willing to work with Halifax Town.

They renamed the Shay to the New Shay and even had the cheek to stick up a new sign above the entrance to the old Main Stand.

They tried dictating to the football club about when they could use the facilities and the pitch.

They even decided to stick HBS lettering onto half of the Scircoat Stand.

I know that Halifax Town do not own the Shay. But it has been our home for 80+ years. The Blue Sox came to the Shay with no respect for the Shaymen and this has led to bad blood from day one.

We all had visions of an excellent stadium, and in a way we are 75% of the way there. But the East Stand has turned into a farce from the beginning.

The building work was all set-up by Jim Brown, and I don't think anymore needs to be said about that.

Finances were never thought to be a problem. Halifax Town had money as well as the available grants from the Football Trust. The Blue Sox said they had money for the Stand as well as the promise of money once the sale of Thrum Hall had gone through.

This is where problems arose. Halifax Town agreed to finance the project from the beginning. But on the first payment of the Blue Sox to the building works, the Sox officials were nowhere to be seen.

This left to a frustrated Bob Walker having to ring the Courier to tell them about the rugby club handing the money over. The Courier turned up with their photographers; any chance for a lovely picture of the Blue Sox doing some good. Roger Harvey was there with a big smile handing over a big cheque to Bob Walker.

But, this wasn't the end. Although Roger Harvey had handed over a big cheque for the photo opportunity. He hadn't actually handed over a proper legal cheque that could be put into the bank. This led to Bob Walker locking himself in the office of Roger Harvey's until he paid up. Roger Harvey has since left the club as a Director because he felt that the bad image of the Blue Sox would damage the custom he gets in his Store.

Further payments have been made by the Blue Sox, but not what they owe, and not what they promised. And now that the sale of Thrum Hall has gone through, they are wanting to move the posts.

It was agreed that the monies from any sale of Thrum Hall had to go back into making better sporting facilities. This does not mean paying off the tax man.

Hopefully with this mornings statement the Blue Sox will start to reveal some truths and come clean about the sorry episode.

The other week, Peter O'Hara said that both clubs need each other. And it is not a nice thing wishing bad on another club. But if the Blue Sox do not start to play fair then I would feel quite happy to see the Trustees pay for the completion of the East Stand and see the rugby club go up the wall.

One final thing. It was mentioned in the statement that they sent a copy to the Courier last week, but they have failed to publish it. It just shows that they are full of support for the rugby club. It is just a shame they do not show the same support for the football club.

Watch out later this week for the 'Boycott the Courier Campaign'.