The meeting went quite well I thought. I read the stuff on Shaymen.net and to be honest I wondered if I went to a different meeting. The truth is that a lot of Town fans are actually behind the idea and speaking to a few its clear they thought it can only be a good thing. A few were obviously sceptical and said as much in the Q & A bit but although they were sceptical a lot of them remarked that they would be in favour if done how he said it would be done.

The only person who seemed to have big problems with it were ShayTrev who seemed keen on confrontation but also came across as a bit of a clown who is representing a tiny minority of Town fans. Even some of the Town fans I were sat near said he is a bit of a joke figure at the club and does not speak for a lot of the fans.

Was it stage managed? Well anyone who wanted to ask a question could do, any question could be asked apart from how much the bid was for. At one point Tony had to ask his financial advisor about the mortgage on the ground which has been jumped on by Town fans.

Stick with the council nothing will be done, give this guy a chance and hes going to give it a shot doing what he said. As long as it is done right and stipulations are put in place then it can only be a good thing. Get out of the past some Town fans and in to the future.

Our very own bluebell girls or whatever they are called have to have their weekly routine practice elsewhere because the council charge too much to make it viable.
Community stadium?
Bring it on Mr Abbott.

Im honored, finally got quoted on their forum. Yes thats right your little minority on your forum does not hold the same opinion as a few of the fans I spoke to. Shocker eh? The Town fans behind me went as far to call ShayTrev a buffoon, an opinion shared by those around him. Shame really because he did actually ask some good questions but got a bit flustered when he had to move away from his script and made a bit of a fool of himself.

There were one or two good questions and heads up to those who asked them as that was what the forum was for but with the best will in the world you are not going to change the views of some people in either camp.Lost it a bit for me when Tony tried to explain how he was going to reduce the rent for both clubs and the question was
" Well how are the Clubs going to buy new players then if you are going to reduce the admission charges" ?
I wondered why I`d bothered going but then they were some good questions after , annoyed me a bit when they tried to go back to how they sold Thrum Hall because it`s not the same at all as we wanted to leave Thrum Hall .It was also good to see around 10 Councilors in the room and a couple of them asking questions too ,they are the ones who have to justify to their electorate the fact that they subsidise the Shay with our money but don`t want to subsidise childrens nurseries.

Coffee shop would work, if it was branded people would stop and call in, use it for its wifi ect. Costa and Starbucksa re opening everywhere now. I noticed the old little chef at Mirfield is now a Starbucks.

If the figures quoted about council savings are correct. It's very hard for them not to sell. It's a massive drain on the public purse in its current state

To be fair that poor chap had no idea, his second rambling went completely over everyone's head.
In fact just before he asked his first question about the players I was going to ask the same question but about the chips
Reduce the price of chips Mr Abbott, that's the future.




I do understand some of the concerns the Town fans have, perhaps they don't trust Mr Abbott because of previous promises by others, but, lets not forget, the Stadium is deteriorating, the Council promised a new pitch last season and an electronic scoreboard for the World Cup, none of these have materialised.
I thought before the meeting that ownership of the Shay by Reactive Media was a good idea. I feel even more strongly now that it is a GREAT idea. (for both clubs and the community)
Bring it on.

Totally agree, remember unlimited free parking, but of course the coffee shop is only a small piece of the jigsaw to utilise the Shay to it's full potential.

Oh, I see what you did. Well, it could be taken either way. Omar Bulls "we're in it together" Kahn has called in his debt which leaves Bradford screwed for the next ten years. So, I did look at the negative connotations in your post mainly because it's you and you're a terrible oik on here so I think I was right with my little bitchy comment



That Sheffield forum is still missing a good contributor like yourself. Go and create on it.

Comment, in a similar vein, on shaymen.net:

"There already is a cafe down there! The shay cafe and I don't see em queuing out of the door to get in !"

What you have to bear in mind, and the point that this gentleman is missing (or purposely ignoring), is that there will be over 300 people working in the complex who will need to eat, exercise and leave their kids. Pretty handy, I would say and all providing income to the complex. I particularly agree with the 7 days a week usage scenario as that is what is needed to make it a viable and lucrative business. I can also see people using the facilities and being drawn into the football and/or Rugby League culture thus increasing attendances.

Look, I'm born and bred in Halifax and, apart from 2 stints in London and 2 in Amsterdam, have lived here all my life and in all that time one of the things that has always p***ed me off is the town's lack of ambition. Everything done in Halifax is half-hearted and done on the cheap. We must be the only town of our size without a fully covered shopping centre, Woolshops is the best we can do. Even the Broad Street Complex took about 20 years from it's inception to completion and I shudder to think how much the cost went up in that time.

We now have Tony Abbott's vision for the future of the Shay. I must admit I was gobsmacked at his plans as they went much further than I was anticipating but I can see the sense in it as it involves the stadium being financed in the long term by the on-site businesses. Sure, there are risks as in any venture and there are still numerous questions need answering but if the FCHT fans would rather the stadium be sold to a property developer then so be it because I firmly believe that it is now only a matter of time before the council unload the Shay.

One thing I noticed last night was, when it came to "any questions", the football supporters asked at least 3 questions which TA had already answered in some detail which suggested to me that they had sat there eagerly waiting to ask their questions with their minds closed and already made up instead of affording him the courtesy of at least listening to what he had to say.

The question I kept asking myself that Tony refused to answer was where is the money coming from. Now I have that concern my self but that is really none of my business and is down to the parties involved in the sale. It is up to Calderdale council and their people to go through his business plan with a fine tooth comb and make sure it stands up. I have no right to know that but hopefully the people who do will suss it out right.

I do not wish to be rude, but, in my humble opinion and I stand to be corrected, the majority of posters on that forum have the mental dexterity of a pot of paint and I don't mean Dulux more pound stretchers own brand.

No disrespect intended.

Also, if I remember correctly, the Thrum Hall covenant was made by the original owners of the estate who left it in perpetuity to the Rugby, cricket and bowling clubs stating that it could only be used for sport. I don't know how they got around that to sell it to Asda but it is totally different to a long term lease.

I can't argue with that but I firmly believe that, difficult though it is, we should all maintain our dignity and not be dragged down to their level ( which Aldous Huxley would probably grade as Epsilon Minus ).

Staff who work at the Shay using the Coffee Shop!! Yes didn't think - oops!

So yes the coffee shop could be a success too!

You have hit the nail on the head for me Fax Mchine with this post , it was interesting to see that although there was a good turn out from what I could gather they were either rugby or soccer supporters .To me there was no evidence of the rest of the 200,000 other Calderdale residents there, many ,many of them who at the moment pay council tax toward the Shay but are not welcome there .In fact it`s the contrary many times kids have been stopped from useing the place when they have reached finals etc .So no surprise the general public have very little interest in the place except to wonder why they are having cutbacks on amenities that they use whilst they are expected to pay for something the minorty use. Now the minority of that minority want to hang onto something that the council will not carry on paying out for. The Winter is now coming on and soon we will hear the Town lot bleating about postponents due to the Council not doing the pitch right well what will the Council be saying back to them I wonder?

Which we weren't and won't

Are these guys for real? Ive read the report and all it states is what actually happened.

Not to mention about some on that forum say he plans to get rid of the 5 aside pitch. Did they even listen to what he said? Like I say, its like I went to a totally different meeting.

Maybe we should start a petition from tax payers to get the Shay sold. Im sure we could get a lot more names down to sell it than anyone could to keep it council run.

Bubba and his set of clowns dont care what Tony or anybody says. They dont want the sell of the Shay no matter what. This blind stupid reasoning makes them miss all the points Tony has made and how he has looked to inform everybody about things. Its people like Bubba and his crew with their neanderthal attitude to anything which might upset their dreamworld that has seen Halifax end up being a backwater town for such things as Shopping, Modern Sport Facilities, Entertainment etc.

Can the Council Guarentee that they will never sell The Shay? Can the Council guarentee to upgrade The Shay like the Skircoat Stand which is a relic and needs redeveloping ASAP? The Bubba Clueless gang seem to think the Shay should be kept in Council hands no matter what the cost. The Council does not have to waste public money on the upkeep of a Sports Stadium that less than 2000 locals usemost weeks. And why should the Council make cuts on such things as Social Services and Schools whilst throwing away hundreds of thousands of pounds on a Stadium that is useed by so few people? From what I have heard and seen I am happy for Tony to take over the Shay. Its up to him and the Council to make sure the risks are as low as possible and to put in place as many safeguards as needed to make sure that Fax and Football lot play there now and in the future.

Weigh Anchor, Splice the Mainbrace, Hoist the Sails, Steady as She goes, Hold your Nerve Chaps, this storm will pass.

A Noisy Luddite Minority should not dictate to a Metropolitan Borough, nobody is being evicted or ripped off, stay on course Tony, you have the backing of a majority of reasoned tax paying Adults.

Councils should not be spending money on Professional Sports, its value as a Stadium is only relevant to the market and not defined by how much money has been spent or wasted on various attempts to finish it, which is still not complete in my eyes.

Would you trust somebody who runs a payday loan company?
I certainly wouldn't.

would you trust a car salesman?

More so than someone who set up a payday loan company to make a killing from the desperate

New low on the Town forum today, comparing Tony to Ian Huntley.



These are the people who want the voice to represent their club.

If you look you will find that the individual concerned has quite rightly been condemned by everybody on there