DESPITE looking at already arranged pre-season friendlies with Huddersfield Town and Guiseley and the possibility of games with Bradford City and FC Halifax Town, Brighouse Town’s manager Vill Powell is once more running a nine club competition which will end in a final at the Yorkshire Payments Stadium.
This year round Powell has two new managers to deal with at City and FC Halifax Town, with Mark Hughes having come in at Valley Parade and Chris Millington having taken over from Pete Wild at the Shay. The closed season is a short one this year with the EFL kicking off in the first week of August.
In the meantime, while talks go on there, Powell has arranged for NPL relegated Yorkshire Amateur to be one of the nine clubs under their new player-manager, Halifax-based Nathan Cartman. The others are Bradford clubs Albion Sports, Campion, Eccleshill United and Thackley, plus Garforth Town, Derbyshire club Swallownest and Wakefield area club Horbury Town.
Town will kick off their programme with a home game on Saturday, July 9 against Garforth Town.
The Pitching In Northern Premier League have made moves in the past week to get there fixtures done across all divisions but in Town’s East Division One there are two clubs appealing that they should not be in this League. Nottingham district club Carlton Town and Derbyshire club Long Eaton Utd have appealed which will slow things down.
Town have arranged with League approval to play Tadcaster Albion in their August Bank Holiday and New Year’s Day fixtures and Ossett United on Boxing Day and Easter Monday.
There are some long trips this coming season and these two clubs, along with Pontefract Collieries, are the nearest derby games.
Twelve coach trips before any possible FA Cup or FA Trophy away games are added will be necessary, all at a cost of around £650 each with the current price of diesel.
Town are for the first time taking part in the 1940s Jubilee weekend in Brighouse town centre. They will have a stall to promote the club outside their chairman James Howard’s Yorkshire Payments office front door on Bethel Street. Youth manager Mark Booth has been the driving force behind it along with the Women’s and boy’s junior sections and their coaches and parents. There will be club memorabelia, programmes, free tickets to a Brighouse Town home game for the 2022-23 season and information how you can sign for the junior clubs and seek trials throughout the many teams based at their Hove Edge ground on St Giles Road.
Town’s General Manager and groundsman Darren Laycock and Youth Team coach Mark Ellis will represent the club at the League’s AGM and dinner/cabaret evening on Saturday July 11 at the Birmingham Hilton with their partners.
