HALIFAX PANTHERS chairman Dave Grayson has stepped down at the West Yorkshire club with immediate effect.
Grayson, who was also a director at Fax, was elevated to the position of chairman October 2022 as part of a five-man consortium taking ownership of the club.
As announced in the club’s chairman’s update on YouTube, Grayson said: “The news I am going to give tonight is that I am probably going to have to stand down as chairman of the club, which, I’ll be quite honest with you, is quite emotional for me. It is heartbreaking to be honest with you.
“I have been with it for 57 years, man and boy. I have just got so many other things on now it is impossible for me to do them all. Where I am at, at the minute, I have just got to prioritise, certainly my mum and the family, without a shadow of a doubt.
“I need more time to do that.”
Grayson does, however, feel that the club is well-placed to go to the next level: “I believe that the people that are there can take the club to the next level, I genuinely believe that.
“It has been my life for 57 years. It is a great club with a proud history and great people. It is going through a transitional phase both on and off the field. That’s normal in sport.
“Me and Gill (Grayson’s wife) will still be on the terraces supporting the club, absolutely we will. Win, lose or draw, could I urge everybody to do the same.
“It is vitally important, when the good times are good, that’s great, but when times are tough, get your sleeves rolled up, get stuck in and do what we need to do.”
The club released a statement: “The board and entire Panthers team wish Dave and Gill all the best, and thank them for their support and efforts over many years.
“An announcement regarding the Chairmanship will be announced next week.”
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