HUDDERSFIELD GIANTS owner Ken Davy is set to spend more than £2m – and potentially twice that amount – improving The Shay in neighbouring Halifax.

He is in the process of buying the stadium from Calderdale Council, and reckons it could host his club, as well as current tenants Halifax Panthers and football team FC Halifax Town, from the middle of next season.

Davy’s plan is for the Giants to use The Shay as a stop-gap home until a new venue in Huddersfield can be built, although they won’t leave their current Accu (formerly John Smith’s) Stadium base until planning permission has been secured.

The businessman believes the Accu – which is also used by Huddersfield Town Football Club and has a 24,500 capacity – is too big for a Rugby League team who drew just 3,941 for their last home Super League fixture against Warrington.

He has designs on an 8,000 community stadium on a nearby site which was formerly a gasworks.

However his plans have been complicated by the location being earmarked by Kirklees Council as a key part of their economic development strategy.

The vacant site is within the council’s ‘Station to Stadium Enterprise Corridor’ and part of a health tech and innovation investment zone.

While he is playing the waiting game over the Huddersfield project, it’s thought that Davy will take control of The Shay next month, and he has already formed a company, Calderdale Community Stadium Limited, to run the venue.

He provided interest-free loans to the Panthers and FC Halifax Town for their share of the cost a new £800,000 hybrid pitch (some of it was funded by the Football Foundation).

Now Davy will pay for further upgrading, including floodlighting, LED advertising boards and improved facilities for the media and Sky, which he says is estimated to cost between £2m and £4m.

He told the Halifax Courier: “We’re working towards getting to The Shay as soon as we can.

“It’s difficult to envisage us being there at the start of 2026, but hopefully prior to the mid-year reseeding, it may be possible for us to play some games there. We’ll have to see.”