ALMOST 20 years ago to the day, Huddersfield Rugby League Club was on the point of collapse. Their famous Fartown ground was crumbling and there was a general feeling of apathy towards the club around the town. But at the 11th hour a consortium came to the rescue, with Mick Murphy and Jim Collins the key players, along with lifelong fan NEIL SHUTTLEWORTH, who has today relived those tough times and now believes the club can look forward to a very bright future.

MOMENTUM is starting to build for the Giants with the arrival of coach Nathan Brown and his new signings in readiness for the new Super League season.

And with the final date for the incredible season-ticket offer just a couple of days away, I thought perhaps many rugby league fans, both old and new, might like to hear something about the club’s tough recent history.

On our consortium taking charge in 1988, we appointed highly-respected Nigel Stephenson as coach and were helped by several clubs, in particular Featherstone Rovers, to put a reasonable squad together.

Inevitably, we started with a loss to Trafford Borough in a cup competition and then lost again in our opening League games.

But Nigel was starting to get his message across, and we all knew, we just KNEW, that the first win was not far away.

It came after what seemed an eternity in the unlikely surroundings of Leeds United’s Elland Road Stadium, the home of Hunslet RLFC.

I confess I was physically sick twice before the match in nervous anticipation of a possible win.

And we did win. Only about a thousand were there in the entire ground, but the claret and gold faithful were delirious with joy.

You really would have thought we’d won the Cup. We finished our season a few places off the bottom, but believe me that was progress!

The new season starting in August 1989 was to be the ‘great leap forward’, with so very many people helping bring the old Fartown ground to something like respectability.

David Brown Gears had become meaningful sponsors, while Mitre and O’Neill Sports did their bit, and Thatchers Furnishings totally rebuilt the historic Fartown scoreboard.

New goalposts were fitted and Stuart Broscombe’s lorries took tons of rubble away in a bid to smarten up the grounds.

On the pitch, Greg Shuttleworth and Peter Subritzky (from Australia and New Zealand) were recruited and also worked on the ground. Then another Australian, Wally Gibson, was signed – and the club had a new star at last!

Progress continued to be made slowly, but surely, with new directors arriving in Dave Parker and Joe Bramley, and the legendary Alex Murphy and Terry Flanagan recruited on the coaching front.

The club won the Third Division championship and the word ‘promoted’ hit the back page of the Examiner for the first time in 20 years, although sadly the expense of doing so cost the club dearly and a new financial crisis arrived.

However, along came a bright new consortium of Bob Scott, Margaret Caldwell and Les Coulter, who along with current directors Mel Green and Alan Bamber, began to shape the future of the club once again.

Sadly, along the way, the club had to leave Fartown and shared Huddersfield Town’s old Leeds Road ground ahead of the town’s two professional clubs moving to the new Kirklees Stadium, which is now, of course, the Galpharm.

It was then that the seminal moment was about to arrive.

Ken Davy’s former company, DBS, became club sponsors, and it wasn’t long before he took over as club chairman whilst showing great loyalty to the people around him.

Since then the roller-coaster journey has continued, with promotions and relegations along the way.

Then came Ken’s first trophy in 1997 at Old Trafford where we beat Hull 18-0 in the Divisional Championship, which in turn led to us joining Super League in place of Paris.

Coaches and players came and went, but that slow upward movement in progressing is now bearing fruit. A top-six Super League place, a Challenge Cup final appearance and now a squad for next season which really looks to be ‘the one’.

Having supported the club for 63 years, I have seen more false dawns than most, but I really believe we will be a true force to be reckoned with over the coming years.

So my advice is not to miss out on this magnificent season-ticket offer and help to secure an even brighter future for our club, both on and off the field.

And I have to admit one of the biggest changes that has pleased me has been not just on the field, but behind the scenes.

The club now have an extensive management and support team to make sure the 17 men who take the field early next year will be the very best the club can source.

It also means a great deal to me that our youth recruitment and development policy is of such quality that local youngsters now want to come to the club to be part of their future.

Others are even returning from rival Super League clubs.

How good is that compared with the days when virtually every quality player wanted away sooner or later?

Finally, as we begin the countdown to the start of next season, it shouldn’t be forgotten that only three clubs in the game have ever won all four trophies available to them in a season.

Huddersfield – your club – is one of them.

The others are Hunslet and Swinton, who sadly languish in National League II struggling to survive year on year. I sincerely hope they do.

So, feel privileged to support your team, the proud wearers of the claret and gold for over 100 years.

Memories are memories, but the future is the important thing.

Be part of it!