Flashback to the final day of the 2018/19 season, and Mark Bower’s Bradford Park Avenue side crept into the play-offs due to having better goal difference than an unlucky Telford United.
Unfortunately, the Avenue were defeated in the preliminary play-off game against Brackley Town in a narrow 1-0 defeat which saw former Peterborough striker Aaron Williams winning the game for The Saints in the 111th minute. Following this heartbreak, all went downhill for BPA.
A lot of the blame was placed on club chairman Gareth Roberts, who we’ll talk more about later, after club stalwart Bower resigned after Roberts reportedly limited the wage funds for the club, not allowing Bower to sign the required quality of players to help maintain a promotion push for the upcoming season.
This caused several players to depart the club, including youngster Alex Hurst who departed for League Two team Port Vale, defender Shane Killock to league rivals Alfreton Town along with Jack Atkinson and Danny East and finally loan striker Jake Beesley returned to his parent club Salford City leaving a huge hole up front.
Roberts made the decision to appoint ex-Bradford City legend Garry Thompson as the clubs new player-manager alongside Shaun Gardner, who joined from Penrith AFC as he was a friend of Thompsons. This was a risky move by BPA as Thompson had previously never managed and was playing for League Two Morecambe just last season. However it was Avenue CEO Damian Irvine who knew Thompson after meeting the 38 year old at Notts County and Wycombe Wanderers.
Thompson had made over 750 appearances in the football league, but was unable to replicate his experience into his new team.
Just two games into the season, Thompson and Gardner were sacked from their roles after losing the opening two games of the season 5-0, first to Curzon Ashton and then to rivals Guiseley. Of course this raised eyebrows as it showed a complete lack of respect and trust in Thompson from the Avenue board.
Roberts said in a club statement “We regret Garry and Shaun’s time with us has been so short, as we really hoped things would work out differently as they are both great guys.”
The next in line for the job was Marcus Law, who was in an interim role, alongside Lee Fowler. The pair were previously in charge of Kettering Town and had clinched promotion to the National League North just last season before resigning in June due to the club having financial difficulties. This gave fans reasons to be optimistic, as Law also had 20 years of managerial experience and an UEFA B coaching license.
Law and Fowler left their interim roles in late September, as they were replaced by Mark Bower, despite leaving the club just six months earlier. Bower had a tough task on his hands, the Yorkshire outfit were second bottom of the league, with just one win under their belts and a mammoth -29 goal difference so early on in the season.
Bower was joined by Danny Boshell as assistant manager, as the dynamic duo had a win ratio of 41.53% in 118 games.
Unfortunately, the situation has not improved at the Horsfall Stadium. Avenue remain bottom of the sixth division and are fifteen points adrift of safety. It looks as if the club should already accept their fate of relegation as the club’s position worsens, with an inexperienced team lacking confidence and age to be honest as the very young squad fails to successfully compete.
As I am a Bradford City fan I don’t usually watch Avenue but found myself with a free Saturday and chose to watch a Yorkshire derby as Bower’s men travelled to the Citadel- home of Farsley Celtic. I remember leaving ten minutes early.
The football was abysmal, BPA struggled to put any passes together and showed a real lack of fluency amongst one another and really were second best all game long, despite going into half-time at 0-0. I was beyond bored at this point but was entertained to five goals for the home side in the second half (including one for ex-Bradford City man Dave Syers).
Recently, BPA have also granted permission to the Bradford Bulls reserve and youth teams to play their rugby games at the Horsfall stadium. During February the pitch is a mudbath, and this decision by Roberts to possibly earn a tad more profit is a poor one. It means the pitch will at times be unplayable and games will be forced to be postponed, leaving fans and players alike with no football on Saturdays at 3pm. It also means Roberts won’t earn any money from fans coming in through the gates to help fund the part-time club.
Overall, the Avenue are personally my second team as I have a soft spot for them for whatever reason. It is a shame to see them struggling and I see relegation as inevitable at this point, as survival really would be a miracle and a great escape. Unlikely tho.
I believe that the club can bounce back next season if Roberts can hold onto Bower and backs him fully in bringing in the players Bower wants, as two consecutive play-off pushes is an excellent achievement and one which was a surprise to most non-league followers. It shows what Bower is capable of achieving with the right squad in the sixth tier; imagine what could be done in the seventh.
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