New Bradford (Park Avenue) owner Gareth Roberts, pictured at Horsfall Stadium this week
Gareth Roberts has been officially confirmed as the new owner of Bradford (Park Avenue).
The Texas-based businessman completed his takeover yesterday a month after agreeing to take over the majority shareholding from Bob Blackburn.
Semi-retired Roberts is originally from Holme Wood in Bradford and he watched Conference North side Avenue in the Football League before going on to study at Oxford University.
He has since gone onto forge a successful career in the oil and gas industry in the US.
Roberts told Avenue’s official website: “Our mission is to make decisions for this club that will bring success in the sport but also put us at the heart of the Bradford community.
“Avenue has a strong future and that starts this season.
“In the short term, our priority’s to make sure we continue to play in this league and we’ll do that by making sure we have a strong team and a good pitch.
“We don’t know yet whether Horsfall can be our long-term home but we’re talking to the council, who own the site, to see what we can work out.
“If not, we are prepared to relocate and build on another site and we’ll explore all the options.
“We’re ambitious for the future but the new directors can’t go it alone.
“We’re prepared to invest hard work and money but we need the ongoing commitment of the supporters, players, staff/volunteers, sponsors and partners who have got us this far.
“We know we need to build some strong working relationships with civic and business partners too so that we can secure a long-term win-win situation for Avenue and for Bradford generally.”
Roberts has installed two of his oldest friends Joe Mosley and Paul Wood as directors.
Mosley will be “leading club business on a day-to-day basis”.