Jason Maxwell loved every second of playing for Bradford (Park Avenue)

JASON MAXWELL was one half of Bradford (Park Avenue)’s greatest ever centre-forward partnership in the club’s reformed history.

Maxwell and Andy Hayward terrorised Northern Premier League defences during Trevor Storton’s glory period at Horsfall Stadium – contributing 138 goals between them from Hayward arriving from Frickley Athletic in September 2000 and then leaving in March 2004 to join Stalybridge Celtic.

The pair were crucial as Avenue won the old NPL Division One title in 2001, reached the NPL League Cup final in 2002 and enjoyed an FA Cup first round tie against League One outfit Bristol City in 2003.

Overall, Scunthorpe-based Maxwell scored 87 times from 1998 to 2004 and he bowed out with a hero’s farewell after playing a key role in the play-off final win over Burscough which secured promotion to the Conference North.

He remains in second place in the all-time goals list for Avenue’s reformed history, one behind Hayward – and to this day he still regrets not overtaking his comrade.

Memories have faded on the finer details of matches so instead of focusing on one conquest, Maxwell passionately reminisces about his time with Avenue in the latest interview on Non League Yorkshire. 

“I signed in 1998 and I was travelling from Scunthorpe to Bradford every week which is a long way and what me stay was the atmosphere which was created by the supporters and Trevor Storton. I know the mileage was going up, but there was some kind of draw to the place. I don’t know what it was? Maybe because I was doing well and having the best years of my football? It was definitely the best period of my Non League career. Once as we got momentum with the results it was just a fantastic time. We had some good years and they are years I won’t forget. We were near the bottom when I first came and at the end of the season we had finished ninth. The second year we finished fourth and we won the league in 2001. We then had two strong seasons in the Premier Division. I also won the players’ player of the year trophy and supporters’ player of the year trophy two seasons in a row for the 1999/00 and 2000/01 season.

“It wasn’t actually Trevor who brought me over. It was Bill Green (briefly Storton’s joint manager in 1998). I had played for Buxton in 1994 until 1996 and then I went to Gainsborough before Bill Green came in for me. We talked and I actually said ‘no’ at first, I didn’t want to come. But the manager at Gainsborough who I think was Steve Richards told me he was bringing some other players in and I wasn’t in his plans. Gainsborough are on my doorstep. It is 30 miles up the road for me and that was probably the highest placed club around me. I didn’t want to leave them, but Steve Richards saying that forced my hand and I said to Bill that I would sign for Avenue.

“I was manager of a firm in Scunthorpe and Bill came over to sign me and we had a fax machine and I remember him using it to sign the form off. Then not long later Bill got the sack. I didn’t know what to expect when I signed because the only person I knew was Bill and he was gone. But Trev made everyone welcome, and so did the supporters. I know people mention Mad Pete (Hearn). There’s not many supporters who can give you a right telling off like Pete once did on the bus. I think we had lost 4-1 somewhere and we were at the back of the bus playing cards and Pete came to the back to give his thoughts. You’d have drink with the supporters in the clubhouse or the King’s Head where we went after a game when I first signed. They’d tell how it is and that would make you play better because you didn’t want to be told that you were rubbish. Every single player respected the supporters totally and if they didn’t they didn’t last very long at the club. The bus journeys used to be great. I remember that the supporters used to get dropped off at the nearest pub that was in walking distance of the ground we were playing.

“There was Ronnie with his cabbages, but there were many more great characters. Primo, another great character, was brilliant with what he did as the kit-man. He would take some right stick, but he’d give it back. 

“I always used to go through brick walls on the pitch and the amount of injuries I got were ridiculous. (Physio) Ray Killick used to have me on the physio bench so many times and he used to go ‘oh not you again Jase’. He was good and he helped me get through a few injuries. I never had any major injuries, just that fractured cheekbone. Ray used to have the same seat on the team bus and he always looked like a bloke who didn’t want to be there! He just that air about him that said it. I remember going for private physio sessions with him in Bradford, believe it or not. I’d come all the way from Scunthorpe.

“(Director/match-day secretary) Alan Hirst, what a bloke he was. He’ll like this because he scored one of the best goals I have ever seen. It was a left-foot volley into the top corner. We were all warming up and he walked onto the pitch with his suit on. I don’t know what he doing on the pitch, but the ball came to him about 12 yards at the back-post and he just left-foot volleyed it straight into the top corner and ran away celebrating chanting someone’s name. That’s the best goal I’ve seen someone in a suit score. I think Dave Donaldson scored the best one I’ve seen in a match. He scored a 30-yarder with Avenue and it went straight into the stanchion and stopped there.

“(Secretary) Steve Burnett, he nearly got me beat up. I think we were playing Kendal and a player punched me in the mouth and he split my lip. We both got sent off. As I’m walking into the changing rooms, there were two lads on the door and after walking through them I was surrounded by the player and the two lads on the door. I started fighting with all three and I was doing alright until Steve came and shouted ‘Jase, Jase, leave, leave it’. They then started getting into me. That’s a little memory.

“But Steve was great bloke and he and Paul Grayson took me the hospital after I broke my cheekbone at Accrington. I don’t remember the full details, but Steve may have brought me home to Scunthorpe. It shows the dedication of everyone. At some clubs you’re left on your own, but that day I had two people looking out for me and I have good memories of Paul too and the other directors like Dave Stordy, Trevor Heylings, Bob Robinson and the chairman Frank Thornton. I wish I could remember everyone’s name because everyone was fantastic.

“I think my first thoughts when I got to the ground for the first time were that it was a massive place and I didn’t like the look of that running track. I know Wayne Benn said a similar thing. I knew straightaway that I was going to be fit. 

“My most memorable goal was actually my first one at Great Harwood (in his second game, a 4-3 win in 1998). I had attempted to score from long range and Trevor had given me a rollicking by shouting ‘what are you doing’? After another 20 minutes I tried again and scored. It was a muddy pitch and I thought ‘do I really want to run through that’. I looked up and saw the goalkeeper and just went for it. 

“There some great characters in the side when I first came. Chris Brandon – what a great talent he was and he signed for Torquay at the end of my first season. Little Stevie Ball was a great player. Damian Lee, he was bling-bling and quite a character. Sharpey, what a character he was and a great bloke. He used to tell me off for not passing the ball to his feet. Clive Freeman was brilliant. Tony Brown was a real gentleman. He was so humble and he was finishing his career that season when I joined. Danny Verity, the V-Man – he got that nickname tattooed on his belly. We once went out in Wakefield during my first season, but it must have been a late decision because I didn’t have any clothes to go out in so I went to Jonathan Jones’ house. Now bear in mind that Jonathan Jones was 5ft 7 because I borrowed some clothes and they weren’t the best fit. 

“We used to go out quite a lot over the years. Even though I lived in Scunthorpe I still went out and I used to stop at Benno’s house. He never made the breakfast though, it was always his wife April who did. She was spot on and a lovely person. There was a couple of times where’d ring the missus at home and say ‘you will not believe this, but the coach has got a puncture, I’m going to have to stop at Benno’s house tonight’. She always believed me. That was the ticket to go out with the lads.

“Benno was captain and as well as Trevor he was the one who settled me into the club. I used to travel through to Bradford with him and eventually Gavin Kelly, Paul Marquis and Neil Bagshaw as well. Gav used to be a tight with his lifts. He was a bit dodgy and he used to try and miss out his turns. We used to meet at Ferrybridge. It was a 35 minute drive from home to Ferrybridge and I’d go the rest of the way with the lads. Sometimes with the midweek matches I would have to straight from work. 

“The year we finished fourth sowed the seeds for the title year because it made us hungry. Players like Mark Hancock, Martin James, Phil Denney, Gavin Kelly and Paul Marquis had come in and we knew we were good enough. If my memory serves me right, if we had turned some of them late season draws into wins we could have won promotion in 2000. 

“Martin James, what a player. How many free kicks did he get from screaming? Every-time someone touched him he’d go ‘ahhh’ and fall on the floor. He was a top man and he predicted to me about Fleetwood Town years ago. He said to me ‘watch this space, Fleetwood will end up in the league before you know it’. He knew they were investing loads of money.

“That season (99/00) I got one of the most ridiculous red cards I have ever had. It was at Chorley and what an idiot that referee was. That was never ever a red card. I went into a 50/50 and I took the ball and the referee called me over and said ‘there’s a red mist coming over you son’ and off I went. We lost and after the game we all got changed and came out and Hanks decided to start banging on the referee’s door shouting ‘you ******* ******’. He ran off as the referee opened the door. The referee ran down the tunnel with just his boxer shorts on chasing after Hanks. He got hold of him and started shouting ‘what’s your name, what’s your name’. Hanks was like ‘oh, come on ref’. But the ref was insistent ‘what’s you name’ so he told him and the ref said ‘right you’re got a red card’. The referee actually went and sat with the Chorley people in the clubhouse so Trev actually went and nearly grabbed him by the neck.

“Ahead of the title-winning season, Trevor then signed people such as Andy Quinn, Mickey Thompson, Neil Lacey, Dean Calcutt who was another one who liked a red card and Andy Hayward who people say was the catalyst for winning the title. 

“Andy was a thorn in my side because we was always stealing my goals! I’m joking when I say that. Why did we work so well together? Andy would probably back me up on this, but I did a lot of the donkey work. I wouldn’t say I was handy with my elbows, but I wouldn’t take any prisoners. I’d try and win my battles because that’s your point. I used to hate defenders be nice to me. I wanted a defender to be horrible to me so I could be horrible back. I have elbowed people before, but never intentionally. I’d jump with my elbow, but if a defender ran into my elbow it wasn’t my fault. I’ve never been sent off for anything like. 

“Andy worked hard, but he’s a natural goal-scorer. I was more the old school forward – battle, win the ball and put it on a plate for him basically. He did score some goals he made himself though. He was a great player. I played with some great strikers at Avenue like Phil Denney, Chris Brandon, Martin Pemberton, but Andy was far above all three of them in my opinion. Andy was great to play with and I think we had a bit of chemistry as we knew each other’s runs. He knew I was going to win everything I could and he would gamble all the time. It was the same with him. I knew if he had it on the floor that he’d be able to put a pass through for me. We had good communication.

“Trevor was a hands-on manager and I had a lot of respect for him. He’d give you a chance and if you were working hard he was happy. He used to ring me up sometimes on a Sunday morning at 8am after a game and go ‘Now then you ******, you were absolutely rubbish’, obviously in stronger terms. Then he’d say ‘on a serious note Jase, I think you could this…or that…’. I think he used to do that with quite a few players. I think Trevor was 100% football all the time to be honest and you knew where you were with him.

“He had played under Bill Shankly at Liverpool, but training was basically old school fitness. He would have us in the changing rooms doing step-ups onto the benches. He would have us running around the track. He would have us running up and down the stand. Considering some of the work we did I’m surprised my legs are still here because he worked us hard. It was all beneficial because we were fitter than teams and we would beat them in the last ten minutes of games. On a plus note with Trev, his man-management was spot on in my eyes. Other people may disagree. He would come up to everyone individually on the pitch before a game and he’d put his arm people or give a little nudge in the ribs, stand on your toe and call you a few names. He knew what would encourage each people and it would lift you before a game. 

“I know he wasn’t keen on Willy’s sense of humour with the inflatable hammers and silly wigs, but Trevor had his own sense of humour. He was like Del Boy because he used to sell clothes and shoes out of the back of his car. Everybody who was around the club will remember. 

“(Ian Thompson, Storton’s assistant) Thommo was a fantastic bloke and he brought the best out of Trev, even though they were chalk and cheese. The banter that went on between those two was brilliant. The were a great pairing because they bounced off each other and their partnership is one of the reasons we progressed. Thommo also brought in players like Mark Hancock and Andy Hayward. Thommo at least twice played in goal for us. He wore the scruffiest tracksuit bottoms I have ever seen. He actually stopped a one-on-one in one of the one games and then kicked the ball upfield and we scored the winning goal. We played at Harrogate Town two days later on Easter Monday we got beat heavily because he was still stiff from the Saturday and couldn’t move.

“When we used to train Thommo would join in and Trev was always training too even thought he was at least 50. Trev was a pain in the bottom with me because he wouldn’t back out of a challenges. He would come straight through the back of me in training. I’d say ‘Trev we’ve got a match at the weekend’. He’d go ‘come on you pussy’. He used to call me a pussy a lot. He’d go ‘you think you’re hard, you’re a pussycat’. He’d come and say that to me before a game sometimes. It was his man-management technique, his little way of getting me fired up.

“The title-winning season was fantastic. I think Vauxhall were up there with us all the time, but we finished well clear of them in the end. I didn’t actually play in the game we won promotion and I remember being disappointed. It was at home and we beat Witton 4-1. I remember all the lads running to the crowd and sliding on their bellies in the rain. I couldn’t because I had all my work gear on. We lifted the trophy after playing Gretna at home on the Saturday and that was a fantastic day. It is blur to me that day. I can’t remember if we all went out.

“After going up we had two strong seasons in the Premier Division and I know we had a bit of an acrimonious relationship with Accrington over those two years. Every-time we played them there was a defender who was just horrible. You can have a battle on a pitch, but after a game you expect to shake hands. He just wouldn’t. I got stuck into him a few times and there was a 50/50 where I took the ball, but he started limping. In his Scouse voice, he kept going ‘I’m going to shoot you’. I was like ‘yeah, do whatever’. I walked up to him in the bar and I said ‘right mate, what’s the crack’? He started umming and ahhing and I walked out after saying ‘thought so’. 

“We played them in the (2002) League Cup final. It was over two legs and in the first at Horsfall, Accrington were down to nine men in the first half because Jamie Speare the goalkeeper got sent off and then the defender who replaced him in goal also got sent off. I think I went 50/50 with them both times and they got sent off. We won the first leg 1-0 thanks to Martin James, but we should have won by more. Then we went away and we lost 1-0 on the day and lost on penalties. We should have also had a penalty in normal time.

“The following season is when I broke my cheekbone. I remember it well because I went up for a header from a corner. As I headed the ball and I always remember that it was a bald-headed lad and he nutted me on the side of my cheek. We both fell down and I jumped straight up and stood over the lad. I felt the side of my face and it had caved in. I went off and the Accrington fans were booing and heckling me and I was giving it them back. I walked past Trev and he goes ‘great header son’. That was Trev and there’s me with a broken cheekbone and having to go to hospital. 

“I was out for six weeks and I was chomping at the bit to get back, but to be fair to Trev he would not let me back until the six weeks had gone. I’ll always remember my first training session back because the ball got bumped straight into my face. Typical Trevor, he got straight in my face and said ‘it looks alright to me kid’. That was it was and I played the next game. 

“In Trevor’s last season (2003/04) I had my own problems because I was always feeling very tired. I was maybe 30, 31 at the time and I was thinking ‘is this it, am I too old for it’. I couldn’t make the runs I used to make or get on the end of things. That shows in my goals in that season. I played the whole of that season and I later found out that I had an irregular heartbeat. I went to the doctors eventually after I left the club and I had an ECG and I had what’s known as Sick sinus syndrome. In the next six years I had to have Cardioversion three times and eventually I had this ablation which sorted it out. It is amazing how much energy I had once as I had the Cardioversion. It has gone back recently to its irregularity. I’d had ten years free. I had it Cardioverted three months ago so I’m back to normal again.

“Trevor came up to me one day and he said ‘Jase, Jase, ******* hell, you’re going to have to start pulling your socks up mate, I can’t keep looking after you, what’s the matter with you’. I was like ‘I don’t know Trev, I don’t know’. That was Trev and it shows how loyal he was. I still had the running, but not the energy I had to carry on and carry on. He knew something was wrong, but I didn’t find out until I had some tests after I left Avenue.

“We played Bristol City in the FA Cup that season and it was a nice occasion. We 1-0 up after two minutes and it was just a pity we couldn’t hold onto the lead. We just got a bit over-rawed with it all. I don’t think we played too bad, but I don’t remember having a great game. It wasn’t one of those magic moments. It was when we got the draw and it was for the supporters who created a wonderful atmosphere. In my view we were pinned back quite a lot, definitely in the second half. It was disappointing for me because if we had played like we had in the seasons before like 2001 and 2002 I think we’d have beaten them. 

“When Trevor left it wasn’t really a surprise because you can feel the mood. That was the year where the top 13 were promoted into the Conference North which was starting the season after and we were nowhere near those places. I don’t think we dropped to second bottom, but I remember that we were near the bottom. I always had the mentality that we could always win and if we had ten games left, I’d always believe we could get 30. A lot of the other lads’ mentality was the same. 

“Carl Shutt replaced Trevor and he classed me as senior player along with Carl Serrant and Robbie Painter and he asked us to put a fine system and dress code in place. I think he wanted us to wear smart stuff, but I can’t remember if we said we couldn’t do that yet. We had to keep the fines as low as possible as the young lads weren’t on any wages or decent wages.

“I don’t think I hit it off with Carl Shutt because I was in that stage where I didn’t have the energy. Because I had been with Trev all those years, it was very hard getting used to someone who was a different kettle of fish. Was he more professional? Maybe he was? I don’t know? He had a different talk to Trev and Thommo’s and it was basically ‘get out there and do the best you can’. That’s all we could under the circumstances.

“But if you look at the results we had at the backend of the season he was able to motivate the team and I think it was from the energy of some of the young lads. They wanted to prove themselves with us older lads helping them with our experience. I think Carl was always planning for the following season and he was always saying that if we went up that it would be better for the next season.

“Carl’s first game was at Worksop and we won 2-1 and I scored the winner. I don’t remember the game, but I remember my goal – it was definitely mine, not an own goal. It turned out to be my last Avenue goal. We got a few more wins and I remember Steve Oleksewycz used to run all day for you and he scored some vital goals towards the end of the season. 

“Our form meant we went into a strange situation of going into some play-offs with the teams who finished from 14th to something like 20th with the winner getting the 14th and final promotion spot to the Conference North. We beat Spennymoor in the first play-off game and then Ashton in the semi-final when Ryan Crossley got the winner. That set up playing Burscough on Bank Holiday Monday in the final. I don’t think it was the best game and it was 0-0 when it went into extra-time. Olly scored a fantastic goal to put us ahead and James Russell whose ginger hair I remember scored the second goal to seal it. To me it was a nill-nill game and we won 2-0, but the highlight was that we won promotion and I remember the supporters on the side of the pitch and all the noise and atmosphere. I think my wife may have brought the children to it. My little lad used to sit on the side-lines and shout ‘ball’ all the time. It was a fitting final game for me. When I look at it, it is disappointing because I would have rather gone up as champions, but that match was like a Cup Final in some respect and we won it so it was a great way to leave. When you look at how at we and the supporters celebrated, it meant a lot at the time. I was going to take my shirt home, but I’m sure it was someone called Ann, she asked me for my shirt and I gave it to her. The atmosphere in the clubhouse was incredible. People were singing and it was a great way to finish and I left the club on a high.

“It was sad to leave, but it was the right time. One of the reasons why I didn’t re-sign for Carl was because of Trev and Thommo, but also because all of the lads I had been travelling through with had gone. It felt sad to leave the supporters behind, but staying would have meant I would have had to start travelling through on my own from Scunthorpe. I had two young children and Gainsborough were down the road and I thought ‘why not I’ll try my luck there’.

“I’m sure Carl asked me if I wanted to come back and I told him I didn’t think I would be, but even to this day I still watch out for Avenue’s results, as well as Gainsborough’s and Scunthorpe’s. When I saw Bradford go down two seasons in a row, I was gutted.

“I think I have been back twice to Horsfall, that’s when I was playing for Brigg Town. I work shifts, but they were playing Gainsborough one day and I thought I’m going to go, but for one reason or another I didn’t.

“I’d like to go back again one day. I’m on the Avenue Ex-players WhatsApp group and Benno gets in touch when there’s a dinner with comedians and speakers and I went to one at a hotel in Bradford. It was about two years ago and it was nice to see all the lads. There was about ten of us.

“Phil Lindley organised a charity six-a-side tournament in Pontefract a few years ago for ex-Non League players and I went to that to play for the BPA team, but blimey, I didn’t realise how unfit I was!

“I went to Gainsborough after leaving Avenue and in pre-season you could see it was a bit too much of a clique and there was a lot of Sheffield lads there. I played four our five games and then Gareth Grant and Lee Ellington got brought in. So I went to Belper and then eventually to Brigg. I did my cruciate at Brigg when I was at 37, but I didn’t get it repaired. The doctor said if I did some exercises I might be able to play again so when I was 41 I started playing again for a local side and we won all five trophies and didn’t lose a game all season. It wasn’t the best standard though. Now I’m playing for Appleby Frodingham Veterans. I started with them when I was ten, left them when I was 21 and now I’m back at 47. I’m basically trying to get fit to those two goals for Avenue to break Andy’s record! That is my only regret from my time with Avenue.

“I would like to sign for Bradford (Park Avenue) and get that record. I’m going to fit and sign for them and if someone can put them on a plate for me, I’ll put a couple in. That would do me.

“I’ve seen Andy a few times and he ribs me every-time about it. If I hadn’t had the irregular heartbeat I’m sure I would have broken the record. I am sure I would scored a few more. But not taking anything from Andy, he helped me score goals. I can’t believe I only finished one goal behind him, but I have so many fantastic memories of playing for Avenue and of Trev and everyone at the club. I loved it.”

Jason Maxwell was interviewed by James Grayson