National North
Mark Bower says Bradford (Park Avenue) are firmly stabilised and well-prepared to build a bright future in the coming years.
Avenue, who visit Hereford tomorrow, were tipped by many for relegation, but with four games remaining, they are safe.
The achievement is an accumulation of almost three years of hard work since Bower and his assistant Danny Boshell walked into the car crash situation they inherited in October 2019.
Avenue were rock bottom of the National North and were doomed.
The pandemic saved them and Avenue have grasped their second chance and Bower is delighted with the progress his club have made.
“We came back (in October 2019) five months after we left and the team was completely unrecognisable from what we had left,” Bower told Non League Yorkshire.
“Things had gone on behind the scenes and people had come and gone and there was a real sense of disengagement with the club.
“It was a mess to be perfectly honest and probably arrogantly me and Bosh (assistant manager Danny Boshell) came back thinking we could make a bigger difference.
“But it was in such a bad place that we did get lucky to stay up that season.
“We were very comfortable in our league position last season when it got null and voided and we had some great results against some of the best teams in the league.
“We felt we had built some real foundations.
“We brought back some experienced players who we knew we could rely on and we did well with some younger players.
“We carried that on into this season.
“We had the blow of losing Jake Hibbs early on but our younger players have stepped up and our experienced players have been reliable.
“We were just trying to firefight when we first came back and we were saved by covid.
“Since then there has been a structured plan in place and a real philosophy of how the club wants to run.
“We have bought into that and we have tried to implement it to the best of our ability and I would say we are satisfied about how we have done over the two years since that clean slate.
“I think the club is in a good position in terms of the playing squad and the academy.
“The ground is improving, the 3G pitch is down which long-term will be massively beneficial so I feel we’re in a good place to continue on the road we are on and from a first team point of view, continue to improve our league position.”
The task next season will be a lot harder on two fronts.
The number of the teams is to be extended to 24, meaning an additional four games, and more wealth will be arriving.
Buxton are definitely promoted and North East giants South Shields could join them if they win the NPL Premier Division play-offs.
“You look at this season and whilst we have always been considered as one of the teams who could be involved in the relegation scrap, we have always managed to stay away from it,” Bower said.
“We have always managed to keep picking up points here and there.
“Even when we have had bad runs we haven’t allowed them to go on too long.
“You take out losing one of best players in Jake Hibbs for the entire season in the third game, we have done well with injuries.
“We have to make sure we are well-prepared and we cover ourselves if we pick injuries because there’s no doubt that we’ll have to run with a small squad again next season.
“We feel the young players we have got have developed really well.
“Hopefully they can kick on and we can add one-or-two to the group.
“We feel we can compete as one of the things that has pleased me the most in the second half of of the season we have competed much better with the best teams in the league.
“We probably struggled in the first half of the season against those sides.
“That bodes well for us next season if we can keep the majority of the lads who have done well for us and add some quality as well.
“It will be tougher and more physically demanding with the four extra games.
“Buxton are coming up and they are renowned for having a very healthy budget and been able to attract some good players.
“That’s one straightaway who you think will be strong enough to stay away from the bottom.
“We have to concentrate on our jobs and if we can compete against the better teams, we should be able to compete against everyone.
“We have been on a run of one defeat in seven and that suggests we are on the right track but we will need to improve.”
Mitch Lund is the latest player to commit for next season and Bower says he is speaking with other current players “to keep the solid foundation we have in place”.
He does intend on recruiting several new faces but he does admit the market is difficult for Avenue.
“I know there’s a few clubs at our level who are on record saying they can’t compete with some of the money being offered one or two leagues below and we fall into that bracket,” he said.
“We lost out on a couple of players last summer.
“One went into the league below and one went two leagues below for a lot more money.
“But what you do get is players coming for the right reasons and lads who want to progress their careers and see playing for us (at National North level) as more attractive to them.
“It will be continue to be tough and we know when we will be recruiting in the summer it will be tough convincing people to come.”