National North
Two years ago enticing players to Bradford (Park Avenue) was a hard sell.
The club had just finished rock bottom and had only been saved by the cancellation of the season due to the pandemic.
Now after an impressive campaign which saw them defy the doom and gloom predictions, Mark Bower believes Avenue are on the up and the conversations have become easier.
“We comfortably stayed up last season and competed well against the best sides in the league,” Bower told Non League Yorkshire.
“We have established ourselves again.
“After a couple of seasons where we got in the play-offs, we had a really bad (2019/20) season when there were a few manager changes and the pandemic saved us.
“With the 3G pitch going down, we have had a good number of younger players come through and progressed their careers and we expect a few more to do that.
“I think we are an attractive proposition for players again.
“We’re getting more agents wanting their younger lads to progress with us and we’re certainly in a better position to sell ourselves as a viable club for them to come and enjoy their football and progress their careers.
“After we got saved because of the pandemic, I think players were concerned about the quality of the squad and what it was going to do.
“Last summer because the (2020/21) season had got cut short, the lads wanted to continue what they had done so we didn’t make too many changes to the squad.
“The fact that the majority of the lads we wanted to keep are staying shows they are satisfied that we (are improving).
“I don’t think we’ll be challenging the likes of Fylde and Kidderminster at the top, but we certainly think if we can add a couple more quality players to what we have already got, we can certainly be competitive and who knows.
“Hopefully we can push on and improve on last season.”
Mitch Lund, Dylan Mottley-Henry, Harrison Hopper, Sam Fielding and captain Luca Havern are so far the only confirmed players from last season who will be staying at Horsfall Stadium.
Jamie Spencer, the midfielder, returned from Guiseley last week and Bower says he is content with their current status on the retention and incoming front.
“(New bodies) will be hopefully coming in during the next few weeks,” he said.
“We would like to get a couple more in before pre-season starts at the end of June.
“We have obviously been negotiating with our existing players as well and we should have news on those in the next few days or week or two.
“You look around and there’s teams in our league who have announced several signings.
“There’s others who have barely any players for next season so we’re probably right in the middle of that in terms of numbers and where we’re at.
“We’re quite pleased with where we are at at this moment in time.
“We would have liked to have kept a couple more, but that’s where we are and we’re quite confident we have a good core as of now.
“We’re pleased with who is staying.
“Every summer, no matter if you win a league or finish bottom, you need to strengthen and bring new faces.
“We have obviously got one confirmed so far in Jamie Spencer.
“I think he’ll be a really good signing for us.
“We’re working on others at the minute and we probably want six-or-seven new faces into the building by the time we start the season.
“We might not be able to get all those in by the time pre-season starts.
“Some of our better performers last season came in either through pre-season or after the start of the season.
“What we have to make sure we do not do is waste money by bringing people in for the wrong reasons.
“We have to make every penny count and get the best value we can.”
Mark Ross, Nicky Clee, Jordan Windass, Akeem Hinds and Luke Rawson have left the club.
The most significant departure is young prodigy Brad Dockerty who Avenue had high hopes for and saw him as someone who could be sold to a higher league club.
Dockerty has signed for divisional rival Alfreton Town.
Bower has no issue with Dockerty and completely understands his reasons for leaving.
“Because of the way we are working we know players will move on and players will go to earn more money or higher league clubs,” he said.
“That’s just the nature of what we are doing.
“In most cases we have secured transfer fees for several players over the last few years like Adam Boyes, Connor Branston, Alex Hurst, Lewis Knight and Isaac Marriott.
“With this one, maybe without the pandemic and without the shorter seasons, Brad may have moved on sooner and we might have been able to get a fee for him.
“I think the move allows him not to have to work anymore – that was a real positive for him as it allows him to support himself with his football money which wouldn’t have been the case with us.
“Brad goes with our best wishes.
“He has done great for us over the last three years and we feel we have played a big part in helping him progress.
“Hopefully Brad can kick on and do well there and realise the potential he has got on a consistent basis which he was doing for us last season.”
Dockerty was a hidden gem – found at Toolstation NCEL side Hemsworth Miners Welfare several years ago.
Moving forward, Bower has identified potential talent from below and has invited them to pre-season.
“There’s a few players we have an eye on and there’s a couple coming in for pre-season,” he said.
“We have missed out on a couple of players from lower down, but there’s clubs lower down the pyramid that are paying really good money.”
Bower and his assistant Danny Boshell will need to assemble a deep squad to cope with the additional four games this season.
The National North now has 24 teams.
The task is certainly harder, but Bower is unfazed.
“Clubs are full-time because they have more money than others and it is their choice to do that,” he said.
“I think we have seen that it doesn’t always guarantee success.
“You look at the six-or-seven full-time clubs in the league last season and only one finished above Brackley who are a part-time team.
“Chorley finished well up there and they are a part-time team.
“I have been used to operating at this level and the one above as a manager for quite a few years now and I’ve always done it on a part-time basis and always given it a good go against the full-time teams.
“The extra games may give the full-time teams more benefit, but there’s no complaints from me and I look forward to the challenge.”