Bradford Park Avenue are looking to improve on last season’s tenth-place finish in the forthcoming Conference North season but they will not be making any false promises.

The club’s finance director Kevin Hainsworth announced the playing budget and the ticket-pricing structure recently.

He and the other members of the board have been number crunching and have come up with an increased war chest.

Hainsworth said: “We have managed to give John (Deacey, manager) a bigger budget and we want to be challenging right to the end this time.

“We want the play-offs but we won’t be shouting that from the rooftops or making any wild predictions.

"There is no point in telling our fans and anyone else who will listen that we will do this or do that. That will just pile the pressure on John and the players right from day one.”

Deacey has already had his meetings with the board regarding his transfer targets and the retained list.

The Bradford boss has highlighted the problems the club faced last season when they had an injury glut and collected far too many suspensions.

Hainsworth and his fellow directors agreed with Deacey's findings and that is why they have worked so hard to provide more finances for the playing side.

However, they are also aware that other clubs in the division have also upped the ante.

“We have busted a gut in our attempts to attract more sponsors to the club and get extra people involved,” added Hainsworth.

“We are hoping to have extra impetus going into the new season but it would be stupid to risk the long-term future of the club, so we have set sensible and realistic targets.

“The division was tough last season and it will be even more competitive this time around. We aim to have strength in depth but lot of clubs will be going for it.

“The clubs like Guiseley, who made the play-offs last season, and Harrogate Town, who finished just outside above us but just outside the top five. Then you have clubs coming into our division like Chorley and Tamworth, who will be strong.

“When you look at it there will probably be eight or ten clubs in the mix. We hope to be one of them.”