Bradford Park Avenue season-ticket sales up by 25 per cent (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford Park Avenue season-ticket sales up by 25 per cent

4:40pm Friday 22nd June 2012 in Sport By Ian Whiting

Bradford Park Avenue can look forward to playing in front of bigger crowds next season

It has been a hectic close season for Bradford Park Avenue already but there will be more additions to the squad and an increase in members of the board announced over the coming weeks.

There was always going to be a lot of work to be done this summer as the club gears up to life in a higher division.

Avenue won promotion to the Blue Square Bet Conference North last term, so they are now on step two of the football pyramid.

They had been founder members of the Conference North but were relegated after a poor season, and that put the club into a tail-spin.

A long slog, much wringing of hands and a pot full of money has gone into getting them back to this level, and they intend to stay the distance this time.

Director Kevin Hainsworth said: “We have three new signings in, we are pretty confident we will land a couple of others and John (manager Deacey) has retained the promotion-winning squad.

“I think all of that bodes well for us, and this coming season will be nothing like our last foray into the Conference North.

Since the play-off win, season-ticket sales have been brisk, taking into account the good deal we offered to early takers.

“It looks like our season-ticket holders will be 20 to 25 per cent up on last season, when there was also an increase. That tells me we are doing something right.”

There has also been a significant change behind the scenes which will see a restructured board.

The stalwarts - Hainsworth (finance director), John Dean (chairman) and Bob Blackburn (major shareholder and chief executive officer) - will be joined by others.

“We have definitely got one addition to the board,” added Hainsworth.

“David Bruce will be coming in, and he may be well known to our fans as his wife Maria is the secretary of our supporters' club.

"He will officially be added to the board of directors at the next meeting, and we hope to welcome two others but nothing is certain about that as yet so their identity is not for publication.

“There are lots of other things happening on the playing side and away from it, but they are being done in phases.

"It has been hectic around the place and people think we have been on one long holiday since the play-off win.

“The players are back in for training on the first Tuesday in July, and I don’t want to wish my life away but the new season can’t come quickly enough for me.”