Chairman quits Park Avenue after row

Bradford Park Avenue chairman Mike Firth has resigned after a disagreement over the transfer of midfield player Lee Connor to Farsley.

Chris Higgins has also quit the board, but he will stay on as commercial manager.

The new chairman of the UniBond Division One club is Oxford based businessman Frank Thornton who has supported Avenue since before the war.

Thornton has been vice chairman of the club and holds a controlling share interest with new deputy Bob Robinson.

Thornton issued a press statement which said that Firth had resigned 'following long standing disagreements about the off the field management of the club.'

He added: "The matter came to a head as a result of circumstances surrounding the cancellation of Lee Connor's UniBond League registration with the club to allow him to move to Farsley Celtic on a free transfer."

But Thornton stressed: "There is no personal animosity between Mike Firth and I. We disagree about how to run small businesses. You cannot pull different ways at once and we have had cross words about it.

"I don't like the way we have been running Park Avenue.

"My difficulty is that I live in Oxford and I will be looking to find an Avenue man with business experience to run things for me in Bradford while I retain the chairmanship."

The position of manager Trevor Storton is not affected. Thornton said: "We are delighted with Trevor's performance."

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