JEREMY Charnock’s ‘Diary of a Lost Cause - Bradford (Park Avenue) 1966-1970’ provides the perfect in-depth description of how a once great club steeped in history became non-league minnows, which eventually led to their extinction in 1974.

Coming into the read, I was excited to discover the reasons why Avenue’s fall from grace occurred and how instrumental the four years were in the club’s disbandment.

Ultimately it was Bradford’s financial problems that made them come a cropper but seeing how each specific detail played out was particularly interesting.

Previous to the post 1966 World Cup downfall, Avenue had over 60 years of Football League experience as they put themselves among the stalwarts of the English divisions.

However it all came tumbling down in the four seasons pre-1970.

In part one, Charnock depicts each season by producing match reports fixture by fixture, crucial quotes from the key figures, updates of the goings-on at the club and his own brilliant summaries of his retrospective thoughts.

The book starts by detailing the ‘criminal’ sale of Kevin Hector, one of Avenue’s greatest players.

Although, I would have liked to have dived into more description about Hector’s career, it is understandable that this information is not provided with the book being Avenue centric in this selected period.

‘The way we are going there won’t be a club in a few years time’- was the sentiment going into the 1966/67 season in which the diary begins its journey.

With only a month into the new campaign, Hector was sold for a club record to Derby County.

Despite the £33,000 putting Avenue in the black for a brief spell, the seemingly unflattering fee would haunt the club for almost a decade.

Throughout the book, the changes of chairmen and managers which Bradford incur is a fascinating depiction: From Joe Murphy’s reliable hand to Leonardo Evans’ early attempt, Raymond Ambler’s turbulent years and finally Herbert Metcalfe’s wild ideas which coincided with the expulsion.

In the managerial department the Avenue hotseat was shared by five men in the period.

Walter Galbraith, Jack Rowley, Don McCalman, Laurie Brown and Frank Tomlinson each contributed in results which left their side in the bottom four asking for re-election, which was needed before relegation was created.

Another good commentary inclusion is that of our own former T&A reporter Stanley Pearson, who throughout offers a first-hand behind-the-scenes insight.

An incident in the 1969-70 season stands out when the popular Brown resigned after Metcalfe had picked the team to play Notts County. This led to 19 players handing in transfer requests.

Ambler stepped down a day later, leaving Metcalfe with the reins who remarked: “I did not want to become chairman.”

This was the final nail in the coffin as Saturday, May 30, was the darkest day in the club’s history as Avenue only received 17 votes from the other 91 football clubs while Southern Premier League champions Cambridge gained 31 votes, meaning the West Yorkshire side were thrown out of the league.

In the second part, Charnock involves a number of Q&A’s from the key figures involved.

McCalman, prominent forward Bobby Ham and stalwart number one John Hardie all give their views on the situation.

Charnock - who is from Bingley and began supporting Avenue as a 13-year-old in 1968 - shows an excellent depth of research and number of contacts from five years of great work in his chronological depiction.

Credit should be given to the author who has provided Avenue supporters with a entertaining reflection of a pivotal period in the club’s history.

Published by 2QT Limited (Publishing), the book is priced £25 and is available from Waterstones and the Supporters’ Club shop at Horsfall.