BRADFORD (Park Avenue) chairman Gareth Roberts has said that plans to achieve a deal to develop Horsfall Stadium are still set to go ahead.

The Avenue chief also confirmed that the club have lost revenue but are trying to pay players and staff through government initiatives.

With the coronavirus pandemic causing havoc to football clubs up and down the country, it was unknown whether the Horsfall Community Stadium project could still happen.

However, Roberts issued this statement on Avenue's website to reassure fans that the deal is nearly done.

It read: "Firstly we plan to take care of our staff and players and we are working through the initiatives that the government has proposed so that they can be paid.

"Obviously like a lot of clubs around us we have lost revenue because of the cancelled matches.

"Secondly there has been a tremendous effort behind the scenes to put together the new Horsfall Community Stadium project.

"Despite all the disruption from this virus we are still moving forward with our plans. It is still too soon to say that it is a done deal but we are very optimistic that it will get done.

"I would like to thank all of those who are working on this project for their enthusiasm and skill in getting it this close to the line. I include in that list our friends at West Bowling ARLFC, The Football Stadia Improvement Fund, the RFL, Sport England, Bradford Airedale Athletics Club and multiple levels of the Bradford Metropolitan District Council.

"Finally with improved facilities at our disposal, it will soon be time to turn to how we improve our football club.

"We are going to develop our youth teams and our Academy teams so that we have more participants and the quality of our play increases.

"The goal is to produce a quality first team that we can enjoy. This will take a little time but if we can build a solid pyramid of excellence, then our first team is going to provide results."