MARK Bower insists he planned to remain as Bradford (Park Avenue) boss no matter what league the club ended up in next season.

With the National League expected to make a decision on how they will finalise their three leagues next week, Bradford are likely to avoid relegation, despite finishing bottom of the Vanarama National League North, due to there being no promotion from the division below.

On Tuesday, Bower and assistant Danny Boshell signed on the dotted line to remain at Avenue until 2023.

The 40-year-old believes the bigger picture always held more importance in his decision to stay on, with plans to make Horsfall a community hub for the city well underway.

He said: “After such an unstable time over the last 18 months, despite everything that is going on at the minute, myself and Danny can see a clear plan and what the club wants to do.

“We feel like the people running it now have the competence and expertise to deliver what they are promising.

“We wanted to be part of it, because there is so much potential here if we can sort the facility out which is in progress.

“In the past, we have been given a budget at the start of the season and just looked to get on with it. We are now looking to build something that is more sustainable.

“We have got that opportunity to build our own team again and hopefully that will be one that will compete well in the league.

“We initially came back with a view to try and improve things, but ultimately to prepare the team for next season in whatever division that would be. The view was always to stay for next season.

“It is exciting and I am looking forward to this long-term plan. A lot of changes are going to be happening at the club in the foreseeable future.”

Bower believes the season had to finish early and admits his club look set to get lucky.

He added: “Non-league clubs cannot afford to pay players when they are playing behind closed doors. The relegation/promotion issue is not as clear cut but it terms of finishing it, it had to be ended.

“What is going on is much bigger than anything we are involved in. It is going to affect everybody and I think it is going to be a very different world next season whenever that starts.

“To relegate a team when they haven’t completed a season seems completely wrong. We are probably going to be on the lucky side because as it stood, we were not in a great position.

“But we pulled off two wins against two of the best teams in the league (Chester and King’s Lynn), so who is to say what would have happened in our case? There will be people who will be disappointed and others who will mop their brow and say they got away with one.”