Following the news that the 2020/21 National League North season will commence as planned next week without supporters in attendance, Bradford (Park Avenue) can confirm that we will be able to compete in the competition and complete the full season.

Gareth Roberts, Chairman –

‘Its great news that the new season is going to go ahead and we are delighted for all of our staff, fans and players that we will be watching some competitive football on the new pitch and renovated ground.

Whilst still not confirmed in any detail, the government announcement in conjunction with the National League that some funding will come to help cover the loss of match day revenue, our decision to try and play our games is only possible due to the huge efforts of everyone involved including the staff, players and many others behind the scenes to numerous to mention. I am sure that our fans will join me in sending a big thank you to all concerned’

The ruling that we are an elite team we know has driven some heated debate on social media and whilst we enjoy the conversations the reality is, for the time being, we are designated as an elite sports club and therefore must begin the game behind closed doors.

The club has worked incredibly hard over the last few weeks to create a viable live streaming option, which will provide good quality live video coverage of all of the Avenues home matches this season. We want to make the viewing available of the exciting young squad Mark and Danny have put together, at a price that makes watching affordable to as many of our fans as possible, whilst balancing that with our need for revenue to pay our financial commitments and complete the season.

Season ticket holders have paid on average £5.60 per game to purchase their ticket.  Whilst try to find the right streaming price during the course of the season we will be launching the streaming service at a price of £5 per game

We therefore want to offer our season ticket holders one of the following

Holders have three options:

• Use their season ticket as a season pass to the streaming service and stream every home National League North game for free at no extra cost
• Request a refund on the value of their season ticket
• Defer the season ticket until next season

Of course if the you choose the option to use your season ticket to view the live streamed games, as soon as we are allowed to let fans back into the ground you will still be able to do so using your season ticket. We will be sending out after the FA Cup match on Saturday to all the season ticket holders their unique logins and passwords for use on the streaming platform.

We are of course tight for time and we know some of our fans didn’t buy their tickets online and will need time to consider their options, so we plan to set a deadline of Friday the 16^th of October just before our 2^nd home game of the season against Boston United. Details of how to claim a refund will follow. In the meantime if you know what you would like to do please email calum.cullen@BPAFC so that we can start the process for you all.

We will also be opening the club house to a limited number of guests for each of our home games. There will be table service from the bar and the game will be live streamed onto the big screen. Please note that you will be required for Covid compliance to arrive 1 hour before the kick off, and that the doors out into the ground will remain locked. These tickets will go on general sale at a price of £5 per person prior to the games, this weekends FA Cup game and Mondays NLN match will go on sale from 12 noon today on our website.

https://bpafc.com/product-category/match-day-tickets/

We are delighted to announce the details for this weekend’s FA Cup tie against fellow National League North side Spennymoor.

This weekend’s fixture sees more improvements; alongside Mick ‘The Game Caller’ Gledhill’s excellent match commentary, we welcome back last season’s cameraman Nkosana! We’re also testing a new camera vantage point, so the issue with the windows is no more. Be on the lookout for a new set of graphics as well as we take further steps to ensure your viewing experience is as good as we can make it.

As previous, you will need to follow the link below, which will take you to the sign-in page. If you have created an account for last week, sign-in as before, go through the payment screen, and then watch the game. If you are new to the system, you will need to follow the link, create your account, and then follow the same process.

This week’s game is available for just £5.00.

We are aware that our neighbours down the road have unfortunately had their game against Grimsby postponed, so Bantams fans, if you wish to support the other side in Bradford, you are of course more than welcome! Follow the steps above and we hope you enjoy the game.

Stream Link: https://insight4.azurewebsites.net/stream/QndyRW5T

After discussions with Spennymoor we are excited to confirm that this weekends FA Cup 2^nd preliminary round game will go ahead. The caveat is that there are no further central or local government restrictions and that both squads remain infection free. 

Kick off at the Horsfall will be 3.00pm and is unfortunately deemed to be behind closed doors as per the FA instructions regarding fans for this round.

We will be streaming the game live on our platform from 2.55 pm with Mick ‘the game caller’ Gledhill, and fingers crossed not a window in sight!

The cost for streaming which we hope will help cover some of the costs of putting on the game will be £5.

Good luck to both teams, will be great to finally see a competive game of football after such a long break

#UTA

Manager Mark Bower has made his first foray into the loan market with the signing of the exciting forward Lewis Bradley from Rochdale. Bradley whom has come through the clubs youth system, is highly regarded at Spotland has featured already this season for the first team. Bradley is a versatile attacking player with the ability to play all across the front line.

Initially joining on a 5 week loan, until the end of October, you will be able to see Lewis make his appearance for the club in todays friendly against our local rivals Farsley Celtic.

Welcome Lewis we hope you enjoy your time with us.

The game kicks off at 2pm at the Horsfall, and is being played behind closed doors. As part of the next steps of being ready for the new season we will be again streaming the game live via our PPV platform. In order to check the whole system, including the payment gateway, the game today will be available for just £2.00. Look out for details of how to register and watched here and on our social media platforms.

#UTA

The draw for the 2nd preliminary round of the FA cup sees Bradford (Park Avenue) drawn at home against National League North rivals Spennymoor…………more to follow 

A meeting was held by Zoom at 17.30 on Wednesday 23rd September 2020 with representation from the majority of member clubs from the National League North to discuss the financial implications of the government’s announcement that supporters will not be allowed entry in to stadiums from the 1st October 2020.

During the meeting a set of anonymous polls were conducted with the most important question being asked of clubs;

Given the simple option, no caveats attached, of starting the season or not without crowds, what would your answer be?

The majority verdict of 81% from clubs in the National League North would be to NOT start the season, unless there was a financial support package in place for member clubs.

The meeting considered the impact of the FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round on the contractual status of players, many of whom have contracts that begin on the ‘commencement of the football season’. We are sure you are aware that clubs wrote these contracts based on information provided by the FA via the National League. The issue is, that should there be a delay to the National League North season then these contracts would be activated by the FA Cup fixture. This would leave clubs exposed to having to pay these players for the rest of the season with obvious financial implications.
Elite status was debated at length, because as you are aware National League North and South clubs were granted elite status in July 2020.

Therefore, the question was asked why do clubs from Step 1 receive one vote per club and Step 2 only receives four votes per league? We believe the decision regarding when to start the National League should be democratic across all members due to the financial implications of any decision on member clubs. This is never more apparent following the government’s decision on Tuesday and we request that we should be treated equally and have one vote per club across the whole National League system.

These are views shared by the majority of clubs in the National League North and we ask that they are represented at the National League Board meeting taking place today

The club are delighted to be able to announce that at the last minute our good neighbours Farsley Celtic have agreed to a re-match of this Tuesdays and will travel to the Horsfall to play us this Saturday with a 2.00 pm kick off.

Hopefully we will see another close encounter and good test for both squads, as we saw during Tuesday evening game.

Sadly there will still be no fans allowed but the game will be available to watch on our new streaming platform, with full commentary coming from Mick ‘The game caller’ Gledhill.

#UTA

Jordan Windass has put pen to paper to play for Bradford (Park Avenue) this coming season. Windass who has spent time at Gainsborough and North Ferriby has been with us through pre-season and has shown enough for Bower and Boshell to add him to the squad. The versatile Windass has been used as a right back in the majority of the press-season games, but is equally comfortable all across the midfield. By adding to his footballing education we are sure Jordan will be looking to follow his brother Josh from non-league into the football league

Jordan Windass – 

‘I’m delighted to have signed for Bradford and I’m really looking forward to working under Bowz and Bosh. They have been great to me since I came to the club and made it clear what they want out of me and the team. I’m also excited for the challenge of playing at this level since it’s my first time. Hopefully I can learn a lot from the likes of Toulson and the older lads, to become a better player and hopefully have a successful season with a great bunch of lads‘

Mark Bower – 

‘Jordan has been with us on and off for a few seasons now. We’ve kept an eye on his development and he has come back to us in pre season in fantastic physical shape. He possesses some real attributes and has areas to improve, so we are looking forward to helping him reach his full potential.’

You will be able to see Jordan in his official outing on Tuesdays nights pre-season friendly with Farsley Celtic. It had been hoped that this would be with fans, however presently it seems more likely it will be behind closed doors, but the game will be live streamed so we can see Jordan strut his stuff 

#UTA