Garry Thompson joins Bradford (Park Avenue) as Player Manager

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Bradford (Park Avenue) are delighted to welcome Garry Thompson to his first managerial position as he arrives at Horsfall Stadium to take the reigns as Player Manager ahead of the 2019/2020 season.

Thompson is no stranger to the city of Bradford and is remembered fondly for his committed heroics across town at Bradford City during the 2012 League Cup run, scoring against Arsenal before featuring in The Bantams successful promotion push later that season.

Successful spells at Morecombe, Scunthorpe Utd, Notts County and Wycombe Wanderers saw Thompson earn over 650 appearances at league level, finishing with his home club of Morecombe last December.

The experienced attacker will bring experience, excitement and quality alongside exciting prospects Lewis Knight and Alex Hurst who, along with last season’s Player of the Year Conor Branson, will form the core of Thompsons new squad.

Thompson’s appointment comes after Bradford (Park Avenue) announced a new major partnership with the University of Bradford last week in an exciting period of new impetus for the historic club.

Of his new role , Garry Thompson said :-

“I’m incredibly excited and can’t wait to get started. I’ve been working on coaching and looking towards my career after I finish playing. This is such a great opportunity at a fantastic club. I was attracted to the values and positivity of the Directors and we agree on what a strong club requires in terms of attitude and culture.”

Thompson Continued :-

“It’s fantastic to come back to Bradford, a city I’ve such great memories of. Bradford (Park Avenue) have been doing some really hard work and the contacts and support they have made available to us is impressive. I’ll be using every resource they’ve made available to me to achieve the best for the club.”

Damian Irvine, CEO of Bradford (Park Avenue) said: ]

“It’s been an extremely busy 2019 for the club as we’ve focused on taking a fresh perspective and approach to every facet of our operation and structure. We have plenty of experience in seeing what successful and sustainable clubs look and feel like and it’s genuinely exciting to deliver positive change and a culture of progress to Horsfall Stadium.”

Irvine Continued :-

“The club has made its presence felt on the pitch over the past few years and that’s a credit to everyone involved, but if we keep doing what we have always done hoping for a vast improvement in performance on, or off the pitch, we wouldn’t be doing the right thing by our supporters and our owners.”

Striker Shaun Gardner joins Thompson at Horsfall as Playing Assistant Manager.

Gardner has earned over 300 starts at clubs such as AFC Liverpool, Kendal Town, and most recently Penrith AFC

Attackers Thompson and Gardner join The Avenue, who retain highly regarded Conor Branson, Lewis Knight and Alex Hurst on contract for the 2019/2020, with Thompson announcing further additions in coming weeks.

Bradford (Park Avenue) will be releasing their pre-season schedule later this week along with further major sponsorship news.

On the back of a week landmark announcements, the clubs push for a record number of season tickets continues with their #Properbradford season ticket campaign providing incredibly affordable football for families and supporters of all ages.

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