Bradford (Park Avenue) have announced not just the departure of Mark Bower as manager, but quickly replaced him with Garry Thompson as player manager.
He leaves the role along with assistant manager Danny Boshell following three seasons with them in the National League North, finishing 14th, 16th and most recently 7th and beat Kidderminster Harriers in the play-off qualifying round but lost to Brackley Town in the semi-final.
Mark Bower said of his departure: “I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Bradford (Park Avenue) over the past three seasons and I’m proud of what we have achieved together as a club in that time.
I would like to thank everybody who has contributed to our success, in particular Gareth Roberts as, without his support, the incredible moments and memories we have from the past three years, would not have been possible.
I wish everyone at Bradford (Park Avenue) the best of luck for the new season and beyond.”
As mentioned above, Bower has been replaced with Garry Thompson.
Here's the news you've all been waiting for:
Bradford (Park Avenue) are delighted to welcome Garry Thompson as he arrives at Horsfall Stadium to take the reigns as Player Manager ahead of the 2019/20 season.
Read the full story here:https://t.co/ernbyKBJ0F(opens in a new tab) pic.twitter.com/jGNOUB4MtF
— Bradford (Park Avenue) AFC (@BPAFCOfficial) May 21, 2019
He 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.
“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.”
The club’s CEO Damian Irvine, added: “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.
“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.”
Following both sets of news (the departing boss and new one), fans took to social media to give their reaction, some were glad to see who has come in at Bradford (Park Avenue), others thought they would now struggle – check out what they had to say on the next page.
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