retired_karamelkel

Yeah, stupid question on my part

shannon2007

If the Avenue support had been at all worried by the fact that their new chairman didn't have a clue how to run a football club, those fears had perhaps been partially allayed when the very small amount of £48,000 had been made available for transfers. A very small amount in terms of say EPL clubs, but £48,000 was a decent sum of money at this level of the game.

Any remaining excitement though must have been swept away when the chairman announced the new manager was someone that no-one had ever heard of. A man who didn't even have a record in football, had never played for a football club and had certainly never managed one. A man who only ever spoke about horticulture when interviewed by the local press and seemed so keyed up on that, that he was given his own column in the Bradford Gazette. If anyone still had any semblance of optimism, that was surely swept away with the almost ludicrous signing of Jason Young, and when amongst the first signings made by the manager was 40 year old midfielder Robert Codner, virtual panick must have set in.

The fans had been expecting big names to be signed - well big for this level, and they had been left sorely dissapointed and the announcement that 38 year old keeper Gavin Kelly , a former Avenue player, was also on the chairmans hit list must have left even the most ardant fan bamboozled by such ineptitude. Not that Kelly was hated by the support, but it was hardly a signing for the future. The support must have been tearing their hair out - those that had hair - when the chairman announced that Jason Young and Gavin Kelly had been integral parts of previous success the Avenue had enjoyed under Dave Green and the fans should just sit back and be patient. Pretty soon the success would come, there may be a few lows along the way, but in the end Dave Green would deliver the Champions League to Bradford (Park Avenue). He had, after all, done it before.

An attempt to have the chairman certified as insane by a section of the support was rejected as irrelevant. When has sanity ever had a place in football?

shannon2007

Jason Young, Gavin Kelly and Robert Codner were not, of course, the only signings made by Dave Green over that first summer. Yet if the support had been hoping that someone would be signed that might just get them a little bit excited, and give them hope for the season ahead that they wouldn't get relegated (again), little was forthcoming. Of the £48,000 that was allegedly available, Dave Green only spent a quarter. There was little to write home about.

Gavin Kelly - who was actually in fact only 36 - would, on the orders of the chairman, be the number one choice between the sticks. Kelly had had a brief spell at the Avenue before and had also spent time at Hull, Bristol Rovers, Scarborough and Bridlington in his fairly un-illustrious career. Twenty year old Adam Cap, signed from Scunthorpe for £1,0000, was a reasonable enough young keeper for this leve l but would spend his season in the reserves. Back up to Kelly was provided by another 36 year old, Jon Sheffield, another player who had been around a bit. A career spanning Norwich, Aldershot, Ipswich, Cambridge, Colchester, Swindon, Hereford, Peterborough, Watford, Oldham, Plymough, Yeovil and Saltash, it seemed that perhaps Sheffield had been trying to play for every club in England. Whether the £2,000 invested in him was worth it or not would remain to be seen. 39 year old Nigel Williams would be the third choice, having not played a competitive game of football for four years.

There was a fair bit of competition for the right back slot. Promising 19 year old Aaron Hardy had been signed from Huddersfield for £1,000 and another 19 year old, Thomas Harban had come in for the same fee from Barnsley. 31 year old Adam Tanner came in on a free, another player who had not played a game of professional football for a long time, three years in his case. A third 19 year old, Mark Corneille comes in from Gillingham for £1,000 and 24 year old Dave Watts comes in on a free. Perhaps the squad is slightly listing to the right, especially when you realise only three players can play at left back.

31 year old former Stenhousemuir and Albion Rovers player Peter Cormack, 25 year old Ryan Crossley who was already at the club havig signed from Bury in 2003, and 29 year old former Sheffield Wednesday, Manchester City, Burnley and Preston player Lee Briscoe comes in on a free to make up the trio of lefties. Most of the players mentioned so far though can also do a decent job in the center of the defence and thats really just as well because the only other central defender in the first team squad is 19 year old Nigerian Magnus Okuonghae who was signed from Rushden for £1,000 and can also play in the midfield. Apparantly.

The midfield in Green's apparant 4-4-2 come 4-3-3 certainly seems to have quantity, even if it does lack any real quality. This is the Conference North after all. 33 year old Jimmy Strouts has been around this level a long time, having played for Stevenage, Dover, Gravesend, Welling and Maidstone. That shows that not only does he have the experience needed for this level, but also that he's probably utter pish. Chris Clark is, at 21, considerably younger than Strouts, and probably has a better name. Having been with Portsmouth all his career, he did manage two games on loan to Stoke and was snapped up by Green on a free. Another experienced veteran, Aidan Newhouse (33), will be looking to make his mark on the left of the midfield, his complete lack of any pace though will surely hamper, and he doesn't really have the ability to make up for it any way.Picked up on a free, Newhouse has previously played for Chester, Wimbledon, Tranmere, Port Vale, Torquay, Fulham, Swansea, Brighton, Sutton United and Northwich - another player who seems to want to play for every club in England, but his large number of clubs either means he's a trouble maker or just total pish. Probably both. Former Leeds youth Andrew Quinn (25), was inherited by Green and is deemed good enough for now and will be trying to occupy the right wing berth. There is no shortage of competition though, as the previously mentioned 40 year old Robert Codner, 25 year old Dave Henry, 17 year old rookie Matty Hendra, 26 year old Danny Walsh, 19 year old Luke Caulfield and the quaintly named Paddy Mumbly (17), will all be looking to somehow get a place in the side. Something tells me there are going to be a few dissapointed players.

Up front we have of course the legendary Jason Young. Not that he is a legend, except in the mind of the Avenue chairman. Young isn't really all that good, and what the Chairman sees in him is beyond anyones imagination. With 21 year old Ryan Hutchinson looking to play wider left of the front two/come three, the three remaining strikers leave a lot to be desired. 32 year old Alex Nesovic is dire, 22 year old Steve Oleksewycz really isn't much better and 38 year old Steve Whitehall is old. These players actually make Jason Young look good, and thats saying something.

shannon2007

For those of you who read the original story, some of this will make sense. Those who didn't will probably wonder what the hell I'm rabbiting on about. Just accept it.

retired_karamelkel

Bringing back a lot of the old vets eh? I'm suprised that they're still in the database.

shannon2007

August 2005

They say that if the dressrehearsal goes wrong, then the real thing will be spectacular - hence the saying, it will be alright on the night. and certainly, if the preseason for Park Avenue was based on this theory, then they would surely romp to success in the season ahead. It could be argued that Crewe and York were at least higher up the league pyramid, and so the 2-1 and 2-0 defeats respectively had to be put into that kind of perspective. The 1-0 loss away to Telford though had no such excuse, and presented real fears for the future of the club.

Having been saved from relegation on a technicality, many people believed that this season was going to be one long hard struggle for the Bradford (Park Avenue). Few had been impressed by the rookie chairmans managerial appointment, and if possible even less so by that managers almost baffling at times signings. And sure enough, 29 minutes into the league season away to Kettering Park Avenue were behind. It wasn't an overly bad performance, but with little cutting edge up front there was never any chance of a goal for the Avenue and the season began the way the last one had ended - in defeat.

Harrogate were the visitors for the first home league match of the season, with the chairman promising that the players would soon settle in and when they did the fans would see something special from striker Jason Young. Manager Dave Green announced he was very proud of the playing surface and if things went wrong, no-one could blame the turf at least. As it was, little was seen of Jason Young as Harrogate pulled of a narrow 1-0 win to leave the Avenue sitting bottom of the table. There were though only two games gone, and things could only get better.

Abd indeed, if you can call a 0-0 draw better, they did. At least the no score bore at home to Nuneaton did give Dave Green his first ever point as a manager, but it did little to impress the home support in the tiny crowd of 182 hardy souls. Thoughts of the corner being turned were firmly put in their place at Northwich, as the home side put in a devastating second half display to walk away with a 3-0 win and leave the Avenue in dire straights. One point from twelve, and not a goal in sight this was going to be a season from hell.

shannon2007

September 2005

Chairman Redmond maintained that he was 'unconcerned' over the poor start made to the season by his team, claiming that he knew Dave Green had what it took to succeed and that his manager had often dragged teams up by the scruff of the neck to triumph when all seemed lost. On the other hand, behind the scenes rumour had it that the chairman was more than worried about how things were going on the park, and although he did not have his finger anywhere near the sacking button, things really needed to pick up sooner rather than later.

The sooner seemed to come just nine minutes into the home match with Worcester. A long ball from keeper Kelly founf Quinn on the halfway line, but his poor pass merely ricocheted off a Worcester player and the ball broke loose into space. Jason Young just happened to get in the way of the loose ball, and 35 yards out lobbed the outrushing keeper to bag his first ever goal for the Avenue and give the fans the sight of a relieved chairman jumping for joy in the directors box. Worse was to follow for the visitors as they were reduced to 10 men three minutes from half time and it finally looked as if a little bit of luck was breaking the way of the Bradford side. If Jason Young's first goal for the club had been more than a shade gratuitous, his second was as simple as they come. Seven minutes into the second half, a poor clearance from the Worcester keeper went straight to Okuonghae, whose simple pass found Jason Young. Young sent the ball wide left to Newhouse, whilst continuing his run into the area and when Newhouse sent over a near perfect cross there was Young on the edge of the six yard box to casually slot the ball home.

As the fans finally started to celebrate what was looking more and more like the clubs first win of the season, so on sixty six minutes Jason Young completed his hattrick, completing a fantastic team move that had eleven passes in the build up before Young easily sent the ball home and the three points were all sewn up. The change in atmosphere was tangible and the Avenue were finally off and running. As the chairman said afterward, it was only a matter of time.

Winning is one thing, winning two in a row is another and an away match to Moor Green would not be an easy prospect, despite that side also struggling to find their early season form. Fourteen minutes into the match, things looked ominous as Magnus Okuonghae gave away a penalty and was also red carded for his efforts. Moor Green's Darren Middleton though proceed to hit the spot kick right at Kelly, and the match remained level. Boosted by the penalty miss, the Avenue surged forward and six minutes later Danny Walsh opened the scored with a quite spectacular 30 yard drive that almost broke the net. Six minutes from half time, Andrew Quinn got a second and although Moor Green were by far the better side in the second half, it was Dave Green's side who hung on to take all three points.

The road to the FA Cup Final started for the Avenue with a home match against Hungerford. For once the Avenue were favourites and with the chairman saying the FA Cup was winnable from the lower leagues, having watched Dave Green do so in a different dimension, so the men in white coats were preparing to come and take him away. Five minutes into the match a penalty from Adam Tanner gave the Avenue the lead, and a brace from Jason Young tied the match up before a late consolation from Hungerford. It was a far from spectacular performance, but a win is a win and in the 3rd qualifying round the Avenue have a great chance of progressing with an away tie with Gorleston.

What a difference a month makes.

enjikari

Jason Young was, is, and always wil be an absolute legend :thup:

Utterly fb start PM. Of course, that's the usual :p

shannon2007

Thanks Daz

retired_jgirl87

Unfortunately I never read the original story - to me it is merely known from the revered whispers of the old-timers around this place.

Anyway this is a fine story, so I'll assume the old-timers weren't taking pish. KUTGW PM7. :thup: