Congrats man!!! I can't wait to see what you do up in League 2

2016-02-20 02:53#226340 MJK46 : Congrats man!!! I can't wait to see what you do up in League 2

Thank you!! And I can't wait either, hopefully we can do something big

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Adam Chabukiani's men have done it two times in two weeks at Wembley after beating Wrexham 2-1 in the FA Trophy Final.

Following Bradford's 8-0 aggregate trouncing of Gary Mills' side in the Play-Offs Semi-Finals, essentially keeping them put in the National League, Wrexham looked to this fixture as a form of revenge.

But yet again, it wasn't to be for The Dragons, as Bradford Park Avenue completed their season double of Play-Off promotion and the FA Trophy as a parting gift as they rise up to the Football League for the first time since 1969.

It was the clubs' first ever title win in their history, and it signalled that it was definitely a great time to be an Avenue fan at the moment, despite the competition's poor reputation in the game.

The scoring got underway in the 13th minute via Sanchez Watt - the man who assisted Hallahan's decisive goal in the Play-Off Final. As Ben Blackmore received the ball on the edge of the area, he played a pass down his left to Jack Hallahan, who beat his marker to sweep in a low cross to Watt, maybe in gratefulness to assisting his goal a week before.

Bradford's second of the game came in the 31st minute through attacking-midfielder Harry Charsley. As Hallahan played in a ball to Matthew Fletcher, Nabi received it just behind to complete the triangle by passing it to Hallahan once more. It was Hallahan once again with the assist as he sped past his marker to send in a waist-high cross to Charsley, who happily sent in his eleventh goal of the season.

Wrexham registered a consolation goal in the 89th minute through Yan Klukowski. Williams passed a ball down the right to Wrexham star man Ross White, whose cross found Klukowski's feet before the midfielder slashed home a goal into the top left corner to make it 2-1.

After the game, Bradford PA boss Chabukiani sarcastically highlighting a Gary Mills quote about the surface quality. 'Well, I suppose it's unlucky for Mills and his team, I mean Wembley is well known for its awful pitch standards so they could've easily won on a better pitch,'

It's another victory for Chabukiani, though, who just can't stop making headlines for all the right reasons.

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As Adam Chabukiani bags the Vanarama National League Manager of the Season award, it is only scratching the surface of what the Georgian is achieving at Horsfall Stadium

After capping off the season with a Play-Off promotion and an FA Trophy to the trophy cabinet, Chabukiani is attracting national interest.

Because he has led the club up into the Football League for the first time since 1969, Bradford Park Avenue have announced a terrace conversion plan costing just under £220,000 to install 1,750 seats within Horsfall Stadium to comply with League Two regulations.

Dr John Dean, the club's chairman was quick to comment that the club received no external funding to carry out the expansion, which is a result of Chabukiani's ability to get the finances up with high attendances, low wages and a great profit on players in both the January and summer transfer windows this season.

The work will be completed in January, but it is not the only development happening over at Dr Dean's club.

The Horsfall Stadium pitch will be relaid after receiving criticism from many travelling teams, meaning Chabukiani's men can start their new Football League adventure on a perfect pitch, which will be in place by the end of June.

Also in June, Dr Dean announced plans to make the club turn professional, making all playing staff full-time staff, meaning they can spend more time improving their ability on the training ground due to more working days.

And even more good news coming from Bradford is that Dr Dean is spending £190,000 on the club's improvement on its youth facilities, as requested by manager Adam Chabukiani. Once again, the club is paying for this entirely, with no external funding needed, with the club making just under £450,000 in profits alone this season.

With Adam Chabukiani in hysterics at Bolton Wanderers' job offer, fans can be confident that the young Georgian manager is not going to be picked off any time soon.

All in all, things over in West Yorkshire are looking extremely good under the leadership of both Dr John Dean and Adam Chabukiani.

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Ross Allen has shown that even making it into Bradford Park Avenue's overall best eleven can't keep you at the club in times of progression.

Shortly after Bradford Park Avenue's 2-1 FA Trophy Final victory over Wrexham, the club induced seven new players to the overall best eleven since Chabukiani joined as manager.

Names included goalkeeper Myles Wright, young full-back Caner Dumlupinar and star midfielder Samir Nabi in the first eleven. But included on the bench was Ross Allen, who made sixteen appearances over the course of this season.

He joined in late-October and was a much-anticipated arrival at the club, providing much needed back-up for star striker Matthew Fletcher, which the squad had lacked since Marcel Barrington's departure to Kidderminster in the summer of that year.

After making national press headlines with his goalscoring feats at former club Guernsey FC, his arrival at Horsfall Stadium was met with big expectations, having outscored his appearances tally over the course of his career.

In short, the 30-year-old flopped. He made sixteen appearances and scored one goal which came in an FA Cup loss to Crewe Alexandra in November. That is in contrast to his first season at Guernsey at which he scored 51 goals in 34 games for the club.

Towards the end of this season just gone, he found himself more and more excluded from the travelling matchday squad, with youth striker Alex Fletcher making it on the bench before Allen.

After so much promise was shown over at Guernsey, it was a huge shame to see him fail the way he did at the higher level of football at Bradford Park Avenue. Because of this, the club deemed his contract until next as useless, and terminated it with immediate effect as of 29th May 2017.

The club sent out its best wishes for the striker's future, which is unlikely to be at the same level of football as Bradford Park Avenue.

Definitely the thing I like the least about lower league management is moving on players you grow a fondness for...

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As Bradford Park Avenue get ready for their new life in the Football League, they have lined up a very, very exciting preseason fixture list, featuring four Premier League sides.

With the League Two fixture list coming out and Bradford Park Avenue face fellow new-boys Gateshead on the first day of the league list, the preseason list has come out.

Bradford Park Avenue will face Carlo Ancelotti's Chelsea FC for their first preseason fixture. The Blues have just lost star striker Diego Costa to AS Monaco in a £40,000,000 deal, meanwhile Ross Allen departs Horsfall Stadium on a free transfer.

This fixture will take place on the last day of June at Horsfall Stadium, which is nearly sold out already!

Following the Chelsea fixture, Bradford Park Avenue will play a local derby against Championship side Leeds United at home. Steve Evans' side bolstered their attacking force in January, bringing in the likes of Garath McCleary, Rudy Gestede and Rickie Lambert. They have also just re-signed their former captain Lee Peltier from Cardiff City.

Six days after Leeds, Bradford PA will face Salford City, who have just completed back-to-back promotions under Anthony Johnson and now are set for a season in the National League. With Filipe Morais and Max Power in their ranks, Johnson's side are a force to be reckoned with.

After that, another massive tie, and it's also relatively local to Salford as Bradford PA take on Manchester City at home. Last season, Pellegrini went on a £120 million spending spree, snapping up the likes of José Gaya and Loic Remy. The club have already spent £53 million on Everton's Romelu Lukaku and Arsenal's Calum Chambers.

After that, Chabukiani's men will go local again to face dear rivals Bradford City, who will be in the same league as them this year following their narrow relegation from League One last season. It will no doubt be a heated affair as usual.

After Bradford City, Bradford Park Avenue will play their first and only away match of preseason as the visit another Yorkshire team in Doncaster Rovers at The Keepmoat Stadium.

Avenue will then go back to the Premier League teams to face Newcastle United at home, as Steve McClaren enters his third season as Toon gaffer.

West Ham United will come up from London to face Chabukiani's team at Horsfall Stadium, just like last season when they won 2-1 with goals coming from Diafra Sakho and Doneil Henry, and Matthew Fletcher netting Bradford's one goal of the game.

Bradford's final game before the league campaign begins will be against Scottish giants Celtic FC, who are still led by Norwegian boss Ronny Deila who is in his third year as boss there after unsurprisingly winning the Scottish Premiership last season.

Five days after the Celtic fixture, Chabukiani will hit the ground running in the club's first season in the fourth tier since 1969, as they face Gateshead at the Gateshead International Stadium.

Which game are you most looking forward to? Comment down below or on Twitter using the @BPAFCOfficial or #BPAFC tags.

Testing pre season for you there mate but no doubt you can get some good results for the club!

Griffo: You've put the words right in my mouth there mate

mgriffin2012: No point testing ourselves against the poor teams is there

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As Bradford Park Avenue kick off their preseason campaign against Chelsea, the club will announce centre-back Joel Lynch as their first signing of the summer upon the expiration of his current contract.

Adam Chabukiani has already gone on record stating that he does not want much change in the squad from last season, as the Georgian is confident that his current team is strong enough to mount yet another promotion push in the club's first season in the Football League.

Both Chabukiani and Lynch had an agreement in principle back in April that if Bradford were promoted to League Two, Lynch would sign for the club on a full-time basis only.

The 29-year-old has agreed a two-year deal with the Horsfall Stadium side and is set to be the highest earner at the club, reportedly earning between £1,000 to £1,200 per week from a source close to the club.

The new signing could spell the end of Ben Chorley's short stay at the club, with the 34-year-old being dropped down to the reserve team at Horsfall Stadium.

In other Bradford Park Avenue news, the club have upgraded their scouting range to offer scouting across Europe.

In terms of other departures, Sanchez Watt's future at the club is in doubt as his agent Matt Hawtin reportedly demanded a new contract for his client. He has been placed on the transfer list alongside Paul Marshall, with Gillingham interested in the 3-time Jamaican international.

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A Bradford Park Avenue trio of Sanchez Watt, Paul Marshall and Ben Chorley have all left the club on a permanent basis.

Following a 2-2 draw with Chelsea and a 2-0 win over Leeds United in preseason, Bradford Park Avenue have announced the departures of three first team players.

Sanchez Watt joined the club after his contract at Indian club Kerala Blasters was terminated. The Jamaican international helped in Adam Chabukiani's first promotion season in the National League North, playing 23 games in the league and scoring 7 goals with 6 assists to push the club further towards promotion.

Last season was his best at the club though, in his first and ultimately last season at Horsfall Stadium Watt made 55 appearances in all competitions, including 45 in the league. He scored 16 goals and assisted 11, making him one of Bradford's most influential players of the 2016/17 season. He assisted the Jack Hallahan goal which won Bradford promotion to League Two.

He leaves the club in unfortunate circumstances, though, as his agent wanted him to get another, more expensive contract at Horsfall Stadium. With John Abubakar coming through the ranks this season, letting him go was probably the best option for the club.

He has left holding a record, however, as he joins Gillingham for a Bradford Park Avenue record sale of £300,000, leaving Bradford healthily in the black.

Paul Marshall has joined Salford City for a fee of £35,000. Marshall joined the club under the John Deacey regime, but played his first season under the control of Adam Chabukiani's promotion season.

He became a fan favourite at Horsfall Stadium with 50 appearances to his name in all competitions in the 2015/16 season. His second season at the club was less successful however, with Samir Nabi and Adam Pepper taking the foothold in the center of midfield instead of Marshall, who was dropped down to the bench.

Ben Chorley has been released upon the news of Joel Lynch's arrival at Horsfall Stadium. The 34-year-old was slated when first signed from Bromley FC in January, with fans lamenting the manager's 'terrible' use of limited funds as he spent £9,750 on the defender.

He made his presence known in the back line though, making 24 appearances in all competitions and was pivotal in the club's FA Trophy run last season. He finished the season with an average rating of 7.10.

In terms of temporary departures, Miles Mason, Shaun Barrow, Lewis Jennings and Grant Getty have all left on loans to Solihull Moors, Leamington, Hyde and Forest Green Rovers respectively.

Good luck in League Two, it's fantastic to see you doing so well with the club.

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It's fair to say that this was not the preseason I had expected when the initial fixtures were announced in mid-June. We have done incredibly well and are already showing our capabilities very early on in the campaign with victories against both Leeds United and Manchester City, as well as holding the likes of Newcastle United and Chelsea to 2-2 draws. Our only loss of the campaign came in our only away fixture at The Keepmoat Stadium against Doncaster Rovers.

Luckily for us, our fixture against Manchester City was shown live on national television, choosing the perfect game to embarrass last seasons Premier League runners-up with a 3-2 win at the Horsfall, with the stadium looking rather ugly at the moment with the terrace conversion plan in process.

FIXTURES

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH

Our Player of the Month for June/July goes to Samir Nabi who has played excellently and further cemented his place in proceedings for our League Two campaign for me, as well as the fans after scoring the only two goals against our fierce local rivals Bradford City in preseason.

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TRANSFERS

After watching the preseason that has just taken place, I feel like I don't have to make anymore signings onwards from Joel Lynch who joined at the beginning of the month. We have been excellent in all departments and even saw our academy prospects step up to the mark this month with some awesome performances.

In terms of departures however, Charles Dunne has now followed Sanchez Watt and Paul Marshall out of the Horsfall door as he joins league rivals Grimsby Town for a tidy fee of £50,000, as Anthony Breslin takes the number one spot at left-back, with academy player John Watt providing cover for the Irishman.

In failed approaches, we attempted to sign Chelsea's Ola Aina on loan for the season, paying £700 of his £3,500 per week wage. The offer was accepted until the player decided he did not want to play for us this season, which in my belief is a bad decision if he wants to develop.

Leicester City have tried multiple times to sign up our back-up striker Alex Fletcher, with a fee rising up to £350,000, which we simply weren't taking. Salford City also made a surprise attempt to sign Jack Hallahan with a £150,000 up-front fee. We gleefully rejected Anthony Johnson's offer and told him to look elsewhere.

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Liverpool starlet Samed Yesil has today had his season-long loan move to Bradford Park Avenue ratified by the Football League.

The 23-year-old German striker is Avenue's second signing of the summer as Adam Chabukiani looks to bolster his attacking options following Matthew Fletcher's brace on the opening day of the new League Two season in a 3-1 win over Gateshead.

With the loan deal allowing Yesil to be played in cup games, it is looking likely that the striker will start against Nottingham Forest in the Capital One Cup First Round on Monday - a game picked for televising on Sky Sports One at 7:45 p.m..

Yesil follows Joel Lynch through the Horsfall Stadium door as Chabukiani's second signing of the 2017/18 season.

Bradford will pay £925 per week to the German, with his parent club covering the rest of his £4,600 per week wage at Anfield.

The youngsters last loan spell at FC Luzern in Switzerland's top-flight was a great success, with Yesil netting sixteen goals in thirty-five games as the club came fifth in the Raiffeisen Super League.

He has proven himself in the Swiss top league, but Yesil is yet to show his colours in the lower leagues of English football with him remaining at Liverpool throughout all of last season.

Yesil has yet to make a first-team appearance for Liverpool since he joined in 2012 from Bayer Leverkusen for a fee of just over £1,000,000.

His spell at Bradford Park Avenue is his second loan move of his career, with local media outlets touting Chabukiani to change the formation to fit star striker Matthew Fletcher up-front alongside the 5'11" German. At this level of football, that is a lethal combination.

Yesil's loan deal runs until the end of this season.

DAT NOSE! #glorious