BRADFORD (Park Avenue) are right in the hunt for a play-off spot in the Northern Premier League East Division.

But sporting director Tom McStravick has warned that so much hard work still needs to be done off the field to grow the club.

He told the club’s in-house media channel: “There’s a huge focus going into the community aspect of the club.

“We’re having a look at changing the structure of our official charity, the Horsfall Community Trust, to try and make it more relevant to the football club.

“We’re looking at some investment to go into that too, to really drive forward the community aspect of the club.

“Our challenge here is to make the club sustainable and one way of doing that is to have more fans.

“We have to have a long-term view about how to grow the fanbase.

“One way of doing that is to win football games and the other is to connect with the community.

“We need to look at our engagement and our strategy, which is difficult for our really small team of people who are driving the club from top to bottom.”

Avenue are not the big name in English football they once were, with McStravick laying bare the struggles that brings.

Len Shackleton, who went on to play for Newcastle, Sunderland and England, was at Avenue when they were in the second tier of English football back in the 1940s.Len Shackleton, who went on to play for Newcastle, Sunderland and England, was at Avenue when they were in the second tier of English football back in the 1940s. (Image: UGC.)

He said: “We want to get engage with people and get the name of the club out there because there are schools we work in every day of the week where some of the pupils really don’t know much about Bradford (Park Avenue).

“We’ve increased the community activities we offer over the last few years but we’re mindful of the fact that it needs to be ramped up.

“There needs to be a hell of a lot more work done so we can promote the club to a wider audience, get people engaged and grow the fanbase.”