IN A week when the focus was on the new owner and board of directors at Bradford Park Avenue, first-team boss John Deacey made a point of praising the old guard.

Deacey paid a glowing tribute to outgoing chief executive officer Bob Blackburn and the tireless Kevin Hainsworth.

The manager feels the new Horsfall regime will have a huge impact on the club and promises a rosy future – but he feels the efforts of the previous owner should not be overshadowed.

Deacey said: "Bob was fantastic for the club and he did a great job in his time here. He did a lot of hard work and most of that was behind the scenes, so a lot of people didn't see it.

"For me, it's quite simple – if it wasn't for Bob, Bradford Park Avenue would not be in the Conference League."

When self-made millionaire building tycoon Blackburn bought the major shareholding of the club from Frank Thornton and Bob Robinson, the club were on the brink of suffering back-to-back relegations.

Blackburn headed their resurgence and even though a change in personal circumstances and the world-wide recession meant he was not able to maintain the level of funding he wished, he stood by the club and continued to support them, both financially and by association.

Deacey said: "He put his own money in and did a lot of improvements to the ground and stadium. Bradford has a lot to thank him for and I don't think that should be overlooked.

"I think Kev (Hainsworth) will still be doing a lot for a while longer but the takeover has helped take the pressure off him.

"He needed help in all the roles that he was doing and he kept going that extra mile because if he didn't do things, they wouldn't have been done.

"Between them they did an awful lot and you wonder what and where the club would be if it wasn't for them."