BRADFORD (Park Avenue) begin pre-season today like their Mark Hughes-led neighbours, but star midfielder Jamie Spencer is not quite ready for their opener at Horsfall against Thackley.
Instead, he is focusing on making sure he can play “every minute of every game” when Avenue’s Northern Premier League Premier Division campaign gets underway next month.
He missed around a third of last season due to injury, with his absence one of the key factors in the club being relegated from National League North.
Spencer told the T&A: “Towards the end of the season, I was putting myself up for selection, but I wasn’t really fit, as I’d been carrying an injury since January.
“I’ve had an injection over the summer to get me back up to fitness and okay for the season, because I want to play every minute of every game.
“It was the same with Mitch (Lund) and OJ (Oli Johnson) being absent for long spells last term and hopefully with the three of us in the side, we’ll pick up more points this time.”
Spencer will have a watching brief against Thackley today, saying: “I’m a couple of weeks off yet.
“I’m working hard to make sure I’m right for that first league game but the lads are all working hard and (manager) Mark (Bower), (assistant) Danny (Boshell) and (player-coach) Luca (Havern) have added to the squad well, with Luca now putting his input in as a coach.
“We’ve got some decent fixtures (against the likes of the Bantams, Huddersfield and Blackpool), a few teams in there who you’d want to face no matter what league you were in.
“But pre-season’s about getting your fitness up, getting a feeling for playing games, and taking that into the new season.”
And Spencer was always going to be on board for 2023/24, despite Boshell confirming Avenue had had to fight off competition to re-sign him.
The midfielder said: “Avenue were always my number one choice, I made that clear to Mark, Danny and Luca at the end of the season.
“It just took a bit longer to sign as I’d been away and we had to go over some of the finer details.
“Things are looking great under Mark, Danny and Luca and it was obvious for me to sign.”
Spencer, a Huddersfield academy product, returned to Avenue last summer, after an initial spell from 2017 to 2019 which saw the club achieve two successive National League North play-off finishes.
Asked about how special the club is to him, he said: “When I left Huddersfield to come here initially, everyone, from Mark, Danny and Luca, the players, the fans and the people behind the scenes, all made me feel welcome.
“I’d wanted to come back for a while, and I felt what happened last season actually made it more important to stay here for another year, so I could help get us back up.
“Mark and Danny have always had the same idea and outlook for us in both my spells, but there were a few more older lads first time around.
“Now there’s more focus on the younger lads, and I consider myself one still, learning off Luca, Danny and OJ.
“But we just keep progressing with those younger lads who impressed last season, like Will Longbottom, Lucas Odunston, Myles La Bastide and Zak Kersey.
“It all comes together to make us a real team on and off the pitch.”
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