BRADFORD (Park Avenue) manager Mark Bower has admitted he is clueless as to what the next few months hold for his team and football in general, but said the installation of a new 3G pitch at Horsfall can give those associated with the club cause for optimism.

Avenue have not played a game since losing 2-0 at home to Curzon Ashton on March 14, and with no set date for the start of the new season yet, clubs at National League North level and more are stuck in a state of limbo.

Asked what he expects from the brave new world of non-league football once it returns, Bower confessed: “I don’t know, as the advice is changing week on week.

“We’ll just take it on a month to month basis and see what we need to do. Until then we don’t know and we just have to follow instructions.

“Hopefully we’ll be back to normal soon and it’s not like this for too long.

“We’ll have to limit contact training when we return. Our ground is a good size to keep people apart but we’ve just got to be sensible.

“We’re thinking it could maybe be the end of July for distanced sessions but that could still change.

“Our pitch is still under construction but we have the facilities at the club to be ready (for when we can start).

“We’ve pencilled in some pre-season friendlies but we should hopefully know more about those once we have a start date for the non-league season.”

Bower is enthusiastic about the under construction 3G pitch, saying: “It’s definitely all pleasing on that front.

“It’s been talked about for as long as I’ve been here, us having a 3G pitch, but then all this with coronavirus threatened to scupper it.

“But people have been putting in a lot of hours to sort it and now it will be done comfortably in time for the new season.

“It will help us on the pitch, with the players we've got, but it’s going to help us off the pitch commercially too.”