XI questions with | Avro

Across the country, fans are preparing for the new campaign with renewed hope and ambition for the season ahead.

Ahead of the 2026/27 campaign getting underway on Saturday 8 August, we sat down with supporters from the NPL clubs at Step 3 to hear their thoughts on how things are shaping up.

Today, it’s the turn of newly-promoted Avro and their supporter, Liam Bambridge.

It was a brilliant campaign for you to win the NPL West Division play-offs last season, meaning you will play at Step 3 for the first time in your history. How do you continue the strong momentum you are building as a club?

It’s the stuff of dreams really. 

Let’s not forget that only eight years ago we entered the National League system, and we’ve been promoted three times in that period!

The challenge is to keep that momentum going, given the rate we are operating at. I know our manager Grant Shenton is keen to push on and doesn’t want to simply ‘make up the numbers’ this year.

You mentioned Grant Shenton there, who was appointed in April 2025 but has plenty of history with the club. How do you sum up his leadership, and can he take you to the next level?

I think so. 

We shouldn’t fear what lies in front of us. We’re used to being a fairly small fishes in a fairly big pond and we shouldn’t be intimidated by that, but at the same time it’s not going to be straight forward.

Do you have any major concerns heading into the season?

Not really, no. 

What serves us quite well is that people underestimate us. They come to our ground, which is fairly modest by club standards, and they slightly look down their noses at us. That works to our advantage. 

On that basis, I think we will surprise a few teams this season. Of course, the biggest concern is to drop straight back down and that momentum to be halted, especially since we haven’t got one of the bigger budgets.

What does a successful season look like for Avro?

Realistically, we would all be very happy staying up, even though I don’t think Grant would be. 

Which new signing are you most excited to see in an Avro shirt?

We’ve retained a pretty solid group of players from last year, meaning we haven’t had to sign many players. 

I’ve only seen one or two pre-season games so far but I was really impressed by Jacob Holland-Wilkinson, who was at Ramsbottom last year and scored a lot of goals. 

Jack Atkinson as well, who was at Stockport County and more recently with Stockport Town. Our model is looking at younger players from a lower level and giving them the chance to impress on a higher stage.

Both Jack Kenny and Kyle Hawley have left to join Chester and Radcliffe respectively. How significant are those losses?

You’re talking about an outstanding defender and the Player of the Year in the NPL West, so you can’t imagine that we won’t miss them. 

Jack deserves his chance and was absolutely brilliant, despite missing some of the season with injury. He ended up as captain last season. 

We want to keep as much of our squad as possible, but when players have the chance to compete at Step 2 you can’t stand in their way. 

The season before last we had AJ Warburton, who is now a regular at Halifax Town. If players shine, they will get noticed higher up the pyramid. The positive sign is we have good replacements for Jack and Kyle already. 

For anybody unfamiliar with Avro, describe your club’s style of play…

We’re very front-foot, to be honest. 

Grant has a very positive approach to games, he is not looking for draws. On one or two occasions last season we lost games searching for a winner. 

I remember a match at Bootle where we got back to level terms and he was pushing for a winner, but we got caught on the counter-attack in the 95th minute away from home. We’re not afraid to have a go.

Which new ground are you most excited to visit, and why?

FC United of Manchester will be fantastic, but there are so many to look forward to. 

Interestingly, when I first thought of us going up, one thing that caught our attention was ‘is there going to be way more travel?’. 

But when you look at it closely, we have lots of local fixtures. The likes of Curzon Ashton, Hyde United, Ashton United, Bury, both Warrington teams, so it promises to be a really exciting campaign.

Who are the league’s dark horses for 2026/27?

Redcar Athletic have come up after a fantastic season with lots of momentum. 

They’ll have a chance of pushing on and fancy their chances of ‘making a splash’.  Emley could be the same. 

The promoted teams have an advantage of others not knowing much about them. Outside of that, you look at some established sides who have been in the division a few years who might be ready to make the step up.

Who wins the league, and why?

I think Bury have a great chance given their tremendous resources and a great stadium. 

FC United will be in with a shout, and then there’ll be someone like Alfreton Town or Curzon Ashton who will be determined to climb higher again.

You have five minutes with the squad ahead of the opening game. What is your final message to them?

Believe in yourselves, because you are here on merit. 

There’s no reason you cannot cope with the step up in quality. Go out there, express yourselves, and play as well as we know you can.