Bradford City

Bradford City AFC is a professional football club from the former industrial city of the same name that was founded in 1903 after beginning life as Manningham FC, who were a rugby league side. 

The football authorities met with James Whyte, a sub editor at the Bradford Observer newspaper and saw a chance to establish the game in the rugby league dominated district. They were duly elected into the Football League Second Division to replace Doncaster Rovers. 

Four days later, at the 23rd annual meeting of Manningham FC, the committee decided to change code from rugby league to association football. Bradford City Association Football Club were formed without having played a game, taking over Manningham's colours of claret and amber, and their Valley Parade ground.

City were promoted to Division One in 1907-08 before going on to lift the FA Cup in 1910-11. The first game against Newcastle United ended in a draw at Crystal Palace before City won the replay 1-0 at Old Trafford through a goal from skipper Jimmy Speirs with Peter O'Rourke managing the team. 

The team also finished fifth in the league; the clubs highest ever finish. The following season saw the first ever Bradford derby against Park Avenue. City were relegated in 1921-22 to Division Two before dropping down to Division Three North in 1926-27. The club didn't return to the top flight until they had a two season spell from 1999.

City would spend the vast majority of their intervening years in the bottom two divisions with highlights being third place in the Division Three North seasons of 1938-39 and then 1957-58 around other campaigns which required applying for re-election to the league.

When the Football League was reorganised for the 1957-58 season, City were placed in Division Three; from where they were relegated in 1960-61. Jimmy Wheeler took the team back to Division Three in 1968-69. However, the Paraders were demoted back to the bottom tier with Bryan Edwards in charge of the team in 1971-72.

Scotsman Bobby Kennedy brought some success to the club when appointed as manager in January 1975. The 1975-76 season saw City go all the way to the quarter final of the FA Cup, before Southampton ended the run with a 1-0 win at Valley Parade.

The following season saw City promoted to Division Three, but the team were relegated just twelve months later as new manager John Napier took over. George Mulhall took the side within a whisker of regaining a Division Three position in 1979-80 while working under a shoestring budget.

Roy McFarland arrived as player-manager and took City to promotion in 1981-82 before departing for Derby County. City hit terrible financial troubles; not for the first time in the 1980's. The club was saved by Stafford Heginbotham and Jack Tordoff.

They employed the management team of Trevor Cherry and Terry Yorath, who transformed things on the pitch. The Third division title was won in 1984-85 before disaster struck the club.

On Saturday 11th May 1985, City were celebrating their title win with their final game against Lincoln City. Fire broke out in the ancient Main Stand, believed to be started by a discarded cigarette going through the floorboards and into a gap filled with rubbish underneath.

Within minutes the blaze took hold. The wooden roof, which was covered with tarpaulin and sealed with asphalt and bitumen, caught fire. Fifty six people lost their lives. The stand had been scheduled for a massive overhaul after that game, but it was too late.

The club and its supporters managed to show incredible fortitude and were ready to play at the start of the next season in the second tier but having to play home games at Odsal Stadium in the city and at Elland Road, Leeds and Leeds Road, Huddersfield. 

After nineteen months 'The Bantams'; the club also had the nicknames of The Robins and The Wasps from their Manningham days as well as The Citizens and The Paraders, returned home to refurbished Valley Parade. 

City reached the play-offs in 1987-88 where they were defeated by Middlesbrough in the semi-finals with Stuart McCall and John Hendry the stars of the show. The club were relegated back into the third tier in 1989-90 under Terry Dolan.

Terry Yorath and John Docherty had spells as manager before the appointment of Frank Stapleton; who was at the helm in January 1994, when former Scarborough chairman Geoffrey Richmond rode into town; after waiting for his chance at a bigger club. He promised City fans Premiership football within five years. 

Richmond replace Stapleton with Lennie Lawrence, who in turn was succeeded by Chris Kamara who led the club to promotion in 1995-96 following play-off victories over Blackpool and then Notts County in City's first ever Wembley appearance.

Richmond apparently cleared previous substantial debts as Valley Parade was enlarged with new stands. Kamara departed after a fall out to be replaced by former player Paul Jewell in January 1998. Jewell led his side to a runners-up place and promotion to the Premier League in 1998-99.

City survived the first season by the skin of their teeth. Richmond sanctioned huge signings such as Stan Collymore, Benito Carbone and Dan Petrescu; but the gamble failed to pay off in 2000-01 after Jewell had been sacked and Chris Hutchings, Stuart McCall and Jim Jeffries all had short spells in charge of the team.

Richmond departed after relegation the and following a year in the second tier, the club entered administration with debts of £13M. Two years later the club again entered administration with City relegated to the third tier League One in 2003-04 under Bryan Robson.

City's heroes emerge before the match ended in tragedy. Picture taken from the internet.

Julian Rhodes and Mark Lawn bought the club from Gordon Gibb as the team were demoted back to the bottom tier League Two with Colin Todd as manager in 2006-07. Former favourite McCall was appointed as manager with the task of taking City to promotion.

To try and keep the club in business Valley Parade; which changed immeasurably during Richmond's tenure, was sold to chairman of the time Gordon Gibb's pension fund for £5M. with the club's offices, shop and car park sold to London-based Development Securities for an additional £2.5 million. 

In July 2007 a three year deal was set up so the ground was officially called Coral Windows Stadium although it is still widely known by people in the game as Valley Parade. There are rumours abound that the club may move out and share at a new Odsal stadium with Bradford Bulls; formerly Northern, RLFC to save money. This move would not be popular with fans.

The old Midland Road Stand and Bradford landscape. Photo taken from the internet.

Bradford City's annual rent bill in 2009 to Gibb's pension fund was £680,000. The total budget for the year, including other rent payments, rates, maintenance and utility bills was £1.2 million. The grounds naming rights have been sold on several occasions to companies, Pulse Radio, Bradford and Bingley and Intersonic. 

In an effort to attempt missing fans back to Valley Parade the club introduced the cheapest season tickets in the entire league; the equivalent of £6 a match, and continued the policy for the following season. It worked as gates often reached the 13,000 mark.

A deal was struck in March 2011 to repurchase the office block and club shop to minimise rental charges and to eventually get the clubs finances back on an even keel. Cheap season tickets were sold for a few seasons to reinvigorate support in the club, which saw a large take up. Phil Parkinson took over as manager in August 2012 charged with restoring the on the pitch fortunes.

Odsal Stadium; where City took refuge after the fire

The appointment of Parkinson proved to be an inspired move. A remarkable run in the League Cup saw Wigan Athletic and Arsenal dispatched before Aston Villa were seen off in the two legged final. City eventually went down 4-0 at Wembley against an excellent Swansea City side.

A few weeks later The Bantams returned to the national stadium for the play off final where Northampton Town were defeated 3-0 to secure promotion from the bottom tier. In their first season at the higher level, City finished in a respectable eleventh place.

The 2014-15 season saw City go on a remarkable FA Cup run; which saw them defeat Millwall, Chelsea and Sunderland before losing 3-0 in a quarter final replay away to Reading. The following campaign saw City miss out on promotion after losing to Millwall in the play-off semi-final.

Parkinson departed to take the Bolton Wanderers managers role in June 2016, with McCall returning for a third spell in charge of the team. He took City to the play-offs; where Fleetwood Town were defeated before Millwall ended dreams of promotion with a 1-0 win at Wembley.

Charlie Wyke topped scorred in 2017-18 before the Bantams were relegated in 2018-19. The Coronavirus pandemic saw the 2019-20 campaign being decided on points per game with City ending in eighth with the help of the goals of James Vaughan.

McCall was sacked in November 2020 to be replaced by caretaker joint-managers Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars who steadied the ship. Derek Adams was appointed as manager in June 2021, with the owners rejecting a bid from an American cryptocurrency company to buy the club the following November.

Mark Hughes was appointed as the new Bantams manager in February 2022, before taking his side to the playoffs in 2022-23, where they lost to Carlisle United in the semifinals as Andy Cook put away the goals. The Welsh team boss was replaced by Graham Alexander in November 2023.

City narrowly missed out on the playoff place at the conclusion of the 2023-24 campaign..

Bradford City AFC will play in the EFL League Two in the 2024-25 season.

My visits

Bradford City 2 Hull City 0 (Wednesday 3 October 1984) Division Three (att: 4,446)

My first visit was on a rain soaked evening when I travelled in Paul Sharp's car with his fellow Bantams fan Martin Halliday. I was with fellow Tigers Nick and John Groombridge in the back. We left our pals and went onto the big open away section; where it was absolutely pouring down.

The Kop End was split down the middle with home fans and offered a great view. To our right stood the wooden Main Stand which a few months later would cause much sorrow. It had seats at the back with lots of pillars with a paddock long the front and at the ends for standing fans. 

The players changing rooms were in the far corner in a separate building. At one time they were under The Kop. The far Bradford End was an average sized covered terrace. The final side was the lowest and narrowest at any league ground. 

The Midland Road Stand was like a long bus shelter on top of a bank. A larger stand had once stood their before being declared unsafe. Valley Parade, it was safe to say, was no thing of beauty.

The Bantams were an excellent team with the likes of Peter Jackson, Stuart McCall, John Hendrie and Bobby Campbell ruling the roost and they totally outplayed The Tigers. At half time common sense prevailed as the away fans were offered shelter in the Midland Road Stand. I didn't dry out before we got back to Scarborough.

At Leeds Road

Bradford City 4 Hull City 2 (Saturday 14th September 1985) Division Two (att: 4,930)

Bradford had been forced to decamp to Leeds Road following the tragic Valley Parade fire at the end of the previous season, as well as using Elland Road and Odsal Stadium. Both sides had been promoted and were finding their feet at their new status.

Leeds Road was past its best, but it was still an impressive venue. The sizeable Main Stand was all seated down one side of the pitch. Opposite was the massive covered Popular Terrace. The Cowshed was a smaller covered terrace at the far end. Finally, was the open terracing of the Dalton Bank End with an old-fashioned scoreboard at the rear. This is where we were located.

I travelled with my usual mates on the supporter’s coach from Scarborough, Filey and Bridlington. The Bantams with a young Don Goodman up front and the classy Stuart McCall and John Hendrie running things were too much for the Tigers.

At Valley Parade

Bradford City 2 Hull City 0 (Saturday 25 April 1987) Division Two (att: 10,390)

Having been to Leeds Road to see The Bantams beat The Tigers 4-2 while Valley Parade was being rebuilt I was eager to see the rebuilt stadium. It was a vital game for Hull as they were perilously close to the relegation places.

I went to the game on the supporters coach with my mates, while many other pals headed to Surrey for Scarborough's vital game in their quest for promotion at Sutton United. Valley Parade was most impressive. 

We were placed in a new Bradford End which was terracing and pretty packed. To the left was a single tier all seated Main Stand. The roof joined with a new re-aligned and covered Kop, which retained terracing. The Midland Road Stand had been tidied up but remained the same size.

Again The Tigers were outplayed by a slick Bradford outfit, who were on their way to the play offs the following season. It was Hull's last defeat of the season as they hit form thereafter, particularly Richard Jobson, to finish safely. Scarborough won 2-0 at Sutton to virtually seal the Conference title.

Bradford City 2 Hull City 1 (Saturday 18 January 1992) Division Three (att: 6,369)

Mine and Hull's bad run continued but at least I saw them take the lead this time! I had a Post Office darts match in Leeds at night so I roped my cadet colleague Karl Theobald into getting a lift with Leeds fans going to Maine Road as far as Leeds station. We then took the train to Bradford. We were running late after a heavy post in the morning so poor Karl went unfed apart from a pastie at the ground.

The Bradford End had been replaced by a two tier stand with seats upstairs but again we found ourselves in the Midland Road Stand. It was a decent enough game which must have made us extremely thirsty. Karl was well versed in going to pubs at football despite being only sixteen. 

I was training him well! We got back to Leeds and I told him to take it steady as we had a long night ahead of us. Anyway, to cut a long story short, we turned up for our game virtually bereft of the power of speech. The guest ales in the Duck and Drake had done the damage. We lost 8-1 and generally made clowns of ourselves, but we laughed incessantly.

Wednesday 17 September 2008

I had stayed over in Leeds after watching Scarborough Athletic play at Glasshoughton Welfare the previous evening. I popped into Valley Parade on my jaunt around West Yorkshire. I didn't hold out much hope of getting inside until I saw a press gate open, so I didn't need a second invitation. I was in the concourse of the Main Stand and I walked into the seating deck to be met with an incredible sight.

Only the Bradford End was the same from my last visit, albeit all seated now. The far side was occupied by a new single tiered seated Midland Road Stand. This was very impressive, but it was dwarfed by the final two sides of the ground. The Kop had its roof taken off and an extra tier had been added and made all seated in 1999. 

A corner section was also added to join up with the Main Stand at the same time taking the grounds capacity over 20,000 for the first time since 1970. The Main Stand had an extra tier built with it joining up with The Kop in 2001. The ground now looked amazing, but at what cost?

I stood there for a few minutes trying to take it all in. A huge St George flag was left on the seats in the upper tier corner section commemorating the terrible disaster of 1985. It was nice to see that the fans hadn't forgotten.

I went outside to spend some time of reflection by the disaster memorial plaque, which has the names and ages of those who perished. It was tear jerking to see that there were quite a few fathers and young sons. 

The Dad's were probably having the happiest day as a City fan while trying to instill the faith into their boys, the same as my Dad had done with me and my brothers. My two aforementioned friends Paul and Martin had been at the game that fateful day. I was so relieved to find out they were alright when I returned from my game. I remember it like it was yesterday.

I walked away and immediately rung my Dad to make sure he was OK. Rest in Peace those who lost their lives. There for the grace of God...

The older photos of Valley Parade on this page have been taken from the internet.