His assistant Chris Hutchings was promoted to the manager's position,[38] and despite a series of new expensive signings,[39][40] he was sacked by November 2000, with City second from bottom of the league. [57] In the Quarter Finals, The Bantams faced Reading F.C. [7][15] O'Rourke left for a second time after one more season, and although City spent a total of eight seasons back in Division Two, they rarely looked like earning promotion back to the top flight. Weber also was disheartened freshman forward Davion Bradford didn’t find a spot on the team. [77] The following summer, the main stand was also converted into a two-tier stand, taking the capacity to 25,136. official website. [79] Valley Parade has had several other names under sponsorship naming deals. Ticket Line: 0333 323 5075 - option 1. The club spearheaded an initiative in 2007 to slash the price of watching professional football for the 2007–08 season. See supported browsers. Download All 360 “free” WordPress themes unlimited times with a single Envato Elements subscription. The replay was played on 16 March 2015 at the Madejski Stadium, where Reading won 3–0[58] and knocked the third-tier division club out of the competition. The club was founded in 1903 and immediately elected into the Football League Second Division. Here is a selection of their comments as these fans faced up to a second, consecutive loss to dent their play-off charge. [26] During the summer, however, the club chairman Bob Martin had to call in the official receivers. The players were: All records from Bradford City F.C. Bradford spent just three seasons in Division Three, but during their relegation season in 1960–61,[20] they upset Division One side Manchester United in the inaugural season of the League Cup. [90] The West Yorkshire derby is held between City and local rivals Leeds United and Huddersfield Town. [16] City won their third piece of silverware two seasons later, when they lifted the Third Division North Challenge Cup, but they were unable to defend the trophy because competitive football was suspended for the Second World War. The fire destroyed the main stand in just nine minutes. Offrande Zanzala scored a brace as Carlisle ended their eight-game League Two winless run with an impressive win against mid-table rivals Bradford. [67] Its first game against Bristol City on Christmas Day attracted a crowd of 36,000. They are the only professional football club in England to wear claret and amber, and have worn these colours throughout their history. [8] The same season they won the FA Cup, when a goal from captain Jimmy Speirs won the final replay against Newcastle United. Bolton Wanderers travel to West Yorkshire tomorrow aiming to make it seven wins on the spin when they take on Bradford City. The victory sent Bradford through to the 5th round for the first time in eighteen years. [174], "BCAFC" redirects here. Club officials first closed part of the stand in 1952, as a result of the Burnden Park disaster six years earlier. [82] As a result, season tickets to watch Bradford City were the cheapest in England at £138, the equivalent of £6 per match. Hull City and Bradford City players shine in Yorkshire’s Team of the Week Yorkshire Post 12:16 29-Mar-21 Find out which City player has made the League Two Team … Since the fire in 1985, the club has used black on the kit as a memorial to the 56 supporters who died. [83] When the offer finished at 7 pm on Tuesday, 31 July 2007, the club confirmed the amount of season tickets sold was 12,019. He cleared the debts and after four months sacked manager Frank Stapleton to appoint his own manager, Lennie Lawrence. [68][71] However, twice during the next decade, the club's Midland Road stand had to be demolished. [56] They beat Sunderland, another Premier League club, 2–0 at home in the next round on 15 February 2015. By December 1981, the club relaunched the Bantams as the official identity with a bantam on the new crest. Telephone: 0333 323 5075. Alternatively, please email ifollow@efl.com - note that live chat is recommended for the quickest response on a matchday. They found success in the 1980s under the stewardship of first Roy McFarland and then Trevor Cherry, winning promotion in 1981–82 and following this up with the Third Division title in 1984–85, though they were relegated out of the Second Division in 1990. The club's home ground is the 25,136-capacity Valley Parade, which was the site of the Bradford City stadium fire on 11 May 1985, which took the lives of 56 supporters. He bought the club's first £1 million signings and guided the club to the Premier League—the first time they had been in the top flight for 77 years—with a second-place finish. The club won the Perform Best Fan Marketing campaign category in The Football League Awards for the scheme and earned them an invitation to the Houses of Parliament. However, City's triumph was overshadowed by the fire disaster, which killed 56 people when Valley Parade caught fire in the final game of the season.[27]. [33][34] Paul Jewell took over, initially on a temporary basis, before he was given a permanent contract. Its frame was sold to Berwick Rangers and a replacement stand built in 1954. [4] Peter O'Rourke took over as manager in November 1905, and he led City to the Division Two title in 1907–08 and with it promotion to the Division One. [52], In January 2013, City became the first club from the fourth tier of English football since Rochdale in 1962 to reach the Football League Cup final, and the first fourth tier club ever to reach a major Wembley Cup Final. Valley Parade was the site of a quarry on the hillside below Manningham, Bradford, owned by Midland Railway Company, in 1886, when Manningham RFC bought one-third of the land and leased the remainder, because they had been forced to find a new home. [25] Cherry, with former teammate Terry Yorath as his assistant manager, failed to win for two months, but eventually the pair guided City to safety from relegation. In July 2016 it became the Northern Commercials Stadium,[80] and in July 2019 it became the Utilita Energy Stadium.[81]. phlox pro - elementor multipurpose wordpress theme. To do this click on the cookie settings button below. Instead they entered the play-offs, but were defeated in the semi-finals by Middlesbrough. [62] The club's away shirt has traditionally been white and to a lesser extent also blue, but there has been a profusion of other colours and designs particularly in more recent years. The club colours were inherited from Manningham FC, when the club converted to football upon Bradford City's foundation in 1903. The Trotters sit sixth … [32] Lawrence left after little more than a year to join Luton Town but his successor, Chris Kamara took City to the play-offs and their first game at Wembley Stadium. [44] Two years later, the club suffered a second spell in administration and a second relegation. [61] Manningham RFC adopted the colours in 1884 before the move to Valley Parade in 1886. The game was the final match of the 1984–85 season, before which City were presented with the Division Three championship trophy. It is erroneously believed that Motherwell chose the claret and amber colours because they were the racing colours of Lord Hamilton; it is more likely that Motherwell were influenced by Bradford City's English FA cup win in 1911.[64]. Bradford City has worn claret and amber, with either white or black, since it was founded. The club was saved by former chairman Stafford Heginbotham and former board member Jack Tordoff, but to ensure the club could start the new season, prize asset, striker Bobby Campbell was sold to Derby. The club's crest combines a series of logos from over the years. There followed three difficult seasons during which time manager Grenville Hair died following a heart attack in training, City returned to Division Three getting promoted in 1968–69. All from independent designers. [91][92] A "friendly" rivalry also existed with now-defunct club Halifax Town. The away kit for the 2008–09 season was all white. [28] But just ten days after the new £2.6 million ground was opened, Cherry was sacked. Try the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari. For three seasons, City finished mid-table in the third tier, which was renamed Division Two following the advent of the Premier League. After three successive top half finishes,[19] City were placed in the new Division Three in 1958–59. 2–4 Bradford City A.F.C. Bradford City currently play in the English Football League's Sky Bet League 2 Proud Finalists in 2019 Football Blogging Awards for Best Forum Adults prices are £199, senior citizen and student tickets priced at £149 and juniors £99. The club and Bradford Bulls would share the new £50m complex, which would also feature cricket, cycling and athletics facilities. [54] On 18 May 2013, the club returned to Wembley where they defeated Northampton Town F.C. [75], In 1991, the Bradford end of the ground was the next to be redeveloped, and was converted into a two-tier stand with a scoreboard. Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire.The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system.The club's home ground is the 25,136-capacity Valley Parade, which was the site of the Bradford City stadium fire on 11 May 1985, which took the lives of 56 supporters. In 1996, following City's promotion to Division One, club chairman Geoffrey Richmond announced the construction of a 4,500 seater stand on the Midland Road side. We employ more than 5,500 staff, all of whom are dedicated to providing the best possible healthcare to a population of 500,000. [94], Bradford City's only participation in European football to date came in the 2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup.[95][96][97]. City went top of the table in September 1987, but fell away during Christmas and missed out on promotion on the final day of the season. They were relegated in 1922 and again in 1927, before winning the Third Division North title in 1928–29. [85][86] The club aimed to attract 20,000 fans for the 2008–09 by offering a free season ticket to anyone buying a season ticket as long as 9,000 adults sign up, but they fell 704 short of the target. [29] His replacement, Terry Dolan steered City away from possible relegation,[30] before he mounted a promotion challenge the following season. [84] The scheme enabled the club to top the average league attendances for Football League Two during the 2007–08 season, attracting more than three times more than any other club. [12] Two seasons later, O'Rourke, who had initially retired in 1921 following the death of his son, returned and guided City to promotion with a record haul of 128 goals. In order to use the live chat functionality you need to opt into live chat cookies. A dominant brace from Carlisle United forward Offrande Zanzala sentenced Bradford City to their third game without a win and back to back defeats for the first … [63], A number of other clubs across the world wear claret and amber. [59], The club was relegated to League Two in April 2019.[60]. The following is a list of the officially appointed captains of the Bradford City first-team. Bradford City is the only professional football club in England to wear claret and amber. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The capacity was increased to 40,000 by December 1908 with a 5,300-seater main stand, a terraced paddock in front, a Spion Kop, and an 8,000-capacity Midland Road stand. [65] When Bradford City were formed in 1903, they took over the ground Valley Parade, which was also at this time the headquarters of The 2nd West Riding Brigade Royal Field Artillery (Territorial Force), playing their first home game on 5 September 1903 against Gainsborough Trinity, drawing a crowd of 11,000. [42][43] At the end of the first season back in Division One, City were placed in administration with debts of nearly £13 million. Four days later, at the 23rd annual meeting of Manningham FC, the committee decided to change codes from rugby league to association football. Odsal Stadium, Odsal, Bradford. City scarves have also sold in large numbers in recent years to fans of Harry Potter, because the colours are the same as Harry's house scarf at Hogwarts School. They secured promotions back into the third tier in 1969 and 1977, but were relegated in 1972 and 1978. [23] Promotion via fourth spot was won again in 1976–77 but it was instantly followed by a relegation season. In January 1994, Geoffrey Richmond came from Scarborough to take over as chairman,[32] and promised to guide City to the Premier League within five years.