Shrewsbury Town

(This game against fellow promotion seekers Shrewsbury Town ended in a 0-0 draw)
Over the last few years City fans have become all too familiar with fundraising initiatives. Indeed, in 2004 supporters raised a magnificent £250,000 to keep the club in business. At the time it was the largest amount ever raised by football supporters in Britain.
Older supporters will remember the frantic fund raising efforts to keep the club afloat in 1983 and the sadder task of the Bradford Disaster Fund in the wake of the fire in 1985. To its immense credit Bradford Council, led by chief executive Gordon Moore, reacted to the disaster rapidly. Within 48 hours the ground had been laid for the hugely successful disaster appeal.
Bradford was galvanised by the appeal. In every walk of life people found a way to help. Across the country the disaster struck a cord, thousands of pounds poured into the fund. From impromptu whip-rounds, to a fundraising record in the top ten, the disaster appeal exceeded all expectations by raising £4m. Jim Greenhalf later wrote in the Telegraph and Argus: ‘Pity Poor Bradford, a 17th Century ghost is said to have wailed. The world did; but Bradford collectively turned tragedy into its finest hour. The £4m raised for the disaster appeal was duly distributed through a trust fund without the slightest controversy or complaint.’
The specialist burns unit at Bradford University, set up after the disaster, still leads the world in pioneering research into reducing scarring from burns and plastic surgery. Professor David Sharpe, the director of the unit, was consultant on call at Bradford Royal Infirmary during the weekend of the fire disaster. He led a team of surgeons from all parts of the country to help the injured supporters. He received the OBE in 1986 in recognition of that work.
Fund raising has a very long history at Valley Parade. Five months before Bradford City was formed, our predecessors Manningham Northern Union (Rugby League) Club were facing financial ruin. Their second division derby against Leeds on New Years Day 1903 attracted a healthy 6,000 spectators. An athletics festival was held after the match with a harrier’s race commencing immediately after the final whistle. Then the crowd poured onto the field for the highlight of the day - an archery fund raising event. A huge sixteen foot slowly rotating target, full of thousands numbered tickets which had been sold all over the country in the preceding weeks, was set up in front of the main stand. Members of the Manningham committee and selected prominent gentlemen from Bradford shot 150 arrows at the target. A Mr W Wisdon of Woolwich, London won the first prize of £85. Mrs Smith of 67 Preston Street, Bradford carried away second prize of an upright piano. Third prize, a dining room suite, went to R Dent of Station Road, Oxenhope. The competition was a huge financial success.
This influx of funds enabled the club to break even come the end of the season. Even Manningham’s debts had been cleared. It was crucial as it allowed the newly formed Bradford City AFC to begin life on an even financial keel. Though eight years later the club had established itself as one of the top five clubs in the country, and had won the FA Cup, its birth against the background of financial turmoil was sadly to be a reoccurring theme over the century to follow.