Rotherham United

In this, the last home match of the 2008-2009 season, City beat Rotherham 3-0.

In the final part of our Odsal odyssey we chart the departure of the Bulls from Valley Parade and the proposed Odsal Sporting Village. Ground sharing between Bradford’s two professional sporting clubs is back on the agenda, but despite the grand plans for Odsal, it’s debateable where the shared ground will be.
With the collapse of the Tesco development at Odsal in 2002 the council came under increasing pressure to fund a return of the Bradford Bulls to Odsal. Though the Bulls had received £1.2m from the council to compensate them for their two year sojourn at Valley Parade, they also wanted the council to foot the bill to bring Odsal up to standard. Bulls chairman Chris Caisley even threatened to take the Bulls out of Bradford. In truth it was probably a bluff to increase the pressure on the Council as they assed the options. The council revealed that repairs and improvements to Odsal would cost at least £660,000 just to bring the ground back up to the basic health and safety standards.
Chris Caisley claimed the Council was only prepared to do 'the bare minimum' for the club over the next decade-and-a-half: "That means spending a minimum amount on health and safety grounds. It will mean that after two years, capacity will drop from 25,000 to 14,000 and that in the interim period, there will be no bars and hospitality facilities open to the public. It doesn't seem to be a stadium for the World Club Champions, does it?
"It seems to me that over a number of years, and certainly throughout my involvement in the club, the Council has abrogated that responsibility to the point where it's allowed the stadium to rot, to become an eyesore in due course and, if their present plans are to be believed, to make it very difficult to sustain a business within that stadium."
Councillor Simon Cooke, Deputy Leader of Bradford Council commented: "We're obviously in a situation that none of us, not the Bulls, not the developers nor the Council or indeed the people of Bradford, wanted to be in and we have now got to work for a long-term solution. In the short-term, however, we have a requirement, and Chris has made it absolutely clear on a number of occasions that he wants to go back to play at Odsal, and I understand why he wants to do this, and why Bull fans want to do that. What we are doing as a Council is the bare minimum at this point necessary to enable him to get back and play next season.”
The shenanigans put even greater momentum behind the supporters campaign to return the Bulls to Odsal. The council eventually bowed to public pressure and in August 2002 announced details of the agreement that was to take the Bulls home. The council agreed to pay the Bulls £4.64m over two years. The deal attracted intense criticism from sections of the public, but the council said the deal would be paid for by the sale of land and properties owned by the council, as well as some borrowing. A 150-year lease was signed at a peppercorn rate, reputedly £1 per year. The council also spent £660,000 on health & safety work to bring Odsal up to standard for the 2003 Super League season.
The Main Stand was refurbished, with nearly 5,000 new seats and roof. New floodlights completed the refurbishment and all was ready for the triumphant return on 9 March 2003 when the Bulls met Wakefield Trinity. The improvements didn’t stop there. A two-storey corporate hospitality facility was later constructed on the site of the speedway pits at the Low Moor end of the ground.
The cost to the local taxpayer for the collapse of the Tesco development was immense. The Bradford Bulls received just short of £6m of public money between 2000-03. Another £1m was spent on a combination of bringing Odsal back up to scratch to facilitate the Bulls return and consultancy fees.
In 2004, when Bradford City was on the brink of closure, council leader Margaret Eaton told City fans that the council was unable to help out as City was ‘a private business’. Today in 2009 the council have set aside £15m of public money to help develop the Odsal Sporting Village. If the Sporting Village goes ahead it would mean that since 2000 £23m of public money will have been spent on Odsal related matters.
The council seem determined to press ahead with a development that has, at its heart, a brand new stadium for the Bradford Bulls. Yet reports suggest that Valley Parade – a virtually brand new 25,000 capacity all-seater stadium – is for sale for around £2.5m.

Lincoln City

This match resulted in a 1-1 draw.

We continue our Odsal odyssey with the National Superdome and the Tesco developments. As ever the ‘Wembley of the North’ was to prove elusive.
In the mid-1990s the Government invited applications for a new national stadium to replace the aging Wembley. Former Bradford City director John Garside fronted a bid to make Odsal the National Stadium. In April 1995 £200m plans for an 80,000 all-seater ‘Superdome’, covered by a sliding roof, was unveiled to a sceptical public. Deadline after deadline passed without any progress. Eventually Odsal failed to make the national shortlist, and despite assertions that the project would go ahead regardless, it inevitably fizzled out.
One casualty of the Superdome was the Bradford Dukes speedway team. The reigning British Champions, they were forced to vacate Odsal in 1997 to facilitate preparatory works. The Dukes had a lease that was renewed yearly by the Council, the lease was suspended with the expectation that the Dukes would return once the Superdome was built. However, they were never offered the opportunity to return to Odsal even after the Superdome scheme officially died on 31 December 1998.
Allan Ham, team manager of Bradford Dukes, appealed to the Council to come up with possible sites for a track in a bid to re-launch the club. Ultimately, he was unable to find a base anywhere in West Yorkshire. Devastated fans wrote to Bradford Council to protest. Craig Asquith of Netherlands Avenue, confined to a wheelchair since his speedway bike went out of control and crashed into fencing at Odsal Stadium, said: "I believe a way must be found to save speedway in Bradford. Odsal was one of the best tracks in the world and it was lost all because of a development which didn't go ahead."
Leeds based Sterling Capital emerged in December 1999 as the new developers for Odsal. The redevelopment was to comprise of a 26,000-seater stadium, 28,000 parking places, a Tesco supermarket and multiplex cinema. On 23 August 2000, the Telegraph and Argus revealed: “Bradford Council has agreed, behind closed doors, to contribute £110,000 to a study of the [Odsal] site”. The editorial wondered what the point was of yet another site study?
In November 2000, a tripartite agreement was signed between the Council, Sterling Capital and the Bulls. £1.2m was paid to the Bulls to facilitate their two year move to Valley Parade. Councillor Barry Thorne said: "We have no objections to them receiving these payments. What we do not want is for this to come out of the limited leisure budget, which is already having to make cuts." Bulls chairman Chris Caisley said any figures were part of a confidential contract between himself and Bradford Council. However, it would not remain confidential for long. In August 2001 Keighley Cougars, who were fighting to stay afloat amid huge financial problems, complained that the Bulls were being given preferential treatment. Chris Caisley blasted: "It is uninformed rubbish and I wish that people would get their facts right before making such statements. The truth is that we have actually saved the Council money by moving to Valley Parade because they would have had to spend millions on making Odsal safe for us to stay there this season. Our current arrangement with the Council dates back to the re-development of Odsal for the 1986 World Speedway Championship.
"Under that agreement we gave up revenues from the bars, car parks and other events within the stadium. In return we have been compensated for that loss and that deal still forms the basis of our current financial arrangement. We have not received any extra monies above and beyond what we were entitled to under that arrangement."
The Cougars had meetings with the Council asking for financial assistance to get them through a ‘difficult period’ but they were informed that it was not possible. Cougars chairman Bob Chapman said: "We do not begrudge the Bulls the money they have received from the Council but it would have been nice if we had received a small percentage of that."
The Bulls temporary move to Valley Parade divided the Bulls fans, one said: "You can get 24,000 in and get a lot of noise. A lot better than Odsal." Others disagreed: "I don't like Valley Parade. I've always been a Bulls and Park Avenue supporter, but never City." Though the Bulls were to remain unbeaten in the Super League at Valley Parade, the fans began to hanker for a return to their spiritual home.
Bradford Council's regulatory committee eventually gave its backing to the Odsal scheme. The final hurdle was the approval of Steven Byers - the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. The £60m scheme was reliant on the retail development, but with Government policy against further out-of-town developments in February 2002 it was announced that the scheme would be subject to a public inquiry.
The decision to hold an inquiry caused the scheme to collapse. BBC North Sport reporter Tanya Arnold explained: "It's the fact that it's had to go to a full planning inquiry - a long and costly affair. What they say is that it is additional costs, timescale, delays and uncertainties created by this that have meant they, and the co-developers Tesco, have decided not to proceed. They just don't want to go into that inquiry which I've heard could cost up to £1million."
The announcement put the future of Odsal Stadium in jeopardy, with Bradford Council's Chief Executive, Ian Stewart, describing the plans as 'dead in the water'. A question mark even hung over the Bradford Bulls themselves. Since the start of the 2001 season, they had been playing home games at Valley Parade. But with the Bantams in administration, and the football club up for sale, the future of that arrangement looked uncertain.
Dave Hatfield, Rugby League correspondent for The Independent, said it was unclear what effect the developments could have on the team: "They're going to have to work out where they're going to play rugby. I know that their contract with Bradford City was only for this season. They don't even know who they have to negotiate with, so that's all up in the air. As for returning to a patched-up Odsal, it's an unattractive proposition."
As we will see in the final part, that ‘unattractive proposition’ became a reality.

Brentford

A late goal by Peter Thorne earned City a 1-1 draw.

We continue our look at the public investment into Odsal Stadium by moving into the 1980s. The era of the World Speedway Final and, of course, our own term at the ground.
The 1985 World Speedway Final seemed to offer the opportunity at long last to develop Odsal’s undoubted potential. On 15 May 1984 the Telegraph & Argus reported that Odsal was set to become Britain’s national speedway home, a £1.5m transformation (financed in part by a substantial EU grant) would increase the capacity from 25,000 to 40,000 in time for the 1985 World Individual Final.
The 50-year-old Main Stand was to be demolished and replaced by open concrete terracing. Under the terracing new dressing rooms were to be built. The North Stand was to be refurbished, giving it a new roof and a 6,000 capacity. The rugby pitch was to be moved slightly to accommodate a newly laid speedway track. Crush barriers were replaced on the Rooley Avenue end. It was the most comprehensive refurbishment of the stadium for decades.
After years of prevarication, the council seemed to have finally grasped the Odsal nettle. The council took over day-to-day running of the stadium from Northern, whose staff transferred to the council’s payroll. Liaison with stock cars, and the all-important speedway, passed to the council.
Arguably, Odsal’s proudest day since the staging of the famous Challenge Cup Final in 1954, came on 31 August 1985 when 37,000 fans enjoyed the new, albeit basic, facilities, to witness the World Speedway Final. Of course, a few months earlier Valley Parade had been devastated by the terrible fire that caused the deaths of 56 fans. Although City played a handful of games at Leeds Road, Huddersfield and Elland Road, Leeds, Odsal was the obvious venue for the Bantams whilst the future of Valley Parade was decided. On 23 September 1985, a Football League delegation visited Odsal to view the stadium in order to pass it fit to host City’s home games. Segregation fences were erected on the old Main Stand side and 1,000 uncovered seats were bolted onto the terracing.
Odsal’s first professional football match came on Tuesday 8 October, when Brighton were the visitors in a League Cup second round tie. It was hardly an auspicious start, the game was played in a torrential downpour and City lost 0-2 in front of 5,368 spectators. Fans of both City and Northern viewed City’s Odsal sojourn gloomily. The latter felt put out by the erection of segregation fences at ‘their’ ground, whilst the former were busy lobbying hard for a return to Valley Parade and the construction of a stadium as a fitting reminder to the 56 fans who had died in the fire.
The thoughts of City fans were expressed by former City Gent editor John Dewhirst, writing in When Saturday Comes.
“Our first season away from Valley Parade was one of despair. The local authority appeared reluctant to assist in the redevelopment of our home ground, and it seemed that we might have to watch our football at the inhospitable Odsal stadium.
“Followers of the Bantams were active in petitioning for the return to Valley Parade. The initial hesitation of local government to provide money alienated people who pointed to the fact that enormous amounts of money had been spent on restoring a Bradford theatre. Correspondence to the local press included the usual sermons from the law and order brigade, demanding why public money should be used to assist a private limited company.”

Of course, City eventually returned to a rebuilt Valley Parade, made possible by a grant from West Yorkshire County Council. Back at Odsal Bradford Council seemed determined to press ahead with improvements. Between 1986-90 £3.5m was spent and in 1990 the World Speedway Final returned. 26,418 saw the final, some ten thousand lower than the 1985 final. Steep prices rises were blamed with fans having to pay £35 for a seat and £17.50 on the terraces. Without doubt it priced out many locals who may have been attracted to watch the novelty of a World Final on their doorsteps.
The council signed a new agreement regarding the running of Odsal in 1986. As former Northern chairman Chris Caisley explained the rugby club would received annual payments as compensation: "We gave up revenues from the bars, car parks and other events within the stadium. In return we have been compensated for that loss”.

The agreement was due to run to 2019. There’s no doubt that it was an excellent deal for Northern as by 2001 the annual payment they received from the council had grown to £337,000. In time the council were to rue signing the deal, it placed Northern in a very strong bargaining position and it caused huge resentment from Bradford City and the Keighley Cougars who received nothing like that kind of support from the public purse.
In truth City’s decision to return to Valley Parade had undermined any chance of the Odsal development reaching its potential. With Valley Parade rebuilt as a modern stadium the likelihood now was the Northern would come the other way and Odsal abandoned. However, with so much public money invested in Odsal, the council obviously wouldn’t want to be linked to such a spectacular failure. The political impact would have been enormous. So, they were forced to plough on. In the Lincoln programme we will relive the Superdome, the death of the Bradford Dukes and the Bulls at Valley Parade.

Port Vale

City went on to lose this game 1-0.
With the debate about Odsal Stadium raging, we thought it would be timely to bring you a comprehensive history of public investment at Odsal. Some may wish to contrast it with policies towards Valley Parade.
Bradford Northern were formed when Bradford Rugby Club became Bradford Park Avenue AFC in 1907. The disenfranchised players and supporters of Bradford RFC formed the new rugby league club. The infant Park Avenue football club refused to let Northern share the Park Avenue ground, so Northern were forced to find a home at one of Bradford’s existing stadiums. They played one season at Greenfield Stadium at Dudley Hill. However, poor attendances forced them to move to Birch Lane at West Bowling. With good access to Manchester Road, attendances improved, but the tight ground was never really suitable for professional rugby.
Salvation came in 1932 when Ernest Call, Bradford Corporation’s director of public cleansing, floated the idea of turning Odsal tip into a stadium by the means of controlled tipping. Call, a keen Northern supporter, approached the club’s chairman Tom Smith and, despite much public scepticism, work commenced and on 23 June 1933 Northern signed a 10-year lease.
In return for providing the ground, the council received a mere 1% of gate receipts. In 1937 the switching of a scheduled England v France international to Halifax, forced the council to address the state of the pitch, which had been unsatisfactory since the opening day. They installed a drainage system and, as their contribution to the work, Northern increased their payment to the council to 4% of gate receipts. The council’s investment continued the following year, when they spent £3,000 on terracing the Rooley Avenue End and constructing a stand on the Hospital side.
The sheer scale of the new ground began to attract proposals for grandiose developments. No fewer than fifteen separate plans were put forward in the first ten years of the grounds life. These included a 1930s plan to cover the entire bowl and create a massive multi-use complex, including ice skating rinks, dance halls and other sports, as well as the rugby pitch.
The ground became a multi-sport venue when a 390-yard speedway track was laid. Bradford Northern’s Harry Hornby invited Johnnie Hoskins to bring speedway to Odsal. The Lord Mayor, Alderman Cecil Barnett, officially opened the track on 23 June 1945. Over 20,000 flocked to see the first meeting of the Odsal ‘Boomerangs’.
An earth slip in 1945 caused the rebuilding of the 8-year-old Hospital side stand. The £16,397 cost, included driving new piles, a virtual new stand and converting the wooden railway sleeper terracing to concrete on the northwest corner of the Rooley Avenue end. A further £5,650 was spent seating the lower part of the New Stand, as it inevitably became known. To prevent another earth slip, golden elder, flowering currant and gorse were planted to help absorb water from the banking.
Council engineer Wardley drew up a plan in September 1951 for a 92,000 capacity ‘European’ style stadium, at a cost of £250,000. In the event £50,000 was spent on terracing the Rooley Avenue end in 1964, before the Wardley plan was officially dropped the following year. Arguably, the Wardley plan was the biggest missed opportunity of Bradford’s sporting history. From almost that moment, any hope of a cohesive plan for developing a shared City of Bradford stadium was gone.
However, three years later only 324 souls witnessed Northern play Barrow in November 1963. Northern subsequently folded, but a quick reformation was wholeheartedly supported, as 14,500 saw the ‘new’ club’s first match. The council did their bit, spending £50,000 on new terracing.
The council paid out £40,000 for new floodlights in 1979 and they were officially turned on for the visit of St Helens on 29 November. Despite that investment the future of Odsal was far from assured, on 12 August 1980 the Telegraph & Argus revealed that the council were looking to sell Odsal to West Yorkshire County Council. Ironically, the proposal was for tipping household waste, the county had a chronic shortage of tipping sites and Bradford Council saw Odsal as the ideal site. They hoped to raise £5m and were prepared to offer Bradford Rugby Union Club’s Lidget Green (now Scholemoor) ground as a home for Northern.
The history of Odsal and the council will conclude in the Brentford programme.

Aldershot

City went on to win this game 5-0.

The decision by the Council to put £15m into the Odsal Sporting Village will undoubtedly reignite the debate as to whether City should leave Valley Parade and share the huge stadium in south Bradford.
In later programme notes I will chart the history of Odsal, and the huge public investment that has been made in the stadium over the last 75 years, but for now we’ll look at City’s involvement thus far.
Ever since Odsal Stadium was developed in the 1930s, City have been linked with moves there on numerous occasions. Odsal was the central plank of a 1937 proposed merger between City and Avenue, the brainchild of Avenue chairman Stanley Waddilove, the new club was to be housed at a ‘continental style’ stadium at Odsal. The City board rejected the proposal on the grounds that one transfer could solve their financial problems. Additionally, City had recently purchased the freehold to Valley Parade and had undertaken ground improvements. Less understandable was the attitude of the Northern board, who opposed the plan on the grounds that they didn’t want a shared tenancy. One can only assume that the reality of maintaining, let alone developing, the huge stadium hadn’t at that time become apparent to the Northern board.
Twenty-four years later, Council Engineer Ernest Wardley drew up a plan in September 1951 for a 92,000 capacity ‘European’ style stadium, at a cost of £250,000. In the event £50,000 was spent on terracing the Rooley Avenue end in 1964, before the Wardley plan was officially dropped the following year. Arguably, the Wardley plan was the biggest missed opportunity of Bradford’s sporting history. From almost that moment, any hope of a cohesive plan for developing a shared City of Bradford stadium was gone.
But still the dreams of a ‘Wembley of the North’ persisted. Two decades on the Council convened talks with Northern, City and Avenue. On 21 October 1971 the Telegraph & Argus pondered ‘could Odsal be developed as a new multi-sport complex, catering for both soccer and rugby league?’ Alderman Newby, the instigator of the talks, said the likely £1m cost “would have to come from somewhere else, such as bringing in a development company”.
On 12 December 1972, a developer stepped forward, but rather than a shared arena, their plans envisaged Northern vacating their traditional home. The Telegraph & Argus reported ‘A £4m scheme for Odsal is being discussed between Bradford Corporation and a London company. Under the scheme there would be no place for Bradford Northern and rugby league at the stadium’.
Hackney and Hendon Greyhounds Plc proposed a 22,000 all-seater stadium, swimming pool, cinema and ancillary sports facilities. A condition of the scheme would be a new home for Northern at Park Avenue. The company was prepared to invest £3m, provided the Council contributed £1m.
Not surprisingly the scheme attracted huge controversy, which was fuelled further when City chairman, Stafford Heginbotham, discussed on YTVs ‘Calendar’ programme the possibility of City moving to Odsal.
On 2 January 1973, Alderman John Senior said the Council were not prepared to accept the scheme, unless the terms were improved. However, he was confident that Odsal “isn’t going to stop a hole in the ground forever”. By April the deal had collapsed, negotiations broke down when Hackney & Hendon Greyhounds wanted the Council to pay £3m towards the development.
In the early 1980s Odsal was refurbished in order to stage the World Speedway Final of 1985. On 31 August of that year 37,000 fans enjoyed the new, albeit basic, facilities, to witness a thrilling Final.
Of course, a few months earlier Valley Parade had been devastated by the terrible fire that caused the deaths of 56 fans. Although City played a handful of games at Leeds Road, Huddersfield and Elland Road, Leeds, Odsal was the obvious venue for the Bantams whilst the future of Valley Parade was decided. On 23 September 1985, a Football League delegation visited Odsal to view the stadium in order to pass it fit to host City’s home games. Segregation fences were erected on the old Main Stand side and 1,000 uncovered seats were bolted onto the terracing – it was planned to install 7,000 in the future.
Odsal’s first professional football match came on Tuesday 8 October, when Brighton were the visitors in a League Cup second round tie. It was hardly an auspicious start, the game was played in a torrential downpour and City lost 0-2 in front of 5,368 spectators.
Fans of both City and Northern viewed City’s Odsal sojourn gloomily. The latter felt put out by the erection of segregation fences at ‘their’ ground, whilst the former were busy lobbying hard for a return to Valley Parade and the construction of a stadium as a fitting reminder to the 56 fans who had died in the fire.
The Council initially didn’t hide its desire to see City move permanently to Odsal. The momentum seemed to be with Odsal, perhaps sensing that this was the big chance to finally realise the ‘Wembley of the North’ dream, plans of a £15m development were unveiled on 5 November 1985. The master plan was for two new 14,000 capacity cantilever stands, terracing behind each end and a 61,000 capacity by 1990. It was envisaged that Rugby League Challenge Cup Finals and FA Cup semi-finals would be staged at the new stadium.
Meanwhile a further £1m was spent to conform with new safety standards – bringing the total spent on Odsal to £3.5m. New boundary walls, turnstiles, exit gates, a bus lay-by in Rooley Avenue and access road were added.
But it wasn’t to be, the emotional draw of Valley Parade was too strong and in December 1986 City returned to a rebuilt ground. Given the subsequent developments at Valley Parade, the spectre of City at Odsal has receded for at least another generation.

Macclesfield

A win for City: 1-0
On 18 March 2009 the museum will be hosting another ‘extra time’ event for seniors. After the overwhelming success of the first ‘extra time’, we are expecting a good turn out for the second event. The day is aimed at the over 50’s who might like to enjoy a social session at Bradford City Football Club.
The day begins in the bantamspast museum at 10am with tea and coffee. There will be a museum tour, a chance to meet players old and new, a showing of the DVD made about our community award and a tour of the ground. Lunch will be provided and the day will end around 1pm.
Anyone interested in attending is asked to book with Paula Helliwell. We need to know the numbers attending in order to provide refreshments. People can book individually or as a group. Please contact Paula before Friday 13th March on 07814 760198 or by email paula.helliwell@googlemail.com
Prior to the Aldershot game we will be showing more of our recently acquired photographs, this time concentrating on the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. The presentation will also feature some film footage of that era and we are hoping that a few former players will be in attendance. The presentation begins at 1.30pm and as usual admission is free.
Finally, we’d like to send our best wishes to Gladys Hannah who recently had a fall and is currently in a nursing home in Manningham. Gladys’ fund raising over the years is the stuff of legend. There can’t be many people at Valley Parade who haven’t bought a raffle ticket from Gladys. Let’s hope that she will be back at Valley Parade to see our final push for promotion. Our thanks to Bill Roper for proving a photograph of a fund raising event from the 1970’s. Gladys can be seen in white alongside Trevor Hockey. Bobby Ham, sporting a moustache that wouldn’t have been out of place in a spaghetti western, is behind Gladys and on the right with the flowing golden locks is Garry Watson.

Grimsby Town

City went on to win this game 2 - 0.
Before the First World War many clubs used to run annual club outings. It was an opportunity for fans to save up and travel en masse to a game that was often chosen by ballot.
In the spring of 1905 City’s away trip at Grimsby was chosen for City’s first ever club trip. Fortunately, City had hit a rich vein of form just before the trip, so with interest sky high three trains had to be laid on. Two left the Exchange station at 08.42 and 08.50am. The third left at 11.55am so those who worked Saturday morning could join the party. Several large firms allowed their workers to leave at 11.00am in order to catch the later train.
Over 2,000 made the journey to Grimsby, with 1,880 being booked from the Exchange station, with the remainder being sold via the booking offices at St Dunstans, Laisterdyke and Dudley Hill. The Bradford Boys team travelled with the supporters as they were playing Grimsby Boys as a curtain raiser to City’s match. The trains stopped at Grimsby Docks, New Clee and Cleethorpes. As they didn’t return until 8.45, 8.53 and 9.30pm, there was adequate time for the trippers to visit the delights of Cleethorpes and doubtless many of the local pubs.
The fans were in high spirits. Toyshops were invaded in search of anything that would make a noise. During the second half a deafening sound emitted from the City followers. In front of the press box there was a cornet, concertina, a huge bell, squeakers and rattles. Andy McGeachan scored twice as City made it three victories on the trot. At the final whistle the City fans poured onto the pitch and carried McGeachan and Jimmy Conlin off shoulder high. A similar attempt with James Garvey proved impossible due to the keepers’ bulk, so he was carried off feet first!
Earlier in the season City’s misfiring attack had been the subject of nightly letters in the local press. As City slipped down the table there was a real threat that the club would have to apply for re-election to the Football League. In those days the bottom three clubs and several potential new members of the Football League were subject to a vote of all the league clubs, with the losers being thrown out of the league. The victory at Grimsby pushed City further away from the danger zone. The scenes at the final whistle prompted the Bradford Daily Argus to comment that it was ‘difficult to realise that this was the team that had been so much abused, and this was the crowd that abused them’.
Picture shows City's wing wizard Jimmy Conlin who was carried off the Blundell Park
pitch shoulder high.