Chester

(This game ended in a goalless draw)
The museum recently hosted a history workshop involving students from the nearby Challenge College. It marks our first step towards a greater goal of an oral history project capturing the changing life in the shadow of Valley Parade over the last century.
On Thursday 27 November GCSE students from Challenge College visited the club to take part in an oral history workshop. For many of the students it was their first visit to Valley Parade, despite living in Manningham and Frizinghall. Ian Ormondroyd’s Football in the Community scheme gave them a ground tour; then we gave them a conducted tour of the museum. The day was rounded off with a discussion of some of the issues raised by their trip.
The day was resounding success and was enjoyed by both the students, museum volunteers and Supporters Trust members. The discussion part of the day was an eye opener for all concerned. The boys were the most animated during the museum tour, but the girls asked the majority of the questions during the discussion.
Alan Carling, chair of the Supporters Trust, presented the school with a copy of David Markham’s book ‘The Bradford City Story’. The book is now in the school library and will no doubt it will be a popular item.
Thanks are due to John Ashton, Alan Carling, Paula Helliwell and Mike Thompson for giving up their time to help make the day a great success. The feedback from the pupils was excellent with 100% saying they enjoyed the day. The event also helped the build firmer foundations between the museum, Supporters Trust and Football in the Community.
All in all, it was a positive first step towards our evolving goal for an oral history project which will look at the experiences - and changing face - of the communities that have lived in the shadow of Valley Parade over the last century. The area around the ground has seen huge changes, especially in the last fifty years. Deindustrialisation and demographic change being the main themes. We’ve seen people form all over the world live alongside Valley Parade – from Estonian’s to Bangladeshi’s, Caribbean’s to Irish. Not forgetting of course the British people who established Manningham as an industrial, working class and even upper class suburb of the city.
It will be a huge, but fascinating project. We will need volunteers to undertake research and interviews. We need to find people who live, or used to live, in the shadow of the ground to capture their memories. If you are interested in becoming part of the project, or know someone who used to live near the ground, please get in touch with myself at davidpendleton1@googlemail.com or call in at the museum before any match.

Changing Priorities; the FA Cup Today and Yesterday

This article by David Pendleton originally appeared in the programme for the league game against Dagenham and Redbridge on Saturday December 6th 2008.

Your team is top of the Premier League, but with the FA Cup on the horizon several top players are rested from vital league matches. Today, it’s unthinkable, but that is exactly what Bradford City did for several seasons in the years leading up to the Great War.
On 1 January 1910 City were sitting proudly on top of the First Division. The Bantams had scored twenty-five goals in just ten matches. New Years Day brought Manchester United to Valley Parade. Star striker Bob Whittingham had been playing for some weeks with a niggling ankle injury, so with the upcoming FA Cup tie in mind he was rested. The 25,000 crowd (incidentally over twice the size of the attendance at Old Trafford) had little to cheer as the two sides played out a tame contest on a mud bound pitch. City went down by two goals and it marked the start of a run of four league games when City failed to score. The sudden loss of form coincided with several injuries to key players.
The first round FA Cup tie against Notts County was switched to Valley Parade after City paid County £1,000. Fifty men were employed to clear snow off the pitch and then protect it with 50 tons of straw. Despite the fact that admission prices had been doubled, excursion trains ran into Bradford from Carlisle, Morecambe and Sheffield. R. Gregson, one of the England selectors, was at the match to run his eye over Bond, Lintott and Whittingham.
A muddy pitch spoiled the match and it wasn’t until County’s Cantrell was sent off that City found form. They scored twice within ten minutes of the dismissal to take control of the tie. Dickie Bond (pictured) did his England prospects no harm by scoring one of City’s four goals.
The second round brought with it heavy snowfall. The pitch was cleared, but this time all the loose slush and sand was removed. It was said to be as flat as a billiard table, albeit almost devoid of grass. With prices at near normal levels 28,000 witnessed the tie with Blackburn Rovers. It was a tight affair, but the Rovers forwards always had the edge. Though Frank O’Rourke scored for City, the home forwards rarely found the space they needed and were well marshalled all afternoon. City lost 2-1 and O’Rourke suffered a knee injury that was to keep him out for three weeks.
City ended the season in seventh place, respectable by any standards, but the fact that they had led the pack at the turn of the year, and had been in such fine form, caused one or two grumbles. However, the policy of resting players from league matches caused little or no comment.
The following season City would once again sacrifice their league position for cup glory. That year was 1911, when City won the FA Cup. The league title was at one point within their grasp, but the cup took precedence. Today we would sacrifice a cup run for promotion from the fourth tier of English football, how times change!

Chesterfield

Fixtures against Chesterfield go back to City’s first ever season as a Football League club. The inaugural meeting between the clubs ended with a 6-2 thrashing for City.
Though City were never in any danger of having to apply for re-election during their first season in the Football League. The heavy home defeat caused disquiet on the terraces. The Bradford Daily Argus noted a ‘more than usually large exodus of those who felt inclined for the solace of the Belle Vue’.
The 2,000 boys at the Bradford End of the ground gave Chesterfield a sarcastic loud cheer when they ran out for the second half – those already in the Belle Vue probably made the right decision.
In the return fixture at Saltergate the sides played out a dull 1-1 draw. The latter set the scene for matches between the clubs as a succession of draws and low scoring games were the norm. That is until City won a thrilling match 4-3 at Saltergate in March 1907. Manager Peter O’Rourke was by then building the side that would take the second division title by storm the following season.
The forward line ran riot from the opening game of the 1907/08 season. Chesterfield were routed 8-1 at Valley Parade. Three goals in the first thirty minutes convinced even the most sceptical of City followers that something special was afoot for that season. Allerton born Wally Smith bagged four goals, George Handley a brace, Frank O’Rourke and Jimmy McDonald completed the scoring.
It was no one off, 7-1 against Stoke, 6-2 against Wolves, 5-0 against Leeds and Stockport. The aggregate score against poor old Gainsborough Trinity was 11-1.
City scored ninety goals en route to the Second Division Championship. Wally Smith and Frank O’Rourke rattled up forty-one league goals between them. George Handley weighed in with sixteen and Jimmy McDonald thirteen. It was an astonishing performance and one almost unparalleled in the club’s history.
Of the four attackers Wally Smith is almost forgotten today. Yet he scored 59 goals in 120 appearances. However, he struggled to find the net in the first division and was transferred to Leicester Fosse in January 1909. He later played for Hull City, but had to retire through injury in 1912.
Smith died at his Worksop home aged only thirty-four in 1917. Contemporary reports suggest that he may have been suffering from a serious internal injury throughout his career. He received it when shoulder charging Northampton Town goalkeeper Fred Cook. Whether it was ultimately responsible for his untimely death is unknown. However, with a goal in every other game Wally Smith deserves to be remembered. After all, not many footballers get the chance to shoot their hometown club into the top flight of English football.

Bury

With the nights drawing in, leaves falling from the trees and a chill in the air, we are into the football season proper. The sunny days of August and September are behind us, early season optimism is settling down and the spring, with its promotions and relegations, seems a long way off.
At least in this day and age we don’t have to worry too much about the pitches as winter approaches. As recently as the 1980’s the style of play would be altered by inches of mud.
A good illustration of the conditions that had to be endured came during a First Division match between City and Bury in early 1910. The pitch was apparently almost totally devoid of grass and frozen solid. The forwards found it difficult to keep their footing on the treacherous pitch. Chances were few and far between and, with defenders able to quickly close down the naturally cautious forwards, a goalless draw was inevitable. The only real entertainment came when the ball became stuck in a trombone that was inexplicably lying alongside the pitch.
The game was a complete contrast to the goal feast the two sides had served up at Gigg Lane earlier in the season. Bury took the lead, but City soon equalised. Bury went 2-1 up, but back came City with another equaliser. Then Frank O’Rourke turned quickly in the box and fired City into the lead for the first time in the match. The home side made it 3-3, which set up a frantic finish as both sides went all out for the victory.
Fine minutes from time City’s big money signing, striker Bob Whittingham, set off on a zigzagging run towards goal. The ball was glued to his foot as he ghosted past several defenders and then unleashed an unstoppable shot that gave City a 4-3 victory. The press described Whittingham’s winner as one of the finest ever scored by a City player.
The 1909/10 season saw City finish in a respectable seventh position. Given that they had escaped relegation on the final match of the previous season, seventh place in the top division was a fabulous effort. However, there had been some disquiet on the terraces. City had been top of the table on New Years Day 1910, but a spate of injuries disrupted the side throughout the remainder of the campaign.
One extreme example of City’s misfortunes came when they visited bottom of the league Bolton Wanderers. A goalless draw at a relegation haunted club might not seem much to crow about, but City had to play the final fifteen minutes with nine men and two of those were nursing serious injuries. So in effect it was seven against eleven! In those days substitutions weren’t allowed, so teams had to struggle on.
The carnage at Burnden Park included George Robinson playing on with blood gushing down his face after a clash of heads. He did briefly retire to receive stitches at the side of the pitch. No sooner was the last stitch put in place, Robinson was back in the fray. City’s England international Evelyn Lintott was so seriously injured that the game was stopped. Lintott later commented that it was the first time he had known a game to be halted for an injury in his sixteen-year career. Lintott played on and was at the heart of the gallant stand in the closing stages of the game.
The injury was to have serious consequences for Lintott. He was sidelined for over six months and didn’t return until early 1911. By that time the team that was to win the FA Cup had been brought together and Lintott struggled to get back in the side. Prior to his injury he had been one of the first names on the team sheet, indeed he had been captain and his passing was at the heart of everything the side did. Into his shoes stepped Jimmy Speirs – the man who was destined to score the goal that would win the cup for City.
Lintott’s heroics at Bolton arguably cost him a place in the FA Cup winning side of 1911. That was some price to pay, but not as great as the sacrifice both Lintott and Speirs made in the Great War – as both men were killed in action.

Luton Town

The return of home fans to the Bradford End of the ground has undoubtedly improved the atmosphere in the ground. Today it is the TL Dallas Stand, but to many it will remain the ‘Shed’ or ‘Bradford End’.
Though corporate sponsorship is now an essential part of every clubs income, the frequent re-brandings can cause confusion. A national newspaper journalist once rang me requesting directions to the Bradford and Bingley Stadium and asked why we had left Valley Parade.
Of course, traditions have to start somewhere. The Carlsberg Stand is still known universally as the Kop. Almost exactly 100 years ago the Bradford Daily Argus began calling the terrace the ‘Spion Kop’. Until that point it had been known as ‘Nunn Kop’ after its creator, City director John Nunn.
Nunn had commenced work in 1906 when he persuaded several companies to use the plateau at the top of the terrace as a free tip for ashes. Tipping continued for several months at a rate of 40 loads a day. Nunn’s Kop was finally completed in February 1907, when some 16,000 loads of rubbish and ashes had been tipped.
The complete rebuilding of Valley Parade in readiness for top-flight football in the summer of 1908 saw the Nunn Kop receive the latest concrete terracing. Probably because it was now one of the biggest and best terraces in the country, it was given the title ‘Spion Kop’ which it retained for the best part of eighty years.
The name Spion Kop hailed from the South African hill where a large number of northern troops had died during the Boer War. The odd name hails from the Dutch language, Spion is ‘spy’ or ‘look out’ and kop means ‘hill’.
Though the British actually won the battle of Spion Kop, they suffered such heavy casualties that the order was given to withdraw. After so much blood had been spilt, it caused a huge controversy, so much so that the Government of the day nearly fell.
The event was still fresh in the collective memory when it came to naming the many large terraces being built across the north of England and beyond. Whether the name was inspired by respect for the dead, or contempt for the General’s who ordered the retreat, is a moot question.
Today, the word Kop has entered modern language as an automatic reference to football terraces, whilst the battle itself is largely forgotten.

Bournemouth

Once of a day every schoolboy used to pride himself in being able to recite the name of every Football League ground and all ninety-two club nicknames. It was of no consequence if you didn’t know whether Wellington was a famous general, a bomber or an item of footwear. However, if you didn’t know who played at Brunton Park, or know whom the Railwaymen were, your standing among your mates would plummet.
As soon as Manningham rugby club moved to Valley Parade in 1886 they were known as ‘the Paraders’. A nickname that continued when Manningham became Bradford City in 1903.
Though there have been other short-lived nicknames, the adoption of the ‘Bantams’ in 1908 stuck and, apart from occasional reversions to the Paraders, it has been City’s nickname ever since.
The reason why City were nicknamed the Bantams was lost in the mists of time. Some thought it was because a groundsman used to keep chickens under the main stand, others that City’s FA Cup winning team of 1911 contained so many small, but burly, Scotsmen that the name represented the fighting spirit of that team.
I was recently scanning through some old newspapers at the Central Library when I came across a report that gave the reason for the adoption of the Bantams nickname.
Apparently, City used to have a lucky silver horseshoe that they hung in their train carriage when on their travels. It had been with them when they won the Second Division championship in April 1908.
As we well know from recent experience, life for a newly promoted club in the top flight of English football can be tough in the extreme. By November 1908 City were firmly rooted to the bottom of the First Division. The free-scoring forwards of the championship season couldn’t buy a goal and there was a real fear City would be as good as relegated early in the New Year.
To add to their woes the lucky horseshoe had been lost. Up stepped the daughter of City director Tony Fattorini, whose company incidentally made the current FA Cup and Rugby League Challenge Cup. She gave the club a new mascot on the eve of their home match against league leaders Everton. The mascot was real live bantam. Its body was claret with an amber yolk, which matched the new shirt the club had adopted at the start of the season. The little bird even had white legs, the same colour as the player’s shorts.
As the Bradford Daily Argus commented: "Newcastle United have their magpie, Derby a ram, West Brom a throstle, Hull City a tiger and Leeds City a peacock. But now, Bradford City have a real live claret and amber bantam."
From that moment on City were known as the Bantams. It turned out to be a lucky omen. City saved their First Division lives with a dramatic last day victory over Manchester United at Valley Parade. The description of the tense scenes at that match reflect almost exactly those we witnessed on that unforgettable afternoon against Liverpool in May 2000, when David Wetherall’s header saved our Premiership status on that most dramatic of final day escapes.
One hundred years on, long after Miss Fattorini’s little bird has flown to that great hencoop in the sky, we are still the Bantams. Let’s hope the luck it brought a century ago remains with us through, what will hopefully be, a season that sets the club on the long road back to the summit of English football.

Notts County

Put those long lazy summer days behind you. The football season is back. The fixtures are in the diary and that age-old Saturday routine begins once more.
With Premier League teams jetting off to all corners of the globe, to fulfil fixtures that are focussed more on replica shirts sales rather than meaningful preparation, it was good to see City playing Bradford Park Avenue and our claret and amber cousins Motherwell.
The Bradford derbies have a rich history, one that raged across all four divisions of the Football League. Given that friendlies against Halifax, Huddersfield and Leeds are now non-starters, thanks to policing bills and the like, I would like to see the Avenue game expanded into a mini-Bradford Championship. Involving a City XI, Avenue, Eccleshill United and Thackley. We have the Tom Banks Trophy, formerly played for between City and Avenue, in the museum and we would be delighted to make it available as the Bradford Championship trophy.
Of course, the traditional curtain raiser used to be the West Riding Cup. It heralded the coming season with its optimism, fresh faces, newly painted grounds and lush green turf. Inevitably, that bright feeling of innocence was soon tainted as the season got underway. But, in the bright sunshine of late summer, the West Riding Cup seemed to epitomise the rebirth that every new campaign brings.
After near one hundred years of competition it died an almost unnoticed death in 1999. It had become a Cinderella competition. A glorified pre-season kick-about, barely tolerated by the clubs, often featuring disinterested or second string line-ups. A shame really, as the cup itself was huge and beautifully detailed. My theory is that the more obscure the competition, the larger the cup is likely to be. Anyone who has seen the Zenith Data Systems Cup will be with me on this one!
We’ve had a quiet summer in the museum. Our small band of volunteers have been getting on with their lives, so at present very little has changed.