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.

Accrington Stanley

The 1970's was one of the low points in Bradford's footballing history. In 1974 Bradford Park Avenue went into liquidation and by the early part of the decade City were struggling in the lower reaches of the fourth division. Crowds at Valley Parade were among the lowest in the club's long history. It was quite a come down for a city that had once boasted two top flight football clubs and the FA Cup winners.
The turning point came with City's amazing run to the quarter final of the FA Cup in 1976. The following season Joe Cooke's header against Bournemouth at Valley Parade was enough to secure promotion. For once there was a sense of optimism around the old ground and in recognition the Lord Mayor invited the City players to a civic reception. Our thanks to City stalwart Bill Roper for the photograph of the
reception and also to David Markham for identifying the players and officials.

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.

Morecambe

The Manningham Mills Strike, which began one cold December day 108 years ago, had quite an impact on our predecessors Manningham Rugby Club. Financially the club was hit by a reduction in attendances and socially as many of club officials and players actively supported the strike.
The era saw a general rise in trade unionism, but locally, it had been slow to take hold, partially because during the boom years of the 1870s mill owners had been paternalistic, but with trade slowing, they were no longer willing to subsidise the local church, brass band, mechanics institute or cricket team. Also, the majority of textile workers tended to be women engaged in what was termed as unskilled work. In 1885 65,000 females were employed in Bradford’s mills, compared to 30,000 men.
However, when on 9 December 1890 wage cuts of 25% were announced at Manningham Mills, it sparked a dispute that was to change the face of industrial relations in Bradford and beyond. The cuts came in response to American trade tariffs. The reductions were to be implemented at Christmas. Five thousand workers walked out in protest. In a letter to the Bradford Observer mill owner Samuel Cunliffe Lister said the cuts were fair. He claimed that whatever the level of wages: ‘The women spend their money on dress and the men in drink’. A response in the Observer said: ‘In Mr Lister’s eyes, probably the spending of an extra shilling a week on dress and drink represent the acme of short-sighted and foolish self-indulgence, and the purchase of big estates seems the perfection of far-sighted thrift and philanthropy’. The average wage at the mill was 70p a week, Lister himself was estimated to be worth around £6m and had spent £750,000 on two landed estates in North Yorkshire.
Forty policemen would be on duty to keep strikers and workers apart during shift changes. Despite the police presence strike breakers were assaulted on a regular basis, sometimes a fair distance from the mill itself. Windows were broken in several homes where strike breakers were lodging. Eventually, one hundred and fifty beds were set up in the mill so the workers didn’t have to run the gauntlet of the pickets. However, given that 5,000 workers were on strike, a couple of hundred people working was nothing more than a token gesture.
A food depot helped to feed and clothe striking families. Local butchers donated meat and Dr Smith of Lumb Lane waived his fees when treating strikers who fell ill. A strike fund attracted donations from all over the north. A fund raising rugby match between Manningham & District and the Yorkshire Nomads was played at Valley Parade on 19 January. Appearing where the Manningham’s trio Firth, Hardaker and Redman. Over 1,000 spectators boosted the fund by £24. The Fattorini family, Manningham residents and well-known jewellers, also made a donation of £2 2s to the fund. Tony Fattorini had been involved with the junior Manningham Rangers club and joined the Valley Parade committee during 1891, the start of a long and fruitful relationship with Manningham and later Bradford City.
By April 1891 the authorities were trying to prevent rallies and public meetings taking place in the city centre. A weekly meeting was held every Thursday at the Star Music Hall, but they were halted when the Chief Constable threatened to withdraw the licence from the Star unless the striker pledged not to hold city centre meetings on Sundays. Those meetings attracted huge crowds and the police claimed that fire exits had been blocked at St Georges Hall and blasphemous language had been used at an open air meeting in Forster Square. The Chief Constable’s actions escalated the dispute into a battle for free speech.
In defiance of the ban 20,000 gathered in the city centre on 13 April. When the police broke up the meeting fighting left the Chief Constable injured and only the intervention of troops from Bradford Moor barracks disbursed the crowds. The following night mounted police cleared the square outside the Town Hall, but the police were beaten back and once again the troops were called in. The Chief Constable read the riot act outside the New Inn at the bottom of Thornton Road. One hundred and six men of the Durham Light Infantry fixed bayonets and charged the crowd. The police backed them up with repeated baton charges.
Almost overlooked during the dramatic confrontations was the fact that the strikers were slowly being starved into submission. The harsh winter had played its part in sapping morale and over 200 strikers had emigrated to the USA. After nineteen weeks the spinning hands gathered at the Valley Parade Skating Rink and voted to return to work. The strike crumbled, but in its wake the Independent Labour Party was formed, an organisation that evolved into today’s Labour Party.
The bitterness of the strike lasted for years. Among the ranks of the police who baton charged the strikers were three of Bradford’s international players acting as special constables. Also in the police line was Joe Hawcridge, one of the founders of the Manningham club, one can only guess at his feelings as he waited to face a mob that would have contained many of his former friends and neighbours?