A Trust Perspective on the direction of our football club

April 18, 2024

With the season more of less over, for fans, it is difficult to feel any sense of achievement for our Club. It has been one of the most difficult season campaigns to watch as the team have failed to find its’ form.

It has been said by many fans, as we have discussed in the pubs, and in football grounds, that fans have been losing faith and turning away from attending, after years of mediocrity. But it depends on who you speak to. Most with longer memories are familiar with it but at the younger end, many won’t stand for it.

But from whichever generation you speak to, the majority feels it has been bad, particularly at home. The inconsistency of a team that has never seemed to get going has be been peppered with some bursts of enterprise (?) and good effort. Reaching the semi final of the EFL Trophy, and then playing and losing what has been considered the best home game of the season at that semi final against Wycombe has been a key moment for those that were there, or watched it on Sky. From November through December we showed our best form, and then we won a few in February to early March before losing 4 in a row which included the 5 – 1 drubbing at home to Mansfield in March, making any hope that we could ever reach the Play Off’s extremely remote.

Each downturn as it did last season, brought on a meltdown on social media, but only this season, feelings about the state of the Club felt much worse.

Discontent and pressure for change

As we have commented on before, the bubbling discontent has been simmering for a few years now, and particularly in the last three or so those concerns with the team have brought cause for concern at the top – the ownership, control and management of the Club. But it is this season more than any one since the departure of Edin Rahich in 2018, where we have seen a demand for the owner Stefan Rupp to leave.

It’s clear that the primary motive for this demand is a lack of investment in the team by the owner, to increase our prospects of success, which then concludes a lack of knowhow about bringing the talent to the Club (managers and players alike) and knitting it together, by those that run the Club on a day to day basis.

Brought to the surface

There had been concerns about Stefan Rupp’s interest and lack of engagement with supporters and investment for some time. Indeed reflecting that, we, at the Trust have been requesting that he engages with us at our structured dialogue meetings with the Club for a number of years now, and certainly at a Supporters Board level, this has been raised.

Requests for supporter engagement and more investment from other groups have come largely in the form of letters and the threat of protest in particular, which became more real after the Mansfield defeat.

Stefan Rupp’s open letter response to fans was well written, and covered all ground, in particularly, investment to compete in the transfer market and in terms of his presence at the Club and his communication with the fans, although it is not clear how he will communicate with us. He did talk about the ground and the issue around the lease, and the possibility of buying it. He also made known his commitment to his ownership and his considerations to sell and ensure the Club sale to those with the best intentions to bring greater success to the Club. He also promised to add someone to assist in the football department – this has already come in the form of the recent appointment of David Sharpe, as the club’s head of football operations.

No doubt fan pressure has brought things forward. The protest that did take place before the Tranmere game was very real, and was a reflection of how bad things had got, and made on the regional news and had nation media attention. If Stefan Rupp was sitting on this statement for a while, it's a mystery why he didn't release it sooner - it would have helped to reassure fans and defused some of the discontent.

Fan group unity is important

Among the Bradford City fanbase there a number of supporter organisations, clubs, forums, media outlets, and all have a presence on social media. All these groups represent fans in different ways and some have specific remits for this.

On the ground, as fans, we all want the same thing, a successful winning Bradford City on the pitch, with the Club engaging and communicating very well with the fanbase. Many supporters are members of several groups.

Whilst there are differences within specific groups, the Trust feels it is imperative that groups should work together on things we can all identify with. For us, whilst we all worked in different ways, to the Club we must all sound remarkably similar.

The Supporters Board is an ideal forum that fans groups can be a part of. Historically it has been made up of a mix of individual supporters and supporters groups. The Trust and travel groups for example. Some groups meet the Club separately. There is the atmosphere group and diversity groups as well, so the aims vary, and some are more limited than others.

Although we are not currently on the Supporters Board we do have a direct channel of engagement with the Club. The Independent Supporters Group, who have been the most publically vocal in its criticism of the Club’s perceived lack of ambition, are a relatively new group and sit outside of any fan engagement with the Club.

Next season if stagnation continues to play out on the pitch, it cannot be ruled that protests will continue to be organized, demanding the ousting of the owner and its representatives charged with running the Club. Therefore it is important for the Trust and other groups to work together to encourage the Club and owner to improve their communications and engagements with supporters.

In 2017, the Government Expert Working Group (EWG) on Football Supporters Ownership and Engagement reported good progress with EFL and PL Clubs implementing their recommendation which was that club leaders (owners/senior executives) from every one of the 92 professional clubs meet with a representative group of supporters (including the Supporters’ Trust) from their club at least twice a season has been agreed by the Premier League and English Football League (EFL).

Today there is somewhat a mixed picture of how well clubs engage with supporters.

Supporters Boards are called many things these days, shadow boards, advisory boards and all have varying intricacies of how clubs engage with Supporters Trusts.

Six years from the Government EWG on fan engagement we now see the Football Governance Bill, and it still recommends that a Supporters Trust should be part of a supporter representative board.

The state of the game and what the Football Governance Bill is supposed to bring

Lets be clear, football cannot manage itself. As we’ve indicated in previous statement about the Football Governance Bill, the ‘greed is good’ Premier League wealth from its national and international TV deals has widened the gulf between the top half, or the ‘big six’ of the PL and the rest. It can’t even agree how much money it should distribute to the EFL and National League.

There is deep distrust of the football authorities and what the mainstream political parties have to offer on football let alone anything else.

The ‘let’s sack everyone’ voices are not exclusive to a layer of Bradford City supporters, when frustration reaches a certain height. It is linked to a state of alienation and anxiety caused by a lack of control football supporters feel when progress is not been made on the pitch, because everything is down to money. It is tough for clubs competing within the EFL when the wealth amongst all of them is so uneven.

What we are promised in the Bill

The key feature is that all aspects of governance including aspects of club heritage, as well as fan engagement, are that they will be licensed, in the same way that stadiums have to have a license today for safety. These licenses will be overseen by an independent regulator under the Bill.

*What the Football Governance Bill and the Independent Football Regulator will do

The legislation will strengthen the governance and financial resilience of football clubs and the link between clubs and their fans. The legislation will do this by:

Establishing a new independent regulator. The IFR will operate a licensing system, where all clubs in scope will need a licence to operate. It is intended that all clubs in the top five tiers of men’s English football will be in scope of the regulatory regime.
Establishing strengthened Owners’ and Directors’ Tests to make sure club custodians are suitable.
Enabling the use of targeted financial regulation to improve the financial resilience of individual clubs and the system more broadly.
Setting a minimum standard of fan engagement and requiring clubs to comply with club heritage protections.
Requiring clubs to seek IFR pre-approval for any sale of, or relocation from, their home ground.
Preventing English clubs from joining prohibited competitions that do not have the support of the fans or that threaten the heritage or sustainability of English football.
Giving the IFR targeted backstop powers to intervene in financial distributions if necessary and subject to certain thresholds being met, in order to ensure financial sustainability.
Establishing a ‘Football Club Corporate Governance Code’, requiring regulated clubs to report on how they are applying the code of practice.
Periodically prepare and publish a comprehensive ‘State of Game’ report, which will act as a market study for football and provide the IFR with a key evidence base.

*This is taken directly from the government website.

Cross party agreement

All three main establishment political parties support the Bill. What matters however is interpretation, and therefore its effectiveness. This will become more real once the Bill has finally gone through the parliamentary process of making it statute and of course, after we know which party is in power after the general election.

It is likely clubs will continue to slide into financial trouble, and continue to get points deducted or cease to exist after this legislation is passed, so it will be likely that there will be fan pressure to make these reforms work effectively.

The stadium

As mentioned earlier, Rupp did acknowledge the ground situation and the possibility of buying it, and as we have mentioned in a previous article we produced in March, we did apply for the stadium to be an Asset of Community Value.

“Assets of Community Value are designated under the 2011 Localism Act in recognition of provisions, services or buildings that occupy a key place in the hearts and minds of local communities. The Act was designed to provide an element of devolution of power to communities and community organisations.

As far as the Trust is concerned, the main advantage of listing Valley Parade as an ACV is that it would:

Grant Valley Parade the public recognition it deserves
Give City fans an undeniable voice in the future of the stadium
Prevent the owner from selling the asset from under our noses, without the knowledge of the fan base.”

The Trust as we are a community mutual benefit society, we are the only supporter organisation that can apply to the local authority for the stadium to be an ACV, as such, we can raise some serious amounts of money, and our rules allow us the potential to democratically own a football club or a stadium, or both.

We explained to the Club of our intention to apply for the ACV in Novembers meeting with them.

The winner of the Young Player of the Year is...

May 1, 2025

We would like to thank all of you who voted for the Supporters Trusts’ Young Player of the Year 2024/25. They say that football is a game of two halves, and it is, but it needs to be said that our whole season has almost been like a season of two different ones. It was really our home record, a succession of 10 back-to-back home wins that began just before Christmas that propelled the Bantams into the position we are in today. And the future of where we are next season is still to be determined at the last match of what feels like a very long exhilarating rollercoaster ride for the long suffering fans. This season there has been a real team effort on the pitch, a team that has grown in confidence over the course of the season. Congratulations goes to the gaffer, Graham Alexander who picked up the EFL Manager of League Two, while the skipper, Ritchie Smallwood was named in the EFL League Two Team of the Season at the recent EFL awards. And well done to Ritchie Smallwood who picked up the Player of the Year Award from the Club’s main sponsor, JCT600, and most the supporters travel clubs, and from the team itself. Young Player of the Year The winner of the Trust’s Young Player of the Year is of course, Bobby Pointon! He was voted as Trust members’ Young Player of the Year for the second time running! We would also like to give a special thanks to Tony Deacon, who gave Bobby the award. Once again, a big thank you to all of you for taking part. You know who you are and we very much appreciate your involvement in this event and making it a success.

FSA Annual General Meeting Invite 2025

April 29, 2025

The role of supporters in our game is growing ever larger, and it is important that as many fans as possible get involved in fan-related activity both at a local and a national level. From ticket pricing to VAR, governance to broadcasting and fixture scheduling, there are issues in our game that need supporter input. It’s vital. If you have a keen interest in these areas, this is the perfect event to attend. The Trust are affiliate members of the Football Supporters’ Association, and therefore we would like to extend our invite to their Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Manchester on Saturday June 14th. The FSA will be welcoming Martyn Henderson, the interim chief operating officer for the incoming independent football regulator (IREF), to discuss his work in building the organisation before the Football Governance Bill achieves royal assent later this year. The FSA will have representatives of PGMOL (Referee officials body) in attendance, as well as an opportunity to have a go at the VAR systems currently in place in the Premier League. As well as that, there will be workshops for members throughout the day on the following topics: Ticketing Supporter engagement Broadcasting/3pm blackout Fans for Diversity Women’s Voice in the Men’s Game Young supporters Governance and Finance in the Women’s game Football and the climate crisis The AGM will take place at Manchester Metropolitan University on Saturday 14 th June, starting at 10:00 am, finishing up at 5:00pm. You can register for the AGM here . More information can be found here .

Burns Research Unit bucket collection volunteers appeal Reminder

April 22, 2025

It is rapidly coming to that time of year when we will all be coming together give our respects to those who tragically lost their lived in the Valley Parade fire, and this year will mark the 40 th anniversary. As such, as in any anniversary, the effort to mark the occasion will be much greater. Therefore, we would like to make that extra effort to encourage more volunteers. Last year up to 30 volunteers plus, including the help of you, our members, together with the efforts of the disabled supporters community, the collection raised £4,176.71 before the last match of the season against Newport County. It was almost double on what we raised the year before (£2,455.11) with just a handful of volunteers. This year, our last home match of the season, versus Fleetwood Town is on the 3 rd of May. At this point in time, the team is vying for an automatic spot, but there is a real possibility that automatic promotion will be determined by the end of the Fleetwood game so we are expecting a greater attendance, for this match. It is imperative therefore we will need a bigger visual presence, which will require more volunteers to help with the bucket collection before the match starts. If the game hasn’t been moved to an earlier K.O. we normally expect volunteers to arrive from 1pm outside the WD Gate entrance - the large gates opposite the club shop. Our names will be ticked off before we all receive buckets and then stand outside the various entrance points around the ground. We all need to meet back at that entrance around 2.45 to hand buckets in so you can all get back to your seats before Kick off. If you would like to be involved in the bucket collection please contact us at hello@bantamstrust.co.uk . If you don’t have a ticket for Fleetwood match you may get a free one if you are prepared to volunteer. We do need you to let us know in advance so that we can let the Club know.

The Clubs’ Season Ticket offer consultation meeting with the Trust

April 10, 2025

In attendance from the Club were, Ryan Sparks (RS) – Club CEO and Brett Cullen (BC) Head of Marketing Representing the Trust was, Manny Dominguez (MD) – Chair Bantams Supporters Trust met with the Club on Monday 10 th March. This meeting discussed the season proposed ticket offer and matchday prices only. Rising Season Tickets and Matchday tickets The Club’s explanation was that they want to keep the football accessible and affordable to ordinary fans, but they need to ensure the viability of the business. They said that they had to raise the prices, because of rising costs of between £350,000 to £400,000 while working to protect the players’ budget. Examples of rising costs were given as; increases in utility prices, rates, policing, stewarding, the National Living Wage and National Insurance contributions from the employer. Examples of the offer for the Early Bird prices were shown: Adult £299 – A rise of £50 on last years’, and to the value of £13 per game and £24.92 per month on Direct Debit for 12months. Over 64’s and Under 24’s £263 – A rise of £44 on last years’, and to the value of £11.63 per game and £21.92 per month on Direct Debit for 12months. Prices are frozen for Youth and Juniors to encourage families. Match day tickets were are also intending to go up from £20 to £24 in advance and from £25 to £28 on the day. The Trust’s position We understand that money is tight amongst many of our supporters due to the continued cost of living crisis, and therefore it has always been our position that the Club should keep season ticket prices as low and affordable as possible. Freezing prices for all after an increase last year was our ideal scenario. The Club’s position The Club understood how hard it is for many people and they reiterated that being affordable for the supporters was always going to be part of Bradford City’s identity. They also showed a table of where we are in terms of offering the best value in both League Two and indeed League One. In those league tables, those at the top represented the clubs with the most expensive ticket prices, so it showed our Club as one of the lowest in both leagues, which show us as being amongst the most affordable. They said they were fighting a trend of rising costs of season tickets at other clubs. At the time of this discussion, not all Clubs had revealed their prices for next season. The Trust asked about perhaps re-introducing an updated, modern day version of the flexi-card. This will not be re-introduced, as the direct debit scheme in effect, replaces it. The Trust asked about an ‘Unwaged’ category price, but it was felt that the Community Foundation does a lot of work drawing in supporters from deprived areas with community tickets. The Trust commended the Club on introducing the £5 offer for the Colchester game they had recently, and suggested that they do more of them. At that point they were undecided about a future offer like that given the desire to protect the overall value of season tickets. It was asked about trends regarding age groups that bought season tickets for this current season, and they gave us a rough breakdown: Adults 24 – 64: 6,500 Seniors: 2,000 Young adults: 1,000 Youth: 1,600 Junior: 2,000 Consultation The Trust asked about a consultation period, and the Club’s response was that the intention was to put out publicity about the offer in April so it was suggested we could ask our members what they would be prepared to pay. More generally, from a Trust point of view, it was explained that consultation should really be at a formative stage, where a proposal or offer can be at a stage of intention by the proposer but there should be adequate time to digest, and respond – a consultation period, where a membership based organisation like ours, can gauge how their members feel about something and respond based on what that view is. The view of the Club is that they are always pressed by time constrains during the course of a football season and that they do the best that they can to engage with supporters groups. The Trust was grateful it was invited to discuss the season ticket offer. We always value and appreciate the Club’s time and effort to engage with us.

Foodbank at Accrington was a Big Success

April 3, 2025

Accrington Stanley's food bank collection for Maundy Relief welcomed hundreds of donations before the lunchtime Kick Off last Saturday. The collection took place outside the ground, with both Accrington Stanley Bradford fans donating food items, while over £300 was also raised on the day. Supported by The Official Accrington Stanley Supporters Trust (OASST) the food bank collection has become an extremely popular initiative. Maundy Relief are well known in the Hyndburn community for being a frontline response team who immediately help anyone in need. Their services are open to all and include help with physical, mental and emotional health. Here is a link to Accrington Stanley’s Facebook post about it…

Vote for your Young Player of the Year

March 26, 2025

It is that time of year again, as Bantams Supporters’ Trust Members you have the opportunity to vote for the 2024-25 Bradford City Young Player of the Year. This season, especially in this year, has been probably the most exciting we have had in years. And we have seen City win 10 home games in a row, a Club record. We have also broke our biggest home attendance record in modern times with over 23,000 watching us beat Colchester Utd 4-1 on March 22nd. This season, from the first team we have 5 young players making an appearance as defender, midfielder and forwards. Tayo Adaramola , signed on loan in February from Premier League side from Crystal Palace and has made 8 appearances in a City shirt, and played a crucial part in the most recent 4-1 win over Colchester. The Dublin born defender has also played in 6 matches for the Republic of Ireland under 21’s. Brandon Khela signed on loan In January from Birmingham City until the end of the season. The promising 19 year-old from Coventry was the first South Asian player to sign for Birmingham City in 2022. He has made 9 appearances for City and got an assist against Colchester. Calum Kavanagh , signed for us on a two-and-a-half year deal from Middlesbrough on deadline day of the 2024 January window, and has made 30 appearances in a City shirt this season, scoring 5 goals (including the 3 rd goal against Colchester) and has assisted on a further 4. The Welsh born forward has had a number of appearances in a Republic of Ireland shirt. He is certainly firm fixture in the City squad. Bobby Pointon , He was voted your Young Player of the Year by a country mile last season. The super sub who is ‘one of our own’ has established himself in the starting line up much more this season He has made 42 appearances, scored 6 and has assisted on 6. He came on as substituted for the Colchester game Michael Melon , is on loan from Burnley from January this year until the end of the season. The 21 year-old Scottish youth international, born in England has had 9 appearances for City, and scored 2 goals with 1 assist. His last goal was the third one in our 3-1 win over Cheltenham. All five candidates eligible for the Bradford City Young Player of the Year 2024-25 have all made valuable contributions, but who has been your stand out performer? As with previous years this award includes current players under the age of 23 with at least 5 first team appearances in all competitions: Tayo Adaramola (Defender) Brandon Khela (Central Midfielder) Calum Kavanagh (Forward) Bobby Pointon (Forward) Michael Mellon (Forward) Voting starts today, Friday, March 28 th and end Friday 16th April. The Player Of The Year Dinner and results announcements will be on Wednesday, 30 th April 2025. To vote, simply email us your number 1 Young player at hello@bantamstrust.co.uk . You can also let us know via our Facebook Group and Likes page as well as our Twitter page.

Bradford City season ticket consultation

March 25, 2025

We are writing to you to gauge your view about the cost of season tickets. The Club have released its’ ‘Early Bird’ Season ticket prices and have increased them for adults by £50 and for Over 64 year olds by £44, and by £100 after the earlybird discount ends. Under 24’s have also had an increase. We understand that money is tight amongst many of our supporters due to the continued cost of living crisis, and therefore it has always been our position that the club should keep season ticket prices as low and affordable as possible. Freezing prices for all after an increase last year was our ideal scenario. The team on the pitch has been doing extremely well with promotion a real possibility. In the scenario we do get promoted, it is likely we will see a greater demand for season tickets. We have been consulted on the offer, and when we have engaged with the Club on recent occasions, they have always cited rising costs they must contend with, such as increases in rates, utilities and the cost of implementing the minimum wage, and greater National Insurance contributions etc. – overall between £350,000 and £400,000. The increase may not be appreciated by everyone, but at least supporters can spread the cost over 12 months. It’s much easier than paying all at once. Based on the Clubs’ offer, how do you feel about the increase? Please complete the following short survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/bcfc-season-tickets

Foodbank Collection

March 23, 2025

There will be a Food Bank Collection at the Crown Ground on the 29 th March, ahead of our away 12.30 lunchtime fixture with Accrington Stanley from 11am in aid of Maundy Relief , a relief aid charity serving the needs of the local community in Accrington. The most sought after goods include UHT mil, coffee, biscuits, tinned meat/fish, soups, tinned beans and veg, pasta, rice and pasta sauces. They do also take cash financial donations. If you want to say hello and make a donation please head for the bottom of the Crown steps at the corner of the main stand and Clayton End.

Burns Research Unit bucket collection volunteers appeal

March 20, 2025

It is coming round to that time of year when we will all be coming together give our respects to those who tragically lost their lived in the Valley Parade fire, 40 years ago now. This year, our last home match of the season, versus Fleetwood Town is on the 3 rd of May, and as always there will be a bucket collection on that last home fixture. The bucket collection is a way of allowing all supporters to help participate in raising vital funds for Bradford’s Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit (PSBRU). This collective practice helps adds to the impact of the remembrance as well as the one-minute silence we have just before Kick off. If you would like to be involved in the bucket collection please contact us at hello@bantamstrust.co.uk . Last year with earlier planning, up to 30 volunteers plus, including the help of you, our members, together with the efforts of the disabled supporters community, the collection raised £4,176.71 before the last match of the season against Newport County. It was almost double on what we raised the year before (£2,455.11) with just a handful of volunteers. Hopefully with the earlier notice, and the occasion being the 40 th anniversary, we can hopefully get a higher turn out of supporters that are willing to volunteer, which should transpire into raising more vital funds for something we all care deeply about. We’ll be putting out more reminders in the run up to this last match of the season with details of the time and where to meet to sign out the buckets from the Club for the collection.

Margaret Hainsworth - Rest in Peace

March 11, 2025

You know, sometimes in life you must take a moment to pause and reflect when someone you consider to be a good friend passes away. I felt compelled to do just that recently when Richard Hainsworth (son of Margaret) contacted me via Messenger to let me know of the sad news that Margaret had died. If you are a devoted Bradford City fan like me, then I would simply ask that you take a couple of minutes to read this short, but heartfelt, tribute to Margaret and in doing so recognize the immense and invaluable contribution, Margaret made to saving our football club for future generations to come. The financial crisis facing Bradford City and the very real threat of liquidation in 2002 is well documented and it is at that time that the Bradford City Supporters’ Trust (BCST) was formed. Margaret was one of the founder members. I think this was the first time I met, Margaret as we both volunteered to help set up and become members of the Supporters’ Trust – something that neither of us really knew anything about. That said, we were both willing volunteers and our Trust was swiftly in the headlights. There was a real and distinct possibility that Bradford City FC could be one of the first football league clubs to go out of business. No sooner was the Supporters’ Trust established that the Trust Board members (all unpaid and volunteers) met with Kroll the administrators appointed by Bradford City FC. Kroll gave us a simple (!) task, raise £250,000 in six weeks or lose your football club. It was as stark as that. With the significant help of the Telegraph and Argus, the football club’s supporters, and the public of Bradford that amount was raised before the end of the six weeks and the rest as they say is history. It would be simple to consign all this to one paragraph in the club’s history but the efforts of a small group of people to arrange, lead and deliver on this fundraising effort was an incredible story and chapter in the history of our beloved Football Club. At the very heart of this was Margaret. Margaret was appointed our volunteer treasurer. At the height of the fund-raising activity, Margaret was literally counting and banking thousands of pounds from donations daily. We always joked about the reception Margaret received when she went to the bank in Cleckheaton. Margaret literally took a couple of hours a day of a cashier’s time over a five-week period to bank the cash and cheque donations - £250,000 was raised by the Trust and this was supported by the Telegraph and Argus. You can see the size of the banking task Margaret was faced with. When you talk about an unsung hero, someone who worked incredibly hard behind the scenes, was kind, humble and generous with their time, then Margaret was all these things and more. Margaret was an intelligent lady with a great business acumen. Margaret never wanted to occupy any of the roles that were public and media facing preferring others on the Board to take on these roles. I owe so much to Margaret during my time as vice-chair and then chair of BCST. Margaret was always there for all of us, with her wise words of counsel, her obvious intellect, her sense of humor which we all relied on but equally her unwavering support to ensure Bradford City was saved from liquidation and to remain at Valley Parade. We had some difficult decisions to make and actions to take in our fund-raising efforts, including presenting to Bradford Council, speaking with MPs, arranging gatherings in Centenary Square and at St George’s Hall but Margaret helped us make these decisions in everyone’s best interests. She was a tour de force and a great ally as well as having those wonderful qualities of being kind, caring and compassionate. After the club was saved Margaret and the rest of the Trust Board members grew apart but I was fortunate to remain in touch with a few of them on social media. It was fitting that Margaret’s work was referenced in a book written by David Markham and Lindsay Sutton. “The Trust’s hardcore of volunteers, fronted by chairman Mark Boocock and vice chairman Phillip Marshall, suddenly found themselves in charge of a major fundraising drive. Margaret Hainsworth, the Trust’s secretary, devoted herself to the cause, collecting and banking scores if not hundreds of cheques every day.” David Markham and Lindsay Sutton, The Bradford City Story: The Pain and the Glory I will miss Margaret – I’m still fortunate to be able to travel to many away games and I always post about them on Facebook. We all enjoy receiving a ‘Like’ on our Facebook postings and despite not been in contact for several years I always enjoyed a ‘Like’ from Margaret with the most recent having been the Birmingham City away game. I also enjoyed putting a ‘Like’ on Margaret’s postings. We always wished each other happy birthday and it is clear Margaret was a much-loved Mum and Grandma. It was fitting that I shared with her son that it would be wonderful if City could beat Cheltenham on 4 March very soon after her death as a tribute to her, and the team duly delivered with a resounding win. I went home with a big smile on my face – that one was for Margaret. So, please do raise a glass to Margaret when you have read this and just say a quick thank you to her - Margaret did more for Bradford City FC than many of you will ever know. Rest in Peace Margaret and I really do hope we get promotion for you this 2024/25 season. Phill Marshall

A Trust Perspective on the direction of our football club

BANTAMS SUPPORTERS TRUST