A Trust Perspective on the direction of our football club

Remembering the 54 Bradford City supporters and two Lincoln City supporters who went to watch a game of football but never returned home. We stand with everyone at the Memorial Service in Centenary Square and those that join us from all parts of the UK and the world to mark the 41st anniversary of the Valley Parade Fire Disaster.

We would like to thank all of you who voted for the Supporters Trusts’ Young Player of the Year 2025/26. The annual awards and dinner on the 28 th April was a celebration of a team that have been at the top of the table all season. We had just fought to get a well deserved point at the last home match of the season in front of a great home crowd against Bolton Wanderers, and then at the weekend, we finally secured our place in the Play-Off’s beating Exeter City 2-1 in Devon in front of a sell-out crowd at St. James’ Park. This season, the team have had to really compete against much stronger teams in League One than those in League Two over the course of the season. Congratulations goes to the gaffer, Graham Alexander who has been the orchestrator of the team, encouraging a positive attitude to the game, belief and confidence throughout what is always a rollercoaster of a season. And of course well done to Antoni Sarcevic and Bobby Pointon who picked up the joint Players’ of the Year Award. Young Player of the Year The winner of the Trust’s Young Player of the Year is Jenson Metcalfe! He narrowly beat Bobby Pointon on winning the prize, voted by you, the supporters! We would also like to give a special thanks to Tony Deacon, who gave Jenson 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. You can see the list of all who won an award on the night here .

We would like to thank all of you who participated in the Bucket Collection on Saturday April 25 th at Valley Parade, our last fixture of the season against Bolton Wonderers. The Trust had 8 volunteers with buckets all around the ground. There will have been a few more helping out also. We raised an amazing £5071.27, which includes £545 of online donations on the day. We’d like to thank all the supporters of that very impressive attendance at Valley Parade of 23,732 that made a contribution. And, once again we would like to thank all the collectors for doing your bit. This has been a great collective exercise and great achievement.

Its not long till’ Saturday, and it would be great to have more volunteers. We do already have a handful of committed souls but we can never have enough. Last year, we had approximately 15 volunteers, with mostly our members and supporters from the Disability Club and Shipley Bantams. For the 40 th anniversary we raised an amazing £7,387.70 during the bucket collection before the match, almost double on what was raised the year before. If you would like to be involved in the bucket collection please contact us at hello@bantamstrust.co.uk . Arrangements Volunteers should 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.

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 41 st anniversary. Last year, we had approximately 15 volunteers, with mostly our members and supporters from the Disability Club and Shipley Bantams. For the 40 th anniversary we raised an amazing £7,387.70 during the bucket collection before the match, almost double on what was raised the year before. This year, our last home match of the season, versus Bolton Wanderers is on the 25 th of April, and as always there will be a bucket collection. If you would like to be involved in the bucket collection please contact us at hello@bantamstrust.co.uk . 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 don’t think it will be any different. We’ll be putting out another reminder next week so we hope to have confirmation by then.

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, 41 years ago now. This year, our last home match of the season, versus Bolton Wanderers is on the 25 th of April, and as always there will be a bucket collection. 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, we had approximately 15 volunteers, with mostly our members and supporters from the Disability Club and Shipley Bantams. For the 40 th anniversary we raised an amazing £7,387.70 during the bucket collection before the match, almost double on what was raised the year before. We’ll be putting out another reminder 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.

Here is a personal account of Bantams Supporters Trust Board member, Tony Deacon, describe the very successful event of Tony Delahunty talk about his experiences as a commentator for Pennine Radio in the 80’s in aid of the Burns Unit. On Good Friday Helen Jeffery and I welcomed Tony Delahunty to the exchange on behalf of Bantams Supporters Trust. There were a lot of fans assembled in the Pub wanting to hear his talk. Over the next 45mins Tony delivered a very emotional and moving talk about his experiences on 11th May 1985, and the subsequent aftermath. He told of how he was asked to leave Pennine radio shortly after the fire. This was due to people writing to the radio station and saying his voice was too distressing. From Pennine radio he went to radio Trent. After a disastrous interview he thought, ‘seen as I’m here I will blag an interview with Brian Clough’, which he did. When this interview aired, radio Trent got in touch and said you’ve got the job. He then went on to be one of the few journalists Clough would talk to. He ended the talk by telling us about the documentary, ‘The Unforgotten’, that Manny Dominguez and I were privileged to attend the premiere of at the media museum ahead of the BBC screening last year. It has been nominated for a BAFTA. After the talk I took the time to walk him to his taxi. During this time he said he really enjoyed doing the talk and was made to feel so welcome in the Pub. He also said he would love to do another talk with more humorous stories about City & Clough. On behalf of the Supporters Trust we would like to thank Tony Delahunty for a very informative talk. Also Ben Hoole for allowing us to use the Pub. A collection for the Burns unit was held during the talk and extended during the day. So hopefully we will have raised quite a bit. Tony Deacon

For those City fans of a certain age, tuning into Pennine Radio for the football in West Yorkshire in the early 80’s, you may remember the familiar voice of Tony Delahunty commentating on the fortunes of Bradford City up and down the country. Well, he will be appearing at what many of us remember as the old Ale Exchange this Friday, raising money for the Burns Unit. On the 3 rd of April, before the Northampton game, Tony will be speaking at the Exchange Craft Beer House about his stories during his time commentating on the City action. Tony was commentating on the tragic day of the fire. Now 82, Tony is retiring from radio. In recent years he ran an independent radio station, Mansfield 103.2. The Trust has helped organise this event and he is now an Honorary Patron of the Trust for being a great servant to Bradford in the past and as sports commentator around the world. Tony will be at the bar from 12 so come down and see him and raise a glass and make a donation for the Burns Unit. We hear he tells some good stories! He will be at the Ale Exchange for only an hour, as he will be treated at the Club before the match as well.

In attendance from the Club were, Liam Mould (LM) – Club Fan Engagement Officer. Representing the Trust there was, Manny Dominguez (MD) – Chair). Apologies were given from Tony Deacon (JB), Helen Jeffery and Matthew Pickles (MP). The Trust’s purpose to meet the Fan Engagement Officer was firstly to see the scope of LM’s role and how it meets a Trust’s desired role of what it looks like and how we can work together going forward. Supporter Liaison Officer role LM briefly informed us that his main requirement is to lead in maintaining gold in family excellence in the EFL by ensuring the operations activities on a match day go to plan, for example Billy’s Coup, staff on hand for advice and giving out fruit, half time activities, external group organisation and partners’ stalls, and the flags being put out, and a lot more. Also he meets with existing supporters groups such as the Supporters’ Board, LGBT Bantams and Bangla Bantams. We looked at the FSA guidance to the role of SLO . MD had good comments that LM had been visual on matchdays certainly in the main stand and that he was at the recent away match at Burton Albion, so certainly having a visual presence for fans to be on hand to see is a desired requirement. MD commented that the main stand concourse does certainly look more colourful and welcoming for all. The Club also has 2 disability Liaison Officers that can be seen around the stadium on matchdays also. A concern that the Trust had was that there maybe too many other responsibilities to the job so that desired SLO or Fan Engagement roles could not be fully fulfilled, something that may have been an issue previously. Fan Engagement Plan (FEP) We looked at the FSA’s guidance for Supporter Engagement in the EFL , namely about rules adopted by the EFL in 2024. The FSA’s senior paid officials with a selection of Trust reps meet with senior EFL reps and have a structured dialogue quarterly throughout the year so recommendations get through and are adopted at EFL AGM’s and information cascaded to Clubs, so these papers benefit EFL clubs on a day to day basis. The minimum fan engagement requirement is two meetings/fans’ forums a year. Our club goes over and above this. It also talks about a Fan Engagement Plan or FEP and complete an FEP Review. In a nutshell the guidance is for both Clubs and fans groups to work together and to collaborate on things where possible. This is the ideal way. Engagement Models We looked at various models of supporters groups and how Clubs work with them. The Club engages with various models of supporters groups. The most established are the Supporters Board and ourselves, the Supporters Trust. The Supporters Board model has changed from its original set up that had a mixture of elected and selected/appointed members representing the widest number of supporters through representatives of various supporters groups and the Supporters Trust was represented in that body. Over the years Supporters Boards have become Supporter Advisory Boards (SAB’s) perhaps more common in the Premier League and EFL Championship. Bradford City’s Supporters Boards no longer has Trust representation on that body MD explained, as in recent years, its constitution changed, but now the Trust has a structured dialogue directly with the Club. Going back to the various engagement models and the structures, the Club engages with, it has the Fans’ Forum twice a year and then has the Trust, which its aim is to meet quarterly and it has the Supporters Board which it meets monthly. The Club also puts out occasional questionnaires to canvas opinion too. The Club also has a strong focus on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) that is discussed at the Club Governance meetings that have invited the Trust and Supporters Board reps to attend. LM said that he is involved in working towards an EDI plan and through that they want to develop the Disability group and LGBT group into genuine bodies similar to associations. They also have initiated Responsible Bantams, Sustainable Bantams and Together Bantams from the EDI work as well. The long-term aim LM said, is to bring these things into a Fans Advisory Panel which the Trust would be invited on as would the Supporters Board. MD was in favour of this broader advisory panel, citing the FSA recommendation of a having a ‘reserved seat’ for representatives of key independent, democratically structured supporters groups such as the Trust. Trust Proposals within FEP MD explained that we have had a number of proposals that had been agreed at the numerous structured dialogue meetings but have not fully appeared in the FEB document. Firstly there is a statement. There is a separate link to that on the website in the Fan Engagement area which is great but should really be in the FEP document. The Fan Engagement area isn’t very accessible on the Club website. LM said it was on the actual PDF doc. MD said he would check later. Secondly is our quarterly arrangement- adding the four months of the year: August, November, Feb and May. And finally, adding an amendment to the text on ‘Heritage Assets’ that we will be consulted also. MD had shared 2 links to Club fan engagement plans – both Clubs are well established higher up the football pyramid – Championship side, Stoke City and Premier League Sunderland . Both these clubs have excellent Fan Engagement Plans that we should work to developing. FEP Review: Mid season and end of Season Review. We briefly discussed how we can work together to review the Fan Engagement plan. LM felt the mid-season review would repeat the pre-season review, so felt it wasn’t necessary. Consultation This neatly led us to the Trust perception of how the Club consults with us. We feel that we do get to have in depth conversation about the progress of the Club and we are vey grateful and feel this is very useful and good that it gives us such in-depth knowledge and overview, however, quite often, from a fans point of view, supporters are asking about situation after decisions have been made, and when we pre-empt when the Club are going to make a decision on something, for example, season tickets, there is very little to say on the matter, until its almost ready to be publicised when decisions have already been made and there is no going back. Genuine consultation is when 2 parties discuss ideas and decisions are made together where the experience and knowledge of being a fan is taken into account to factor in that input. Quite often as fans we are chasing a moving feast asking why has this or that being done or not being done. Matchday Policing of matches and overcrowding – MD brought up experiences, particularly at Wigan were fans were held back in their seats after the match and more recently at Burton there was overcrowding, For the Wigan game, one supporter wrote to the opposite SLO about the incident and he got a detailed account from the ‘Silver Commander’ police officer. LM suggested we can have a more in depth discussion about these incidents when we meet again in August for the meeting on safety and behaviour with Paula Watson (PW), the Director of Operations, Jonathon Heaton, the Clubs’ Safety Officer and the West Yorkshire Police Dedicated Football Officer for the Club, Aaron Dennis, in August. B Block issues and proposal – We picked up a conversation from a previous meeting , where it was raised that issues are still rumbling. LM was able to get an idea and MD proposed that we could work together to meet with the groups for a form of concession bargaining mediation meeting to find agreement. Ideas for fan engagement events MD firstly explained that some of the events that we have at the Club are too expensive for ordinary supporters to afford. The end of season dinner is a prime example at £80 per person. LM countered that this the End of Season dinner aligns with the club’s pricing strategy when looking at increased costs across the operation while also noting a recent trend in a large selection of the supporter base leaning towards premium options. Comparing to retail, the club shop has items at a ‘higher’ price and items at a low-mid price, in order to appease everybody. A similar model is taking place with events now – with the introduction of the Events Pass – working out at £6 per event for u12s - a cheaper option for supporters to meet players at a cheaper price. MD said we should go back to pie and pees events in the suites for supporters groups, veterans to meet the stars at very down to earth prices. Life is a constant battle to try not to spend due to rising costs. Older people can be more isolated these days. The Club could bring them together to talk about old times and memorable matches from the 60’s 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. The Club could bring in speakers to talk about their experiences for Black history month or international women’s’ Day without a 3 course diner, just tea – coffee, a bar maybe and an assortment of finger food. In years gone by the Trust was part of a Community Day that was held just before the season started, where we would get some of the stalls put out in the suites, and there was a bouncy castle outside and football tournament s on the pitch and events on the concourse in the main stand as well. LM said he would take this on board. Any other Business MD raised about alterations on the concourse of the Midland road had aroused a lot of discussion and concern about losing their seats to a bigger away fan allocation. LM said there had been adequate communication about the extra security gate. LM said that there was an email sent to those with seats in that stand. It can be raised for the next Structured Dialogue meeting to be held in May. Next Meeting It was agreed that the FEP end of season review meeting should be held towards the end of May.