The Trust Annual Review 23/24

This is an updated version of our comment on on the pitch matters, from our Chair’s Report Agreed at our AGM in November 2024. It captures the excellent run from on Boxing Day 2024 and brings us up to date on the football. After we had done so well with a bit of luck on our side throughout October, we were upstaged by Doncaster, a team that showed us how to win games by beating us 2-1. The attendance was the highest up to that point of the season, 18,267, with 1,587 Donny fans making their way to Valley Parade. With excitement in the air amongst fans, the pressure was too much on the pitch and caused our bubble to burst. From November right up to the last match before Christmas against Notts County where we lost 3 - 0, the Bantams put in some absolutely turgid performances. It was only a shadow of a team and painful to watch. Since the Doncaster defeat and up until Boxing Day we had only won one League game, against Swindon on the 14 th December. Morecambe also knocked out of the FA Cup in the 2 nd round at the Mazuma Stadium in that month. The performances were so poor they invited an open letter from the Independent Bradford City Fans Independent Group, 24 th December, for the attention of Stefan Rupp and Ryan Sparks, to reiterate their assertion that there is a lack of a plan and investment at Bradford City to get the team out of League Two. The Joys of Boxing Day and other results Beating Port Vale was a tremendous lift for all City fans and reward for such a team effort. Taking 3 points off the Valiants was a huge achievement which saw our Andy Cook score both our goals and saw him reach a personal feat of 100 EFL goals It was certainly the antidote to the negative pressure that arises every time the team goes through a sluggish spell. A slightly bigger crowd of 18,330 watched this one with over 1,300 making their way from Staffordshire. The Bantams had been on a real roll, winning 7 out of 8 league and cup matches including the 3 -1 win against Aston Villa under 21’s at Villa Park in the Mickey Mouse Cup, er, I mean, EFL Trophy, invoking wonderful memories of that historic victory in the League Cup at Villa Park 12 years ago now when we beat them 4-3 on aggregate. The winning run included, Chesterfield at VP at the end of December, 2-1, with a great attendance of 18,730, and 2,341 away support, and then the Mariners, beating them 3 – 1, the first home match of 2025 – 4 th January, with a post festive attendance of 18, 011. Slightly lower than the other two big game attendances with 2,187 Grimsby supporters making their way from South East Yorkshire area. City appeared to have a strong conviction to battle right to the end. The other significant win by a solitary goal, for us was of course a long trip to Carlisle, and it was 40 years ago since we last won at Brunton Park. It was a sell out for the Bantams barmy army with 1,391 making the trip to the north East, Cumbria. The attendance was 8,399. And of course we have to mention the significance of Andy Cook getting injured in the one all draw at Barrow on New Years’ Day. There was a real concern about how we were going to cope without him, but the continuing winning form has answered those doubts. Walsall Many had feared that our next opposition to play at VP were going to be a tough nut to crack but high-flying Walsall just could not find their form at all at the weekend. City had done such a professional job in not only neutralising Walsall’s attacking prowess but did an excellent job breaking forward and taking their chances and executing some great finishes. This 3 nil win saw us put in the best performance so far. There was a lower than expected attendance of 17,172, with 901 from Walsall, and although their away support was not that big it did appear much busier everywhere else. It’s clear that prior to results being more favourable, many season ticket holders that chose to stay away are now returning. Morecambe The match against Morecambe on a very chilly Tuesday night of January 28 brought what looked like half of the numbers inside VP than on Saturday, 15,083 the official attendance, with maybe 100 from Morecambe. It was a close finish in the end, but in the end we took 3 points off the struggling side that are at the wrong end of the table. City were much the better team of the first half where we had the better chances and of course got our solitary goal on the half hour mark (Cavanagh), but in the 2 nd half, Morecambe sucked City into a rough battle and were unfortunate not level the game at least. Much to our advantage we did well to keep another clean sheet and we reached 3 rd in the table. Who would’ve believed it after witnessing the Notts County display at Meadow Lane before Christmas? Frustration at Wimbledon The winning streak ended at Plough Lane. It was very a physically game. Wimbledon deserved the win. City succumbed to Wimbledon's game. Both teams spent the game cancelling each other out, but the Don's did it better. We threw away our opportunities including free kicks and corners. Our game needed changing in the 2nd half with subs on but it didn't happen. Back to winning ways in t’ Cup City have done really well to reach the semi-final after beating the Millers 1-0 via a Ritchie Smallwood well taken penalty. Attendance was 3,073 with 1,128 traveling City fans. It’s not a popular cup competition but we are certainly enjoying the ride, with a trip to League One side Birmingham City, and if we are lucky a trip to Wembley for the final. The financial reward is said to be reported as £100,000, and £50,000 for the runners up. Harrogate Back to the League and we picked up 3 points to a side we haven’t had much luck playing against since their promotion into League Two. Prior to the win, we had only won 2 out of 10. Harrogate had won 7 and there has been 1 draw. Sarcevic early solitary goal kept us in the mix for promotion. 17,126 saw this one. Prospects for promotion? Over the last few games, it has been great to hear City fans find their voice again as we now have something to cheer. The atmosphere at the Walsall game has to be the best so far, now we have really seen in action Graham Alexander’s team at it’s best. The Bantams performed well with the home crowd creating a wall of sound at Valley Parade, a sound of pleasure and excitement, and a sound that has been missed. Fans have been yearning for City to find its’ form, and the team responded to our backing. Can we be talking about promotion now? Will we see the passion and determination from our team consistently? To maintain a presence in the mix it has to be. Roller Coaster Graham Alexander came to Bradford City in November 2023, well over a year ago, and this is first full season in charge. His contract runs out in June next season and his team have struggled to find a consistent form, yet they have managed to put together little runs together up to now. Hopefully, however we can put a run together that keeps us in and around where we want to be. Most fans will understand we will have some blips along the way, but hopefully some of the worst performances are behind us. Alexander is fortunate that results and performances did pick up in the way they did, because up until then, there was an awful amount of discontented pressure building up not only on his shoulders but also on the Clubs’. It was March of last year that saw us get hammered 5 times in a row. This was the only other time that brought the toughest period of disenchanted pressure. Mark Hughes, who managed the team from February 22, was a popular manager initially, that took us to the play off’s but failed to beat Carlisle away in the semi final. It wasn’t the most exciting journey on the road to the play off’s but we got there, and after that let-down, Hughes could never really get his team going again after starting the new season with us, and he parted with the Club on the 4 th October, leaving us in 18 th in the League table. We said at the time, “No one predicted such shocking displays of football within these 11 games so far. It is the manner in which the team has played up to now that has been so disappointing, and no fan of any football team enjoys watching their team play stripped of belief.” Thankfully, with fortunes looking so much more favourable, it is unthinkable that any City fan will be saying Alexander has got to go, and the Trust hopes we can all enjoy this ride for as long as possible. There is such a real desire from the fans for our Club to get promoted it’s almost tangible, and it is widely understood, and certainly from experience, that a resorting to the short term path of the managerial merry-go-round can be a damaging gamble for a football club. We can only hope that this is our year of progressing out of League Two. 

Bantams Supporters Trust are moved to respond to derogatory remarks aimed at victims of the fire disaster on social media after the Walsall game on Saturday 25 th and reports of tragedy chanting at our match away at Carlisle on the 18 th January. Last weeks we saw our Clubs statement on the recent social media post and more recently we saw a statement from Walsall Supporters Trust; "Following complaints made by the Trust and many individuals, Walsall Football Club (and the West Midlands Police) are taking steps to identify the individual responsible for this so called joke about the deaths of 56 people who went to a football match and never returned home. Our thoughts are with any relatives who may have seen this abomination, not to mention the 250 odd people injured that day, some of whom received life changing injuries." First of all, we share the sentiments of the Walsall Trust’s statement, and we are saddened that we have to respond about negative news about supporters again. We would like to share our Clubs zero tolerance position on any form of abuse or discrimination, including tragedy chanting and condemn it in the strongest possible manner. Love Football. Protect the Game. We would like to remind supporters that last season (23/24) the football authorities united to introduce a series of measures to help improve football participation and fan behavior, and more specifically, address the issue of football tragedy abuse under the banner of ‘Love Football. Protect the Game’. Measures to challenge unacceptable fan behavior include bans and potential criminal prosecutions. Restorative Practice However, to support the rehabilitation of those identified as having engaged in negative matchday behavior, offenders may be referred to restorative practice programmes, with a range of in-stadium, in-classroom and online resources, to educate adults and children alike about the hurt tragedy chanting and other forms of abusive behavior causes. See more about all the types of measures rolled out last season to help improve the behaviour of players, managers, coaches and fans across the professional, National League system and grassroots game here .

Alan was a very knowledgeable man. He was a lecturer of Social Science at the University of Bradford and active in his union, so he had first hand experience of engaging with representatives of the employer and business. He knew how to carefully, and articulately put a position forward. In 2011 he submitted a an evidence paper to the Government's Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee on the recent history of Bradford City, illustrating the strengths and weaknesses of football in the UK at the time, and still relevant today. Drawing on the Club's toughest period of modern times; from the Premier League to League Two up until 2011, it called into question the Governance Model and looked at supporter involvement and including what the German Bundesliga way of organisation has to offer for English Football. In about 2013, Alan was invited, along with a handful of select supporters, to give evidence to the government’s Expert Working Group (EWG) on football governance, which was published in 2016. Alan gave evidence on the effectiveness of the Supporters Board at Bradford City, which began life in 2012, chaired by former Manager of Operations, Dave Baldwin. Along with the case for the Supporters Board was the development of Structured Dialogue, a vehicle of fan engagement with the Club, something the Trust still has in place today. There was also the role and purpose of Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO), Supporter Director roles and Supporter Ownership shareholders rights – Fans’ reps gave evidence to all these things to the Government Expert Working Group and can be found and read up on here . All of this was a precursor to the 2021 Fan-Led Review chaired by Tracey Crouch, and the Football Governance Bill which is still going through parliament. Alan was Chair of the Trust from 2006 until 2013 and continued to volunteer on the Trust Board, always a strong advocate of the Trust having two channels of communication with the Club as a 'critical friend', through the Trust directly and via the Supporters Board. Alan was also on the 'Remembrance Panel' working group on the Supporters Board and the Trust continues to lead the way in organising the annual bucket collection, raising much needed funds for the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit (PSBRU). Alan was a close friend to those that knew him well and he was tremendously proud to represent the cause of the Supporters Trust, which is first and foremost about encouraging his much loved Club, Bradford City to give football supporter representatives a say in the running the Club. A kind and caring person, Alan, gave confidence to others and was an excellent counsel, giving guidance and direction to his team. After he stepped down as Chair, Alan became our Treasurer, but he was much more than that, he was a true ally and friend right until the end. Alan Carling Funeral Arrangements - Further Details We would like to confirm further details of the funeral arrangements. As you know, the service will be held at Oakworth Crematorium at 12:15 on Friday 17th January. The address is Wide Lane, Oakworth, BD22 ORJ. There will then follow a private burial at Morton Cemetery for family. A webcast of the service will be available for those unable to attend. Joining details will be sent in due course to those who have elected for this option. For those unable to attend who have asked about donations we will also circulate details of charities. Following the service there will be a reception at Bradford City Football Club from 2:00pm, in the 2013 Suite. The address is Valley Parade, Bradford, BD8 7DY.

Friends & Family, Thank you all for the your messages of condolence, and the lovely memories Alan many of you have shared with us. At this very difficult time your messages, conversations, offers of support and acts of kindness, solidarity and remembrance have been a real source of solace for the family. Alan’s Funeral will be held on 17th January, starting at 12:15 at Oakworth Chapel & Cemetery, Wide Lane, Oakworth, Keighley, BD22 0RJ. The funeral will be followed by a gathering with food and a chance for those that knew him to meet and remember Alan at a venue a short drive from Oakworth Cemetery that we are currently confirming. We will let you know further details as soon as we can. Alan had a rich and varied life that touched many people’s lives in many positive ways, both small and large. We want the funeral to be a time for everyone to celebrate and remember his life. Please do pass this note to friends or colleagues that you think would want to attend, but that we may have missed. There will also be a webcast of the ceremony for those not able to attend in person. If you could please also let us know by return if you or others are attending in person that would be appreciated, so we are able to keep track of numbers for the chapel space and catering. Many Thanks - Sarah, David, Iain & Jonathan

We, as Bradford City fans are being asked to participate in telling their stories of being at Valley Parade by answering online survey questions about your experiences of Supporting City at Valley Parade. You can choose which questions you want to answer and your stories / memories can be told anonymously. The questions include sharing memories of their first Bantams match, most memorable game, how they started supporting the club, family members’ memories of following the Bantams, where they sit at the University of Bradford Stadium and what it means to be a Bradford City supporter. The stories will be shared with artists who will turn them into different art forms e.g. paintings, film, poetry. The different artists interpretations of the stories will be embedded into a digital copy of the stadium that Chris Gaffney, (Professor of Archaeological Science at the University of Bradford) and his team are creating, and people will be able to explore using VR. There is an intention to embed the stories in the physical stadium that people will be able to access using a QR code when attending matches. They will be revealed during the Bradford 2025 City of Culture celebrations. The stories may also feature in a book being written to tell people about the different innovations that have been created by the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit as a result of fans donations. Any profits from the book will be go towards the future research of the Plastic Surgery and Burns Research Unit. For further reading please go to the University of Bradford’s press release about the project

It's with great sadness that we must inform you, our members, and the Bradford City family of the loss of our long-term Supporters Trust board member, former Chair, Treasurer and friend Alan Carling who passed away on Friday 6th December 2024. We cannot do justice in a few short words to the contribution Alan made to the cause of the Trust and the wider community over several decades. We will pay our own tribute to all he has done for us and will keep our members informed of the details of Alan's funeral in due course.

After 19 out of 20 top-flight clubs raising prices over the summer, and a widespread attack on concessions for supporters at both the younger and older end of the spectrum, many of the FSA’s supporters’ groups are pushing back. Fans organized with the FSA’s Premier League Network are continuing to spread the FSA’s #StopExploitingLoyalty campaign across the weekend Premier League’s fixture lists, and they look set to continue into Christmas. Despite the cost-of-living crisis and football clubs earning ever more income from broadcast (especially in the top 2 tiers of the pyramid) and commercial income, the cost of football tickets increased at most clubs this year. A decade ago the FSA secured the £30 Premier League away cap and tens of thousands of fans benefit from that every week in the top-flight and EFL (where many clubs choose to implement their own deals – these can be reciprocal deals). Home ticket prices are a harder nut to crack as every club is allowed to set its own pricing structure. Football clubs exploit the loyalty of fans who cannot switch their ‘brand allegiance’ as customers can in other sectors, and matchday prices are higher in the Premier League than those in the Championship and especially in comparison to EFL Leagues One and Two, but it is important to keep a watchful eye at that end too. Read more about the Stop Exploiting Loyalty campaign in the Premier League here and here . Motion on fans’ co-ordinated action against ticket prices hikes At the FSA’s AGM in June there was a motion passed for fans in the Premier League to co-ordinate action on the cost of football tickets, proposed by the Spirit Of Shankly. Find out more about the campaign proposals and other motions voted on at the AGM here . The New Football Governance Bill includes changes to support fans The Regulator will now explicitly require clubs to provide ‘effective engagement’ with their supporters on changes to ticket prices. This is a direct result of the FSA’s campaign activities on ticket prices. See more about how the Bill is stronger in protecting Clubs and supporting fans here . Away ticket prices & the impact of TV, 2024-25 in the EFL The FSA is monitoring away match ticket prices and how rescheduled matches for TV affect you. Let us know which away match ticket prices and rescheduled games affect you and why so we can inform our FSA EFL League One & Two Network. Email us at hello@bantamstrust.co.uk

Many thanks to everyone that attended our AGM. It is always fantastic to see people that support us making an effort to attend either in person or on Skype. Unfortunately, the numbers present did not make the meeting quorate, although it was a really good effort. To ensure that we are quorate within our rules we have to have a minimum of 20 in attendance to be able to carry out and agree the business of the meeting. To remedy this, our rules allow us to provide you with another opportunity to attend our AGM meeting with a minimum 7 days notice so that we can ratify our AGM business. The date for this meeting is Wed 11th December from 7pm at Jacobs Well near the Interchange and Hall Ings. So, if you have been perhaps thinking of attending on Skype or maybe physically then here’s your second chance! It’s great when we get the opportunity to see you. The Skype meeting details are here .

In attendance from the Club were, Ryan Sparks (RS) – Club CEO and Paula Watson (PW) – Director of Operations. Representing the Trust was, Manny Dominguez (MD) – Chair Apologies were given from Justin Brett (JB) – Vice Chair, and Matthew Pickles (MP) Bantams Supporters Trust met with the Club on Monday 18 th November. The last meeting with the Club had been the 5 th August, 3 months ago, but we hadn’t met with RS since February so this was a much-needed catch up. This meeting covered a lot of ground and we hope it got across what matters for supporters, and in the process a Trust sense of involvement in Club developments. So, without further ado lets dive into it. Season Tickets and Matchday tickets The Trust feels that it is important that season tickets and matchday tickets should continue to be affordable for all. The Clubs position is it desires the same but the club will be facing extra costs of more than £300,000 due to the new governments recent budget measures on employers. Home and away loyalty points It was raised that supporters that come in any other way than through the turnstiles, for example going through to a sponsors’ box, don’t get their loyalty points added. It was advised supporters using the boxes can email the club which matches they will be using the boxes so that they can be added by ticketing staff, or they can explain to a steward to exit to go through the turnstile to get their QR code scanned before the game. It was also expressed that even getting QR codes scanned at home or purchasing an away ticket, doesn’t automatically enable supporters see their loyalty points added straight afterwards. The Trust was advised to email the Club examples. Away ticket availability The concern was expressed that some away tickets come on sale quite late making it difficult to plan ahead. It’s not always easy because supporters are at the mercy of the away club. It was said our Club try to give at least 4 weeks notice or more about away tickets, and the Club have recently giving 48hr notice ahead of away ticket releases, with dates for purchase pending loyalty points collected, then season ticketholders and then general sale. Atmosphere end consultation It was said that there was still a lot of dissatisfaction among the regulars that sit in block B, and some say they will no longer buy their season ticket. The Club said there have been 3 key consultations with supporters. One had been on season tickets and the outcome was most would be happy with an increase. Another had been on the branding, and over 4,000 took part largely rejecting any change to the Club crest. And approximately 80% of supporters were happy with the relocation of the atmosphere end to block B out of approx. 3,000 that took part. It was also pointed out that supporters would’ve liked to be directly involved in the processes. The Club felt it was a case that fans in Block B wanted to be emailed about it. Railed seating within the ground for both home and away supporters and cost Staying with atmosphere, it was asked if there had been any thought of planning where in the stadium there would be a choice to stand for both home and away supporters – would block B be considered as the home choice for example. The response was that it had been put on the back burner for the time being as there was a more urgent need for repairs over the shop, changing rooms roof at a cost of £75,000 which has largely been completed now. Club Business Strategy (with regards to fan engagement) We looked a this with particular attention to ‘supporters after the game’ and ‘fans feeling valued’ and there a plans to carry out surveys to understand how fans feel valued, and what would make supporters feel more valued. Improving our structured dialogue and the Club promoting of work with the Trust and Supporters Board (SB) It was briefly explained that more fans would understand the value of the Trust and SB if the engagement with them was occasionally publicised on the Club website. It was felt from the Trust side, from the meeting, that the Club were more willing to commit to following up on decided action points being made. Fan Engagement Plan (FEP) We looked at this necessary requirement all EFL clubs have to commit to agreed to in the summer of this year. Supporter engagement is a means of giving fans a sense of being closer to the club. A close association encourages and strengthens loyalty. It is a term that has come to encompass everything a club does to communicate with its supporters. Clubs will be required to publish a FEP on an annual basis which will be overseen by a senior Club official. This requirement builds on the work clubs are already undertaking with supporters including hosting two meetings or fan forums each season to get their views on key issues faced by supporters and clubs. Stoke City’s FEP is the best example of a template all clubs should aim towards. The Trust picked up on the fact that the Clubs’ FEP has a quote from the SB’s Chair and dates of when they meet throughout the year and it was suggested that we have the same, a quote from the Chair and that we should aim for quarterly meetings in a year. Governance Meetings The Trust would get invites, and there we could raise ideas on diversity, community projects and sustainability. The Club said it was aiming for silver in the Equality Code of Practice. Last season the Club achieved Bronze. On sustainability the Club are concentrated on working with the EFL’s ‘Green Code’ sustainability programme. Restorative Justice and Crime Reduction It was raised about incidents at away matches against Walsall and Tranmere. Examples were given that at Tranmere, supporters were allowed to stand on the steps of the stands, and when our first goal was scored supporters toppled over each other. The Club hadn’t heard about that and it was suggested to email the Club and Tranmere Rovers. It was also raised that disabled supporters get a raw deal at many grounds where we travel to especially where there is no choice of two areas of a ground to get into. Where we only get one stand, other supporters tend to stand in front of wheelchair users, obscuring their sightlines. Asked about the appeals panel – where supporters accused of doing things they shouldn’t have been doing can appeal a decision, and have their case looked at again, availability for a Trust volunteer would be made. Transport – Getting supporters to and from matches on a week night It was explained that fans can get a day rider for £3 on a match day by using the promo code 'BANTAMSMATCH', check here , but it’s much more difficult to get home from a night match. It was asked if the Trust could contact the local authority and the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to see if they have any ideas to improve this situation, and response from the Club was favourable. Football Governance Bill The FSA was at the heart of 2021’s Fan-Led Review of Football Governance which made a range of recommendations to strengthen the game’s governance – most notably the commitment to introduce an independent regulator. The Bill, which has cross-party support was stopped in its tracks under the Tories due to the snap general election, and kick started again under a Labour government. In the Trust’s view, we feel it has been strengthened to protect both football supporters and clubs. The stand out changes since the first draft of the Bill are:  New powers in the Bill include consulting fans on ticket pricing, home stadium relocations, and fan representation at clubs Parachute payments included in Regulator’s remit so it will have full oversight to tackle financial sustainability across the football pyramid Requirement to consider government foreign policy dropped to cement regulator’s full independence However, the Bill has not yet run its full course through parliament and therefore it is not law, and as such, the Clubs position is that it is committed to following the regulations as laid down by the EFL. It remains unclear how long it will take to become law. It currently has 19 amendments and it is likely there will be more tweaks to it than that before it gets over the line. What is likely to take longer is the limited period it will take for the Premier League (PL) and EFL to agree an amount of money (after years of failure to agree) that the PL redistributes before the Independent regulator would come in to choose a proposal from either or impose a figure of its own. There is a view of course that this will never happen. But one thing is true; this financial redistribution underpins the whole Bill. The disparity of wealth between the EFL clubs and PL clubs is far too great already and is still widening. EFL Sky Deal It was asked by the Trust how the Club benefits from the new Sky deal and it was said that the Club is £50,000 worse off in League Two compared with having iFollow under the previous arrangements. The Club votes with the collective generally when it comes to voting to accept new changes, it also voted in favour of the new TV deal with a view to being in League One or higher as the rewards are financially greater under the new deal. Under the previous EFL iFollow streaming service agreement, the Club benefited generating £250,000 from supporters using the service to stream home and away, live streamed matches. Club Maintenance Costs The Club said that maintenance costs on the stadium were significantly up on last year. More than £70k has been spent on the pitch and drainage, so far, with more works taking place over the coming weeks and months. Ownership It was asked if there was any developments in terms of Stefan Rupp’s intention to be involved and investment since his open letter to fans and his attendance at the fans forum last summer. It was said he had come over for the Doncaster Rovers game at home in October, and nothing has changed with regard to his commitment to the Club, and was in the UK’s for Saturday’s postponed visit of Accrington Stanley. With regards to the stadium, it was said that the Club are in a stronger position with Gordon Gibb and there will be consultation with the Trust should Gordon Gibb wish to sell in regard of the Asset of Community Value (ACV).