What Happens to the Bill after the General election? Part 1

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.

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

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.

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.

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

In attendance from the Club were, Ryan Sparks (RS) – Club CEO Representing the Trust was, Manny Dominguez (MD) – Chair & Carl White (CW) Apologies were given from Paula Watson (PW), Director of Operations, Justin Bret (JB) – Trust Vice Chair, and Matthew Pickles (MP) also from the Trust. Bantams Supporters Trust met with the Club on Monday 10 th Feb. The last meeting with the Club was on the 18 th of November 24, 3 months ago. This meeting covered a lot of ground in all matters we wanted to know more about and there was more of a sense we felt part of a process. So, without further ado lets dive into it. Season Tickets and Matchday tickets The Club felt that they were not at a stage where they had come to an agreement about next year’s season ticket prices. Like in November’s meeting, the Club reiterated their concern that there are challenging rising costs they must contend with, such as an increase in rates, utilities and minimum wage, National Insurance etc – overall between £350,000 and £400,000. For example when it comes to renewals, the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA) who yearly provide safety licenses to stadiums charge a fee based on the capacity of the stadium. It costs £17,000 (a recent increase) and it was felt this is unfair and that the cost should be based on what the position of a club sits in the pyramid. This figure used to be less than £500. Matchdays are dependent on season ticket holders, and the Club lost between 600 – 700 season ticket holders from last season. However there has been an increase in the numbers who buy match day tickets, largely due to the recent success of the team. The Club said that it is committed to providing affordable season ticket prices and will consult the Trust and Supporters Board on its’ proposal for next season. The Trust stated that it felt its free tickets to schools in disadvantaged areas of the city was commendable and its £3 for its community tickets to encourage a new generation of fans is excellent as well. The Club talked about its Community Takeover, as part of the EFL’s Community Weekend, for the MK Dons game on the 22 nd of Feb which will be in the TL Dallas (Bradford End) stand, but there would be lots of activities in the main (Morrison’s Family) stand. The Club are making a lot of effort to reach ‘the EFL Family Excellence status’ hoping to reach gold this year. 15 out of 92 EFL clubs will achieve Gold. Last year the Club achieved bronze. A ‘secret shopper’ takes a visit to make the judgment call. There has been an emphasis about trying to make family entrance clearer and the children’s areas more colourful and providing more kiosk options. Matchday ticket prices We asked about them as we mentioned that even at our level in League Two, away match prices are certainly creeping up well above £25 and nearing £30 at some. Admin fee added to telephone sales There was a feeling of inevitability from the Trust about the answer. When the admin fee came about there was quite a bit of disquiet about It. The Club response was that it should’ve been brought in in the summer, but technical issues delayed its’ implementation. Before they did this many fans were ringing up and not getting seen to. It was said most clubs already have a telephone admin fees now and Ticketmaster has taken up a very large part of the ticketing market. Even Wembley sells tickets via Ticketmaster. Since the admin fee has been implemented, there has been a 50% drop in calls, but it means ticketing staff are answering more ticketing queries or calls regarding technical help rather than just selling tickets over the phone. Most supporters buy online now. Atmosphere and examples at other Clubs The Trust raised the issue about the atmosphere end in B block and asked if the Club could’ve consulted better. It was said that however the Club had consulted. Newcastle was raised from the Trust viewpoint how the atmosphere section had done well at St. James’s Park, where flags were being waved all-round the ground at the start of a game against Bournemouth recently, and other Clubs have something similar. There was some good discussion around this, and it was concluded that every club has its fan culture – flags and banners and creating that fan ultra effect has largely come from mainland Europe where it is still cheaper to attend football at top level matches, and it is still being tested out a little in the UK. It will improve as more clubs implement railed seating, but football must remain affordable to the masses. It means that ordinary supporters (that want to create the most noise) don’t feel priced out. The Premier League must lead by example but by today’s standards it is going in the opposite direction in terms of ticket prices. It has been over 25 years since fans have had the choice to stand at Valley Parade and most home regulars much prefer to sit, and the atmosphere comes when we win games, but when there is an atmosphere, it doesn’t always project to be audible in all areas of the ground. At Newcastle there is a choice of railed seating in the away end, high in the gods and for home supporters in the Gallowgate end where traditionally the atmosphere had come from. Club Business Strategy (with regards to fan engagement) We asked for an update on fans’ surveys, in particularly on how supporters feel after the game and feeling valued. The Club would get back to us on this. Improving our structured dialogue / Fan Engagement First, we looked at the Trust’s proposal – statement and additional wording and amendments to go on the Club’s Fan Engagement Plan (FEP) below. The intention for this is for the Club to show equal parity between the Supporters Board and Supporters Trust when engaging with supporters’ groups. In the FEP the Club has a quote / statement from the SB Chair, has all the month in the year it meets with the SB and is included in in its consultation when it comes to ‘Heritage Assets’. Trust proposed Chair quote /statement: "Bantams Supporters Trust very much welcomes the Club’s Fan Engagement Plan. It shows the Club is committed to involving supporters in its development and growth as a football club, all of which continue to improve. There has been a huge emphasis around fan engagement in recent years, and the fan-led review (a process of consultation with the Football Supporters Association (FSA) along with affiliate supporters’ trusts) was a prerequisite for an incoming Football Governance Bill. We have gauged the Club’s views over recent years about the many key aspects of football such as FSA proposals within the Fan-Led Review, the Governance Bill, and national issues such as TV revenue and redistribution as well as, of course the concerns that affect Bradford City supporters. We value the Club’s readiness to engage with us and we look forward to working closely on initiatives that bring supporters together and Bradford’s diverse community together to ever improve and enrich the Club’s fan engagement process." Quarterly meeting arrangement Also, in keeping with a quarterly arrangement of meetings with the Trust, it would be good to see that in writing on the FEP by adding February, May, August and November for meetings with us on the Fan Engagement Calendar. Obviously, these are a guide and would be 'subject to change" Additional proposed text amendment on Heritage Assets On Heritage Assets, it says, "...will involve thorough consultation with the Supporters Board." If you can add, "...and Bantams Supporters Trust" The Club said it would investigate getting these added. What is Fan Engagement? 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. Other meetings the Trust would like to attend as part of a consultation process The Trust explained that it is not always practical in getting a full picture of certain aspects of what the Club does where the Trust would feel the benefit in sharing ideas and feeling consulted at these structured dialogue meeting. Governance meetings , which are monthly where we send a delegate to, shows good practice at involvement of groups in discussing Inclusion, Equality and Diversity ideas and Community events to attract new layers of supporters to watch City for example. Other meetings we would like to attend on an ad hoc basis to see how things are moving and how we can add to the discussion are: Restorative Justice, Crime Reduction, Police – we last met the Club on this specifically over 2 years ago. Sustainable Football – environmental impact which should include improving public transport, encourage car sharing etc. and broadly speaking the Club reducing its carbon footprint and encouraging fans to do the same. Every year there is a Green Football Weekend. Catering – we last met Doug, from Tiffin’s on discussing options for supporters and prices over 2 years ago. Mid-Year Fan Engagement / Consultation We looked at an FSA model guidance paper to go carefully go through it, as it is this time of the year that our affiliate organization is gathering date ahead of its structured dialogue with the EFL. The Trust feels it has: A good day to day relationship with the Club The Club has informal meetings with groups of supporters It has the minimum of two fan forums And has monthly meetings with the Supporters Board Quarterly meetings with the Trust The Trust has with the Club: A Terms of Reference (TOR) for our quarterly Structured Dialogue meetings A Memorandum of Understanding ready for when we feel it’s’ consultation process improves even more than it has. The Trust feels the Club is making efforts to bring us on an equal par with the Supporters Board. The quality of engagement and discussions are very good at our meetings. The Trust publishes our reports for our structured dialogue meetings on our website and bring them to the attention of our members, by email and on social media, but it would be good for the Club to have some acknowledgement that a meeting has taken place with us and broadly what was discussed on its own website. The Club says it will look to have something published as a record of meeting with the Trust. Fans Forum on Radio Leeds The Trust asked why the Club was set to have its Fans Forum not in front of fans especially when there had been a great improvement in form on the pitch, which had moved the attention away from perceived off the field issues. The answer was that it was for continuity. It was done last season, and it had worked well it was said. There is going to be a forum in front of fans in the summer as there was last year, and that an in the studio forum on the radio gave an opportunity for fans to ask questions who may not have an opportunity to do so at a live open forum with supporters. It was added that it would be 2 hours long and would be published online. Football Governance Bill Update 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 is currently going through the ‘Lords’ at the moment, but the Club remain unconvinced the outcome will have the desired effect – that the Premier League will accept redistributing its wealth to help even out the wealth distortion that currently exists within the English football pyramid, and that there is a likelihood that there will be a watering down of the Bill. The Trust feels that there may be an element of truth in this given the amount of ‘U’ turns the Labour government have done since being elected given what they campaigned for to the electorate before the election. It’s clear they are listening to big business more than its traditional voters. The other aspect of this Bill was to seek legal ways of preventing Clubs from leaving the leagues to create a European Super League. But we shall see what comes out. There may be some lobbying of MPs from supporters’ groups when the Bill reaches the ‘commons. EFL Sky Deal It was explained from the Trust, we and other supporters’ groups on the FSA’s EFL fans network are monitoring away ticket prices in conjunction with the rescheduling of matches. The FSA’s recommendation for giving notice for rescheduling is 12 weeks , and Sky’s is a minimum of 4 weeks . In some instances, Sky is breaking their own commitment of notice. The reason the FSA’s recommendation is a much longer period is to take into consideration travel and hotel bookings when fans plan for away trips. It’s clear that most fans prefer a 3pm Kick Off. The Club said that it opposed the original fixture of a Doncaster Rovers away on a Monday evening. Maintenance Costs The Club said that maintenance costs are an on-going challenge. Although the stadium is modern, it is still over 25 years old and as a result needs on-going maintenance to the building. More than £70k has been spent on the pitch and drainage. Ownership The Club said that the rental cost is more than £500K, though there is sponsorship income from Flamingo Land. We discussed a hypothetical idea of fans raising part of the funds needed for the Club to own the stadium it outright. It was thought not to be viable. Any Other Business The electronic (LED) advertising hoardings situated behind the goal at the Bradford End were raised, because at the last game, there were many supporters who thought they were too bright, obscuring the goal-mouth action. They were previously in use at Fratton Park. It was said that they would pay for themselves as sponsorship partners would buy into them. The lighting was said to be turned down for the next game.

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. 

This is the Chairs’ Report, written in October 24, ahead of our November AGM 2024, commenting on the managerial situation, the national picture as a backdrop and the Trust’s year engaging with the Club, and building the Trust to ensure its longevity by encouraging supporters to join and play leading role in ensuring we have a football club for generations to come. On the Pitch At the time of writing, the Bantams are 5 th in the League Two table after coming away from Cheltenham on a Tuesday night with a point. Could we be seeing something of a renaissance after seeing three wins on the bounce following a dip in form in September up until early October. In fact the anniversary of Mark Hughes departure, October 4 th , last year, came and went and our 3 wins in a row started on October 7 th at home against Newport County, winning 2 – 1 on a Monday night in front of the Sky TV cameras. Rewind to the beginning of Graham Alexander’s career with Bradford City, his first game didn’t go as well as planned, losing to Barrow 2 – 1 at home on the 11 th November 23. We lost again to Notts County 42 in the following game away in the league before beating Barnsley at home 5 – 1 in the EFL Trophy group stage getting his first win at home under his belt at VP against Accrington Stanley, and this winning streak continued well into December, beating Doncaster away 3-1 away on the 22 nd . The next stint of back-to-back league wins came in February of this year (2024), a 4 – 0 beating over MK Dons and a solitary goal beating Sutton United respectively, both at home. March saw us get hammered 5 times in a row and it also gave reason to growing unrest from a section of the fanbase, frustrated with the lack of progress on the pitch come to it’s height in the form of a protest led by ‘Bradford City Independent Fans Group on the 29 th March before City’s home fixture against Tranmere which we won 2 – 0. City had a run of 6 games unbeaten starting with a 1 – 1 draw against the Mariners away and then 5 wins, and came so close to a play-off off place. It left us City fans and probably the players and the management team wondering what if? What if we had won that Crawley game at home, what if we didn’t lose so many in March? At the time of writing we will soon come to Graham Alexander’s 1 st year as Manager and hopefully a better season. The pressure on the Club to succeed to get out of this league is almost tangible and we are sure the manager and players understand. It is imperative the team doesn’t buckle under that pressure. At the moment the team are fifth in the division and a win against Doncaster Rovers on the 26 th of October could see us leap frog over them and potentially reach third place in League 2. The difficult challenge will be however to maintain the consistency needed to hold that position. It is indeed a long season, a season of challenges to the team and another roller coaster season for the fans. The Football Governance Bill update Earlier this year (2024) the Football Governance Bill had started its process of getting legislated (19 th March 24) with the introduction of the Independent regulator being the key component of the proposals as a means to intervene and stop clubs being run into the ground, protect the heritage of clubs, give supporters a much bigger voice in the running of the game, and prevent any chance of domestic clubs joining a breakaway European Super League. However the snap general election in the summer prevented the Bill in completing its process of getting through parliament. In May this year (2024), keen to continue put pressure on politicians after the general election was called, the FSA tabled an open letter signed by 200+ supporters’ groups, calling on all parties to get behind a new Football Governance Bill. Bantams Supporters Trust was amongst those signatories. On the 23 rd of October 24, the Labour government launched the Bill in parliament strengthened with additional powers to protect clubs and support fans, chiefly on: 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. It’s considered that the independent regulator will be seen as a ‘back stop’ power if EFL and PL clubs cannot come to agreement around issues around wealth redistribution. Naturally the EFL are happier of the two because the parachute payments are within the remit of the independent regulator You can see more detail here . FA Cup Replays In April (2024) we reported that the FA had authorized the banning of FA Cup replays from the first round proper from next year. It was something the Premier League had always wanted, predominantly to ease their fixture calendar which has been made more congested by the expansion of European club competitions, and initially it formed part of it’s proposal to the EFL and National League on financial redistribution. It has angered many football supporters and clubs especially of clubs further down the pyramid. You can find a fuller report on the detail and what it means in our article on it here . On the 1 st May, 27 clubs, 11 from the EFL and 16 non league clubs joined forces to back a football reform body called Fair Play who are requesting an amendment to the Football Governance Bill to re-instate FA Cup replays. See more here . The EFL TV Deal In May 2023 EFL clubs have unanimously voted to accept a £935m 5-year deal with Sky Sports, which starts this season and will run until the end of the 2028-29 season. It is said the deal will keep the Saturday blackout in place. The blackout is when the majority (i.e. 50% or more) of the weekly football matches in the top or top two domestic leagues or in the national cup(s) in the country are played in a two and a half hour window. It is also said that under the deal 1,059 league EFL Cup and EFL Trophy matches will be shown live either on a Sky main channel or via a Sky streaming platform, replacing the iFollow service. You can still get iFollow if you live internationally. When the dates were confirmed in the summer, Sky and EFL had maneuvered to stagger all scheduled live matches around the black-out for the period up to the FA Cup third round in early January. Viewing times will stagger over long weekends from Friday to Mondays. The FSA will keep a watching brief over future confirmed televised fixtures. You can see more here . The year’s work Again, like previous years, there is always something to keep on top of. It is very demanding. Our three key things that we do best are: Keeping members informed and in the loop about we are doing and keeping you up to date as much as we can to what is going on nationally with our email articles, which we post on social media. Physically engage with members and supporters through our stalls on match days in the stadium. Engage with the Club through our ‘Structured Dialogue’, and of course keep members and supporters informed with what we have discussed and what comes out of the meetings. Commercial relationships We are now in our first full season with UK based, ethically sourced company called Teemill. We have samples of our designed clothing on our stall and have an advert, now with a QR code to take members and supporters directly to the online store : where supporters can buy our products. There is no investment costs with this, but if it does prove popular the income we get with each sale of merch sold could finance any upgrade to have more choice in terms of stylization, so for example merch such as T-shirts and hoodies could have back printing. Our scarves are the key seller on our stall. One of our members, Ryan Bell (RB) had donated some of the scarves he had made from a supplier in Europe before Brexit done in a retro European style so that the Trust could raise money from them. MD and RB then went halves on 50 claret and amber retro design scarves with Leeds-based company Global scarves for the start of the 2022/23 season. We still had plenty of the white with claret and amber trim type scarves left over, and this is what we have been selling up to date. The Global Scarves ones are a jacquard knit design, harking back to how football scarves were originally mass produced in the UK, but as everything is so much more expensive post Brexit we had to sell them at £15 each to get a return, but we have not taken out our investment back from what we have sold and we have very nearly sold them all in over 2 seasons. Our publicity and website As we have mentioned earlier, we always regularly update members and supporters updates on national things that can have a direct or sometimes indirect impact on our Club, and articles about whet we accomplish. Our members get our emails, and there is always a trace of our work so that members can look up or go back to articles. The emails that get sent to over 500 members is a basic free service and on average 40% click on the emails. However there are less people that click on the links to see the articles in full. On Social media City supporters can just see a strapline and link to our articles, and we regularly share on multiple groups with the help of the Meta Business Suite and we continue to use twitter of ‘X’ as it is now called. And we continue to reach Instagram too. Our profile on these social media channels has grown and we are much larger than life because of the frequency of posting. If it is not for posting links to articles, often with an image / design in our Trust box, it is our regular well wishing prior to matches regularly asking poignant questions relating to form and record of results and immediate challenges. These get the most ‘likes’. These have the retro scoreboard C’mon City clap graphics. Our Facebook Group has 881 members, up by 54 and our ‘Likes’ Page has 1,500 plus people liking it, and 1,572 people follow it, up by 45. Our Twitter account , has 394 Following , up 12, and 287 Followers , up by 67. We do have an Instagram site with 72 following on that. Our presence on social media has definitely grown and we have shown to be consistent in our approach to what we do. Our website has also seen improvement. You are now able to share features on our website onto social media via your mobile phone as most people use their phones to look at social media and share within their social groups. Also we have changed the way you see our news items whether it is on your phone, laptop or computer desktop, and we have added a structured dialogue area in the ‘About us’ section and an ‘ACV’ or Asset of Community Value’ section in the ‘campaigns’ section of our website. We will explain the ACV further on. Concourse stalls in the Main Stand The Trust is now in our fourth season running a stall on matchdays. We are in the main stand, usually setting up between 1.30pm and 2pm on a Saturday. It is difficult because we are not there every week due to work commitments, but even so, we definitely have established a firm base of friendly faces that stop and chat and discuss their concerns and / or put a few quid in the donations tin, and supporters constantly look at what we have to sell. It is a very good set up. As we have said earlier, it is the scarves that sell best. We think it important to have this live link to the Trust. It is a shame we only have the resources to do it in that one spot, and in other parts of the stadium. Fan Engagement / Structured Dialogue During the last Financial Year we have held three meetings with CEO Ryan Sparks: in November 23 , and then February 24 , and August 24 attended by Marco Townson as the club's Supporter Liaison Officer (SLO). It was just Marco that represented the Club at the last one. We are due to have another meeting this November. It is always work in progress and developments within the Club are always at pace, so we are often playing catch-up in what is always a movable feast. The key themes running through these meetings are: Matchday experience, including Fanzone, atmosphere section, stewarding home and away, food and drink choices and prices. Railed seating Season tickets and loyalty points as well as matchday ticket pricing and special offers for struggling people. Environmental sustainability Restorative Justice – discussing how the Club deal with and support troublesome supporters seeing the error of their ways. Community building and Diversity projects – finding ways to work with the Club supporting community projects. Other core agenda items: Aspects of the Fan-Led Review / the proposed Football Governance Bill. Improving our Structured Dialogue – improving the Clubs’ fan engagement. Ownership – The importance of seeing Stefan Rup as improving the Clubs’ fan engagement. Important achievements for the Trust We had helped to improve the Clubs’ Sanctions Policy . We discussed through the findings of our extensive survey, see February’s meeting with the Club report . In November 23 we told the Club of our intention to nominate Valley Parade as an Asset of Community Value (ACV) and in March this year we submitted our nomination of VP to be an ACV and it was confirmed it had been successful in June . We even made it as an item of news on BBC’s Look North in July ! That was a major coup for us that generated a lot of interest and support from City fans. In April we played an important part in getting as many as 30 members able to do the bucket collection, raising £4,176.71 before the last match of the season against Newport County. Membership We now have 984 contacts that we have on our InTouch database, an increase of 23 on last year (2023), and the email membership figure now stands at 514, an increase of 5. We have a total of 272 ‘suppressed’ contacts (an increase of 25 on last year (2023) that we have to go through and identify – This list covers all contacts whose emails have bounced – this could be because they have changed their email addresses, or indeed passed away. It covers members who have unsubscribed or indeed members who have no contact details. Whilst our membership is respectable, we still need to increase the membership in order to represent a wider and more diverse support base the Club has. We have made it easier to join than ever before, from when people can enter the website on their phones to the links on social media to our articles, there is always an option to join, and supporters can still pay their membership or renew via paypal and bank transfer by going to ‘ Membership Cost’ The Trust Board We continue to meet regularly, but it has been difficult getting everyone available to meet at the same time. This makes it more pressing that we need more people interested in joining the Trust and getting involved and playing a role on the board. With more board members we can reach out more and be a bigger influence. You don’t have to live in Bradford to attend meetings (you can attend meetings on Skype) and play a role but living in the West Yorkshire area would help as we need more hands to maintain and expand our work. If you fancy it get in touch on at hello@bantamstrust.co.uk . Whilst the Trust as an identity has a larger than life presence, as a board, looking to the future, we do need to develop a new generation of Trust activists replenishing the existing board, who I would like to thank one and all for helping the Trust stay alive. I would also like to give a special thanks to Board member Simon Hagerty, who continues to play a tremendous role in managing our website and getting our articles and documents out there, making them accessible to all. The Trust is a democratic and independent organisation, and the only body of City fans that is part of a wider Supporters Trust movement on a national scale. We can act as a critical friend of the Club and as a collective campaigning force that can be organised into action. To realise this potential, we need more fans to join and get involved.

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 .