24 Facts About Bradford City

Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

Bradford City were formed in 1903 as a result of a series of meetings called by James Whyte, a sub-editor of the Bradford Observer, with Football Association representatives and officials at Manningham FC, a rugby league side.

Back in Division Two, attendances dropped and Bradford City struggled for form, with five consecutive finishes in the bottom half of the table.

O'Rourke left for a second time after one more season, and although Bradford City spent a total of eight seasons back in Division Two, they rarely looked like earning promotion back to the top flight.

Bradford City won their third piece of silverware two seasons later, when they lifted the Third Division North Challenge Cup, but they were unable to defend the trophy because competitive football was suspended for the Second World War.

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Layne left for Sheffield Wednesday, and without him Bradford City finished second from bottom of the league and had to apply for re-election.

Bradford City failed to win promotion for three successive seasons, until the board appointed former England centre back Roy McFarland as manager in May 1981.

Bradford City won compensation from Derby and installed another England international Trevor Cherry as McFarland's replacement.

Bradford City struggled but so did Campbell, and when he returned, the club went on a record run of ten successive victories.

Bradford City played games away from Valley Parade for 19 months.

Bradford City went top of the table in September 1987, but fell away during Christmas and missed out on promotion on the final day of the season.

For three seasons, Bradford City finished mid-table in the third tier, which was renamed Division Two following the advent of the Premier League.

Bradford City cleared the debts and after four months sacked manager Frank Stapleton to appoint his own manager, Lennie Lawrence.

In January 2013, Bradford City became the first club from the fourth tier of English football since Rochdale in 1962 to reach the Football League Cup final, and the first fourth tier club ever to reach a major Wembley Cup Final.

Bradford City is the only professional football club in England to wear claret and amber.

Bradford City has worn claret and amber, with either white or black, since it was founded.

Bradford City scarves have sold in large numbers in recent years to fans of Harry Potter, because the colours are the same as Harry's house scarf at Hogwarts School.

In 1974, Bradford City adopted a contemporary style crest incorporating the club's initials, with a B-C logo.

Bradford City have had a number of nicknames during their history.

Valley Parade was the site of a quarry on the hillside below Manningham, Bradford City, owned by Midland Railway Company, in 1886, when Manningham RFC bought one-third of the land and leased the remainder, because they had been forced to find a new home.

When Bradford City were formed in 1903, they took over the ground at Valley Parade, which was at this time the headquarters of The 2nd West Riding Brigade Royal Field Artillery, playing their first home game on 5 September 1903 against Gainsborough Trinity, drawing a crowd of 11,000.

Until 1952, by which time Bradford City had bought the remaining two-thirds of the ground to own it outright, the ground remained virtually unchanged.

The University of Bradford City subsequently became title sponsor of Valley Parade.

Bradford City have participated in the Bradford derby with city rivals Bradford Park Avenue.