Bradford City fans get first cash for owning ‘spiritual home’

Bradford City fans can see their dreams come true after being offered the chance to own the club’s hallowed turf.

The Bantams Supporters Trust applied for a list of Assets of Community Value (ACV) and their application was accepted by Bradford Council.

It means that if the club’s Valley Parade stadium was put up for sale within the next five years, the fans’ group would have the legal right – and six months – to put together a business case and raise money for an auction.

The group’s president, Manny Dominguez, said that in an “ideal scenario” the stadium would be owned by the fans and the local community, but ultimately the desire was for the ground to “end up in good hands.”

The land on which the stadium stands was bought in 2003 by the Flamingo Land theme park pension fund, which is owned by businessman Gordon Gibb.

Bradford City currently lease the stadium at a cost of over £500,000 a year, with the lease ending in 2028.

Mr. Dominguez said: “That’s 120 years of memories for generations of people and hundreds of thousands of fans.

“The landscape has changed so much, the stadium has changed so much.

“But of course all stadiums are built by ordinary working people and in that sense the stadium and the club are linked together.”

Mr Dominguez said there was a real “willingness” among trust supporters to apply now for community listing to help bring “clarity and certainty”.

He added that the trust was now exploring ideas such as a lifetime membership scheme to prepare for a potential takeover bid.

He estimated that if 13,000 fans put in £500 each, a successful bid “wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility”.

“There’s obviously an overwhelming feeling that spectators want to stay at Valley Parade and that’s why we take that so seriously,” he added.

“In an ideal scenario, it’s publicly owned, but again, as long as it’s protected, we just want it to be in the right hands.”

Bantams superfan Leonard Berry, 70, has been attending games since he was six.

“It has to stay with us without a doubt,” he said of the stadium.

He said the memories of the 56 victims of the 1985 fire made it even more important to help new generations of fans “know and remember”.

“It’s possible if they move from here, I wouldn’t go. This is where I want them to be,” he said.

And about buying a share, he said: “If it’s about and I have the money, I’ll come straight here.”

Fellow fan Nick Kitchen, a regular in the stands since 1995, agreed it was important to keep the stadium “primarily for the 56ers” – but owning a piece of the ground would also be a “dream”.

“We’ve just got to keep the ground, keep the Bantams family together and make it even bigger than it is,” he said.

A spokesman for Bradford City FC said it was “fantastic to see such care from our supporter base for Valley Parade, our proud spiritual home”.

They added: “We understand that any bid submitted would then lead to public consultation and opportunities for proponents and others to submit a bid.”

They said there had been “positive” discussions and meetings “with all parties” which would “support … our fantastic relationship with the Flamingo Land Pension Fund”.

Papers published by Bradford Council confirmed that Bradford University Stadium at Valley Parade “promotes the social welfare and social interests of the local community and should therefore be added to the List of Assets of Community Value”.

It added that the stadium “promotes the enjoyment of sport for the local community, with close links between the club and the local community”, and that it “provides economic benefits” for the wider area.