Friday 30th April, 20105 months ago
Saying our goodbyes
Bradford City play Northampton Town At Valley Parade in League Two, 2009/2010
The long bleak winter is over. The weather has been fantastic recently; and we’ve enjoyed continuous sunshine almost every day, getting us in the mood for a summer of barbeques, beer gardens and beaches.
Although the football season lasts only 10 months, there’s something full circle about the fact we usually begin and end it in short sleeves. The almost care-free days of pre-season last July seem a long time ago now having endured a winter of discontent that, at Valley Parade, was about more than appalling weather. But with the season long since ended, the pain of failure has already been dealt with and the focus has quickly shifted onto a more promising future. We’re not quite care-free, but it’s more than just the recent sunshine which has lifted the mood.
This weekend we say our goodbyes to the season. It’s not quite over of course – a few hundred of us will travel to Crewe a week Saturday and there’s even an attractive end of season benefit game at Valley Parade the day after, where legends return. But this weekend is the last where we all come together before the close season break, and we won’t properly see each other again until summer’s almost over.
In recent weeks many supporters have offered the opinion they can’t wait for this season to be over. I understand and agree with such sentiments to a point – who wants to prolong this desperately disappointing campaign any longer than we need to? But the close season can drag on very slowly, so there’s always something sad to me about its imminent arrival.
We may be glad of a break from it all now, but at some point over the next few weeks we’ll start to miss it again, badly. And typically when we again get the urge to watch Bradford City at the weekend, it will be an itch we cannot scratchwith so much as a pre-season friendly for weeks to come. Life just isn’t the same when there’s no active fixture list guiding us through it.
At least summers where there’s a major championship are much more bearable. This time we get the World Cup no less and, after England’s failure to qualify for Euro 2008, the prospect of the nation coming together to cheer on the team will likely prove doubly exciting and memorable. Beyond the inevitable penalty shoot out elimination, there’s a feast of football on TV to keep us going.
Fantastic…But…Well…It’s not the same as going to watch City, is it? At least the first pre-season friendly will quickly follow the World Cup final.
But before all that, this weekend we say our goodbyes. We say goodbye to the strangers which sit around us at games, who are so comfortingly familiar and provide the backdrop to Saturday afternoons. The bloke behind me who screams “FORWARDS!” at the merest suggestion of a sideways pass in City’s own half. The two miserable moaners nearby who select a different City player to slate every week.
The friendly old lady nearby who offers us sweets, and her grumpy husband who threatens every year never to come back but always does. “Thunder” at the back of the Midland Road stand, giving the linesman grief. The eccentric person who sets off balloons when games get dull. Charlie over in the Kop (what’s happened to him since the Dagenham game?). Some of you guys drive me mad and ruin my Saturdays by endlessly moaning, but I’ll miss it come June.
This weekend we say goodbye to a similar array of characters in the pub pre-match. Where are we going to get those little nuggets of City gossip from now?
This weekend we say goodbye to close friends. Me and Steve have been going to watch City together for years. Others were with us and gave up, and I also bring along the wife with me now; but for me and Steve it’s a valued and meaningful friendship built on charged emotions. When we spend time together we go through extreme highs and lows, each feeling the same way at the same time. We cheer and hug together, we sit in silence and sulk together. It’s a strange but fantastic way to bond, but outside of going to watch City every weekend we rarely hang out. We’re off to Crewe next week, but who knows when we’ll see each other after? A strange ending, when I’m used to dropping him off with the words “See you on Tuesday/next Saturday for the (insert team name) game, I’ll text what time I’ll pick you up.”
This weekend we say goodbye to the players. At this time of year debates are in full flow about which out of contract Bantams should be kept and who should be ditched. We rarely agree with each other, let alone the manager’s decisions, but no matter who’s goes they deserve our appreciation. Whatever the failings of this season, lack of effort cannot be accused of any player. They’ve exasperated and angered us at times over the last nine months, but this weekend we say goodbyes and wish those we don’t see again good luck for the future.
This weekend we don’t say goodbye – we remember those we never forget. 25 years since the fire, a milestone to reflect on and provide a fitting occasion to honour those who didn’t go home that night. Every supporter has been asked to buy a t-shirt in aid of the Burns Unit and wear it with pride at the game. It promises to be awesome sight, and for anyone who doesn’t join in words will fail me. Hopefully we’ll all get to sing ’You’ll never walk alone’ too.
But aside from that, above all this weekend we say goodbye to Valley Parade and everything it gives us. The joy, the pain, the laughs, the anger, the cheers, the booing, the lukewarm beer, the long queues for the toilets. We go every other week for nine months, but then we spend three months away from our second home. I drive past it often in the summer - en route to the cinema or the M62 – and just wish I could go inside.
It is just being at Valley Parade, being at the football, that I miss most close season. Football is a way of life for us, and our lives have been filled by football for so many years that the summer pauses are unnerving and unnatural. Some animals hibernate in winter, we hibernate in summer.
We hibernate to shopping centres and DIY projects and catching up with friends we neglect and Saturday afternoon TV and so many other things that rarely come anywhere near to generating the excitement of sitting inside Valley Parade, on the edge of our seat, with City on the attack and looking like they might score.
This weekend we say goodbye to it all, until at least July. I’ll miss you, I really will.
Good article Jason
I call it the “cricket & decorating season”!
I hope every body has an enjoyable summer
One of the best articles you’ve written.
I wonder if the anniversary of the fire will get as much
publicity as hillsborough. It never does, in a way im glad,
theres something about it all that makes me think that
the whole world should share the pain of the memories,
but I would much prefer to share it with the people
who understand how we feel of that day.
byeeeeeeeee. PS. Charlie Murgatroyd has been warned by the club to curb his enthusiasm or pay the price. I bet he will think twice before helping to clear the pitch of youths after the game this Saturday. He did a magnificent job last year but got no thanks for it.
Some times the short sightedness of inimaginative organisations leaves me quite mystified.
Brilliant article from Jason.
Brings a lump to the throat.
Great article Jason, we can all relate to the sentiments you have shared.
I know there is a programme on Radio 4 tomorrow night (I think at 8pm) with Gabby Logan in rememberance of the fire and I am sure I heard a rumour that Football Focus tomorrow is from VP.
Truly brilliant article, rings true in so many ways. Brought a tear to my eye reading it.
I really hope tomorrow goes to plan, remembering those who died almost 25 years ago, before I was even born but it always fills me with emotion.
RIP 56
I don’t know, goodbye seems so final. I much prefer to think of it as I’ll si’thi. Certainly as far as the club and Valley Parade are concerned.
I’ll no doubt make the odd excuse to drive past over the summer. I always do for some reason to check it’s still there, still ok.
It’ll be goodbye to a handful of players who haven’t quite caught Peter Taylor’s eye for whatever reason.
It’s the bowls season for me so I’ll be spared the shopping trips and DIY, at least on a Saturday.
Roll on August by which time we’ll have enjoyed a decent summer, not least because we want the new pitch in tip top condition for the first match. Then it will be Hello to the new players and Hello to renewed optimism about the forthcoming promotion push.
Jason, as ever, another good thoughful article which sums up the mood as we look forward to tomorrow and the end of the ‘home’ season knowing full well in a few weeks time we’ll be wishing that the next season had already started.
Simon, Football Focus being broadcast live from VP isn’t a rumour, it is true. Yesterday I did a filmed piece about my view of that fateful day and after me they went to interview Zesh Rehman. Tomorrow at 12.15pm host Dan Walker will be joined by Lee Dixon and Stuart McCall, so either delay your departure for VP or set your sky plus box or similar device and record it.
Mike Harrison
Editor – The City Gent
Pleased to hear that the bbc are remembering our 56 through radio and tv coverage. Nice too that Football Focus will feature Stuart McCall – is he stepping over into sports punditry?
Quality article – i started off buoyant but reading it through made me feel sad! I must admit that i too take drives past the stadium just to take comfort in knowing its still there and that we’ll be back next season!
Have a good summer everyone
Jason, I know that I’m repeating what other people have said, but once again thank you for another thought provoking article. The time and effort that you must have put into your articles over the season is amazing. Your wife must be very understanding.
I didn’t watch my first league game at Valley Parade until 1988 so I don’t have first hand recollections of what Valley Parade was like prior to the awful fire in 1985. However, it’s good that we remember the 56 people who lost their lives and we should never forget them. When people talk about ground sharing and moving away from Valley Parade there is one obvious, to me, reason why we should never play our home games anywhere else and that’s because if we did it would be dis-respectful to the supporters who passed away on 11 May 1985.
We may not be the most glamorous football team in England and we all know that the past decade has been very tough for us City supporters, but I love my club and I’m proud to say that I support Bradford City!
Yes, another crap kit!
It is just me or does anyone else suspect that Mr. Lawn’s much flaunted love of pin-stripes might have influenced the decision to go with this?
Considering the fact that next season marks the 100th anniversary of the club’s FA Cup triumph I am disappointed that the opportunity to replicate a vintage City kit was overlooked.
Oh well, it’s the football that counts.