I am only 22 but I love looking back on Football with some romance. It's funny how the 90s or earlier 00s seem like some sort of age when Football was 'better' and innocent but it was the midst of the Premiership buzz with clubs adopting a spend big, worry about the consequences later attitude. It was the start of the evil as perfectly proved by Bradford City.
When returning from Valley Parade yesterday, I was asked when were Bradford last in the Premiership. Ten years to be exact, 2000/2001 season they were relegated from the top flight. The previous season led by Paul Jewell, they managed the so-called impossible. Final day at Valley Parade, Liverpool the visitors, a David Wetherall (whose still at the club today) goal ensured Premier League football at Valley Parade next season. A teams with the likes of the forementioned Wetherall, Stuart McCall, Dean Windass, Neil Redfearn were never going to give up. To complient these were Lee Sharpe, Peter Beagrie, Robbie Blake and of course, Jamie Lawrence. A bunch of decent footballers really who bar a few never really had the quality for the top level.
The summer of the 2000/2001 season initially went bad, Paul Jewell left Bradford to join the relegated Sheffield Wednesday (common theme with Jewell but at least it gives the whole summer for a club to find a replacement) and his assistant Chris Hutchings took charge. Then Geoffrey Richmond, the Bradford chairman got all a bit too giddy. Two new stand extensions announced to bring Valley Parade to a 26k all-seater, he spent galore in bringing the likes of Dan Petrescu and Benito Carbone to the club and made the naive move in accepting an invitation to the Intertoto Cup.
Intertoto was pretty much viewed as a joke competition by English football, playing games in July to ensure that there was still some fixtures for the Pools coupon across the continent. Originally, it was insisted that you play in but Spurs, Wimbledon and Wednesday all made mockery of that fielding their reserves, youth team or any trialist wanting a game in the first edition which included English teams. Eventually UEFA dropped that, no insistence; you can play if you want. It was the competition that you just seen mentioned in the minor results section of the paper, that kind of competition Channel 5 used to televise, the kind of competition no-one really wanted to take place.
Hence Bradford's inclusion in 2000, Aston Villa took the first spot. Bradford the other, in 17th. It's worth mentioning Villa were in 6th with only Leicester taking an Euro spot between the two teams. 9 other teams didn't want the hassle of playing FK Atlantas in Lituania during the first two weeks of July. But Bradford did. Bradford were off on a tour.
Now time for a video featuring some of the World's most ugliest Football fans and possibly one of the most 'straight to the point' interviews featuring Dean Windass. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOhVm-3dv9w&feature=related
FK Atlantas dismissed with ease, 3-1, 4-1 , 7-2 on aggy. They now lie 10th in the Lithuania top flight.
RKC Waalwijk from the Netherland next. Again 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 on aggy. Still in Eredivise.
The optimism amongst Bradford fans was beginning to build, Richmond was buying players with much aplomb and the new stands were looking the part. Maybe this was a good idea after all.
No, as seen in this second video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gcjko4a-3og&feature=related
Zenit St Petersburg were the opposition, here are a club with some history and considerably more note than either Atlantas or Waalwijk. As mentioned in the video, just 12 fans made their way to Russia (well 1 was the quite deranged Dmitiri...I wonder whether he still follows Bradford now?) and to be fair they made a decent fist of it, losing by the single goal in a stadium environment which is known as one of the most fierce in Europe. The second leg though Zenit turned on the turbo, 3-0 winners and it's worth highlighting Peter Beagrie's comments.
That boy upfront who come on.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfkQXJXBP8k&feature=related Andrei Arshaving making his Zenit debut. Vitaliy Mutko also makes an appearance, a major player in the recent Russian World Cup big.
So that was it Bradford's European adventure. Remember it?
All credit to the chap who put the videos on youtube.
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