Bradford City | Club | History | History | And Into The 21st Century

And Into The 21st Century

The 1999/2000 season saw Bradford City's home take on a new name following a sponsorship deal with the ground becoming the Bradford & Bingley Stadium.

The summer months saw Manager Paul Jewell strengthen his squad in preparation for the club's first ever campaign in the F A Carling Premiership with the arrival of Matthew Clarke from Sheffield Wednesday. He was joined by three from neighbours Leeds United - Lee Sharpe, Gunnar Halle and on 1 July David Wetherall who became City's record signing when £1.4m was paid for his signature.

The eagerly awaited fixture list came out giving City an away game against Middlesbrough at the BT Cellnet Riverside Stadium as their first taste of football in the big-time. Sheffield Wednesday would provide the opposition for the opening F A Premier League game at the new look Bradford & Bingley Stadium.

The excitement of the season lasted until the very last day. Many had written City's chances off right from Day 1 claiming they would be relegated by February. However they were proved wrong. Sunday 14 May saw Liverpool at the Bradford & Bingley Stadium and Bradford knew they had to better Wimbledon's result, who were playing at Southampton, to ensure they stayed in the Premiership and condemn fellow strugglers The Dons who were level with City on points but had a better goal difference.

A 12th minute header from David Wetherall (pictured) and a 2-0 defeat for

Wimbledon sent the whole of Bradford into raptures and saw Premiership football at Valley Parade for another season.

This would be a season in which history would again be made for the Club when an invitation was accepted to play in the UEFA Intertoto Cup competition, the first game for City in Europe taking place in Klaipeda, Lithuania.

However just two weeks before City's entry into Europe, Bradford City were rocked when Manager Paul Jewell quit as he felt he had taken the Club as far as he could. In line with previous appointments from within, Chris Hutchings was seen as the perfect replacement and took over as Manager on 22 June 2000.

Isaiah Rankin entered the Bradford City history books on Sunday 2 July 2000 when he scored the Bantams' first ever goal in European competition as City beat FK Atlantas 3-1 in Klaipeda (Lithuania) in the UEFA Intertoto Cup.

On 7 July 2000, the Club's transfer record was smashed when Leeds United's Scottish International midfielder David Hopkin was signed for a fee of £2.5m.

As the Club entered the 21st century, plans were announced to build a second tier on the Sunwin Stand, along with a new North West Corner Stand linking the Sunwin and Carlsberg Stands. The project would also include new Administration and Ticket Offices along with a new Club Superstore.

Application was also made to the Football Association for the Club to have Academy Status with a new state-of-the-art training base at Apperley Bridge as part of the plan.

As the season progressed, City's fortunes on the pitch went downhill rapidly and after just 12 games and 137 days in charge, Chris Hutchings was relieved of his duties on 6 November 2000 with Stuart McCall taking over as Caretaker-Manager before the appointment of former Hearts boss Jim Jefferies two weeks later.

It soon became apparant to Jefferies that the players he inherited were not good enough to keep City in the Premiership and he began a mass clearout in preparation for the inevitable drop back into the Nationwide Football League which eventually came following a 2-1 defeat against Everton at Goodison Park on 28 April 2001, a game in which the Bantams took a third minute lead but missed two penalties.

However Jim Jefferies reign in charge finished on Christmas Eve 2001 when a few days after his Assistant Billy Brown left to return Scotland, Jefferies followed saying he was unable to carry on at the club without his assistant with whom he had worked for over 14 years at 4 different clubs. It had proved to be a difficult time for the pair with just 12 victories from 48 games played coupled with the earlier relegation from the Premier League and a slump which saw the Bantams enter the Christmas programme in 16th place.

City entered 2002 appointing Nicky Law (pictured) from Chesterfield as the new Manager in succession to Jim Jefferies. Law decided that he wanted to bring in his own players in preparation for the following season so City saw out the 2001/2002 campaign with a limited squad, several players leaving before the transfer day deadline and others knowing that this season would be their last.

City were involved in a relegation battle to avoid the drop into Division 2 but safety was guaranteed with a 2-1 victory away at Wimbledon with two games to spare, the success breaking a jinx which had seen the Bantams fail to win in the capital since 1999.

As Manager Nicky Law prepared for the dawn of a new era at the club, another one came to an end when on Sunday 28 April 2002 skipper Stuart McCall played his last ever game for Bradford City in his testimonial when an ex-Bradford City XI took on an ex-Rangers XI in front of a packed Bradford & Bingley Stadium.

More drama arrived on Thursday 16 May 2002 when the club was placed into Administration brought about mainly by the collapse of ITV Digital and the fact that a proposed move by high-earner Benito Carbone to Middlesbrough failed to materialise. The double-whammy plunged the club £13m into debt and Administration was the only avenue open to try and save the club and find a buyer for the way forward.

Drastic cuts were forecast to make cost reductions, the first coming when 39 non-playing members of staff lost their jobs. However the biggest part of the cull came on Thursday 23 May when sixteen of the professional squad had their contracts torn up leaving Manager Nicky Law with five professionals with a handful of senior appearances among them and sixteen scholars.

The club faced a summer of uncertainty with every effort made to secure its future and on 1 August the Administrators managed to get creditors to accept a C.V.A. (Creditors Voluntary Agreement). This would mean debts being rescheduled and also the reinstatement of the players who had gone unpaid since April.

One player however not to return was Benito Carbone who sacrificed a large chunk of the money owed to him on his contract and he moved back to Italy to continue his career.

The Richmond era at Bradford City Football Club came to an end when on Saturday 10 August 2002 he resigned from the Board of Directors and was replaced as Chairman by new co-owner Gordon Gibb who along with Julian Rhodes had completed a take-over of the club at the 11th hour before the Bantams were due to lose their status in the Football League.