City’s chief executive officer, Ryan Sparks, has updated supporters on a number of club matters, with the start of the Bantams’ pre-season campaign just around the corner.
Close to 12,000 ‘Take Me Home’ 2021/22 season tickets have been sold at present - and supporters have until 5.00PM TOMORROW (SATURDAY JULY 10) to secure a seat!
Sparks said: “As we approach the final 24 hours of the ‘Take Me Home’ campaign, I want to pay tribute to the wonderful support the club has received over the past eight weeks, and am delighted to say that almost 12,000 of you have now secured a season ticket for our eagerly-anticipated 2021/22 campaign.
“We are extremely grateful for such fantastic support and cannot wait to welcome you back to the Utilita Energy Stadium in the coming weeks, for the first time in 18 months. Plans for ‘The Homecoming’ - against Oldham Athletic on Saturday August 14 - are well underway, and we are aiming to have Valley Parade rocking with a bumper crowd in attendance.
“In the previous off-season update, detail around the ‘Take Me Home’ campaign was included. We will confirm all of the numbers once everything has been finalised early next week, and provide further clarity.
“Earlier this week, we received the news we had been hoping for in terms of the pandemic and the country’s proposed way out of it, moving us back towards what we once knew as normal.
“As was well documented, we were one of the EFL’s last teams to venture ‘on sale’ in terms of our 2021/22 season-ticket campaign and were committed to providing a viable product from the start - with our supporters at the centre of our thoughts. The timing of Boris Johnson’s announcement on Monday could not have been much better for our club as it provided the clarity we all need to move forward.
“On Monday, we will reveal our new, unique and rather special look for the upcoming campaign in ‘A Story Retold’. Shirts will be available immediately online and The City Shop will be stocked up and ready to go in the days following. The players will wear it for the first time when our pre-season campaign gets underway at the Horsfall Stadium on Tuesday night.
“Hopefully, it will have been worth your wait and you will enjoy the story being retold and the message behind our 2021/22 home strip, which very much reaffirms our ambition and mindset going into a season I personally cannot wait to get started.
“This week has also seen the launch of an all-new loyalty scheme, which has been called for by many of you for a number of years. A lot of thought went into its structure and we are looking forward to seeing how it plays out over the course of the next 12 months and into next season. Many different methods were considered and other clubs’ systems, similar to ours, were reviewed to ensure we follow best practice. Valley Parade is our home and it means a lot to us to have as many people in attendance as possible, as often as possible. Likewise, no away game is more important than the next - regardless of their geographical location. We have to take into account as many people’s circumstances as possible and the tiers have therefore been set as such. However, as with anything of this product’s type, we will review its performance, with the supporter in mind, and potentially make changes in the future if at all necessary. Loyalty points should begin to appear within your ticketing accounts before the end of July.
“Elsewhere, and to address a question regularly asked, it appears Article 48 will remain in place. This means league fixtures, unless selected by the EFL, will not be available for live streaming via iFollow - in the UK - on a Saturday (3.00pm). This is yet to be officially confirmed but, given the upcoming, likely lifting of all COVID-19 restrictions, the EFL perhaps sees no reason to continue with the concept many of you became accustomed to last season. While we are a little disappointed, because it would have been nice to provide an option for those not confident enough to return to sports stadia and those who cannot make the trips away from home, we are thrilled to be welcoming supporters back - on mass. Normality is not too far away on that front.
“We are now looking forward to seeing some actual football unfold, while the recruitment cycle continues to turn, with supporters back in the stands - both here in Bradford and across the country. We visit our friends at Bradford Park Avenue first, and it is an occasion we are all very much looking forward to. Ourselves and Park Avenue are working closely, and relations have improved tenfold in recent times. Likewise, and staying on the subject of relations, they are certainly continuing to develop across the city, both at Odsal and at City Hall.
“Commercially, we will soon be announcing the arrival of one of Bradford’s and now the UK’s biggest names as the latest addition to our expanding portfolio of proud partners, and there is a lot more to come on this front - with plenty to be excited about. We are eternally grateful for the support of our sponsors, who continue to stand by and help us every step of the way. Improvements at Valley Parade in terms of facilities will continue long into the summer and during the season, hopefully causing as little disruption as possible. There are areas we are yet to approach but we will get there, in time, so thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
“I would like to finish, and I am sure you will join me, by tipping a hat to everyone behind the scenes - who rarely get the credit they deserve - for ensuring the ‘Take Me Home’ campaign was a success. The ticketing team have answered thousands of e-mails, fielded thousands of calls, completed numerous transactions and carried out customer-service queries long into the early hours since the end of May. Nothing has been too much and they bought into our collective desire to drastically improve the way we care for and communicate with supporters in terms of ticketing and marketing. So please join me in thanking Mick, Dean, Marco, Sian, Roshni, Ami, Maryam, Shaneque, Neil, Simeon, Aisha, Paige, Amy, Karen and Bella for their hours of effort and hard work for our football club over the past eight weeks.
“I hope to see a lot of you for the first time in a long while on Tuesday evening and look forward to welcoming you all home on Saturday August 14, when we entertain Oldham Athletic.”
To secure your ‘Take Me Home’ 2021/22 season ticket - before 5.00PM TOMORROW (SATURDAY JULY 10), please CLICK HERE.