By Peter Rowe

Football’s a funny old game, said Saint and Greavsie on their TV show way back when and covering Bradford City was certainly that in the mid 1990s, a rollercoaster of a ride at Valley Parade.

For me it was a journey north. I had been working on the nationals in London editing sports pages, but with little chance of longterm career prospects after three years of being a ‘full-time’ casual on the Daily Star and Sunday Express.

The opportunity to run a sports desk on a busy daily newspaper – the T&A had seven daly editions at that time, was one too good to turn down.

That said, I did decline the first offer, but when editor Perry Austin-Clarke came knocking a second time in September 1994 I couldn’t say no again.

I’d never been to VP or Odsal before, for a lad who’d grown up in Dorset and the Royal Navy before a career in journalism beckoned, it was something very different. 

But so welcoming in a way London could never be.

David Markham was our City go-to man. He’d been covering the Bantams since Noah was a boy (sorry David), and had a contacts book that was the envy of the sports desk.

A sports desk that was seven, or was it eight strong – plus a host of weekly contributors covering local non-league football (Park Avenue, Farsley, Guiseley, Eccledhill, Liversedge and even Huddersfield Town), league, union, golf, boxing, any sport that had a Yorkshire link.

Our Keighley edition even managed to publish Burnley reports as we knew there were Claret supporters ‘out west’.

Richard Coomber covered Leeds United and always joked why that ‘other’ team was never on the back page. He never won that argument.

Richard Sutcliffe and Alam Khan took over from Richard – both young ambitious reporters eager to get a job on our sports desk. Steve Teale (who was the paper’s motoring writer as well as covering business and news), would often report on the Terriers for our editions that reached out south of the M62.

It was a busy newsroom, with Bradford Northern then and local rugby league to consider – which we knew had a decent following, rugby union and cricket in the summer – plus throughout the year almost every other sport you could think of.

And everyone dipped in to help out where needed to make sure our ‘smorgasbord’ of sport catered for all tastes.

That was not always seen as the case – some sports wanted more coverage and wondered why snooker got more than table tennis! 

But the two major sports we endeavoured to cover daily were City and the then renamed Bulls.

I say rollercoaster because when I moved to Hall Ings in the autumn of ’94 both clubs were pretty average, not really going anywhere.  A cold, wet night at Odsal with 2,000 hardy souls as the fog rolls in is not for the feint hearted. At least the press box at Valley Parade offered more cover!

But that was soon to change.

Enter one Geoffrey Richmond at City and a name change at Odsal (which is a story for another day).

Suddenly both were vying for the back page and that made it an exciting time.

Now I know Geoffrey is considered a divisive figure by some still at VP, but for me it was the opposite. 

A sharp businessman who had swapped Scarborough for Bradford, Geoffrey wanted success and saw to it that we at the T&A were helping him drive that ambition.

Not every story was ever going to get top marks, because you have to cover the good and the bad – and that first year there wasn’t much to be positive about.

We had some disagreements, usually over how we covered a story. 

Geoffrey would ring up and I’d answer the phone: “Sports desk”.

“Peter”, would boom the voice at the other end. 

“I think we may have misunderstood each other.”

It didn’t happen very often, but when it did you knew you were in for a strong argument.

I’d like to think we held our ground and as a result we respected each other and later became friends – he actually lobbied for me to to become a senior executive at the Football League and after that chief executive of another club, where I worked for over two years. 

For me Geoffrey was the man who took City to the promised land – something no other chairman has done – a tough negotiator? Yes. Did he upset some? I’m sure he did, but for me I can only recall interesting, but good times.

When I had moved on to work in football as a club CEO in 2001 he tried to sell me Stan Collymore – he wanted him out of the club. I offered a loan deal to which he replied: “Peter, you can have Stanley Victor Collymore 100 per cent, lock, stock and barrel, he’s all yours.”

Collymore had earned the wrath of the chairman big time by then, deliberately parking in his spot at VP, among many other incidents. 

Shaun Harvey was his right hand man and Shaun and I always got on, but I was not prepared to fund Collymore’s 16 grand a week (think it was something like that) wages and the deal never happened.

But back to 1994-5… 

Third Division football and seemingly going nowhere? That was the mood at the time. And as the local paper we had to be there, come rain or shine.

When manager Lennie Lawrence was sacked I was accused via third parties of not supporting him. 

We never saw it that way, it was a case of watching the mood of the supporters and David did that very well.

That said, being kept stood in the rain outside the Vetch Field in Swansea for over an hour after a Tuesday night game and then just blank answers to questions probably didn’t help. 

To be honest I think Lennie saw what was coming and perhaps it’s easier to blame the local paper – hey ho – we all moved on.

As for Geoffrey, he loved to call us just before morning deadline with news and over the years at the T&A we formed a good friendship, to the point in 1999, when I had long left Bradford and was Director of Communications at the Football League, he offered the banqueting/conference suite (the old with with big glass windows overlooking  the pitch) to me for my wedding – and was a guest on the day.

I think it would be fair to say he knew how to use us and we in turn, used him sometimes to grow our readership.

The day following the Wembley victory over Notts County in May 1996 we added 11 per cent  to our sales – so everyone was happy.

But the season leading up to that momentus day shouldn’t go unreported.

Lawrence had gone and Geoffrey introduced us to Chris Kamara.

‘Kammy’ we had known as a player – but this was now a different scenario. 

At my first meeting with him he asked me if we could give him three months grace to do what he wanted to do as he didn’t want to be another “Lennie”. 

That conversation in the November of 1995 confirmed to me the rumour that Lennie had blamed us for his departure.

We shook hands and agreed and the rest, as they say is history. From a relegation scrap to promotion.

David Markham is the far better historian than me, but I remember going to the playoff semi-final at home to Blackpool and walking away after a 2-0 home loss thinking that was the season done.

Like the majority of the 14,000 crowd that night.

I didn’t go to the second leg, as sports editor I didn’t get the chance to go to many away games, especially midweek, so went with the T&A news editor Rob Irvine to a Shipley pub that night as news filtered through of a comeback.

City, having finished sixth that season, were always going to be the outsiders against a very good Blackpool side, so when Carl Shutt scored after 39 minutes we wondered – and ordered another round.

When Des Hamilton added a second just after the hour mark it was all to play for and Mark Stallard’s goal 12 minutes from time sent us all to Wembley.

Geoffrey’s blue Bentley was mobbed on the motorway out of Blackpool by delirious City fans as the Twin Towers beckoned.

T&A feature writer Jim Greenhalf was my companion on the road to the final and at every motorway service station all we saw was claret and amber – it was an amazing journey.

When we got to Wembley, I remember greeting Geoffrey and the directors on the balcony looking back up Wembley Way.

The sea of claret and amber being cheered on by a Roman emperor-like Richmond waving from above – it’s a memory that has stuck with me ever since.

Des Hamilton settled the nerves early and Mark Stallard completed the victory in the 75th minute and we were promoted – an amazing season.

For Jim and I though, our work was only just about to begin. We drove back up the M1, discussing how we would report the day, to arrive at Hall Ings about 9pm and worked writing, designing and selection pictures of the day for a 16-page Wembley Special that went to press about midnight.

I grabbed half a dozen copies from the press hall and walked through the quiet city centre streets to my digs at the old diplomat hotel, where amazingly, a late night promotion party was still in full swing! 

I’d left Bradford at 10am and returned 11 hours later to report on a triumphant day for a club and a city so desperate for some success.

My only other significant day that still holds strong memories was at Wolverhampton Wanderers in the spring of 1999 – and Stuart McCall falling off the roof of a vehicle in the Valley Parade carpark as we partied all the way to the Premier League.

Three years earlier, in the July of 1996 ‘Kammy’ invited me on the team bus for a pre-season game at Whitby Town – the relationship between club and newspaper could not be better.

For the life of me I cannot remember the score that night because all I can remember was a fringe player going walkabout before the game and getting fish and chips, hardly the right pre-game meal. Kammy was furious and dropped him. 

We didn’t publish the story – it was pre-season, the player wasn’t high profile and we were trying to build a good relationship.

That season saw some quality footballers arrive at VP and David Markham was kept very busy with the signings.

He would often lean across the desk, when I asked him of news from Valley Parade, smile and say “City have signed …” 

He had the scoop and after many seasons of disappointment in the lower reaches of the football League, I could see he was enjoying himself.

A Swedish striker Rob Steiner, defender John Dreyer and Gordon Watson  – yes, that tackle by Kevin Gray.

Gordon Cowans, Robbie Blake and an Aussie goalkeeper from Kaiserslautern called Mark Schwarzer, who a club official told me was the best keeper City had ever signed.

Mark went on to Boro and a great career in the Premier League, but everyone at VP knew he was something special.

And some great local Yorkshire talent, Lee Duxbury, Wayne Jacobs, Ian Ormondroyd, Andy O’Brien, Nigel Pepper from York and Chris Wilder – now at Sheffield United. A Brazilian forward called Edinho – remember him?

He didn’t speak much English and instead of calling Kamara the Gaffer, called him Giffer – it made both Kammy and I laugh when he told me.

The only other time I saw Kammy laugh so much was when someone put a visiting Paul Gascoigne and friend (Jimmy Five Bellies) in his office at the club for a home game.

Gazza had turned up unannounced but didn’t want any publicity. Kammy’s office overlooked the pitch – so that was where Gazza went – and consumed the entire contents of the Gaffer’s beer fridge! Yes, we laughed about that together – and when the story was told back at the T&A.

Then of course came Chris Waddle.

October 11, 1996. On a free transfer. The whole city was buzzing.

Waddle had left Sheffield Wednesday back in that summer and was playing in Scotland before Kamara pulled off the signing of the season.

And he really was the star of the show.

After his debut against Barnsley I wrote in my column in the T&A that the City faithful “Turned up to watch a master craftsman at work – and they were not disappointed.”

I remember David Markham gave him 9/10 for a ‘stunning debut.”

When he signed the T&A picture editor Andy Manning came up with the crazy idea of capturing him kicking a football against a brick wall, playing ‘keepy-uppy’ on a cobbled lane near the club.

It was a classic piece of sports photography in both colour and moody black and white.

Kamara told me Waddle added a whole new dimension to his team. He teased and tormented defenders – an absolute thrill to not just watch, but to report on.

The tide, we reasoned on the sports desk back at Hall Ings, was turning.

And when Waddle chipped an arrogant Neville Southall from the halfway line in the FA Cup at Goodison his legendary status was secured.

As we all know Waddle left City in the March of 1997, but not after that battle with Nottingham Forest that saw Richmond clash with Kamara over his departure south.

The chairman was no pushover when it came to transfers and contracts, of that I can confirm. He was ruthless.

But so was almost every other club chairman and CEO. A lesson I learned when it was my turn to buy and sell players.

So we ended up with ‘Waddle Quits’ then ‘Waddle Forced to Stay’ as Geoffrey demanded half a million for the deal  – a deal that never eventuated, but one I always believed left a sour taste in the mouth  – for Kammy, and maybe for Waddle, who then did move – to Sunderland a short time later.

It was good while it lasted – but, as we all now know, there was more to come at VP … much, much more.

To be continued…

Categories: Opinion

Tags: BCAFC