At Bradford City AFC - Speaker Mike Smith

Mike said that he had been associated with Bradford City AFC (City) for more than 60 years. He had been an Associate Director for 40 years and was now corporate host. This means that after the match he gets to go in boardroom and have a glass of wine.

In his early days it was Stafford Higginbottom. Jack Tordoff and Peter Flesher who ran the club with Jack being the chairman of the board. Since that time, he has seen many changes many owners and even more managers. During his time at City he has met Stanley Matthews, Jimmy Hill both of them at Reserves matches. Also, Kevin Keegan who when a fan shouted out that his wife was on the phone but wouldn’t believe that Keegan was there took the phone and spoke to the wife. Mike did after game interviews for man of match, and one time Brian Robson was there, and he was able to interview him. When City were in the Premiere League for 2 seasons he met Alex Ferguson. It was like a military organisation when Manchester United came. He remembers one time when City were leading at half-time, so Ferguson made his players go stand on pitch for 10 minutes in shame rather than letting them have a break. Another time David Beckham held up the team bus from leaving as he was willing to sign autographs for all children at the game who wanted one. Another time George Best had been booked to speak at a sportsman dinner where he answered questions for one hour. One question was “Is it true that you’ve squandered all your money?” Best replied “No I spent 90% on wine women and song and squandered 10%.”

City were formed in 1903 as Manningham Football club playing Rugby League before converting to soccer. In 1911 they won FA Cup. In 1985 they suffered the terrible fire where 56 people died, and 265 were injured. In 1999 they gained promotion to the Premiership and were relegated again in the 2000/2001 season. Being in the top league nearly bankrupted the club leaving it £13 million in debt when it was relegated.

City are by far the biggest social club in Bradford. They can entertain 800 people in suites as well as more than 24,000 spectators in the ground. They employ 22 in the playing squad and 205 other employees. Then on match days there are up to 200 agency staff. The supporters include 16,000 seasons ticket holders and at home games there is an average crowd of 20,000.

The Chairman and Owner is a German national called Stefan Rupp; the Chief Executive Officer is Ryan Sparks and the Head of Football Operations David Sharpe. Rupp comes to quite a lot of games. As is common in Germany there is only 1 director everybody else are deemed senior managers.

Besides the main squad there are the Junior Bantams, a disability team, and 2 ladies teams Ian Ormonroyd the CEO of Bradford City FC Community Foundation goes around schools among other charitable work. Then there is the Bradford City Business Club which operates as a networking group and the One In A Million charity and school.

When asked why City get so many more spectators than other similar clubs, he says it is because prices are kept low. Then with a larger support base there are more opportunities to sell other things to them. A Season ticket costs just £299 but then it’s possible to sell them an £65 extra for a 3 course meal in the Whitney 2013 suite. Lots of other packages are available in the other 3 suites, the Bantams Bar and the Jack Tordoff Boardroom. Entry to the 1911 Suite where a lot of players and ex-players gather is £840 per season whereas entry to the Boardroom is £275 per match with a smorgasbord of treats.

Finally, Mike said in order to do their bit towards sustainability they plant 1 tree for every goal scored by both men and women's teams.

After the talk he gave a tour of shirt display and boxes but not changing rooms.