Memories of Valley Parade (Bradford City)
- Jimmy Muir
- Nov 26, 2022
- 3 min read
As a Yorkshireman, Valley Parade has vastly become a stadium which I have visited on several occasions and is easily on my list of favourite grounds to visit. Though I do not have a list in any order, Huddersfield Town and Hull City are also amongst the list of my top Yorkshire grounds that I like to visit.
Bradford City were formed in irregular circumstances in 1903, though many could easily argue that their heritage spans as 1880 via Rugby Union side Manningham FC. At the time of the Bantams formation, West Yorkshire was deprived of Association Football and the Football Association was eager to introduce the round ball to the area. Manningham were allowed to change sports and were rewarded with immediate entry into the Football League Division Two before they had kicked a ball.
They became the first football club in the area and became early pioneers which led to the formation of their current area rivals, Huddersfield Town, Halifax Town, and Leeds United (initially formed in 1904 as Leeds City), whilst city rivals Bradford (Park Avenue) would soon give birth to forge a league rivalry that would last five decades.
Valley Parade is a stadium I enjoy visiting. The away end is a two-tiered compact stand behind goal, whilst at the other end, behind the opposite goal, and the stand to the left, magnificently, towers above the stadium and has a slight remembrance of St James Park (Newcastle, not Exeter!), whilst the Midland Road stand to the right is of elegant proportion.
As a visitor I find the stadium easily accessible, down the M1 and there is a good parking spot about 100 yards away from the ground. Something of a luxury where parking can be at a premium around football grounds. Supporting Sheffield United I was unable to making it to our last visit in 2016/17, which ended in an entertaining 3-3 draw. Since then both clubs have headed in different directions. Almost two decades ago, Bradford was in the Premier League, but a decline has since the club fall closer to the National League than the countries elite clubs, whilst the Blades too endured Premiership hardship and are now in the second tier.
My first visit to Valley Parade, or rather, the University of Bradford Stadium, for sponsorship reasons, came in United’s triple assault season of 2002-03, which saw the Blades reach the semi-finals of both domestic cup competitions as well as the Play-Off Final. United were doing well in the league and were amongst the top six at the time. With transfer windows lasting longer in those days, Neil Warnock had dipped into the market and purchased two new strikers, Dean Windass (on-loan from Middlesbrough?), and Steve Kabba (from Crystal Palace), and both would have a barn storming debut with each player scoring a goal in front of the home crowd before half-time. The second half saw the hosts reduced to ten men after former Blades defender Gus Uhlenbeek was dismissed and United would add a further three more goals to cap off a great 5-0 win. I would imagine that this would have been our biggest victory of the season, though, perhaps not the best game that United fans witnessed.
It would be almost twelve years until my next journey into the West and would witness another victory on the road for the Blades, with two goals – Bob Harris explicit left footed drive proved an awesome goal. However, the game would be overshadowed by an incident early in the second half which saw Stefan Scougall wrestled to the ground in the penalty area, no penalty!
Maybe we’re being biased, but we thought it was a stone walled penalty – what do you think? see for yourself below
My final (thus far) journey to Valley Parade saw an epic 2-2 draw. It wasn’t the best times under Nigel Adkins, but this was, possibly, one of the highlights – though United were 2-0 down at one point, a hard-fought game saw United level.
23.11.2002 – Bradford City 0-5 Sheffield United 18.10.2014 - Bradford City 0-2 Sheffield United 20.09.2015 - Bradford City 2-2 Sheffield United
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