Today I'm going back 35 years to 1987 and Bradford City's home fixture against Millwall in League Division 2 played at Valley Parade in front of 7,279.
A couple of days ago I wrote about the troubles of trying to find games that are "On" when the one that you had intended to visit had been postponed. Today's featured game is one such game and this is how I found myself at Valley Parade on a cold winters day. Valley Parade gained infamy in the eyes of many football fans in 1985 due to the fire tragedy in which 56 poor souls lost their lives and hundreds more were badly injured and I have written about the fire before (search on Bradford City in my blog). This was my first visit to the stadium since that tragedy and I made a point of visiting the shrine to the deceased with all due reverence.
The most prominent programme cover star on the front of the featured programme is six foot five inch Ian Ormondroyd, a player in the mould of Peter Crouch. Ormondroyd played for seven League clubs including Bradford City, Aston Villa and Leicester City. In 354 League games he rattled in 62 goals, a poor ratio for a striker but I'd contend that, for much of his career, he ploughed a lone furrow up front as the target man for a "release ball" out of defence. I'd love to know what his assist figures are because I recall that he certainly won a lot of balls in the air. Whenever Ormondroyd got a mention I always thought of Marvin the Paranoid (Orm)Android from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Perhaps it was his resemblance to Peter Crouch and Crouch's robot dance? Anyway, as far as I know, Ormandroyd wasn't especially paranoid. Interestingly Ormandroyd's son Jack is also professional sportsman, playing Rugby League for the Salford Red Devils.
The featured game was something of a stroll in the park for the Bantams who won comfortably by 4-0. Bradford City finished season 1986/7 in a respectable 10th position in League Division 2 (today this is known as the Championship) with 55 points. The Division that season was incredibly tight and there were nine clubs below Bradford who were within five points of them including Millwall in 16th place on 51 points. Sunderland went down that season with only seven points fewer than Bradford and Derby County were Champions.
CRB Match No. 479
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