Bradford City’s 2020 Vision

2019 was the year when a famous football name, in the shape of Bury FC, were suddenly erased from the fixture lists with Gigg Lane standing empty and forlorn on Saturday afternoons.

We’ve become used to the 11th hour rescues that have saved many a club in the past but this time there was no white knight and the Shakers (for now) are no more.

With Bolton having just survived and Macclesfield’s future looking bleak it calls into question the whole viability of clubs in League One and Two.

The way all three of the above have been run can be called into question but what is clear is that the battle for financial survival is getting more and more difficult at the lower levels of the Football League.

A recent report highlighted how stretched things in the Championship are becoming as owners chase the Premier League ‘dream’ and the clubs in that division will continue to push for a greater share of income from the EFL to act as some kind of buffer if they fail to make it into the top-flight.

I’ve often felt that leaves League One and Two clubs increasingly in a kind of limbo where they have the extra costs that go alongside being in the EFL without being able to offer spectators the kind of freedoms they get at a lower level and admission prices are a symbol of that in many ways.

One-off reductions are always welcome, of course, but the short-term firefighting often makes it difficult to really make a concerted push to increase supporter numbers year-on-year.

Bradford City are one of the exceptions but it has taken a huge amount of hard work from the Bantams to do so, their offer of low-price season tickets having survived a change of ownership and relegation back to League Two.

Tickets are already on sale for the 2020/21 season under the 'City For All' banner, priced at £150 for those over 16, £100 for under 16's and £25 for under 11's. 

There is also the FlexiCard option, for those unable to commit to a season ticket, with an initial £50 payment and then payment on a matchday of £10 adults, £5 for under 16's and nothing for under 11's.