Originally Posted by
SLUDGE FACTORY
Bradford away nineties
They had brought down some nutters , and bradford have got lots of nutters , and they attacked one of the pubs in town . Word got around that the last game of the season , bradford , would be carnage .
And it certainly was
I moved up to bradford in the january for work, Bradford have never done much considering how big the city is but they have good support . Everyone in the place I worked was a bradford fan and they hated leeds , a match between the two at the time saw carnage in leeds city centre , they basically merge and are only 8 miles apart
They knew I was a cardiff fan and a few weeks before the game the local press and media began reporting on information that police were expecting problems from cardiff fans in revenge for an attack on a pub in cardiff earlier in the season and were mounting the biggest police operation in years.
I left my flat in the north of the city , no colours obviously and had arranged to meet a friend off the train at bradford interchange railway station . I was on the bus into bradford city centre and there were police everywhere , horses , dogs , riot police , Van's at every junction
I got off the bus and went into the Midland pub next to the station . Within minutes of sitting down a group of cardiff fans started fighting with the locals so I got out of there sheepish and went over the road and stood by st George's hall , where I had seen the fall play just a few weeks earlier
There were loads of police in the forecourt of the train station but when one of which I presume was a number of trains carrying cardiff fans turned up they literally turned on their backs and moved out of the way. This lot were completely mad , they charged past the coppers and then just marched up the hill towards valley parade. One came up to me and said are you bradford or cardiff , I was shitting myself , he was a man mountain , I showed him my bluebird pin badge hidden beneath my denim jacket and he said keep out of the way today mate , we are here to sort bradford out. I was shaking like a leaf .
My mate turned up on a later train from manchester twenty minutes later and we walked up the hill to valley parade
It was obvious there had been serious disorder , three pubs were wrecked , shops had been looted and we saw blokes in bradford shirts being looked after by ambulance crews.
As you get out of the city centre the ground levels off and in the distance we could see mounted police trying to herd this gang of nutters back towards the away end .
We stayed back and entered the ground just before kick off. It was clear that most of the cardiff fans in the ground were pissed or off their heads . The lower tier was shut but I know the upper tier holds 3000 fans and it was full , of complete nutters .
There were cardiff fans in the grandstand to our left causing trouble all afternoon , people being taken out by snatch squads. At half time a large fight broke out opposite us in their standing Kop.
At the end of the game it got worse , a large gang of bradford fans were waiting at the top of manningham hill , by the ground , the police completely lost control and the cardiff fans charged into this group of bradford supporters and they scattered many taking a right old leathering .
That was enough for me and my mate , we waited until the police moved the cardiff fans to our left down the hill towards the train station and we got our bus back to the northern suburb of Shipley.
Apparently the cardiff nutters continued fighting with the home fans and wrecking the city centre on the way back to bradford station
We lost the game two nil but in work on monday morning all the bradford fans said it was worse than the games with leeds
The bradford telegraph and argus over the next few days was full of reports and pictures of the disorder and widespread damage and west yorkshire police said despite the biggest police operation in many years the cardiff fans were intent on causing as much damage to persons and property as possible .
I was shitting myself in the pub when it all broke out and I was shitting myself when a huge cardiff fan approached me before the game
In fact I was still in a state of shock when I got home , there were so many nutters out there you were afraid you were going to get a beating if you looked at someone
Spurs away was nasty , swansea in the fa cup was bedlam but I was at a cardiff game in bradford that may and I was scared of my own fans .