Bradford City hope to avoid repeat of ‘Mike Bassett’ scene 25 years on from celebrating Premier League survival

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After a long six-year wait, Bradford City finally returned to League One.

Bradford secured promotion from League Two in dramatic circumstances as Antoni Sarcevic scored a late, late winner to beat Fleetwood Town.

Scenes of jubilation were spotted all around Valley Parade and the city of Bradford – something that’s not been a seen for a while.

25 years ago though, Bradford fans experienced similar scenes of joy – just for very different reasons.

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Bradford City held a parade for avoiding relegation

We’ve all heard of parties for winning the league, like Leeds United did, but have you ever heard of one for avoiding relegation?

That’s exactly what Bradford did when they finished 17th in the Premier League back in 2000 in dramatic circumstances.

A parade was organised by then-chairman Geoffrey Richmond, and former player-turned-manager Paul Jewell, who was 34 at the time, compared the scenes to something from hit 2001 film ‘Mike Bassett: England manager’.

He told The Athletic in 2024: “I didn’t want to do the open-top bus, that’s for sure,” he recalls. “Don’t get me wrong, the achievement was huge, especially considering the teams we were up against. Manchester United had won the Champions League and there was (Arsene) Wenger’s Arsenal. Aston Villa were strong, same with Chelsea.

“But the thing with an open-top bus parade is you want a cup to show off at the front. The chairman, though, thought otherwise. It was like a scene from Mike Bassett”.

How many times have Bradford City been promoted?

Promotion to League One was the ninth time the Bantams have secured promotion throughout their history.

Before their success in this 24/25 campaign, their last taste of promotion came back in the 12/13 season, where they won the League Two play-offs.

Their first promotion/title win was in 1907/08 but sadly for Bradford, they’ve also been relegated 10 times.

Fans won’t be worrying about that now though after promotion and will only be dreaming of even more success.