Bradford City have not ruled out signing foreign players to play in the Premiership despite the success of their British only policy in their promotion season.

Chairman Geoffrey Richmond said: "Suddenly, everyone wants to play for Bradford City - it is quite astonishing the interest there is."

But he warned "the club will not be held to ransom".

He said: "I get agents ringing almost daily offering French and German internationals who are available under the Bosman ruling.

"Almost all want a nett weekly wage of £25,000 before you start talking about other details.

"We cannot afford to pay such sums. We will put all the resources we can towards trying to ensure we stay in the Premiership but we will not commit financial folly.

"We have to retain a sound base just in case things don't work out. It would be disastrous to spend millions unwisely and jeopardise the future finances of the club."

City have been linked with a number of players in recent days but Richmond is adamant that all options are still open.

He said: "Paul's policy in the season just ended was to sign British players and his inclinations are still in that direction.

"But you never say never in football and transfers fees for English players are considerably higher than their overseas equivalents.

"You cannot argue with that fact, but there is still a lot of merit in signing players who Paul knows a lot about in respect of both ability and character.

"We have got to look at why we have had our success and the one thing that stands out is the team spirit that has been generated within the club.

"We are not going to compete with the rest of the Premiership clubs in terms of spending power either in the transfer market or in wages we can pay, but where we can compete in is in the team spirit that has been fostered at Valley Parade."

City made a number of foreign signings under previous manager Chris Kamara.

The most recent - and the most expensive - was Swedish striker Rob Steiner who cost £500,000.

City are currently trying to sell him to help to provide income for future buys

A meeting for all who are interested in joining the supporters band, the Bantams Beat are invited to a meeting at the Fountain Inn, Heaton Road, Bradford tonight (8pm).

The band which used to operate from the Ciba stand on Midland Road will play in the new kop stand.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.