What a shame, in the euphoria following the Bantams' promotion to the Premiership, that yet again our blinkered cousins in the soft South can't see beyond their noses as far as the North of England is concerned. Bradford City chairman Geoffrey Richmond is rightly disappointed to have been told by financial experts that the image of Bradford isn't strong enough to support a full flotation of the club on the stock market.

It is typical of the treatment that Bradford has had not just from the City but also from London-based civil servants and those responsible for providing financial support for the regions. These people understand so little about us. They fail to appreciate the huge fund of energy, enthusiasm and pride which is in this city - qualities which we tend to under-estimate even in ourselves until an event like Bradford's promotion acts as a catalyst for them.

Those who care for the future of Bradford know that there is an image problem. We know there are many excellent and exciting things happening. The problem is a failure to get that message across.

Bradford needs fresh energy, fresh dynamism, fresh co-operation between the public and private sectors. It needs to utilise the skills of the entrepreneurs and industrialists who have scored big business successes in recent years.

Above all it needs a new brand image to help get across the message - both to the outside world and to some of its citizens - that it has great character, a record of high achievement, and vast potential for the future.

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