We love you, Bantams

Bradford City's players, wives and children had gathered on an open-top bus which set off from Cougar Park in blazing sunshine.

The party had been started by about 400 City fans gathered to salute their heroes achievement of sealing promotion to the Premiership.

As the bus toured the centre of Keighley, hundreds of more people came out to cheer the City players round the town, whether fans of the club or not. A highlight came outside the fire station when the firemen standing outside rang their siren to salute the City team.

But then a glance down the Aire Valley at the black clouds revealed what was in store and every member sat on the top deck of the bus, to a man, shivered.

That did not stop Lee Sharpe starting a saucy chorus about what to do with the Nationwide league which was gleefully sung by everyone sat in the back half of the bottom deck.

The bus then powered its way along the Aire Valley Trunk Road which runs between the town and Crossflatts but as it passed Marley Sewage Works, the heavens opened. And it rained and rained and rained.

Most clubs 'enjoying' an open-top bus parade would have, no doubt, allowed the rain to dampen their spirits. But not City.

If anything, the banter among the players just got funnier and funnier. The players had certainly been on top form when meeting up at Valley Parade with Jamie Lawrence greeting Stuart McCall with 'Did you get dressed in the dark?' due to the City skipper's natty attire.

Throughout the bus ride which took in Crossflatts, Bingley and Saltaire the air was peppered with cracks such as: 'It's all right for you sat in your car' and 'I started today in a pair of Gucci shoes worth £300, I reckon I will get a tenner for them now at most'.

And Watson reduced the top deck to tears of laughter as he cracked to defender John Dreyer, as the bus passed a scrapyard in Shipley: "Oi Tumble (Dreyer), that's where me and you will be living next season" - in reference to the fact that both men are out of contract this summer and face uncertain futures.

Several players, who shall remain nameless, retreated downstairs as the rain continued to fall but the stalwarts remained, although Lee Mills and Andy O'Brien used their coats as a makeshift umbrella.

The hardcore stayed and were rewarded with some memorable scenes as the bus continued its path around Oak Lane and down Heaton Road - culminating in a fine firework display.

The bus then continued down Manningham Lane and Market Street before arriving in Centenary Square for some remarkable scenes. Gordon Watson said as the bus came round the side of City Hall: "This is something to savour" as thousands of Bantams fans hailed their heroes.

It was a fitting way to end a memorable trip because it was an illustration of just how much the success meant to the fans. It is a fact that City are in the Premiership next season and the joy etched on every single face signalled that.

IT WAS JUST the kind of night for which Centenary Square was made and the place was filled with a dazed, but still cheering claret and amber army of all shapes and sizes.

The square, created two years ago to mark the city's centenary, had never been as full as it was last night. Stewards were turning people away at 7.45 because the area in front of City Hall was full.

Families were out in force and the younger members of City's following were well represented - many of the smaller fans hoisted on their dad's shoulders to catch a glimpse of their heroes.

Some were just babes in arms - City fans in the making who will one day be able to proudly tell friends that they were there, when City's promotion heroes of 1998/9 returned to town for their victory parade.

As the expectant crowd gathered they were kept in touch via a PA system with the progress being made by the bus carrying the Bradford City squad - quickly dubbed Uncle Geoff's Champagne Chariot by the announcer.

And as the crowds waited, along the route thousands of others were getting their first glimpse as the bus drove from Keighley.

Fans stood in the torrential rain - never noticing how wet they were getting - to cheer on their heroes along the ten mile route.

About 300 fans gathered at the Cougar ground to see the bus off and Stuart McCall and Lee Sharpe joined supporters in the road, mobbed for their autographs.

The route took the convoy down Cavendish Street and as it motored along the Aire Valley trunk road into Bingley the heavens opened.

Lightning flashed, thunder rumbled and the rain hit the street like stair rods, but it did not dampen the spirits of the fans who continued to line the road and to cheer and wave.

People came out of their homes, shouted from bedroom windows and as the bus reached Nab Wood a giant banner saying Well Done Bradford City was draped over the pedestrian bridge across the road.

As the convoy got closer to the city the crowd got bigger. In Saltaire, where it turned right towards Fox's Corner, the roundabout was jammed with fans and young boys on bikes and wearing their soaking strips, raced alongside the convoy.

Meanwhile back in the city centre loudspeakers played snatches of the commentary from Sunday's match, each goal met with a big roar from the excitable fans.

Everyone there seemed to be replaying the events of Sunday afternoon and asking themselves: did it really happen? Could City really be in the Premier League? Reality was still sinking in.

The victory cavalcade was 15 minutes away, the crowd was told, then five...and finally those sections of the crowd nearest Market Street began clapping and cheering as the bus had pulled into distant view.

Copies of yesterday's historic edition of the Telegraph & Argus were tossed into the air to give the bus a tickertape welcome as it rolled up and made a slow lap of victory around City Hall.

"Last time we were this good, the players were on a trolley bus!" was one fan's comment.

Every player, City chairman Geoffrey Richmond and manager Paul Jewell - even the bus driver - was each treated to a personal chant by the ecstatic fans as the group disembarked, followed by choruses of City Till I Die and We Are Premier League.

To a chorus of Supa, Supa Geoff, Mr Richmond said: "The reception you have given today has been absolutely fantastic.

"Our secret weapon has been the spirit in the dressing room with everyone pulling together, that will help us in the battles that undoubtedly lie ahead when we go forward into the Premiership.

"We will be in the Premier League in this Millennium and the new Millennium and for many years to come."

Richmond knows how to play a crowd and his fighting talk was exactly what the fans, many of whom were still pinching themselves and struggling to come to terms with the amazing news, wanted to hear.

He was followed by manager Paul Jewell whose crack about how even HE could not fix the weather went down well, and finally Player of the Year Stuart McCall who told how the familiar strawberry blond figure seen on television falling off a car, can of lager in hand during the promotion celebrations "must have been my twin brother".

"It's amazing what a couple of shandies can do," he added.

The clouds had cleared away, it was a beautiful evening, and the dazed fans were starting to believe that their dream really had come true.

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