Work on Bradford City's new £2.5million Kop stand kicks off at Valley Parade next week.

Part of the terracing will disappear and the roof will be lifted off.

It means that Saturday's home game with Queens Park Rangers will be the last this season where fans on the Kop will be protected from the weather.

City will meet with the ground safety committee tomorrow will set the capacity on the terrace during the re-construction work.

And managing director Shaun Harvey is urging fans to be "understanding in the circumstances."

He said: "We ask supporters to put up with some short term inconvenience to help the longer term ambition of the club which will see the new 7,500 seat Kop stand in operation at the start of next season with all its facilities."

Harvey added: "Demolition and other work will start after Saturday and when we play Wolves on December 19 part of the terracing will have disappeared

"The immediate development will see the back of the terracing disappear with the refreshment kiosk and new toilets being demolished.

"The older toilets which have been there since the Kop was built will still be in use. We will also have to bring in some temporary catering facilities in that area although existing turnstiles will remain."

City have 3,500 supporters with season tickets to stand on the Kop.

They are guaranteed their place when the capacity is reduced.

They can also transfer to the Midland Road by paying the additional price difference providing they apply to the club the day before the match.

City were only granted permission for the new stand by Bradford Council's Planning Committee last Friday.

It is part of a scheme to make Valley Parade into an all-seater stadium by August 1999 to comply with Government legislation. But the club face a race against time if the work is to be completed in time.

Harvey said: "The construction period is such that it is going to be a tight schedule to get the stand ready by the start of next season."

Mark Neale, a Kop regular for 35 years, said: "I am sure the club will make some arrangements for us.

"When Manchester City were in a similar situation they gave their supporters plastic, throwaway coats.

"We stood in the open air for years before the ground was re-built it is nothing new. I don't think people of my age group will have a problem, but there are people who don't know what it is like to stand on an open Kop.

"There are places in the First Division like Stockport and Barnsley where the away enclosures are not under cover so, it is not unique and it is only until the end of the season.

"It is only last week that we were thinking the Kop scheme would not be passed so you have got to take the rough with the smooth."

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