Bradford City's ground capacity will be reduced to just under 10,700 when the proposed Kop re-development gets underway.

Chairman Geoffrey Richmond says the Bantams may start the work before the end of the 1998-99 season and has advised supporters that "the purchase of season tickets is the only way to guarantee admission" over the next two seasons.

He said: "We are looking at a 32 week building programme. Next summer will give us a 13-week close season which means there will be 19 weeks of the playing season when the ground capacity comes down to 10,700.

"I must stress this is all hypothetical at the moment. But if we started work on March 1 we would be looking at re-opening that part of the ground in December which would mean that for last two months or so of next season and the first three to four months of the following season ground capacity will be visibly reduced."

If the re-development work did start on March 1, six home games would be affected, including two of the most attractive fixtures when Sunderland (Mar 9) and Huddersfield Town (Apr 17) visit Valley Parade.

Richmond stressed that no start date for the work had been set but added: "I am confident that season ticket sales will be at or above last season's level of 9,500 by the start of the season. We will limit season tickets for the coming season and also for the following season to 10,500.

"Under Football League rules we have to make accommodation available for visiting supporters so everyone can see we have a major problem.

"Certainly for the season 1999-2000 we will only offer season tickets to existing ticket holders.

"People who normally stand on the Kop will be allocated space elsewhere in the stadium, but we cannot guarantee re-allocation to anyone who is not a season ticket holder."

Building a new Kop stand seems to rule out a move to Odsal where there are plans for a 30,000 stadium as well as the Superdome.

Richmond said: "We have been watching events at Odsal with interest. Both projects appear to be distant dreams and we have been sitting on the fence.

"But now we have to come off that fence because we have to comply with the law of the land. Once major investment is made at Valley Parade that closes the door on a move away from our own ground."

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