SIR – With regard to the memorial flag at Valley Parade, when I first started going down to Bradford City in the 1966-7 season all English clubs used to fly the Union flag.
Indeed I have a 1970 Mexico World Cup record by the England team which has the Union flag emblazoned on the cover I inherited from a Scottish cousin.
The only football club that flies the Union flag today is Glasgow Rangers; we witnessed this in abundance when between ten and 11,000 fans turned up one sunny Sunday from Glasgow for Stuart McCall’s testimonial game, the capacity at Valley Parade being substantially increased by Geoffrey Richmond.
It was Glasgow that was once known as “Second City of Empire” and not Birmingham or Manchester. Stuart McCall’s parents hailed from Hamilton, the same town as my mother, which allowed him to win, I think, over 40 caps for Scotland, and his managerial career took him to the neighbouring town of Motherwell, the only professional football club in Britain with the same colours as Bradford City.
Another name for Motherwell Football Club is “The Steel Men”, and my mother’s father, who died when she was only 13, was in fact a steel worker in Motherwell.
Iain Morris, Caroline Street, Saltaire
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