FORMER Bradford (Park Avenue) chairman Frank Thornton has died aged 91.

A life-long supporter of the club he recalled the time he cycled over the Pennines in 1946 to watch Bradford face Manchester City in the FA Cup. Played over two legs, City had won by 3-1 at Park Avenue, so no one gave Bradford a chance of progressing. But they upsets the odds putting eight goals past the legendary Frank Swift in an amazing 8-2 victory.

Thornton joined the board in the early 1990s, when the club was in exile and based at Batley RLFC’s Mount Pleasant ground. When the team won the North West Counties League championship in 1995 and were denied a promotion by the Northern Premier League, he and chairman Mike Firth successfully won an appeal held by the F.A. in Sheffield. He was also a key figure in securing the club’s return to Bradford in 1996.

When Firth quit in 1999, Thornton took over as chairman. In 2003 he was forced to stand down due to work commitments and the long distance travel from his home in Oxfordshire which had affected his health.