The price of ambition

Gloomy days lie ahead for Bradford City

By John May BBC Sport Online on Bradford's cash crisis

Bradford City have discovered to their cost that ambition comes at a high price.

The Bantams' journey into adminstration with debts of around £13m is the result of falling victim to the two-pronged attack of the collapse of ITV Digital and the desire to remain a Premiership club.

Ironically, Bradford's troubles can be traced to their survival at the end of the 1999-2000 season, their first in the top flight following their promotion.

The intoxicating wine of the Premiership went to Bradford's heads, prompting what was, with the gift of hindsight, an ill-judged spending spree in the summer of 2000.

Bradford wanted to be more than mere survivors, and although manager Chris Hutchings was nominally the hand on the wheel, the steering was provided by chairman Geoffrey Richmond.

Bradford paid fees for Ashley Ward (£1.5m), Dan Petrescu (£1m), David Hopkin (£2.5m), and while Benito Carbone, Ian Nolan and Peter Atherton arrived on free transfers, and Stan Collymore on a loan, they all commanded big salaries.

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Carbone's £40,000 weekly salary attracts the most attention, but the likes of Atherton (£14,000 a week) and Ward (£18,000) also knocked a big hole in Bradford's wage bill, which peaked at a massive £14m in 2000.

It became apparent halfway through the 2000-2001 season that Bradford were not going to avoid relegation and Jim Jefferies was brought in by Richmond to lighten the wage bill for life in Division One.

Hopkin and Petrescu were sold, but the club were still haemorrhaging cash.

Bradford sought to slash their wage bill to £7.5m last year, with a further target of getting down to £4.5m this year.

Salvation

Such was Bradford's financial damage that they had budgeted for a £2m loss this year, even before the collapse of ITV Digital.

The club's directors - four members of the Richmond family and two members of professor David Rhodes family - had increased their bankrolling of the club to £13m in March this year.

They would have been content to fund the club at that level, until the collapse of ITV Digital proved the straw that broke the camel's back, along with their failure to off-load Carbone.

The talented Italian striker had loan spells at Derby - who sent him back because they could not afford his wages - and at Middlesbrough.

A permanent move to Middlesbrough collapsed, and Carbone returned to be a huge burden on Bradford's finances.