A BRADFORD football project is struggling to cope with demand after the number of young players attending its coaching sessions almost doubled during the past year.

The Manningham Football Academy, established almost a decade ago, used to get around 80 players at its Saturday sessions at Manningham Sports Centre, but co-founder Ibrar Hussain said numbers can now sometimes reach 150.

The academy is now looking at the possibility of increasing outdoor provision at the venue, or raising funds to pay for extra sessions to accommodate the new players, all aged five up to 16.

Staff have already added an extra session to cope with the increased numbers, but Mr Hussain said they are sometimes still left with 50 children to try and fit in during each hour-long stint.

"The idea is to be a development centre for these kids, and we don't want to say no to anyone, but on occasions we have to turn some people away," he admitted.

"The number of kids coming along has pretty much doubled over the last 12 months, and it's just been through word of mouth from parents and local schools.

"We don't just focus solely on football skills, we try to teach social values as well, alongside building the kids' confidence and self-esteem.

"We have enough coaches, we just need a bigger venue to cope with the demand."

Mr Hussain said facilities at the Council-owned centre, two indoor pitches and one outdoors, were really "squeezing" the project, with coaches also forced to spare funding when buying basic equipment such as footballs to ensure there are enough to go around.

"The staff at the centre have really looked after us, and they have been great with allowing us to use the venue at discounted rates," said Mr Hussain.

"Ideally, the two options would be to either develop more outdoor pitches at the venue, or try to raise some funding to allow us to pay for more sessions on a Saturday, and spread the number of kids out."

Mr Hussain said staff regularly applied for grants to support the growth of the academy, but said funding support was always welcome.

Prior to the dissolution of parliament for the General Election, George Galloway, then Respect MP for Bradford West and a current candidate for the same seat, asked to meet Football Association (FA) chairman Greg Dyke over what governing body support could be provided for the academy.

Bradford City have also said they will look at ways of supporting the academy if possible.

James Mason, the club's chief operating officer, said: "As a football club at the heart of the community, we are committed to developing grass-roots football throughout the district.

"We receive lots of enquiries for help, and are always actively looking for clubs that need our support.

"Our fantastic FA cup run has put the football community in Bradford right back on the map, and it will hopefully lead to the growth of community projects like this one.

"As ever, we will look to help out in whatever way we can."