by Jim Greenhalf T&A Reporter Twenty-five years after its first appearance at Bradford City’s Valley Parade, City Gent is now the longest-running fanzine in the country.

To mark the anniversary, editor Mike Harrison is producing 1,000 copies of that first edition, which cost 20p in 1984.

He said: “This one will go on sale for £1. Profits will go to the Burns Unit Appeal. I’ve set a target of £1,000, which will be one per cent of the £100,000 they’re looking for.”

City Gent, first edited by John Dewhirst and Brian Fox, was one of the first half-dozen fanzines to come out in the days before the internet.

The Leyton Orienteer and York City’s Terrace Talk were among the first; but they have long since gone, while the bowler-hatted City Gent is still going.

Mr Harrison said: “It’s remarkable that in a 16-page magazine one of the first articles is about Odsal.

“Such is the slow way that things work in Bradford that 25 years on we are still talking about whether Odsal is going to be developed.

“Some fans are saying the spirit of the team now at Valley Parade reminds them of the 1984/85 side.

“In the magazine there’s an interview with Trevor Cherry, the manager then, who had seven players under the age of 23 in the side. There is a parallel now.

“The difference is that Stuart McCall, who was one of the young players then, is now our manager.”

Mr McCall is no longer a regular reader, saying to Mr Harrison that his job as manager made him more protective of his players. That conflicted with the job of City Gent which, he readily acknowledged, was to “tell it as you see it.”

However, he stays in touch with the magazine through assistant manager Wayne Jacobs, who does read it.

The Burns Unit Appeal is being held by Bradford City and the Telegraph & Argus to raise £100,000 to save the unit at Bradford University from possible closure by the 25th anniversary of the Valley Parade fire disaster next May. So far more than £11,000 has been raised.