City are not panicking after their smallest home league crowd for eight years watched the Wimbledon game.

Just 9,011 saw City's relegation fate sealed - the lowest attendance at Valley Parade for a league match since April 26, 1996 when a 2-1 win over Brentford attracted a gate of 7,730.

With a return to Second Division football approaching, there are fears that the level of home support will tail off.

But the club believe there were several factors behind last weekend's "blip" and remain confident that figures will hold up if they kick-off strongly next season.

Managing director Shaun Harvey said: "It would be wrong to make a knee-jerk reaction to Saturday's attendance figure. Yes, it was disappointing but I wouldn't want to draw too many conclusions from just one game.

"If it happens over an extended period of time then obviously it would give us cause for concern. But we believe there were several reasons why the attendance was significantly lower than average.

"Effectively we had been relegated on Easter Monday after our defeat at Derby and this was definitely a case of after the Lord Mayor's show following our second-half display in that game. In that sense, there may not have seemed so much riding on it.

"It was also still the holiday period and, with due respect, Wimbledon aren't the biggest draw of the season. The crowd figure included only 78 fans who passed through the visiting turnstiles."

The Bantams are averaging 11,500, 1,000 down on last term, more than seven other First Division clubs and just below near-neighbours Burnley. Their crowd against Wimbledon was the smallest in the top two divisions last week.

But City's terrible home record has hardly encouraged the "fair-weather" fans. They have won just six of the 22 games at Valley Parade and only Wimbledon in the whole Football League have lost more than their 13 defeats.

Supporters will pay to watch a winning side and Harvey said: "If we start next season well then there is every chance we will be able to maintain our current average."