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  • "
    ricky76 wrote:
    Didnt the pay 2.5 million to buy it last year wonder what the sold it for must have been for a good price.
    I don't thing its the profit that has been made but rather the £370,000 a year rent which will be saved.
    .
    I've criticsed the chairmen in the past but this is a sign of their hard work. They don't have the cash to throw at the club but at least they are safegaurding the club and putting the building blocks in place which can only help us climb a couple of leagues."
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Bradford City: Phil Parkinson's shopping budget gets a welcome boost

7:40am Wednesday 30th May 2012 in Bantams Photograph of the Author By Simon Parker , Bradford City Reporter

Julian Rhodes said: "Instead of paying out for a building we don’t need, we’ll be paying for players we do need to get us into League One" Julian Rhodes said: "Instead of paying out for a building we don’t need, we’ll be paying for players we do need to get us into League One"

Phil Parkinson’s City shopping budget for the summer has been swelled by the sale of the Valley Parade offices.

Contracts should be exchanged later this week with One in a Million, the Bradford charity co-founded by Wayne Jacobs, who are turning the building into a free school.

Julian Rhodes, his father David, and fellow chairman Mark Lawn bought the block a year ago to safeguard the club’s survival at the ground.

Selling it on has made more cash available to plough into Parkinson’s team-building plans.

Last week’s signing of Andrew Davies was an ambitious marker for the players that City are chasing.

Rhodes has laughed off rum-ours of secret investment coming on board and insists any extra finance for the manager is down to the office deal.

He said: “People may have wondered where the money is coming from and we do have one or two things up our sleeves. But the sale of the shop and office building should be going through very shortly. We are days away from exchanging contracts.

“Selling the building releases us from the overheads as well as the huge amount of rent we had been paying before and all that extra money is going into the team.

“Instead of paying out for a building we don’t need, we’ll be paying for players we do need to get us into League One.”

The City directors set up their own company BC Bantams Limited to buy the office block from previous owners Prupim after the club voiced fears that they could not afford to stay at Valley Parade.

Up to that point, City were forking out £370,000 a year in rent for office space that they did not need.

The school is due to open its doors in September. Planning permission is required for a change of use but it is understood the paperwork has already gone in.

City’s club shop, which was housed on the bottom floor of the office block, is being relocated inside the stadium.

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