A treasured memorial to one of Bradford's sporting legends has been smashed up by vandals.

Burglars forced their way into the social club at Bradford Park Avenue's Horsfall football stadium and badly damaged a display commemorating the club's former star Len Shackleton, who went on to play for Newcastle, Sunderland and England.

Club members say they are devastated by the damage to the £15,000 memorial.

The tribute was opened in the social club in 2001 following Mr Shackleton's death after fundraising by supporters.

It was mounted on one of the club's walls and contains memorabilia, including one of Mr Shackleton's England shirts.

The intruders ripped off a side panel to break in to the pre-fabricated building in Cemetery Road, off Halifax Road. Television and satellite equipment was also damaged during the burglary, the tenth in as many years at the club.

The burglars stole a signed football which had been presented to Park Avenue star Neil Redfearn before he made his 1,000th senior appearance against Solihull Borough in the FA Trophy last weekend.

Club director Paul Grayson said: "Len Shackleton is held in very high esteem and is probably the best player to come out of Bradford.

"But the people who did this obviously had absolutely no respect for him. They probably didn't even know who he was because they hadn't bothered to find out. They are ignorant."

Mr Grayson said the break-in was the latest in a series of incidents which have had a "dreadful impact" on the volunteer-run club.

Over the last year hundreds of seats in the main stand have been set alight or ripped out, advertising boards have been smashed up and a bar cooler has been ripped off the roof of the social club.

Mr Grayson and other officials fear the semi-professional club could be kicked out of the Unibond Division One if the ground deteriorates any more.

He said: "The UniBond league has rules when it comes to the standard of grounds and they have kicked out other clubs before for not meeting those standards. That is a worry for us.

"A few years ago we had 1,200 seats in the main stand which was the most in the league, but now it's down to about 600 or 700.

"The people who gather down here at night just don't care and want to cause problems. It's a sad indictment of the area and I blame the parents as much as the children."

Mr Grayson said the club rented the complex from Bradford Council and had been urging councillors to consider putting up an "insurmountable" metal fence to keep the vandals out.

Club steward Colin Tedder, who discovered the damage yesterday, said: "It's heartbreaking. I wanted to turn round, go home and pretend this hadn't happened.

"Things like this just destroy you because we work so hard and put so much time into this club. Every time I come in through the gate I wonder what they have damaged this time."

Volunteers at the club faced a battle to get the social club ready for today's home match against Chorley.

John Coulton, principal facilities manager for Bradford Council's sport and leisure service, said: "We are aware of the security and related vandalism issues being experienced by Park Avenue and we are working with the club to find ways of addressing this."

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman appealed for anyone with information about the break-in, which was discovered at 7.30am yesterday, to contact Bradford Central Police Station on (01274) 376459.

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