Bradford City's administrators have defended the decision to charge supporters who bought 25-year season tickets an extra £150 to take up their seats for the new campaign.

Kroll has issued a series of detailed responses to fans who raised questions at last month's meeting of 25-year season ticket holders at Valley Parade.

The administrators declined an invitation to attend the meeting and instead provided written answers to 26 separate questions.

In the responses, Kroll repeated the fact that it had no legal obligation to honour the tickets but it had offered a discount on the usual £295 price "to protect the ongoing valued support" of the fans.

It is understood the administrators were persuaded to honour the tickets in some form by Julian Rhodes, who is bidding to take the club out of administration, and the Bradford City Steering Committee.

The administrators said the decision to charge £150 was made because the club "was very close to being closed down" and pledged that funds received from fans would be used "to help the club get back on its feet financially".

They also defended the way the announcement regarding the £150 request had been made to supporters through the press, saying that it had been impossible to write separately to the season ticket holders due to the expense involved.

It is understood that about half of the 25-year season ticket holders, who paid about £2,500 three years ago for their tickets, have so far paid the additional £150. Others have stated they will pay match by match.

Steering committee chairman Jim Brown admitted the whole situation had been handled badly, but he urged fans to rally around the club.

He asked them to turn out for tomorrow's Yorkshire derby at home to Doncaster Rovers.

"I would just hope that these fans can find it in their hearts to forgive the club, move on and support us. An extra 500 or so people through the gate would be a massive boost for us at this time."

Mr Brown said he was delighted by the fans' response at Tuesday night's game against Peterborough, even though it attracted fewer than 7,000.

"Given the bad weather, the number of fans Peterborough brought and the fact we have asked supporters to make so many sacrifices this summer, I was very pleased."