Football fanatical mums and dads hold the key to Bradford City enjoying a brighter future, club officials said today.

Managing director Shaun Harvey said the club was keen to generate a positive family atmosphere at matches at the Bradford and Bingley Stadium.

And it wants to see the high proportion of youngsters attending games grow even further.

Of the 7,379 season-ticket holders, nearly 2,000 of them are under 16, and a growing number of women are also going to matches.

"The club's long-term future is effectively in the hands of parents and the introduction of their children to Bradford City Football Club at as early an age as possible," said Mr Harvey.

"People tend to support clubs like Bradford City because it is the team that their parents support - and that's something we are keen to continue as the generations move on." During the 1990s, the club was one of the first in the country to pioneer a 'kids for £1' scheme and the number of youngsters attending increased rapidly.

"I've been at Bradford City for ten years and I am now beginning to see juniors who had season tickets when I first started attending the stadium with their own children," added Mr Harvey.

"It is important that we continue to increase that support through the generations."

He said the introduction of dedicated family areas had helped increase the number of families.

And he said more women supporters were coming along to the Bradford & Bingley Stadium - and bringing their children with them.

Wendy Kestin, City's supporter liaison officer, added: "We try to encourage families to come and offer them reduced priced tickets. We get quite a lot of babies coming, and last November we introduced children under three go free."

Mrs Kestin said one supporter had even brought her five- week-old baby to the game.

She said the club tried to attract families through special events such as a penalty shoot-out competition at half- time.

The club is also keen to follow the lead of other clubs and open a creche to make matchdays more attractive for parents, but that is unlikely to happen in the near future because of the tight financial constraints.