West Brom have apologised 'unreservedly' after a section of their fans sang sick songs about the Valley Parade fire during the game against Bradford City last month.

Furious Bantams fans condemned the Midlands club over the incidents in the March 7 game at The Hawthorns and claimed that stewards failed to take action against those involved.

City contacted West Brom after receiving complaints and chairman Geoffrey Richmond has now received a written apology.

He said: "West Brom unreservedly apologised and were extremely upset by the whole business. They said steps would be taken to ensure that there will be no repeat.

"We accept that it was not the club's fault although we did make the point that the stewards should have been a lot more vigorous at the time than they were.

"They have reassured us that action has been taken."

Fans are being urged to book their free coach travel to Saturday's clash at Norwich as demand has been high.

The first 1,000 who buy £12 tickets (concessions £7) from Valley Parade will be transported free as a thank you for their support.

Meanwhile, the Bantams' award-winning fanzine City Gent is backing the Football Supporters' Association campaign to bring back terrace areas to British stadia.

The FSA have launched the 'Stand Up' campaign. The Taylor Report into the Hillsborough disaster recommended that all grounds should be all-seater.

City's Kop is the largest standing area in English football although, under current legislation it must be replaced with an all-seater stand by the start of the 1999-2000 season.

City Gent editor David Pendleton said: "The danger with all-seater grounds is that admission prices are pushed up and the atmosphere suffers. We are lucky at Bradford City because the club's policy is to offer low admission prices but other fans are not as fortunate.

"At Bradford we have a very unusual animal, a modern Kop which is extremely safe, and should be used as a role model for the government to look at re-introducing standing areas. It is a shame that no-one will come and see it. I stand on it at every home game and it is safe."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.