ALBION Sports chairman Channy Basi says talks are ongoing with Bradford Council about the club moving back home.

They have been forced to play as tenants at Farsley Celtic for the last few seasons, which must be tough to take for a club so rooted in Bradford’s history.

But Basi said: “We’ve been working with the Council on this and we hope we’ll be coming back to Bradford in the very near future.

“I only became chairman this season but I’ve been a committee member for years, and this is a club which is doing fantastically on and off the pitch.

“It’s a historic club, which was a real powerhouse in Bradford, but we’ve just had a bit of a transitional period over the last couple of years.

“That’s not a downward spiral, just accepting that all teams go through good and bad times, with young players not coming through or the team not gelling as well.”

Basi wanted to address the comments of former Albion boss John Francis, who left last summer and claimed the club needed a better infrastructure.

The chairman retorted: “John had an open book and signed loads of players. He just didn’t get it right, so he has to take some responsibility for the poor results last season.

“We were disappointed, as a board, with his comments, as we’ve always helped out our managers and pride ourselves on being a real family club.

“Pav Singh has gone to Liversedge, but we’ve got Ishy Hussain and Danny Brown in charge now, who are both very capable and have plenty of experience.”

Albion’s Northern Counties East League Premier Division season looks like it may be over, but clubs at that level (step five of the National League System) are now in line for a grant of up to £10,500 from the DCMS.

Given their arrangement with Farsley, Basi said: “I don’t think it’s going to really help us too much, it’s probably more for clubs that have mortgages and stadium repayments to make.

“We pay rent to Farsley but do it on a game by game basis rather than a big lump sum for the season, because we’d normally have cup matches so don’t know how often we’ll need the ground.

“My secretary is looking into the grant and we’ll put an application forward, as there could be a small amount available for us.”

Basi admitted times have still been hard for Albion, even without the pressures of owning their own ground.

He said: “It’s been terrible without proper crowds, as clubs rely on all the small bits of income at this level (like bar takings etc).

“I’ve been speaking to other chairmen and we all agree this season is a travesty, as all we want is to play football.

“The FA have done all they can really, but their hands are tied, as we’ve all just been unfortunate to be blindsided by coronavirus.”