BRADFORD (Park Avenue) were putting plans in place on this day in 1969 to work around Bradford City.
They had arranged a friendly against Welsh giants Cardiff City for Saturday, July 26, and they were looking to add further pre-season clashes with top First Division side Tottenham Hotspur and second-tier Norwich City.
However, with the Bantams already due to host former Scottish League and Cup winners Motherwell on the same day as that Cardiff clash, Avenue did not want to take away the attention from their neighbours.
They moved their game to the night, with player-manager Laurie Brown conceding: “I would have been happier with an afternoon kick-off.
“But it would have been unfair to City.”
As it turned out, that Motherwell game at Valley Parade got moved back a week anyway to August 2, so Avenue did not really need to show that deference after all.
Another fixture issue cropped up involving the two Bradford sides, who were both in League Cup first round action during the second week of August.
Again, Avenue did not want to clash with City, initially fearing their home game with Rotherham would be on the same night as the Bantams entertained Chesterfield.
But City were happy with the scheduling of their tie against the Spireites on the night of Wednesday, August 13, deciding they did not want to move it to earlier in the week.
Avenue were happy and thought they had the freedom to move their Rotherham clash to a Monday night, their preferred midweek day.
But the Football League refused to budge, so it ended up being played on the Tuesday instead, and they lost 2-0 to the Millers too.
