Bantams win fight for survival

Bradford City's immediate future has been secured after creditors today accepted a rescue package for the struggling club.

Club chairman Geoffrey Richmond and two other major shareholders had drawn up a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) in an attempt to save the 99-year-old club, which has debts of over ?33m.

However, no sooner had that proposal been accepted than Richmond suggested he was ready to stand down from his position at the club.

Bradford, whose players have not been paid for several months, have been in administration since May and faced extinction if the rescue package was rejected.

Following a meeting behind closed doors, more than 86 percent of creditors - who collectively owed 75 percent of the club's debts - agreed the CVA package to stave off the threat of extinction.

"By an overwhelming majority, the CVA arrangement has been passed by the creditors and that was a hugely important hurdle to overcome," Richmond told Sky Sports News, before admitting that he himself "may well not have a future with the club".

Those creditors, including players and supporters, will receive 10 pence of every pound owed as a result of the CVA.

The stricken club has also agreed to hand over 70 percent of any money gained from an imminent High Court ruling over ITV Digital - which collapsed owing league clubs ?178m - to the unsecured creditors, along with a further ?1m payment in three years' time.

In return, the club accepted a request from the creditors that they be able to keep a close eye on the club, its directors and its financial dealings until a sound financial footing is resumed.

In a statement to the club's official website, Neil Brackenbury, partner at Kroll Buchler Phillips and joint administrator of Bradford City, said: "While there is still some way to go, today was a massive step towards ending the saga for Bradford City, its players and its fans."

The agreement paves the way for Bradford, who were suspended from the Football League, to fulfil its First Division fixtures for the forthcoming season, providing the League is satisfied with today's ruling.

"We now move to the Football League board meeting on Tuesday where we are looking for their approval - after everything that has happened - for our restoration to the Football League," Richmond said.

"Only then can we start planning for the visit of Wolverhampton in our first game on August 11."

Richmond also said that he was considering his future with the club following the League meeting.

"When we went into administration the important issue at that time was that the club survived," Richmond said.

"We have gone a long way down the line towards making that happen, with the final hurdle coming next Tuesday.

"At that stage I will sit down with my colleagues and I may well not have a future with the club. That's something that is open to discussion, but I am not even going to start thinking about that until next Tuesday."

The club took a big step towards financial safety yesterday when a deal with former player Benito Carbone - one of the club's major creditors - was thrashed out.

The Italian striker was key to the club's survival after being owed around ?4m pounds in wages from the remaining two years of his contract with the club.

However Carbone, now set to join Italian club Como after having his contract cancelled by mutual consent, agreed a subsequent compensation package of around ?800,000 to secure the jobs of 19 remaining Bradford players.

They had invested heavily following their promotion to the Premiership in 1999, bringing big-name, big-wage players Carbone, Stan Collymore and Dan Petrescu to the club. However, the club struggled last season, replacing manager Jim Jefferies with Nicky Law and finishing 15th in the First Division.