On 27 March 1989, Bradford City held Hull City to a 1-1 draw, starting a club-record streak of 27 winless league matches for the visiting Tigers.
In fairness, Hull hadn't fared too well before the streak, either. By the time they visited Bradford's Valley Parade ground in March, they had won only 11 of their 35 matches in Division Two that season and were sitting in 19th place. They had beaten Plymouth Argyle the week before, but that rare victory stemmed a string of six straight losses. The draw with Bradford City dropped them into 20th place and they barely escaped relegation, finishing the season in 21st after 5 draws and 5 losses in their last 10 matches.
The next season, they picked up where they had left off, going without a league win in their first 16 matches. They finally broke the streak on 11 November 1989, when they returned to Bradford City and managed a 2-3 victory.
On 3 March 1983, Bristol Rovers manager Bobby Gould levied an unusual fine--against himself.
Gould was then in his second season in charge of Bristol Rovers, though he had played there for a season as part of a journeyman career that saw the striker suit up for a host of clubs including Coventry City (82 league appearances), Arsenal (65), West Brom (52), and West Ham (51). He retired from playing in 1979 and joined Chelsea that year as Geoff Hurst's assistant.
When the Blues sacked Hurst in April 1981, Gould filled in as caretaker, holding the reins for their last four matches, then took the full-time position at Rovers that October. When he arrived in Bristol, Rovers were launching their Division Three campaign having been relegated from Division Two the previous spring, and Gould led them to a 15th place finish.
In the 1982-83 season, Rovers rose as high as second in the table in the first half of the season before slipping down to sixth on New Year's Day. They were pushing up again, rising to third before losing at Bradford City in February. Gould strongly took issue with the referee's decision-making that day, engaging in what he later described as "mouthing off." But he proved that even the manager was to be held accountable and, on 3 March, fined himself £200 as a consequence.
Rovers finished in seventh position that season and Gould departed for Coventry City. He returned to Bristol Rovers in 1985, then moved to Wimbledon two years later when he won the 1988 FA Cup.
On 11 May 1985, Bradford City's Valley Parade stadium caught fire during their last match of the season, killing 56 spectators and injuring 265 others.
The day started triumphantly for Bradford City. They had secured the Division Three title five days earlier with a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers, so the League presented the trophy to the club before their match, played against Lincoln City. The presentation brought 11,076 people out to see the match, almost double the season average of 6,610.
People in the crowd noticed the first signs of fire under the main stand about five minutes before the break. Later reports described it as a "glowing light," possibly from a dropped match or cigarette that landed on trash and debris that had collected under the stand. The fire spread quickly across the wooden stand and roof, so that, within four minutes, the entire stand was engulfed in flame.
The roof dropped burning timbers and other material onto the crowd, some of whom tried to escape through the back of the stand, while other rushed onto the pitch, helped by police officers and Bradford City striker John Hawley, who climbed into the burning stand to help rescue a stranded supporter. Of the 56 people who died, several succumbed to smoke inhalation, while others were crushed in the panic or were burned. One of the fatalities was 86-year old Sam Firth, a former chairman of the club.
Sadly, prior to the fire, several people had warned the club about the need to replace the wooden stand and roof and to clear the debris from under the stand, but Bradford City had been slow to implement renovations. But having secured promotion, they had just ordered a new steel roof and concrete terracing that would have minimized any damage.
The stadium re-opened in December 1986 and remains home to Bradford City.
On 27 March 1989, Bradford City held Hull City to a 1-1 draw, starting a club-record streak of 27 winless league matches for the visiting Tigers.
