Bradford City: A League Cup Miracle

BRADFORD, ENGLAND – JANUARY 08: Goalscorers, Carl McHugh and Rory McArdle of Bradford City celebrate after the Capital One Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg match between Bradford City and Aston Villa at Coral Windows Stadium, Valley Parade on January 8, 2013 in Bradford, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

The EPL, unlike the NBA, is more shifted towards the moolah. It revolves around the principle of the rich remaining the rich and the poor getting poorer. As a result, apart from a handful of clubs from London, Manchester and Liverpool, all the others are struck in mediocracy.

The formula is simple – the more you spend the more you get. Just ask Manchester City.

It’s so rare to see a surprise in English football, unless the club gets bought by some Arab who has more money than your whole city.

But if that doesn’t happen, you are stuck. Even if you generate players from your academy, you see yourselves trading them because you just can’t keep them; there are always bigger clubs to chew your talent.

But still miracles happen. You see, that’s why they are called “miracles” and a small miracle happened last year in the League Cup when Cardiff City took Liverpool to penalties before falling short in the final. Cardiff is currently leading the Championship and will possibly be a Premier League team next season.

The big miracle this year in the League Cup is Bradford City. I don’t blame you if you hadn’t heard about them before; you aren’t supposed to know about a League 2 club that haven’t played in the EPL since 2001, in which they were poor. And you’re also not supposed to know about a team who won the FA Cup (their only trophy ever) way back in 1911!

Bradford, on their journey to the League Cup final, defeated Notts County, Watford, and Burton Albion in their first three matches to set up a clash with Wigan in the 4th round. Now, a League 2 club facing an EPL team generally means the end of the road, but somehow the Bantams survived, taking Wigan to penalties and eventually winning the tie.

That meant Arsenal was coming to the Valley Parade stadium.

This was big for Bradford. Their stadium generated gate receipts of £300,000, the highest ever in their history. But Bradford wasn’t content with that only and they took Arsenal to penalties after it ended 1-1 in regulation and extra time.

And then they beat the Gunners in penalties and progressed to the semifinals.

The win over Arsenal was a milestone for the Bantams and it changed their mentality. They beat Aston Villa 3-1 in the first leg of the semifinals and then suffered a 2-1 defeat in the second leg, but still made it to the finals on 4-3 aggretrate where they will now meet Swansea (who beat Chelsea 2-0 agg.)

If the Bantams win the final, they would be the first club outside the top two leagues to win the trophy since Swindon Town did it in 1969.

It would also be an emotional victory for the club, given that the last time they ever won a trophy, the old 3rd division back in 1985, was sadly marred by a fire in the stadium on the day the trophy was presented, which killed 56 fans.

Their win would also set another great example that money doesn’t buy everything.