City’s Cup cash to fund league promotion push

League Two outfit City remain the talk of football following their amazing quarter-final victory over Arsenal, with a dream 24 hours for the club sealed yesterday when they were re-instated to the FA Cup following a successful appeal.

The club had been turfed out late last week for fielding loan defender Curtis Good in the second round game with Brentford without all the necessary clearance.

But the decision was overturned at an appeal hearing attended by club director of operations David Baldwin, with City, who were fined £1,000 – to now play their replay at Brentford on Tuesday – the winners travelling to Southend.

If City triumph at Griffin Park and then against the Shrimpers, more hard cash and kudos could come their way with a favourable cup draw and as far as Rhodes is concerned, it is a case of letting the good times roll.

All told, the club made £250,000 from their televised shoot-out win over the Gunners in front of a crowd of 23,971, the best at Valley Parade since February 1960.

Another six-figure windfall, considerably more than the quarter of a million they have banked following their giantkilling against Arsenal will come their way in the New Year by virtue of two semi-final games screened live on TV.

The combined sum will wipe out the £600,000 deficit they expected to announce at the end of the current financial year and enable the club to break even, with the surplus to be given to Parkinson to bring in signings to help end the club’s six-year basement stint.

The appeal development is also further good news to cock-a-hoop Bantams fans and Parkinson, whose playing budget is already in the top three of League Two.

Rhodes, whose side are also in the area semis of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and are unbeaten in ten cup ties so far in 2012-13, said: “It’s not been a bad 24 hours.

“With the Arsenal win, we are now looking at getting rid of the deficit, which we never thought we would. I don’t think there’s any secret that we are looking at a £600,000 overspend this year. Tuesday will have cleared about half of that and the semi-finals will sort the rest out.

“We always said that if we cleared it and got more (money), we would like to strengthen in January and that is what we are looking to do.

“It just shows the secret of what a good cup run can do. One of the reasons for having a strong squad and overspending at the start of the season is that you do have a better chance of doing well in the cups where you can generate a lot of extra income. We want to make as much money as possible to fund our promotion bid.”

Tuesday represented City’s most famous League Cup victory since beating then champions Everton in a fifth-round upset which took place 24 years ago tomorrow.

Much more than that, it also marked a potentially major renaissance moment in the fortunes of a club who have endured relegation and administration woe in a downward spiral since being relegated following a brief two-year spell in the top flight in 2001.

Rhodes is hoping it is the precursor to a bright new dawn for City after some dark years in the wilderness.

He added: “Tuesday showed the potential we have. If we do start going in the right direction and get that one promotion, we could certainly be a strong club in League One as we do have the fanbase.

“The fans have stuck with us through thick and thin; it’s probably been thin and thin really for a few years.

“But I feel there’s been a genuine belief at some point we could turn the corner. I am not saying that is yet the case, but we are having a decent season, aren’t we? Being in the semis of a major cup.”

Hailing the Gunners victory as his best moment as a City fan, he added: “I remember beating Liverpool 1-0 in 1980 in the League Cup when I was a young lad and Bobby Campbell scored.

“I also remember the win against them in the Premier League. But I have to say that Tuesday night will have to go down as probably the biggest win we have had.

“We all turned up thinking we had not got much of a chance, just a slim one. But very quickly after kick-off, I did start to think: ‘You know what, we just might do this’, especially after we scored.

“The longer the game went on, you thought: ‘We might just hold out.’ But to be honest, when they got the equaliser, I did not think there was much chance.

“I thought just as our lads had put so much into it, they might just get two or three in extra-time. How we dug in and got it to penalties and then have another phenomenal shoot-out was remarkable. It was just elation at the end.

“My wife and I had a little bottle of champagne at home and got to bed at 2am.

“Then I was brought back down to earth at 6am when my seven-month-old baby said it was time to get up!”

Bantams fans’ thoughts have now turned to next Wednesday’s night’s semi-final draw with the prospect of a historic all-Yorkshire last-four clash a serious prospect if Leeds sink Chelsea that night.

But Rhodes says Leeds can wait until final day on February 24.

He quipped: “We will wait for Leeds in the final at Wembley, not in the semi as the police bill would be too much!

“Playing them in the final would be great for West Yorkshire.”