Sporting Bygones: Memories of famous Cup run give Cooper reason to seek out former Bradford pals

Cooper, born and bred in Bradford and the brother of former Yorkshire cricketer Howard, still maintains contact with the club where he spent his professional career as a left-back, working on match-days in the hospitality suites.

Now he is hoping to draw together as many as possible of the City team from 35 years ago, in part to celebrate a memorable FA Cup run but mainly just to renew acquaintance.

"We had a great victory at Norwich that year in the fifth round of the Cup," Cooper recalls. "We couldn't play the game on the Saturday – several of our lads had gone down with flu. John Bond, their manager, complained that if we had such a small squad we shouldn't be in the competition and told his side that losing had cost the club 200,000, an awful lot of money in those days.

"Don Hutchins scored the first goal in our 2-1 win with a shot from an acute angle and Billy McGinley got the winner. Our reward was a game against Southampton and I still maintain that the goal they scored to win 1-0 should not have been allowed.

"They had a free-kick and Jimmy McCalliog flicked the ball up with his toe for Peter Osgood to volley over our wall into the net. The ball did not travel the minimum distance of a circumference from McCalliog's foot so it should not have counted."

Southampton went on to beat Manchester United in the final.

Cooper, who works as a self-employed joiner – "we played in the days when there was no money in football, everyone had to find a job when they retired," he says – is now trying to trace all those who played that season although two of those involved have died, physiotherapist Colin Kaye and midfield player Trevor Hockey, who tragically passed away in 1987 at the age of 43.

Cooper can recall details of most of that team but Clive McFadzean is an exception. "He only played a few games with us and I've no idea what became of him," says Cooper, who is pictured in our team line-up, third from the left on the back row, and made up a long-serving, ever-dependable full-back pairing with Ces Podd. Cooper played 494 first-team games plus one more as a substitute and scored five goals.

"I still see Garry Watson quite often," he says. "He has a carpet-fitting business in Eccleshill and spends a lot of time travelling on business to the Isle of Wight and Jersey.

"Peter Downsborough, our goalkeeper, has retired as a school caretaker in Halifax. He still goes to watch Halifax Town, where he started his career, and was over here recently helping with a community research project involving former footballers.

"David Fretwell was studying for a degree while he was playing with us. He played with Wigan for a while then went into management with a building society and moved south.

"David Hall came to us from the Sheffield area, played on the left side of midfield and he had a magnificent left foot. I lost contact with him, maybe he moved back to Sheffield.

"John Middleton was a centre-half but he's another we didn't keep in contact with, although someone said they had a phone number for him.

"Our manager was Bobby Kennedy and he was certainly not my favourite. We used to run, run and run some more, either round the cinder track at Valley Parade or up at Horsfall Playing Fields. He would only let us stop running when someone threw up. But Kennedy took us on the Cup run and we were promoted the following season so he can't have been bad at the job. He moved to Lancashire to work in retailing and his daughter was a very good footballer with Bronte Ladies.

"We still see Ces Podd. He is in great shape and has hardly changed, although his hair is a bit shorter. He teaches Salsa dancing."

Podd made his debut in September 1970 and over the next 14 seasons made 565 appearances for City – still the club record – and was one of the first black players to become established in the English game. He played international football for St Kitts and Nevis and coached the national team from 1999-2002.

"I don't know what happened to Billy McGinley, who joined us from Huddersfield. He was originally from Dumfries so maybe he moved back to Scotland.

"Trevor Hockey would kick anything above a daisy but he had a wonderful enthusiasm for the game. He started with City as a left-winger then moved to Forest and elsewhere before coming back to Valley Parade in 1974."

Hockey, born in Keighley, earned nine Welsh caps while playing with Birmingham City and was later heavily involved in coaching in his home town until his untimely death.

Cooper still sees Don Hutchins, who joined City from Blackburn Rovers.

"Don lives in Baildon and still comes to Valley Parade," says Cooper. "He went to work for a paint company run by Leslie Silver, the chairman of Leeds United, and became an area manager.

"He played on the left-wing for us and every week I galloped past him on the over-lap but I never saw the ball, he would cut inside and ignore me.

"Don was never the best at covering back, so when I had been on my decoy run I would have to race back to fill the hole.

"Joe Cooke looks like he could still play football. He and his wife Kath, who is a dietician, have a gym and he still works out.

"He's a quiet lad and doesn't often come to matches.

"David Ratcliffe didn't play many games for us before he and his girlfriend married and moved out to Australia.

"He was a fairly strong central defender but a gentle lad off the field. They settled in Sydney and he eventually played for Australia".

If you know the whereabouts of any players who were at Valley Parade in the 1975-6 season please contact Ian Cooper on 07761 286365 or at [email protected]