Bradford shocked over US website comments

Bradford have slammed a US website report blaming the Valley Parade fire disaster on hooligans.

The Sport Journal, published by the US Sports Academy in Alabama, claims in an article that the fire, which claimed the lives of 56 people in 1985, was started by an ignited Molotov cocktail - a home-made petrol bomb.

Joint chairman Mark Lawn said: "It's more than unbelievable. Whoever is responsible hasn't looked it up and hasn't done his research. They should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.

"People died entirely innocently of a discarded cigarette, it was an accident. To publish that is beyond the pale."

Lawn added: "If they want to mention the fire and quote what actually happened then by all means do, but to connect it with hooligans is wrong and for him to actually do that is derogatory to the people who lost their lives."