
Claret and Amber kinship appears to be the order of the day as the Dalai Lama blesses Bradford City in the run-up to the League Two side’s League Cup final date with Aston Villa at Wembley on February 24th.
His holiness was given a Bradford top at a business conference in Leeds last year – he was handed a number 14 shirt, probably because he’s the 14th Dalai Lama rather than any predilection for Bantams midfielder Will Atkinson – and he has now sent them a letter commending them on their “tremendous achievement”, insomuch as they are the first club from the fourth tier to reach the League Cup final in over fifty years.
The Tibetan spiritual leader was also made honorary president of fundraising group Friends of Bradford City, whose member Mark Neal said: “”We thought we’d never hear another thing.” Football Burp tried to find out the correct spelling of his name having seen a report in which it was written alternately ‘Neal’ and ‘Neale’ – so we googled ‘Mark Neal Bradford’ and it seems there is someone named Mark Neal Bradford on the sex offenders register in Michigan.
We realise that’s a bit of a deviation but it was cause for momentary intrigue nonetheless.
Where were we? Oh yeah. The letter reportedly says: “He remembers his time in Yorkshire with great affection and wishes you every success in the big match.” That’s groovy.
It’s at this point that Burp’s mind turns to other unlikely celebrity fans of recent times (that is if you can stomach the Dalai Lama being referred to as a celebrity). Click here if you want to read our wittering about that.
Should the Dalai Lama be the next manager of Bradford City? Have your say in the comments section below.