Paying on the Gate

They say you should never change your football team; but when Jason McKeown happens to stumble upon his local club, Bradford City, he instantly finds greater enjoyment from swapping the so-called glamour of Manchester United for the deeper substance of lower league football. No longer cheering for a team which barely cares he exists, Jason is a close up witness to the highs and lows of City's rise to the top and then steep fall all the way back down again. As he grows up from excitable teenager to young adult, the strong bond with the Bantams proves both a hindrance and help in shaping his future. Pay on the gate celebrates the virtues of supporting your local, less glamorous football club as opposed to the superficial nature of following one that wins more often, but with whom you have no relationship. The glory may be in short supply, but Jason's decision to break the golden rule helps him learn what being a football supporter is really about.