For Stuart McCall, the memories of May 11, 1985 will never fade. As Bradford City celebrated promotion from the old English Third Division, a day of joy quickly became one of devastation as a fire ripped through the timber main stand at Valley Parade towards the end of the first half, claiming 56 helpless victims. Just 21 years of age, McCall returned to his car, only to find the door handle was burning hot because it had been parked so near to the blaze. Upon learning his father, Andy — one of a large group of McCall’s relatives at the game — had been badly burned and was missing, the young midfielder set off frantically through the streets of Bradford. The fire at Bradford City's Valley Parade claimed 56 victims and injured 265 on May 11, 1985 . The 30th anniversary is approaching since the tragic fire that killed 56 people at Bradford's ground in 1985 . Still wearing his boots and kit, he was finally reunited with his father in Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield. Those hours represented the worst of his life but given that other families lost loved ones that day, McCall has always declared himself and his father the fortunate ones. So how would the Rangers manager — who donated money from his 2002 testimonial to the Bradford burns unit that cared for his father and so many others — react to bombshell claims this week that mere bad luck had perhaps played no role in the disaster? A book written by Martin Fletcher, a Bradford fan who lost three generations of his family in the blaze, says the incident was just one of at least nine fires at businesses owned or associated with the club’s then chairman Stafford Heginbotham, in the previous 18 years, resulting in huge insurance claims. In his book Fifty-Six, published on Thursday, Fletcher believes the fire was not an accident and says he and his family are no longer willing to ‘live the myth’. Fire engulfs Valley Parade on a day nobody can ever forget as 56 were killed at the football stadium . A police officer uses his helmet to shield the heat from his face as he runs in front of the stand on fire . From McCall’s annual visits to the club’s memorial services, he knows Fletcher, who lost brother, Andrew (11) — the youngest victim of the tragedy — as well as his father John (34), uncle Peter (32) and grandfather Eddie (63). He also knows Heginbotham and attended the funeral of the ‘great chairman’ in 1995. To McCall, the verdict of inquiry judge Sir Oliver Popplewell, who declared the fire had probably been started by a stray match, cigarette or pipe tobacco slipping through gaps on the floor on to a build-up of litter, remains the most likely cause of the tragedy. ‘I get so caught up in this job managing Rangers that I don’t always see the news but someone told me the other day that the Bradford story had been on Sky,’ said McCall on Friday. ‘And then my missus mentioned it to me later that night when I got home. ‘I know the (Fletcher) family. I go to every memorial that I can and you meet the same people at these things. So I know the lad, who was very young at the time (of the disaster), has brought out this book. Then-Bradford chairman Stafford Heginbotham (left) with Mr Justice Popplewell in front of the burned stand . A 12-year-old Martin Fletcher is comforted by his mother Susan in 1985 after the Bradford Fire disaster . ‘But I also knew Stafford. He was a great chairman and, not for one second, do I believe it was deliberate. He has passed away now and I was at his funeral. ‘But I saw (Sir Oliver) Popplewell said the actual stand wasn’t even insured, so they didn’t get any money for it anyway. For me, that just blows the theory out of the water.’ McCall, who spent six years from 1982 to 1988 at Valley Parade, recalls one of his jobs in his early years was to clean the main stand. And he finds it hard to accept any foul play was behind the inferno. ‘I used to sweep that stand,’ he said. ‘There were little holes and as you swept up (bits of rubbish would fall down) but you never gave a thought to what was underneath. But, over the years, all this rubbish has built up and it needed one cigarette. It has gone down a gap and then tragedy has struck.’ Former Bradford player Stuart McCall does not believe the fire was anything other than an accident . On Saturday, McCall takes Rangers to Dumbarton where victory would leave the Ibrox side four points ahead with two games remaining. Should they win, Hibs, who play Falkirk in the Scottish Cup semi-final at lunchtime, would travel under pressure on Wednesday to face a Livingston side who are bottom of the table but enjoying a recent resurgence. And the Ibrox boss insists he is not overly concerned by statistics which show that Rangers have just one win in five on the road. ‘It’s all about the result at Dumbarton. It is a game we have to win, simple as that. It doesn’t matter how we do it. It is about the three points. McCall prepares his players for Saturday's Championship clash with Dunbarton . ‘I saw a stat that we have won only five games out of 15, which is true. But we have lost one in 12 and won four out of the last six. And one of those wins, at Hibs, was our best performance of the season away from home. So you can use stats in different ways.’ McCall also backed his captain Lee McCulloch, who has been the subject of criticism from Rangers fans in recent weeks. He was red-carded for elbowing Hearts striker Osman Sow and, on his return to the team after a two-match ban, Rangers dropped two points at Livvy. But McCall said: ‘Since I’ve been here, I would say the criticism has been unfair because he has not done a lot wrong. He is good in the dressing room and he is an important player for us.’
In 1985 the main stand of Bradford's Valley Parade caught fire, killing 56.
Inquiry found the fire had probably started via stray match or cigarette.
McCall was playing that day and his father was badly burned in the blaze.
Bradford fan Martin Fletcher claims the fire may not have been an accident.
Fletcher's father, uncle, brother and grandfather lost their lives in the fire.
Fletcher claims chairman Stafford Heginbotham may have been to blame.
But McCall refutes those claims insisting it was just an accident.