After 19 years the man behind Bradford City's "City Gent" mascot is being forced to step down by the League Two club after diabetes caused him to lose too much weight to portray the supposedly portly character to the satisfaction of club officials.

Lifelong Bantams fan Lenny Berry, 59, has been responsible for revving up the crowd as "City Gent" at Bradford games since 1994. Former chairman Geoffrey Richmond spotted him working in the players' bar at the club's ground and deemed him to have the perfect physique for the role -- offering him the job there and then.

But after diagnosed with diabetes several years ago, Lenny has shed over seven stones (almost 100 pounds) and is now a slip of the man he once was. Bradford wrote him a letter, voicing concerns "his appearance no longer matches the original concept" of the rotund City Gent.