Written by Jake Verity (images by John Dewhirst)

There’s a theory about raising expectations: if you fail to live up to them, it feels like a disappointment.

But this season, being a Bradford City fan feels both exhilarating and largely liberating, because we ultimately have none.

That’s because after years of turmoil, constantly falling below our goal of promotion from League Two, we have a season where it seems the sky is very much our limit in League One.

After years of admittedly setting ourselves up for successive failures, be it through poor recruitment or a lack of a coherent strategy, we now support a proper football club with a plan.

We have, of course, tried our best in the past. But our best hasn’t been good enough. Simply trying has meant we’ve fallen short for too long.

As we made our giant leap towards League One on 3rd May 2025, it’s fair to say not a single person was thinking about this season. We were all simply enjoying promotion. But over the summer, it is clear that the club have not just thought about this season in the week’s that followed promotion, but that there was a clear and well-considered approach in place already.

Recruitment has been strong. The ground has had an all-important makeover. And that togetherness from last season has been maintained. Preparation over the summer has been comprehensive, challenging and cohesive for the squad. The club entertained a strong pre-season full of good tests, and the usual trip to Austria was another successful one.

All of this, of course, was great on paper, but the real test was that first game against Wycombe Wanderers. This was a side who finished 5th last season, about as tough as it gets for a first game.

The fixtures to come weren’t to be any easier, either. After a trip to Northampton who have become a steady League One side, it was Championship Blackburn Rovers away in the EFL Cup, followed by a match against Luton, a Premier League club just 15 months ago and widely expected to win promotion, with a £10m centre-back and extremely talented squad.

And, of course if that wasn’t enough, a trip then followed over the Pennines to play Stockport County – a squad who finished 3rd last season on 87 points.

The result? Four wins out of five. Pretty incredible, really.

Especially when you consider how good that Stockport County side looked in that first half. It’s fair to say for many of us, me included, it felt like a reality check. Watching them pass the ball around and us completely unable to meet their level was a pretty tough watch. But, of course, under Graham Alexander, anything is possible. The second-half began, and that harsh reality quickly turned into a quite incredible comeback. The turnaround was capped off by the save of the season too, and we’re only in August.

When your luck is in, it’s in. But also, it is true that you make your own luck.

After watching years of Bradford City squads feeling sorry for themselves, downing tools at the first opportunity and the countless journeymen happy to take a wage,  this is a team, a squad with the hunger and desire to do something special.

The new signings

This brings me back to the question I first posed: what is this team’s ceiling?

First of all, let’s just think about the players we have brought in.

Because it is an undeniable fact that this squad has had a massive upgrade in quality. When the club made signings over the summer, most were met with huge positivity and adulation (and the ones who weren’t are proving to be some of our best business).

Max Power came in just days after the season concluded, in a similar vein to Antoni Sarcevic, just days after the season ended. This shows we wanted him, had a clear plan to bring him in and have worked hard to make it happen. Power is a proven promotion winner at this level, and brings the leadership and quality to show we weren’t going to treat League One as a survival exercise. That this season would mean more. He is a great speaker and interviews well filling a gap that, admittedly, previous captains haven’t quite excelled in. And that’s not a criticism either. People have different leadership styles, but Power’s already started to connect with the fanbase quite quickly.

But more exciting and entertaining signings followed. Josh Neufville. I mean let’s be honest, he looks absolutely exceptional. Brad Halliday was recently voted PFA for League Two last season, and it’s fair to say it was always going to take somebody incredible to leave him out of the side. Neufville looks to be that player, and I’ll be shocked if he isn’t in the Championship next season, whoever that’s with.

Joe Wright, Ibou Touray and Matthew Pennington all bring real League One experience and solidity at the back. They are a real upgrade on our defence last year. But let’s talk about Curtis Tilt.

He really appears to be the best defensive signing of all, and reminds me very much of Andrew Davies, with his bravery and dedication to throw himself in front of everything, and defend with passion and pride. We are a club who love players who play with everything they have. I always like the saying: play for the badge on the shirt, and fans will always remember the name on the back. If Tilt carries on how he has started, not only will fans do that, but he will rightly win some awards at the end of the season.

The likes of Jenson Metcalfe and Will Swan show we are investing in players’ futures by paying for them, and with that, looking to develop future talent. Swan, though a little older, has proved impressive. He changed the game at Stockport and scored early away at Blackburn through his high-press. Metcalfe is young and showed his talent away at Ewood Park. He looks to be a solid option for the future, and will no doubt prove a useful player over time.

Then there is Nick Powell. We’re of course yet to see him yet, but while he’s a bit of an unknown owing to injuries the last couple of seasons, if he can recapture some of the quality he undoubtedly has, he could prove to be an incredible player for us.

I want to end this section on Stephen Humphrys though, who looks like one of the most exciting forwards we’ve had in the lower leagues, in a totally different way to any striker we’ve ever had before. For Wells’ agility and goalscoring prowess, Cook’s instincts and aerial presence, and Charlie Wyke’s undeniable quality up front, we’ve never really had a striker who you feel could do almost anything.

It feels like he could either score from 30 yards out, or take on four or five players before putting it into the back of the net, or on a plate for somebody else. It’s very exciting, even more so at the idea of him alongside Cook, when the legend returns (hopefully soon).

The squad stepping up

The most noticeable feature is that those who have made the leap from League Two to League One have hit a new level.

Bobby Pointon and Sarcevic have shown they are more than suited to this level, despite concerns around the former’s experience and the latter’s ability to stick in the division. That’s two goals each for them both.

Sam Walker? I mean, just look at those two saves against Blackburn and Stockport. Need I say more?

Both Ciaran Kelly and Aden Baldwin have stepped in where needed, the latter making a solid ball to get our attack moving against Luton, and covering for Joe Wright admirably. It feels that our back three will be largely the same week in, week out, but it is good to have solid cover. Tyreik Wright already looks far more comfortable in an attacking role too, rather than the wing-back position we have had to play him in previously.

Tommy Leigh. The Portsmouth Pirlo? We’re all thinking about that ball against Wycombe, and how good to see him step up after a tricky season last year, playing largely out of position. Do not forget he has plenty of League One experience, and has shown he’s more than capable in the centre of midfield.

Let’s not forget Alex Pattison either. He more or less changed the game at Stockport alongside Swan, and was such a vital player for us last season. That will no doubt be the case again. And it’s great to have somebody alongside Humphrys who isn’t afraid to shoot from 30 yards out.

I also mentioned him above, but a quick word on Andy Cook. There’s frankly nobody I’d love to see more in our line-up against Huddersfield in a few weeks. I know we’ve done some great fan displays of late. I do just wonder whether we could make a TIFO of ‘Andy’ in the top-tier, and ‘Cook’ in the bottom for his return. A fitting tribute for the man who has given so much to our club…

If you go back to that 2018/19 season, the last time we invested heavily in League One, it was quite a spectacular failure. Remember the statement signing of Eoin Doyle as a solid League One striker? The Premier League potential of Connor Wood and Joe Riley? Hope Akpan, an experienced Championship midfielder with over 135 appearances in the division above in the five seasons previous?

Yes, the last time we went big in League One, we finished 24th. A miserable season, and time to be a City fan. Though we all know the club was in some turmoil then.

You can just see this time, though, that Humphrys, Metcalfe and Power, arguably the direct comparisons, are not only a level above the squad we had then, but fit seamlessly into a club that is carrying an infectious optimism from the terraces to the touchline.

Good times

The extent to which the club has professionalised, improved and changed over the last 15 months, the same period since Luton were in the Premier League, cannot go unnoticed.

Social content is exciting. The matchday experience is far more enjoyable (not just because the football is better). A growing connection with fans has been enhanced by ticket promotions and smart season ticket campaigns. Terrible friendlies against poor opposition have been rethought. Put simply, everything is better.

We also came into this campaign off the back of a promotion with arguably our most loved manager since the days when Phil Parkinson was only a celebrity in West Yorkshire, not the West Coast of America (it is good to see him doing well too, regardless of your views on the Wrexham project).

The point I’m making is we all really like Graham Alexander. I certainly have since the day he arrived in admittedly difficult circumstances, and will continue to maintain he is the perfect fit for our football club. I want nothing more than for him to complete the following three years on his new deal awarded in August, for two reasons.

One is I genuinely like him, and think he really understands our history and fans. The second is his continued involvement in our football club would suggest we’ve had an exciting few years.

All this, of course, is good. But the real test comes down to ninety minutes, and as we all know, the 450 or so we’ve played have been pretty outstanding, with the exception of 45 against Stockport. Don’t forget, in that 2018/19 season, we started with a win against Shrewsbury on the opening day, before things turned very sour.

But the difference is ever so stark. May I even say, this might be the most entertaining Bradford City team I’ve seen since McCall managed us in 2016/17, which, in my view, is the most exciting football we’ve ever played in the League One or League Two era.

We are high energy. The passing is quick. The press is constant. Shots fly from everywhere. It’s Bradford City football we actually want to watch. This should be the blueprint, the identity, for this football club.

No hoofball. No passing it around the back. Just exciting football, with players who are fearlessly ambitious, and above all, dedicated to our club. Stick that on the next season ticket trailer, and let’s sell out the ground next time around.

What is achievable?

So, returning to the central question I asked: what is our ceiling? If I say we’ll win the league, I could look foolish come the end of the season. But if I place us around mid-table, it may be unfairly pessimistic after an incredible start.

Another saying I think is extremely valuable is: “not to get too excited when things are going well, or pessimistic when they aren’t going to plan”.

I remember hearing a story about ex-City manager Mark Hughes at Stoke on That Peter Crouch Podcast, where at the start of one of their seasons, he supposedly put up a slideshow of the fixtures for each month, and he asked the squad to think of what they could achieve, points-wise each month.

The story suggested that the players went through each game one by one, as did the management, the players being more optimistic about what they could achieve, and the management more realistic with a lower points total.

At the end, despite the players thinking it was a low total, the points the management had accrued over each month were enough to qualify for a typical top-eight finish in the Premier League.

So I thought about using this logic for this season.

We have already accrued 10 points out of 12, and still have 42 fixtures to play over the next eight months, an average of around four fixtures per month.

If we can win an average of two games out of four each month (which is a big ask, but achievable) across those 42 fixtures, then, added to our current tally, we would be on 73 points. That was good enough for 8th place last season, and only a few points short of the play-offs.

You cannot help but feel, or think, that with confidence so high in the dressing room, this team believes it can beat anyone. After all, we have just beaten the two favourites back-to-back.

Let’s finish August strongly, where the season really begins

But tomorrow’s game tells a tale as old as time for Bradford City, the true marker as to how good we actually are.

Because a fixture against Peterborough, who have lost all five of their games, is bizarrely the sort of fixture we are so often terrible in. It’s almost expected we will drop points by many of us, as we have done so many times before in these sorts of games.

But maybe we’re done being that team. Win on Saturday and then we go into an EFL Cup game away at Stoke, and where anything really could be possible. A big third-round tie, should we be able to knock out a second Championship side, would do a lot to keep the feel-good factor going.

And then it’s AFC Wimbledon at home. A good chance to come up against a fellow League Two promotion winner, and see how well we’re doing. These next three fixtures will be a real test, and if we can finish August on 16 out of a possible 18 points, which is very possible, it lays down a real marker for this season.

Because there’s also a cautionary tale to be had. Remember the “100 Points” 2021/22 season?

Three wins and a draw from our first four league games, meant that optimism was at an all-time high. Just like this season, we had two solid home wins (admittedly against weaker opposition), an away draw, and a remarkable second-half turnaround away at promotion hopefuls Mansfield Town to win. All followed by five winless games in a row.

Football can change quickly. We did not get 100 points, and the manager, Derek Adams, was gone by February.

A time to be optimistic

So, what is our ceiling then? Honestly, I think this is a top-ten team we have, at minimum.

I think the play-offs are more than a possibility, but can become a reality if we can keep up consistency.

And though you may think I’m completely over-excited after a good start, I don’t think it’s impossible to win automatic promotion, either.

After going up last season, I felt reasonably confident we could do back-to-back promotions, and I still feel the same.

Momentum is a huge thing in football, and if we can keep the feel-good factor around the club, continue to strengthen our squad, and ensure Valley Parade remains a fortress, anything is truly possible.

But above all, I just want to keep enjoying this.

Because after years of disappointment, frustration and failing to live up to expectations, we finally have a Bradford City to be proud of again.

Categories: Opinion

Tags: BCAFC