By Jake Verity

So here we are. 90 minutes. 120 minutes. Or penalties away from a trip to Wembley.

Who’d have thought it.

Bradford City, promoted in the most dramatic of circumstances on the final day of last season. The final kick of the game. When all seemed down and lost, when it felt like all hope was gone, the ball fell into the back of the Fleetwood net.

And tomorrow is an occasion of the same magnitude. In fact, it’s arguably bigger. Two teams go toe-to-toe at a vibrant Valley Parade in front of a sell-out crowd. Claret and Amber flags will adorn three sides of a Stadium that just over 2,000 Bolton fans will be forced to stare up at.

Because this club, is no ordinary club anymore. It is one with its mojo back. Confidence dripping and oozing from every corner of the stadium. A team that has finished in its highest league position for over twenty years.

And now dreams of something bigger and better. Will it be Spurs or Salford next season? MK Dons or Middlesbrough? Burnley or Bromley?

But it’s not necessarily polarising in a bad way. There’s a Yorkshire Derby in Sheffield on the line. But will it be a battle back at Bramall Lane, or having a first trip to Hillsborough for 22 years? Will it be a trip to the East Midlands at Derby; or shall we find ourselves in Leicester?

The good news is this. Bradford City are no longer a small club, punching below their weight. We are back where we belong. Either going into next season as a solid League One side. Or the chickens will take on the Championship.

Sure. The fact is we’ve done better than many thought we might. But why stop now?

When North Parade fills up from 5.30pm on Thursday, it’ll be a sight to behold. As for all Bradford’s most iconic street was adorned with claret and amber for this self-same fixture just weeks ago, this means more.

That’s why a roaring crowd will descend on Manningham Lane as one, and find their way to Valley Parade well in advance of kick-off. A street, no doubt filled with banners and beers will take to the stands to sing and shout. To cheer on every kick.

When Sam Walker goes out for his warm-up, he must do so with the faint noise of a following like no other making its way into the ground. And as the team line-up in the tunnel before preparing their shooting exercises and usual drills, they will do so with Yorkshire voices pumping noise through the West Yorkshire air in front of them.

Bolton, on the other hand will walk out to warm up in front of a TL Dallas stand packed full of chickens. Rather than their own supporters, they’ll be isolated on the far side of the pitch.

Ostracised and frozen out. Nervous and frightened. Worried they may be about to bottle a third play-off campaign in four seasons.

As a final roar erupts from the Kop, our heroes will go in for that final team talk. And a crowd will wait in anticipation. The cameras will flicker on with the floodlights, and their names will be read over the tannoy. A quiet moment will settle over the sunset of BD8, before a deafening wall of sound comes crying out.

Claret and Amber flags will fly high, as will emotions, with white shirts taking up the corner next to the Kop in their own voice. A battle of the roses is about to commence, for a trip to the capital.

And it’s one you won’t want to miss.

So what are you waiting for? Spend every waking minute of your day ahead focused on nothing but the game ahead. Dreaming of the result we all want and a first trip to Wembley in ten years.

Think about how Graham Alexander has picked this football club up by the scruff of its neck and turned it into something once again.

And that something is ours. It’s the pride and passion we took to over 46 games and more. Every turnstile that we flicked open across the country, from Plymouth to Peterborough; Wycombe to Wigan; Stockport to Stevenage.

The grand prize on offer is to play one of those final two teams. A chance to fill out Wembley Stadium and write a new chapter in the history books. For this squad to cement their legacy as after-dinner speakers at Valley Parade for the next 20-30 years. And for many of them to have a crack at the Championship.

Nervous? Terrified? Excited? Happy? Frightened? Hopeful? Optimistic?

All of the above is why we do this. It’s why we support Bradford City. We aren’t here for the glory, otherwise we would have left a long time ago. We came because it’s our club. Our city. Our chance to go on a journey back to the promised land we departed far too long ago.

The answer to my earlier rhetorical question is simple. We’ve been waiting for this for a very long time. The doldrums of League Two. The managerial churn. The seasons of COVID. The expectation we’d go nowhere. That things wouldn’t get better.

Well they have. And tonight gives us the chance for them to become a whole lot more exciting.

So everybody tonight, give it your all. Lose your voices. Scream until you can no longer shout.

Leave everything in those stands and the players will do the same on the pitch.

And even if tonight doesn’t go our way. We’ll be back. Because this club’s story isn’t finished just yet.

It’s only getting started.

Categories: The 2025/26 play offs

Tags: BCAFC