The 2025/26 Width of a Post Player of the Season

By Width of a Post on May 26, 2026 • ( 0 )

By Jason McKeown

Choosing a top five Bradford City players of the season for 2025/26 was really tough. There was no absolute standout performer – because so many players stood out. The bar was exceptionally high.

And that means there are City players who enjoyed excellent personal seasons yet still failed to make the top five. In many previous, dismal campaigns, they might have walked away with the Player of the Season award. We’ll come back to those especially unlucky to miss out, but first, the all-important top five, voted for by WOAP regulars Alex Scott, Tim Penfold, Jake Verity, Adam Raj, Gareth Walker and Jason McKeown.

If you’d prefer to discover our top five in audio form, we’ve also put together a special podcast revealing the results to Alex and Tim. You can find it below.

Otherwise, let’s crack on.

In 5th place…Aden Baldwin

A massive redemption story.

At the end of last season, few City fans had much time for Aden Baldwin after his crazy red-mist moment at Doncaster nearly sabotaged the Bantams’ promotion push. Some supporters said they never wanted to see him in a City shirt again, and few would have mourned had Graham Alexander allowed him to leave in the summer.

But he stayed. He missed the start of the season while serving the remainder of his suspension, then came roaring back.

The shift in public opinion was gradual. At first, there was a supporter soundtrack of “Baldwin did quite well today”, spoken in a grudging tone. Before long, that reluctance had turned into genuine appreciation. As City flew out of the traps with Baldwin making such an obvious difference through his diagonal passes to the rampaging wing-backs, it didn’t take long for all to be forgiven.

And Baldwin never looked back.

The biggest compliment you can pay him is that you wish you had two – if not three – of him. He was superb in the middle of the back three, launching attacks with pinpoint distribution. He was equally effective on the right of the defence, defending aggressively and enabling Josh Neufville to become even more dangerous. The greater time on the ball and higher opposition defensive lines that came with swapping League Two for League One suited him perfectly. By January, there were even whispers of Championship interest.

It is cruel that the goal which ended City’s promotion bid came from his mistake, and right at the end of the Bolton second leg we saw hints of his temper threatening to boil over again. But those moments do not overshadow a brilliant personal season.

Baldwin is now deeply loved by City fans.

That certainly wasn’t the case nine months ago.

In 4th place…Jenson Metcalfe

Jenson Metcalfe wasn’t even born the last time Bradford City played in the second tier, but a string of impressive displays from the 21-year-old in his first season at Valley Parade pushed the club agonisingly close to ending their bottom-division purgatory.

Along the way, Metcalfe proved to be an astute piece of business – one who could ultimately inspire City back to the Championship, or eventually command a hefty transfer fee from higher up the football pyramid.

You can understand why he’d be firmly on recruitment radars elsewhere. Metcalfe took a little time to settle after arriving from Everton. His first league start, away at Stockport, ended with him being substituted at half-time after a difficult outing. But once he found his feet, his influence grew and grew.

He established himself in the side during October and quickly began keeping the talented Tommy Leigh and Alex Pattison out of the team – to the point both departed in January.

It was not an easy period to play in central midfield. City’s early-season momentum had begun to stall, and opponents increasingly targeted the Bantams by overloading the middle of the park to outnumber Max Power and Metcalfe.

But this was where he truly showed his quality.

His defensive awareness and ability to drive forward with the ball often saw him effectively perform the role of two people. His passing and vision were excellent, helping City play through congested areas and ensuring overcrowded midfields did not suffocate their game.

Metcalfe continued to grow in stature and, between December and March, was probably City’s best player. That run included memorable goals against Port Vale and Cardiff. While he was less productive in the final third than Leigh or Pattison, he influenced matches in a very different – and hugely important – way.

In the closing weeks of the season, the demands appeared to catch up with him. He had never previously started more than 20 league games in a campaign, and the intensity of City’s play-off push eventually left him looking jaded. But even when below his best, Alexander retained enormous faith in him – and Metcalfe never shirked responsibility.

He produced two strong performances in the play-offs that probably won’t help City fend off summer interest. But hopefully he recognises that this stage of his career is best served by playing week in, week out in front of 20,000 supporters at Valley Parade.

He’s only just beginning to put it all together, and the prospect of a second season in a City shirt is hugely exciting.

In 3rd place…Ibou Touray

What a signing Touray has proved to be.

Left wing-back remained a slightly unresolved issue heading into the season, but Touray quickly emerged as the perfect solution. Arriving from Stockport, where he had been a regular, he was unassuming yet consistently excellent. The type of player you could always rely upon and never worry about.

And that consistency never faded.

No player in the City squad matched the standards Touray maintained throughout the campaign. Did he ever have a bad game? Not really. And even when he wasn’t quite at his best, he was never the problem in the way dips from others could prove so damaging.

Touray is not as attack-minded as Josh Neufville on the opposite flank, but he provided an important balance that allowed City to commit bodies forward with confidence. He was also vital to the press – quick to loose balls, intelligent in possession and constantly helping City regain momentum. You cannot press effectively without players capable of winning possession high up the pitch, and Touray excelled at exactly that.

Like Baldwin, he was the sort of player you wished you had two of. Because when injuries forced him to operate at left centre-back, he was equally impressive there. Perhaps not as physically dominant as Curtis Tilt, but certainly better on the ball. When he played alongside Tyreik Wright, the pair developed an excellent understanding both in and out of possession.

Ironically, Touray’s versatility may have counted against him. Once Tyreik Wright got his mojo back and could offer greater attacking dynamism, he took over at left wing-back while Tilt became first-choice at left centre-back. Touray found himself on the bench.

Typically, he never sulked. He continued to work hard and remained ready whenever called upon.

So when Wright suffered an injury late in the season, Touray stepped back in seamlessly. Across the two play-off legs, he was City’s best performer. The job he did on the dangerous Amario Cozier-Duberry will live long in the memory.

Had he not temporarily lost his place midway through the campaign, Touray may well have won the Player of the Season award outright.

If he maintains the commendable standards he set this year, he might well claim it next time around.

In 2nd place…Bobby Pointon

A special season was made even more wonderful by the lad from Low Moor.

A rise up a division can often spell bad news for the prospects of homegrown players, but Pointon shrugged off the threat posed by new arrivals and emerged as one of the most exciting young talents in League One.

This was the season his reputation truly spread beyond BD8.

His blistering start in front of goal grabbed headlines and marked him out as a player to watch. And what a collection of moments he produced: winning goals in City’s first two home league games, a crucial equaliser against Wimbledon, and that brilliant double against local rivals Huddersfield – made even sweeter by the way he celebrated in front of the away fans.

If there was a moment that spoke volumes of Pointon’s confidence and standing, it came in November against Burton. City were 2-0 down when they won a penalty. The experienced Stephen Humphrys wanted it. Pointon simply took the ball off him and assumed responsibility himself. The fact Humphrys allowed him to do so said a lot about Pointon’s standing within the dressing room.

Naturally, Pointon scored.

Although Pointon could not sustain his extraordinary scoring rate throughout the season, his influence never diminished. There was the goal and outstanding all-round display in the demolition of Peterborough, the emotional strike at Port Vale on the night his nan passed away while watching him score on television, and the crucial goal at Wycombe on Easter Monday that all but secured City’s play-off place.

It was desperately unfortunate that he suffered injury at the end of the season. In typically determined fashion, he did everything possible to recover in time and started the second leg of the play-off semi-final. But it was too much, too soon. He looked short of fitness, and there was to be no fairytale ending.

A fully fit Pointon against Bolton might just have changed the story.

This was comfortably the best season of his career so far. The year he took another leap forward, thrived on bigger occasions and continued building a reputation that is only growing stronger.

Thank goodness he loves this football club.

And thank goodness he does not appear in any rush to leave it.

Still, the challenge for everyone at Bradford City is to keep pace with Pointon’s own development and ensure the club continues to match his ambitions.

Bobby lad, we absolutely love you.

And the winner is…Antoni Sarcevic

I’ll admit it – I feared a very different season from Sarcevic, and I was completely wrong.

The serial League Two promotion winner has a habit of departing clubs shortly after taking them up. There were mysterious exits from Bolton and Stockport, along with difficult League One spells at Plymouth and Shrewsbury.

But this time, Sarcevic was not going anywhere.

Nor was his enormous influence.

From the sixth minute of the season, when he scored City’s opening goal, to finding the net on the final day at Exeter to secure a play-off place, Sarcevic was a colossal presence for the Bantams. His impact was immense.

He is simply a joy to watch.

So intelligent. So composed. His decision-making is exceptional. He sees things others on the pitch simply do not. Opposition players rarely know what he will do next. Eleven goals and three assists only tell part of the story.

His experience and quality made an enormous difference throughout the campaign. He scored two superb winning goals against former club Stockport, netted brilliantly at Rotherham with his chest, and delivered huge moments against Barnsley, Plymouth and Reading and Exeter.

And then there were those two goals against Leyton Orient in March.

When he raced through one-on-one in front of the Kop to score the winner, there was no player you trusted more to finish the chance.

Sarcevic was not always the most eye-catching player. At times he drifted quietly through matches, barely noticed compared to others around him. But then, suddenly, he would produce a moment – and something special almost always followed.

That ability to appear at decisive moments and change games is a rare and invaluable quality. Time and again, City were grateful to have such a proven match-winner in their ranks.

Like Pointon, Sarcevic suffered injury problems right at the end of the season. He returned for the play-offs but never looked fully fit, and the magic did not quite materialise. But had he been firing on all cylinders, you would have backed him to make the difference.

He may be getting on a bit, but having him around next season is fantastic news.

Because this campaign proved one thing beyond doubt: a Bradford City side without Antoni Sarcevic is infinitely less effective – and infinitely less fun.

Special word for…

Tyreik Wright just missed out on the top five after a superb second half of the season that saw him emerge from peripheral squad member to key figure down the left-hand side. Keep it going, Tyreik!

Captain Max Power also enjoyed an excellent season and was widely appreciated for his bravery, consistency and high standards, earning plenty of votes.

Josh Neufville flew out of the traps and remained an important part of City’s system throughout the campaign, which also earned him support in the voting.

***

Past WOAP Player of the Season winners

2011/12: Luke Oliver

2012/13: Gary Jones

2013/14: Stephen Darby

2014/15: Rory McArdle

2015/16: Reece Burke

2016/17: Mark Marshall

2017/18: Matt Kilgallon

2018/19: Paul Caddis

2019/20: No award, as season curtailed

2020/21: Callum Cooke