Football Season Review

Beaten in the play-off semi-final in the 2015/16 season and in the final in the 2016/17 campaign, Bradford entered the season confident of making the step up and finally winning promotion to the second tier. Some early signs were present from the beginning, as the Bantamss, who went the entire previous campaign without losing a single league home game, were uncharacteristically poor at the Valley Parade, but were superb away and were even in the automatic promotion picture come the end of the calendar year. However, a huge downturn in their fortunes was to come in 2018, as they collected only two points from the nine games they played between mid January and mid February, with this run causing the club to part ways with Stuart McCall. The Bantams opted to replace him with the experience of Simon Grayson and, while improving somewhat under their new boss, Bradford never really managed to reach the heights from the first half of the campaign and ended well below the play-off places. Their season will therefore go down as an undisputed failure and Grayson, who was signed on a short-term contract, has left the club at the end of the season. Interestingly enough, the club offered him an extension and it was Grayson himself who decided not to take up the offer of remaining in charge. The Bantams therefore enter the summer with no momentum at all and with no manager. The club have a big decision to make, as they will need to find a man capable of turning their fortunes around and getting them to compete next time around.

Player of the Season: Charlie Wyke