Football Season Guide

Bradford had two completely different halves of 2013/14 season, as they looked like promotion candidates in the early stages of their campaign, only to show relegation form after December, and end even find themselves flirting with relegation. There is little doubt that the form shown over the last few months has been worrying, and there was little surprise that Phil Parkinson opted to be very active on the summer transfer market. The Bantams opted to part ways with some of their last season's regulars, such as Nathan Doyle, Gary Jones and Jon McLaughlin, but all of these players have been replaced with quality, as Matt Dolan, who impressed on loan last season, signed a permanent deal with the club, as did Billy Knott and Gary Liddle, who are also expected to add quality to the midfield. The arrival of Jordan Pickford on loan from Sunderland is expected to compensate for McLaughlin's departure, while Bradford arguably most eye-catching capture of the summer transfer window has been Billy Clarke, a talented player who can play either on one of the wings or in attack, who signs from Crawley. The only departed player who Phil Parkinson really wanted to keep was winger Kyel Reid, as the Bantams were unable to prevent the wide man from joining Preston - and it will be interesting to see whether Parkinson will use Clarke as a replacement for Reid or in his preferred role in attack. All in all, Bradford's form seems to be narrowly better than the one they had last season, and their fans will not know what to expect, as the Bantams could easily find themselves battling against the drop if they do not improve on the form they showed in the first half of the calender year.