Is This Finally Bradford City’s Promotion Year?

Bradford City’s uphill struggles in attempt to be promoted back to England’s third division have proven to be very problematic, to put it lightly. But have they turned a fresh corner?

The Bantams have sunken deep into League Two over the six years they have spent there since facing relegation in 2019. The city’s only major club, positioned in England’s largest county, with an FA Cup under their belt, experiences in European football and the attraction of nearly 20,000 loyal fans every other week, have certainly found their one true kryptonite.

This year, the League Two anchors have decided they are taking no more nonsense as they find themselves second in the league, even after their latest disappointing double defeat.

122 Years of Bradford City

If you put a club with the magnitude and history of Bradford City in the Championship, maybe even the Premier League, they would not look a touch in disarray. Reminiscing to the early 20th century, Bradford were a force to be reckoned with.

The West Yorkshire club were founded in 1903 and immediately elected into the Football League’s second division. The Bantams did not look back in the ensuing decade as Scottish manager Peter O’Rourke achieved promotion to the top tier and won the club’s only major honour to date – an FA Cup, all the way back in 1911.

Bradford City dipped in and out of all four of the Football League divisions throughout the 1900s, until they regained form and squatted back in the second division approaching the 1980s, around the time when Valley Parade encountered its devastating stadium fire where 56 Bradford and Lincoln City fans tragically lost their lives.

City even reached the Premier League in 1999, soon after it was established, but their visit only lasted two years where we fast forward to today’s game. In the 21st Century, Bradford have spent the majority of the time picking at the heels of League One and League Two. They went as far as a League One Playoff Final in 2017, but narrowly missed out on a Championship return to the hands of Millwall.

The Achilles Heel

It looks awfully out of place having 25,000 seated Valley Parade operating amidst League Two opposition. However, it is a sight we have gotten used to over the last six years. 2019 saw a ruinous turn for those representing the iconic claret and amber; Bradford City were knocked from from their League One pedestal, oblivious to what the next few years will endure for them. Ninth, fifteenth, fourteenth, sixth and ninth again. Mid-table finishes and a failed playoff campaign is not what City fans would have expected after years of being one of League One’s trademark promotion candidates.

CARLISLE TAKE ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS WEMBLEY! 💪 pic.twitter.com/wOnL4mF2Ht

— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) May 20, 2023

Bradford City are now onto their fifth management since their League Two stint began. Prior to the current boss Graham Alexander, nothing seemed to click in West Yorkshire, despite having the experience of ex Barcelona player and Premier League manager Mark Hughes. The Welshman has over 15 seasons of management in the Premier League on his résumé yet still collapsed at the helm of the League Two sleeping giant after their failed playoff semi-final series in 2022/23.

Graham Alexander

Just over a month after the sacking of Mark Hughes, Coventry-born Graham Alexander screwed his name tag down on the manager office door. A disparity from Hughes, Graham Alexander has an abundance of League Two experience, including a promotion-achieving season with Fleetwood Town in 2014/15.

Bradford City have appointed Graham Alexander as their new manager. He signs a deal until the end of the 2025/26 season.#BCAFC | #BBCFootball | #BBCEFL pic.twitter.com/nMQBo763sF

— BBC Sport West Yorkshire (@BBCWYS) November 6, 2023

The ex-Preston fullback edged the Bantams point point off the playoff zone last season following his introduction just shy of the Christmas period. A respectable outcome, although one that needed improvement going into the current campaign. This season, Alexander has recruited a handful of key signings, such as the experienced Antoni Sarcevic and Barnsley loanee Jack Shepherd who have both helped to steer Bradford’s sinking ship back in the right direction.

Perched in the League Two automatic promotion spots, Graham Alexander might finally be the man to take Bradford City back to League One.

A Turning Point

With Bradford’s recent league positions, supporters across West Yorkshire were growing sceptical of a League One return ever happening. However, this second season of Graham Alexander has ultimately been a sigh of relief for City.

Valley Parade has witnessed a level of football superlative to any other year since 2019. The Bantams have planted themselves in second position as it stands, with 66 points after winning a staggering 19 matches this season. They also managed to reach the EFL Trophy semi-final but were deprived of a Wembley visit by a Birmingham City late winner. With a successful season so far, promotion dreams are in full throttle going into the nine games that remain as well as a potential bonus of winning the league as they continue to chase down front-runners Walsall.

In spite of Bradford City’s league position, going up still remains a fantasy for now. There are only three points that separates Bradford with Wimbledon and Doncaster, who both have a points tally of 63. A playoff doubleton is the last thing you want on your tail when you have hit a bad run of form. For Graham Alexander’s men, this is just the case; they have lost their last two matches to a one goal deficit – 1-0 away to Gillingham, and 1-0 at home to Tranmere. Not ideal for an automatic promotion competitor with less than ten games to go. To make matters worse, tomorrow afternoon they take on Colchester United at Valley Parade – a team who is yet to lose a league match since the 4th January. The Essex force have won each of their last five matches as they have crept into the playoff spots, demonstrating why the are the league’s hot-shots.

On New Year’s Day, Colchester were 16th. Tonight they sit just one point off the play-offs. Unbelievable. 👏👏#ColU pic.twitter.com/Aru0rFSYp5

— The Real EFL (@RealEFLSocial) March 11, 2025

Despite a recent dash of misfortune for Bradford, it is still very much in their hands drawing towards the season finale. As much as it is all to play for with many promotion suitors, it is the Bantams second position currently – and theirs to lose.