Mark Lawn admits he is “stunned” that no potential money men are sniffing round City after their historic double Wembley campaign.

The amazing season earned the club huge publicity across the world as they became the first team from the fourth tier to reach a major cup final in over half a century.

Having followed up that Capital One Cup appearance three months later by winning promotion in the League Two play-off showpiece, the Bantams became one of domestic football’s biggest fairytales.

But that has still not stirred a flurry of calls from wealthy businessmen wishing to jump on board the Valley Parade bandwagon and invest in their progress.

Joint-chairman Lawn said: “We’ve had our best season ever and nobody’s shown any interest. To be honest, I’m stunned.

“Not even the usual tyre-kickers have been on. But they are probably scared off because they won’t be able to get the price they want.

“Maybe anyone genuinely interested in investing thinks that as we’re doing well, we don’t want their money.

“But Julian (Rhodes) and myself have always been quite clear about it. If anybody can come along and sensibly put more money in this club, then we’d happily step aside – but the phone’s not rung.

“Momentum is a big thing in business. If you can get your shoulder to the wheel and keep pushing, it tends to go on rolling forward.

“If we get into the Championship, we should get 20,000-plus crowds every game, especially with the bigger away attendances. That’s the potential here.”

City have promised to back Phil Parkinson with a competitive budget in League One but, after the painful financial lessons of the previous decade, Lawn stressed that they will not throw money around with abandon.

He said: “A lot of clubs have learned from what happened here and with Portsmouth. We are the two clubs you hold up and say ‘don’t do it like this if you get in the Premier League’.

“If we were to ever get back there and I was still in charge, then we definitely wouldn’t do it like that again.

“We certainly won’t be going beyond our means and I know the majority of fans appreciate that we always operate on a break-even level.

“If we can see other incomes coming in from different sources, then we may take a calculated gamble. But it will be calculated by the end of the season so we break even.”