OCTOBER has been a poor month for the Bantams with only one point from the last 12 on offer.

But for Andy Halliday, it’s still a far easier working environment to go on loan than his last one.

The Middlesbrough winger, who scored in his second City appearance at the weekend, knew much more demanding times when he spent the second half of last season at Blackpool.

Halliday relished the chance to play 18 times as the Tangerines just about managed to stave off the drop from the Championship. But that doesn’t begin to tell the story.

Those matches were played against a constant backdrop of off-field politics and the strained relationship between chairman Karl Oyston and the supporters.

“It was crazy,” admitted Halliday. “Everyone knows what the club is like and there’s been a lot said about it.

“But I must say that I did love my time there. The people were brilliant with me and I was playing week in, week out because the manager had complete trust in me.

“In all fairness, the fans did back the players. It was just the stuff going on in the background that was coming under scrutiny.

“I think they understood the battle we had on our hands. We were fighting losing battles within the club, never mind on the pitch. That was hard enough.”

Halliday had to wait until his ninth game for a first victory against Millwall. The only other came on the penultimate weekend of the season at Wigan – a result that ultimately proved enough to keep them up.

“The club did excellently to stay up at the end because we’d looked down and out. We got a draw away to Brighton to take us off the bottom and then got the win at Wigan the week after.

“I was only 21 then so it was massive to be involved in something like that. There were a lot of hard games to get yourself up for but we came through and I think it’s made me a better man.

“Spending four or five months at Blackpool in a relegation battle was draining. Don’t get me wrong, it made me mentally tougher but it was hard.”

Halliday had hoped that such a grounding would push his chances of breaking into Aitor Karanka’s plans at Boro. His pre-season bid began promisingly – only to stumble against a familiar hurdle.

“I was quite unfortunate because I was starting quite a lot of the friendlies and had it in the back of my mind that I was probably going to be involved at the start of the season.

“But then I got this groin injury again that’s been my problem ever since I was 16.

“Thankfully, now’s probably the strongest it’s felt for a long time so hopefully there will be no repercussions. But it meant that by the time I’d got fit again, I needed to be looking to go out somewhere else to play.

“I’m at the age now where I’m looking for regular games. It was just a case of finding the right club for me and one doing a lot better than Blackpool were.

“I’ve got no complaints because Middlesbrough are a big football club with a massive squad and the gaffer brought in quite a lot of players over the summer.

“Just now they’ve got at least two players in every position so it was always going to be hard.

“I wasn’t happy just to be sat on the bench and that’s why I took this chance to come here.”

Boro had interest from “three or four” clubs but Halliday feels that City were the best fit – a view endorsed by Adam Reach, whose successful stay at Valley Parade last term has helped elevate him into the first-team picture.

Halliday said: “Reachy was the first person I asked when I heard about Bradford’s interest. He had nothing but good things to say about the club.

“The people here were equally good about Adam because he’s a lovely lad and did very well here. You know you’re going to get 100 per cent every week from Adam.

“Obviously he’s very athletic but at the same time he’s also got good attacking attributes. Hopefully you can see something similar in me and I can look to excite the fans as much as I can.”

Halliday has faced two of the division’s form teams so far in leaders Bristol City and Oldham. But he expects the same level of competition every week.

“I think that’s the same all through England. I don’t think there’s another country like it.

“From the Premier League down to League Two, everybody can beat each other. You’ve seen it on numerous occasions.

“That’s why it’s so important you can’t get complacent.

“You can see the urgency and tempo with the boys in training. It reminds me of Middlesbrough so it’s been easy to fit in.”