PHIL Parkinson today begins the business of converting City from play-off nearly men into genuine promotion material for next season.

The disappointment of Friday’s play-off exit at Millwall is still raw but the Bantams boss insists there is no time to lose.

With the club being taken over by German-based investors Edin Rahic and Stefan Rupp, Parkinson is expecting a hectic off-season as he looks to strengthen a squad that came agonisingly close to ending their 12-year absence from the second tier.

The City boss said: “It will be a busy summer. I take the disappointment (from losing in the play-offs) and there is no doubt it will hurt for a while.

“But now we need to quickly improve. Other teams will improve and we have to have that belief that we can get to that extra level and into the top two.

“That has to be the aim for next season.

“There are areas of the team we need to improve. If we can do that, we have a lot of quality out there.

“Add to that a bit of freshness in the squad and we will be ready to go again.”

Bolstering an attack that was the lowest scoring of the top 16 teams in League One will be a priority. Strikers Jamie Proctor and Steve Davies are among the half-dozen senior players out of contract at the end of next month.

Parkinson added: “We need that extra little bit of quality in the final third. If we get that, who knows and this time next year we might be watching the play-offs?

“The gap (to second place) was five points. I don’t think it is massive, especially as we had a disappointing start.

“Everyone can look back at games that have been costly.

“We have players who are ready to mount a challenge again next year. We have to look at ways of improving that and work will start this morning.”

Parkinson, who has had discussions with chief scout Tim Breacker, revealed that some plans are already in place even though City’s season ended a fortnight later than many of their rivals because of the play-offs.

“The play-offs mean you finish a little bit after the rest but that won’t be a problem,” said the City chief.

“We have to be on the ball over the summer and we will be.”

Parkinson admitted the frustration of the semi-final exit will linger, especially the costly first half at home when City were undone by three Millwall set-pieces. That proved to be the difference over the two games.

He said: “Millwall are a big team, probably the biggest in the league but we got out-muscled in the box at Valley Parade.

“I can’t remember the last time we conceded from a corner or a free-kick at the edge of the box before last Sunday. Maybe not all season.

“It kind of summed up the week we had going into the game. Things went against us.

“We had a clear run in the build-up but then lost Hanson, Burke, Clarke and then Morais after his wife went into labour. Those were huge blows in games like this.

“We came up against a team able to play their strongest team in both games, including two strikers who are bang in form.

“It was a quiet coach on the way back but I have to get going again. There is no time to feel sorry for yourself in football.”