STUART McCall believes Bradford can take inspiration from Yorkshire rivals Barnsley as they bid to reach the Championship this coming season.

Paul Heckingbottom steered the Tykes to a Johnstone's Paint Trophy final win and a League One play-off final victory over Millwall during his time as interim boss last term.

After taking caretaker charge of the club when Lee Johnson jumped ship to Bristol City, former City defender Heckingbottom engineered a remarkable renaissance at Oakwell.

The club were bottom of the table after the first few months of the season, and many expected them to go down.

A run of over 10 wins in a row in the new year, though, saw the Tykes climb the table in style before they snuck into the play-offs during the final few games of the season and gained promotion at Wembley.

McCall said: “What an incredible rise Barnsley had last season. Everyone talks about making a great start but I go back to my second season when we made a great start and then tailed off.

“You can have a late surge, finish sixth and go up that way, as Barnsley did last season.

“They were bottom of the league and lost eight or nine games, but Paul Heckingbottom did an outstanding job and you saw what can be achieved with hungry players.

“It’s a long old season at 46 games and it’s the old saying ‘it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish’ and that’s what we’ve got to be mindful of.

“Coventry and Gillingham were up there at Christmas and tailed off, so it’s about being competitive throughout the season and we will see where that takes us.”