NICKY Law does not attempt to deny the green-eyed monster takes over when he checks the Championship scores.

He takes a keen interest in how former team-mates like Stephen Darby and James Meredith are faring in life at the next level. But that is always accompanied by a heavy pang of jealousy at what City so narrowly missed out on.

Law said: “I always look out to see how the lads are doing. I want to see Darbs do well at Bolton and Mezza with Millwall.

“But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t jealous as well.

“We would love to have been there when you see the big games and the players they are up against, so of course there’s a bit of envy.

“It was a devastating result losing at Wembley because we were that close. But I think it also makes you more determined as well.”

Law may be the second longest-serving City player after Tony McMahon but he has only been back 14 months. Yet he is well aware of the club’s recent history of continuing to build season by season.

He said: “That’s the good thing about Bradford in the last three or four years. We’ve always managed to improve on the season before.

“We just missed out last year and we’d love to go one better. That will be the aim.

“We certainly have players who can perform at a higher level. Even in pre-season, I thought we gave a good account of ourselves against Sunderland.

“League One is a tough division to get out of but hopefully we can get one or two more players in to help us.

“We’re working hard and training hard and I’m sure performances will pick up. We’ve got lots to look forward to.”

Law is honest enough to know that City have yet to hit the heights in the opening month. But the end of their 31-match unbeaten league run to Blackburn at Valley Parade last week is hardly cause for early panic.

“It was our biggest test yet, even though they had lost two. Sheffield United had a similar start last year,” said Law ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Walsall.

“People look at the Championship now as maybe a second Premier League.

“So you’ll see big clubs dropping into League One – or even League Two. Portsmouth were down there before they came back this year.

“I don’t know the ins and outs with Blackburn but obviously something isn’t quite right there even now. But in terms of the football side of it, they have a lot of good players and will be up there.

“We’ve not been as good as we’d like to have been in the games so far. We’ve not controlled the league games as we certainly did last year. It’s been a lot more up, down, up, down.

“But the turnover of players again has been quite big and we’ve certainly got a younger squad.

“You do get those inconsistencies with young players but the manager is trying every single day on the training field to get his ideas across.

“Last year it was just seamless; everyone just knew. It was like a well-oiled machine. People from the outside looking in may think that Bradford have just carried on from where they left off.

“A lot of lads are still learning at the moment, especially because the manager likes to change the formation that much.

“The ability is there, no doubt about that, but piecing it together over 90 minutes takes time.”