SHAY McCartan is ready for frontline duty again this afternoon as City cope with a third game minus top scorer Charlie Wyke.

But he could have been lining up in League Two if things had worked out differently in the transfer window.

McCartan was the target of hefty interest in January – with chief scout Greg Abbott claiming nine clubs had looked at him.

League Two pacesetters Accrington, his former side, and Luton were both thought to be keen.

Had Kristian Dennis been allowed to sign on deadline day, the Irishman would have been off on loan elsewhere.

The final hours of the window may make for great TV viewing but McCartan’s story shows that it is not much fun when you are caught up in the middle of it.

While the Dennis deal falling through was played out publicly, his was the other side of a tale of frustration and uncertainty.

“It is horrible,” said McCartan. “I was on the phone all day, not knowing what was happening. There were all sorts of rumours going round.

“As a player, not knowing where you will be or where you are wanted is not nice. It is difficult.

“I have learned a lot this season. This is one of the things. In terms of deadline day, there is not much worse than what happened to me.

“The whole experience was not nice. Maybe some would enjoy it but I didn’t.

“If a painter was working for six months in London and then told that tomorrow he will be off to Newcastle, that wouldn’t be great for them.

“Especially those with families. I was lucky in that it is just me. But if I had a family or girlfriend working there then that would be totally different and not nice at all.

“I didn’t know what was happening. Then, come Saturday, I was starting against Oldham.

“My head was in a total mess. That experience was something new for me as a footballer.

“I don’t think it is right, if I am honest. But it is the way it is and you have to get on with it.

“If we can get in the play-offs, it will be all worth it in the end.”

As the dust settles, McCartan confessed the amount of interest shown in him was flattering.

But he was not pushing to go just six months after joining from Accrington in a deal understood to be worth around £200,000.

McCartan admits it took time to acclimatise to a club of City’s size from where he had come from.

“It’s not just the size of crowd but the training as well.

“Accrington is a club different to any other. There is no gym work –everything is geared towards the game.

“If you play on a Saturday, you more or less do nothing during the week.

“If you are in the starting XI, it is fine. But if not, it can be difficult to keep up fitness.

“Here, it is totally different. I am used to that now and feel a lot stronger.”

But McCartan retains plenty of affection for Stanley and is thrilled with the fairy-tale story emerging from their promotion surge.

“The club are different to any other. Stuff goes on that doesn’t happen anywhere else.

“If one of the Bradford lads went to Accrington, they would think, ‘what is going on here?’

“For training, the lads just chill about and go down the leisure centre.

“If we won an away game, the craic on the back of the bus was great, loads of singing.

“But the manager knows how to get the best out of his players. The results show that.

“People might not have expected this at the start of the season after I left along with Matty Pearson and Omar Beccles.

“They get players who people have never heard about. They might be low on confidence or whatever but they turn them into good ones.”

McCartan’s own focus is on reviving City’s own push for the top before it is too late. Without a win since Fleetwood on New Year’s Day, when he scored the decisive goal, he refuses to give it up a lost cause.

He added: “I am glad I stayed. The team has not been doing well but things will change.

“I still believe we can get in the play-offs. Once we get everyone fit, it is a totally different Bradford.

“There aren’t many clubs at this level with bigger pressure and I am privileged. A lot of lads would love to play in front of our crowd; not the pitch but definitely the crowd.”