The time for excuses has passed. When Peter Jackson leads his City team out against Aldershot tomorrow, he knows the buck stops with him.

It’s all change since last season, when Jackson took on the thankless task of interim manager, inheriting a team from Peter Taylor that was low on confidence and struggling for form.

Back then, the Bantams boss had to play the hand he was dealt but now, with a full pre-season under the belt, this is undoubtedly Jackson’s team.

“I’ve not slept really since I got the job full-time really,” he said. “I don’t sleep anyway, then I’m up silly hours and I work silly hours.

“Come Saturday, it’ll be all worthwhile, walking down that tunnel to 10,000 fans, my young, keen and enthusiastic team playing well.

“There will be no better feeling than coming off there with three points, knowing all that hard work throughout the summer has come to a head and we’ve won.

“I’ll be brimming with pride. It’s a big day for me because I came in here as interim manager.

“I came in on that basis but now I’m the manager so I’m judged on my team, no-one else’s team.

“There’s no hiding place for me now, I have to stand up and be counted. So do the players, so does everyone at this football club.”

Jackson is ready to take the fall when necessary, just as he is ready to take the plaudits when they are deserved.

The former City captain has been in the game far too long to believe it will be all plain sailing from here on in.

“I’m big enough and strong enough to take it,” he said.

“I said to the players when I took the job last year that there would be ups and downs.

“There were real highs, after Rotherham we won at Morecambe, but then there was the shambles at places like Accrington and Southend.

“It’s okay when you’re winning, everybody can be great. It’s when you have maybe one or two defeats that doubts slip in and moaning starts.

“That’s when we have to stick together as a group of people and as a club in general. I know that and the players know that.

“Stick together through thick or thin is our motto and if we do that we’ll be fine.”

But Jackson is positive about prospects, having overseen a huge overhaul of the first-team squad this summer.

The number of arrivals has hit double figures, on-loan defender Liam Moore the latest to bolster the Bantams’ squad, aimed at addressing four key deficiencies in last season’s squad.

“What I wanted to do at the end of the season was have a clear-out and that’s complete,” said Jackson.

“Then I wanted to bring players in, which is complete.

“I wanted to bring in players who are young and enthusiastic and have got pace. All three of those were missing last season.

“But the biggest thing is fitness and these players are extremely fit.

“Pre-season has been tough but they’ve all adapted to it, they’ve all taken it on board and they’re a fit group of people.

“Those targets have been completed but now the hard bit starts - winning football matches.”

Aldershot too have undergone serious change since the turn of the year.

Like Jackson, Shots boss Dean Holdsworth starts his first full season in the hot-seat and his team could be something of an unknown quantity.

Jackson said: “I remember playing Aldershot last year. I think they’d gone unbeaten for 12 games and we beat them after the mess at Accrington, on Bank Holiday Monday.

“Dean Holdsworth has developed a good squad of players there and I’m a big fan of his.

“We know it’s going to be a tough game and it’s a big ask.

“But the players are up for it, I’m up for it and when the supporters turn up at 3pm, they’ll be up for it too.”