LEE Bullock takes a huge sense of pride from seeing James Hanson still putting himself about in claret and amber.

Depending on the strength of team Phil Parkinson sends over to the east coast, the former City team-mates might lock horns at some point in tomorrow’s friendly at Whitby Town.

Quite literally, possibly, as Bullock now plays his games for the Evo-Stik League club as a centre half.

“I don’t know if he’ll be involved but 90 minutes trying to deal with him and then lugging kitchens on to the lorry the next morning doesn’t sound like fun!” laughed Bullock, whose football now plays second fiddle around his manual day job.

“But it’s great to see Hans has now become a major player in that league. It put a smile of my face when I read that there were teams trying to take him in the summer and he wanted to stay.

“You look at how far he has come with Bradford. He’s done really well.

“I remember his first season, this kid straight out of the Co-op turning up for training. Now he is an established striker.

“There have been times when Bradford have dragged him along but also others when he’s done the same for the club. It’s worked out brilliantly for everyone.

“Bradford have changed a lot from my time so it’s really nice from my point of view to see him still there doing the business. Hopefully that will continue for a long time.”

Bullock, who shared a dressing room with Hanson for three seasons, made 129 appearances in a four-and-a-half year spell at Valley Parade that ended in May 2012.

He remains a keen fan from afar and is delighted to see Parkinson putting the Bantams back on the map after so many lean years.

Bullock added: “I always used to say they shouldn’t be where they are. It’s great that they are finally heading back in the right direction, although there’s a way to go yet.

“You still hear the lads signing for them talking about a sleeping giant and I agree with that. They should be higher.

“But looking from the outside you can see Bradford are going the right way and I’ve enjoyed watching their progress.

“We all know it has taken a long time for that spark to get the club going again. The gaffer Phil suddenly got some really good players in and you saw the difference straight away.

“We had that one season with Stuart (McCall) when we went for it a bit and just missed out on the play-offs. After that we just seemed to drift away.

“The chairmen might disagree but we never looked at that big pool of players again. Then Phil assembled a really good squad and pulled them out of that league.

“But credit to Mark Lawn and Julian Rhodes as well. They took a gamble and hopefully it paid off.”

Bullock cannot see a team from the lower leagues ever replicating City’s achievements of reaching the Capital One Cup final again. But then he did not imagine they would shock the football world again so soon with that win over Chelsea.

“It’s incredible to think that Bradford have done that twice in just a couple of seasons. Getting to Wembley in the final was incredible, then all of a sudden they go a long way in the FA Cup.

“What they did at Stamford Bridge is still amazing. That’s got to be the best FA Cup result ever.

“At our level you can have a sneaky look at your phone at half-time and see the scores. I was in our dressing room and when I saw Chelsea had scored twice, I remember thinking that the lads were in for a long second half.

“Then when we came back in, everyone was talking about how Bradford had turned it round and won. I just couldn’t believe it.

“I imagine dressing rooms up and down the country were saying the same. It was unbelievable.”

Whitby, who recently drew 1-1 with Hartlepool, are looking for a decent crowd attracted by City’s national prominence. Darren Williams’ side are eyeing a good season themselves behind the goals of new striker Mikey Roberts, a player rumoured to have been on Crystal Palace’s radar last year.

Bullock said: “Our pitch is immaculate and we’re hoping Phil will bring a good team over. This is a prestige game for us and the biggest club that have been here for a long time.

“If we can draw a crowd of 800 in then that’s the equivalent of three gates for us. It makes such a big difference at our level so every extra Bradford fan will help.”

Admission is £6 for adults, £2 for under-18s and under-16s are free with a paying adult.