HERE’S a sentence that should make you sit up and take notice.

Bradford City have just spent around seven or eight times the amount of money compared to Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham combined.

Seriously.

The January window is always the most difficult market of the year – 31 days of clock-watching induced anxiety where the sellers can inevitably call all the shots.

Hence the fact the Premier League’s big six kept their hands in their pockets.

The total outlay between them last month? A princely sum of £40,000 – or one day’s work in Paul Pogba’s case.

The 15th year of the mid-season window pretty much proved a no-show throughout the Premier League.

Saido Berahino, that staple of bored Sky Sports reporters around this time of year, finally got his move out of West Brom.

The most Googled name on deadline day? Marvin Emnes, who went on loan from Swansea to Blackburn.

The ‘magic’ of the Premier League transfer window was in perilously short supply.

But that’s not the case at Valley Parade, where fans are still coming to terms with the biggest transfer deal in a generation and a late flurry of business that only seems to happen to other teams.

City supporters are generally underwhelmed by the January window. I should know, having to write the ‘as it happens’ transfer blog building up the breaking excitement to news that Gary MacKenzie has signed from Blackpool’s reserves or Matty Dolan isn’t coming from Middlesbrough until next week after all.

This season was always going to be a bit different because the Football League had been dragged into line with the rest of FIFA after the scrapping of ‘emergency’ loans.

Last year, the most significant deal for the Bantams came a week into February, when Phil Parkinson signed a young lad from West Ham. And Josh Cullen continues to rule the midfield roost.

A maximum 93-day emergency loan could see you through to the end of the play-offs, as in Cullen’s case.

But this term clubs no longer have that safety net – once the January window slammed shut at 11pm on Tuesday, that was it for the season.

It made the last month a bit of a step into the unknown among the lower leagues. How much do you shuffle, stick or stock-pile?

City have almost reinvented as the owners continue to stamp their mark on the club. It made for arguably the most dramatic mid-season that Valley Parade has experienced.

Six players in, six players out and a changing of the guard as the philosophy of bringing in and developing younger players, encouraged by Edin Rahic and Stefan Rupp, starts to become clear.

The biggest shockwave came from James Hanson’s departure, the Co-op’s most famous former employee taking the “fresh start” at Sheffield United when a new contract deal was not forthcoming.

City got good money for a player who could have gone for free in June – rising to over £200,000 if the Blades go up – but he left big shoes to fill.

Step forward Charlie Wyke, who has been scoring goals for fun with Carlisle.

He has swapped one promotion push for another as City’s German owners backed up their promise of funding with a £250,000 outlay.

I had not quite started at the T&A when the Bantams last splashed out more than that for Ashley Ward in August 2000; many young fans won’t have even been born.

But alongside that immediate ambition to strengthen the current position is the goal to create a younger squad to build, improve and, maybe, sell on.

As well as the here and now, there is that investment for the future. City are also thinking mid to long-term.

That’s why they bought Alex Jones from Birmingham, another young forward with pedigree after netting 11 times for Port Vale.

He has signed for the next couple of seasons – as has Huddersfield rookie defender Jacob Hanson, who again came for a fee.

Alex Gilliead, Kevin Toner and Matt Penney continue to bring the average age down – but City have the confidence to back them.

The window has provided a glimpse of the new era that the change at the top have spoken about.