STUART McCall insists City still have the experience to build a team around despite the predicted exit of many established names.

McCall had not held out much hope on keeping the out-of-contract players at Valley Parade.

Yet he believes the older heads who remain still provide a strong nucleus for the squad that will be rebuilt over the summer with a younger age group.

McCall said: "You've still got Romain Vincelot, Colin Doyle, Nat Knight-Percival and Nicky Law – they've all played a lot of games in their career.

"In an ideal world, if you had a successful team you'd be handing out three-year deals and really build on it. But that's football these days and you've got to accept it.

"The two biggest things for management is recruitment and after that getting the best out of what you've got.

"Whatever your budget, just get the most from it. It's a challenge but it doesn't concern me that we've got a lot of holes to fill.

"You want to keep your team together, of course, but with the experience of Kenny (Black), myself and Greg (Abbott), we know what to expect.

"It happens in football, especially lower down when you only get one or two-year deals. You get a big changeover with the cycle."

Chairman Edin Rahic, who put to bed doubts over McCall's future in a joint club statement earlier this week, has said City will not be rushed into making signings.

The Bantams manager accepts they may have to bide their time for the main targets and said: "You can go the other way and you're panicking. You make an early buy and then regret it.

"A month later and you suddenly find someone available who is better in that position. You really want to get the ones who are top of your list, even if you have to wait.

"Romain was a good example because he wasn't available at the start. I was up in Scotland and you get little snippets from agents about Coventry. But it was only when Greg rang me about him."

McCall inherited a squad with plenty of holes to fill last year after Phil Parkinson had left for Bolton. He also had to start again at Motherwell when half the team that had finished second in the Scottish Premier League then moved on.

He recalled: "We'd finished with a (club) record points total of 63 and lost seven first-team players. That's when I had the chance to join Sheffield United and people said I was crazy not to go. But I thought I'd give Motherwell a bit of loyalty.

"They all got good moves but we had to change half the team, not just the squad. To be honest, I don't think we recruited as well but we ended up with 70 points, beating our record. It was unbelievable.

"Most clubs now will only have eight or nine senior players on the books at the moment. But as I said right from day one, the players we inherited were good, experienced professionals. We will still be left with some really good ones now."