CHRIS Kamara hopes City can still persuade some of their out-of-contract players to stay at Valley Parade, believing continuity is key.

The Bantams are waiting to hear if a number of senior players will renew deals offered to them, having already seen

James Meredith turn down a contract to join promoted Millwall.

Rory McArdle is expected to sign for Scunthorpe, while Billy Clarke has been sold to Charlton and Stephen Darby was released.

But City are still waiting to see if Mark Marshall, Tony McMahon, Matt Kilgallon and Rouven Sattelmaier will stay.

Former Bradford boss Kamara sees logic in keeping a nucleus of last season's team together. He said: "I don’t know the facts but it is important to keep as much of the group together as possible because they were on the verge of automatic promotion and then the play-offs.

"They didn’t quite make it but keep them together and go the following year.

"Look at Middlesbrough the year before they got promoted to the Premier League. They kept the same team.

"Brighton missed out on promotion the season before last but did it this year (with a similar squad). That’s how you get success by keeping that continuity."

TV pundit Kamara, who led City to promotion to the second tier in 1996, is impressed by the vastly-increased numbers turning up to Valley Parade compared to when he was in charge.

He said: "Bradford get a magnificent crowd coming to watch them.

"When I took over as manager the average gate was 6,000 and to see it at 18,000 these days is a testimony to the Bradford public.

"The only way you can keep that going is by being successful. They’ve got another crack at it next year because I hear they have sold loads and loads of tickets and hopefully it will work for them."

Kamara was back at Valley Parade for the first time in almost a decade when he took part in Sky Sports colleague Jeff Stelling's charity walk in aid of Prostate Cancer UK.

He was among the group who walked a marathon from Barnsley's Oakwell ground to Valley Parade, with Stelling aiming to walk 15 marathons in 15 days.

Kamara said: "I've only done the one whereas this was Jeff's 12th on his way to 15. It really takes some doing and I'm in awe of him. I hope he gets the knighthood he deserves!"