Bradford City defender has no issue staying motivated

He is already contracted here until the summer of 2025, so has no new deal to fight for, no play-offs to target and no relegation to worry about.

But he is not finding it hard to motivate himself for the upcoming games, starting with City’s League Two trip to Salford tomorrow.

He insisted: “I don’t think it should be any different regardless of your situation, because you’re out there on the pitch to win a game of football.

“That’s the way you have to go out on to the field every time, whether you’ve got a contract or not.

“At the end of the day, you’re fighting for your pride, and I think everyone’s professional enough to know that.

“Even if it becomes mathematically impossible to make the play-offs, you’ve got to go out there and try to win the game for the fans at least.”

Kelly has started City’s last 15 games, his longest run in the team since signing ahead of the January transfer window last season.

Ciaran Kelly struggled to make an impression on Glyn Hodges and Mark Hughes, but the pair put their faith in him more as time went on. (Image: PA.)

The Irishman said: “It’s brilliant from a personal point of view, because that was obviously my objective when I came in, to play games.

“No-one just wants to be sitting on the bench and watching, so to be able to get into the team and be a regular starter for so many games on the bounce is brilliant.

“But I want the team to do well as well, so hopefully we can achieve that next season.”

Kelly seems to flourish as the left-sided centre half in a three, so will surely want to continue playing there with City in the 2024/25 campaign.

It is especially exciting given he has a licence to go forward, and he said: “It’s nice to have the mix, even if defending is still my art, as that’s what I’ve been signed to do.

“But in terms of attacking, it’s no harm to try and help the team going forward.

“Having a mix of both is refreshing and I do enjoy that attacking side of the game too.

“In the previous team (under Mark Hughes) when I was at centre half, I was always asked to step forward and break lines with my passing or make runs, so this role under Graham kind of came naturally to me.

“We all know our jobs when we step up the pitch though, and wherever we play, we know what’s expected of us.

“I’ve played in the middle of the back three too this season, so we just carry out the job we need to do in each position.”

Young Brentford loanee Dan Oyegoke has surprisingly slotted seamlessly into the back three alongside Kelly of late, but the Irishman had no doubts over the natural wing-back’s ability to do a job there.

Daniel Oyegoke is looking at home in a back three. (Image: Thomas Gadd.)

He said: “Dan’s brilliant and he can play nearly anywhere on the pitch.

“Wherever he is on the field, he does a great job and I think that’s the same for everyone.

“There have been positional changes for a lot of people and I think they’ve done well when asked to do a different job.”