ACHILLE Campion must have a very good diary and a switched-on agent – probably both.

The Frenchman’s name meant nothing to Bradford City fans this time last week until the team sheet was announced for the Blackburn game.

Similarly, mention of Campion would have drawn similarly blank looks for supporters of Sheffield Wednesday, Yeovil and Ipswich until very recently.

But not anymore. It seems that half the country knows what he looks like.

That’s the lot of the “have boots, will travel” trialist. Google shares must rocket this time of the year as pre-season friendly crowds frantically try and discover the back history of the latest mystery man lurking on the bench.

Campion, who finished last season playing for a university college in southern California, kicked off his tour of England with a fortnight in south Yorkshire and appeared for 45 minutes for the Owls at York.

From there he headed south west to Gary Johnson’s Yeovil where he scored against Reading. Unfortunately his personal glory was played down by the club’s refusal to refer to him to anything other than “Trialist B”.

Johnson, keen on the cloak and dagger approach, was pretty miffed when his true identity was revealed.

“There’s always somebody out there who wants to be the person that gives the name out,” he said sniffily after Ipswich picked up the trail. That somebody, as it transpired, was probably Campion himself by highlighting his goal on Twitter.

After a couple of days in Suffolk, the striker bowled up at Valley Parade – and put his headline-friendly name in lights with a hat-trick against Park Avenue.

Whether that proves enough to earn another look from City – or anything beyond that – we shall wait and see.

There is some talk that he is still loosely contracted to a club in Sweden, which brings up the ugly prospect of training compensation. After the Mark Stewart saga, the words “don’t, touch and bargepole” spring to mind.

But Campion is only one of hundreds of trialists who turn up at training grounds through the summer more in hope than genuine expectation.

By my calculations, City have involved 16 so far and Parkinson has not ruled out looking at more on the eve of the new season.

“It’s a tough industry to win a contract,” was the manager’s verdict after watching nine of them put on a creditable collective effort at Horsfall Stadium on Tuesday.

For a team thrown together at the last minute – winger Danny Galbraith had only stepped off a train from Scotland that afternoon – it was a surprisingly cohesive performance.

But then trialists have to turn it straight on, there is no gradual building-up process in the cut-throat chase for those elusive squad spots. Start too slow and there’ll be another hungry hopeful jumping into your spot.

So you get the likes of Campion and many, many others hopping from one club to the next. The SatNav becomes as crucial as their washbag and boots.

It was only three weeks ago that City were playing their first friendly in the Guiseley sunshine.

Ben Alnwick was the goalkeeper for the first half; the following week he was in the net for Blackpool – and a few days later he was putting pen to paper on a contract with Peterborough.

Winger Angelo Balanta was also involved at Nethermoor and then joined City for their week in Ireland. Since coming back a fortnight ago, he's played trial games with Southend and Luton.

Jay Lynch, the former Bolton keeper who played 45 minutes against Ossett Town, had another outing with Chesterfield and is now training at Everton.

The open house policy currently being adopted by the Bantams has caused some consternation among fans.

There is the fear that City will hoover up who they can get just to fill the vacancies in a squad list that contains only 17 names as we stand.

Parkinson has made it clear that any trialist that earns a contract will be more than just bench warmers. Think back to Carl McHugh two years ago and the contribution he made after starting off with a short-term deal.

City are still focused on the loan route but that, as Parkinson has warned from the start, means the long game. Their interest in certain players may be clear but it hinges on if and when parent clubs are prepared to let them go.

The interest in Adam Reach remains obvious although with every glowing reference and goal in a friendly, the winger moves closer to being part of Middlesbrough’s squad for next week’s Championship opener against Birmingham.

What City have to be wary of is jumping in for a trialist or two now and then suddenly hearing that Reach, or another of their firm targets, becomes available when it’s too late.

Of course, they need more numbers – and a second goalkeeper will be sorted – but it’s a fine balancing act.

But they are not alone. Others will be thinking the same as the approaching first league games raise the stakes.

Meanwhile, the conveyor belt of wannabes keeps on churning them out.

For the likes of Campion, Christopher Routis, Reggie Lambe, Mo Shariff et al, every minute counts.