Jamie Lawrence today insisted that playing matches again is keeping the City squad sane.

The Bantams beat Hartlepool 1-0 on Saturday with a goal from Tom Kearney, one of the club's five players currently on contract.

The rest must wait for the outcome from Thursday's crunch meeting of creditors before discovering when they will be paid for the first time since April.

But the pre-season win in the north-east showed that the players are determined to keep their minds on football while the politics rumble on.

Lawrence said: "Football just takes all the stress off us at the minute. You have to ignore what's going on behind the scenes and coming to work helps you forget about it.

"What happens will happen and you can't change anything. This is our job even though we aren't getting paid for it.

"We're doing it for ourselves and if people come to watch the game and you're available on a free then they are going to be impressed with you at the minute."

Dutch wing-back Gus Uhlenbeek, released by Sheffield United, has joined the free agents hoping to be taken on by City once they get out of administration. But striker Robert Taylor has been released after three indifferent performances this week.

But Lawrence believes that, despite all the turmoil, City could build a squad strong enough to make a decent impact next season.

He said: "We could be up there challenging to go up next season. All you have to do is be well-organised, believe in yourself and have a little bit of luck as well.

"There are no outstanding teams this year. Ipswich will be up there because they always play good football, but apart from that I can't see anybody running away with it.

"We're coming together and the more games we play the sharper we are looking. We've got a very good balance to the team with a bit of everything.

"If Ashley Ward stays, and hopefully he will, that will give us a cutting edge up front. And we've also got a bit of pace about us which we lacked last year and that can kill teams."

Meanwhile, the hold-up in Benito Carbone's £800,000 pay-off deal is believed to concern the income tax which the player claims should be paid by City.