David Markham assesses the huge effect the new boys brought in by City have had on promotion

Bradford City have reaped the benefits of some thorough team building last summer.

AS CITY limped through the latter stages of last season, taking only one point from their last five matches, it was obvious that new manager Paul Jewell would need to make several new signings if City were to improve on their mid-table position.

High on his list of priorities were some reliable goalscorers. City had struggled to score goals since they gained promotion through the play-offs in 1996 and the fact that Edinho and Robert Steiner were joint top scorers last season with ten goals each after playing more than 40 matches told its own story.

City also needed a team leader, someone who could inspire by word and example to give the side purpose - and that man proved to be Jewell's first signing.

Ever since Stuart McCall left City for Everton in June 1988 following their failure to gain promotion through the play-offs, he had always promised he would be back at Valley Parade one day.

Many supporters could not wait for City's most popular post-war player to return, but it is one thing making that sort of promise and a different matter bringing it about in the uncertain world of professional football.

However, as the season drew to a close it seemed obvious that McCall's best days with Rangers and Scotland were over.

In fact, he was left out of Craig Brown's Scotland World Cup squad and with a new manager taking over at Ibrox, the older players - of which 34-year-old McCall was obviously one - seemed set to move on.

Although he had another year of his contract left, it had been made clear to McCall that he would only be a squad player in the new manager's scheme of things.

Rangers' Scottish Premier Division rivals were interested and so were Barnsley, when McCall's former Valley Parade team-mate John Hendrie succeeded Danny Wilson as manager. But City had always been his first love and when Jewell swooped the deal was done.

Progress was made when Rangers decided to let City sign McCall on a free transfer even though he was still under contract.

They would have insisted on a fee if he had moved to Hearts, and on June 3 he signed a three year contract with City before meeting the fans at a specially arranged meeting at Valley Parade.

It was an emotional 'homecoming' for McCall who was deeply moved by the warmth of his welcome back to the club that set him on the road to stardom.

McCall also played a part in Jewell's next signing, recommending his Rangers team-mate and former Scottish international right back Stephen Wright.

Jewell signed Wright, who was available on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling, to fill a gap in the side. City had been without an experienced right back since Chris Wilder left on transfer deadline day to join Sheffield United.

Next came a double swoop on Crewe where, after some protracted negotiations Jewell signed left sided midfield player Gareth Whalley for £600,000 and defender Ashley Westwood for £150,000.

The central midfield partnership of McCall and Whalley - who had interested Liverpool among others - has been a key feature of the City team.

Jewell also signed Southampton's experienced former Stockport left back Lee Todd for £250,000, but what about a goalscorer?

A week before the season was due to start City had talks with West Ham about signing French striker Abou. Yet the deal fell through and the day before the first match against Stockport Jewell signed the experienced Lee Mills from Port Vale, who became City's first £1 million player.

Mills' transfer record lasted less than a week when Jewell raised some eyebrows as he paid £1.3 million for Arsenal's 20-year-old reserve striker Isaiah Rankin.

But Rankin has barely figured in City's team in the second half of the season due to the form of Robbie Blake, whose productive partnership with Mills has been a key factor in the push for promotion.

These six close season signings took Jewell's spending to an unprecedented £3 million, while the signing of Dean Windass from Oxford in March has taken it beyond the £4 million mark.

Suddenly, City have had the tag 'big spenders' attached to their name, but as they have won promotion it has proved to have been money well spent.

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