Bradford City: Bowyer braced for tough competition

The City boss steered Blackpool to promotion from the bottom tier via the play-offs as they bounced straight back up in 2017.

He will be hoping to mount a similar challenge in his first full term in charge of the relegated Bantams.

But Bowyer, who is close to making his fourth summer signing, believes the competition is likely to be stiffer than that he encountered with the Tangerines.

He said: “You only have to look at Leyton Orient and Salford, the teams that have come up, and you know what’s going to happen there with those two.

“The ones who have come down as well – it’s going to be a competitive league.

“I think it’s going to be even stronger than when I was in it last time.”

Northampton Town have been the busiest in the market with seven new recruits, including League One title winner Alan McCormack from Luton Town.

All three sides who came down with City from League One are also expected to be challenging under new managers.

Paul Hurst has taken over at Scunthorpe United and Darrell Clarke is now in charge of Walsall. Plymouth Argyle last week named Ryan Lowe as their replacement for Derek Adams.

Bowyer added: “They are good managers with decent track records.

“It highlights the size of the competition. It will be a really interesting and difficult read, for sure, and it just shows the calibre of managers that are in there.

“I played with Hursty at Rotherham and know him well. He had a wonderful time at Shrewsbury that season and no doubt he will try to emulate that with Scunthorpe.

“The same with Darrell and the success he had over the years for Bristol Rovers.

“It’s going to be tough and, as I keep saying, there’s no God-given right for anyone in the league.

“I watched the play-off final between Newport and Tranmere and that game showed how physical we can expect it to be.

“You’re going to have to be able to compete, simple as that, and we’re just trying to identify the right ones we feel will do that.”