'It was a team that could play - but we could also handle ourselves'

The Bantams boss has chosen his “six of the best” games, both home and away.

We kick off with three of his nominations from Valley Parade.

6) May 14, 1983: CITY 3 (McCall, Jackson, Ellis) HUDDERSFIELD 1

“The Kop used to be split in those days and the right-hand side would be for the away fans.

“But Huddersfield had been promoted and they were given that whole terrace. I think they had over half of the crowd with their big following.

“We’d started fielding a lot of young players in the team since Trevor Cherry had come in, the older ones were being phased out. It was probably for finances as much as anything.

“Huddersfield were our big rival at the time. Leeds were miles away and in a totally different league.

“It was my first taste of a derby and I managed to score early on in the game. I watched it the other day in black and white somewhere!

“I made a forward run from midfield and Dave Hill put me through. It was going towards the Kop.

“Then Jacko (Peter Jackson) scored from a corner and although they got back to 2-1, Mega (Mark Ellis) made it three with a header from Greg Abbott’s cross.

“That summed up the young group that was coming through. All the young lads had contributed.

“You learned straight away that you couldn’t lose derbies. Huddersfield were already celebrating because they were going up and we wanted a taste of that.

“When you play against teams who’ve had success, you come in afterwards and say, ‘right, that’s the template for next year’ and that’s how it turned out. That win gave us the confidence going into the next season.”

5) September 26,1998: CITY 2 (Watson 87, 89) BARNSLEY 1

“This was special for Flash (Gordon Watson) after the injury hell he had. He came on late as a sub and scored in the 87th and 89th minutes to earn us a great win.

“Barnsley may not be a derby as such but it’s still all-Yorkshire and there was always a great atmosphere when we played. Valley Parade felt like a full house.

“Ashley Ward put them 1-0 up and then they got little Darren Bullock sent off.

“Jagger (Paul Jewell) took off Stephen Wright to bring on another striker and put me to right back.

“I remember traipsing over there thinking, ‘what’s he doing? I’m not going to be able to get us back in the game from here’.

“But it was good management. I had more kicks at right back in the last 20 minutes than I did in the rest of the game.

“Because we had the extra man, the play was starting in the full back areas.

“Fair play to Jags, he wanted another forward on and put me out there to get a lot of ball.

“Going towards the Kop, the noise was incredible and you could feel it was coming.

“I remember the first goal, playing a couple of one-twos and it went through to Flash to score. Then he scored again and it felt brilliant.

“I think that gave us the belief and momentum. We were 15th at the time but that really kicked us on for the rest of that season towards promotion.”

4) April 30, 2000: CITY 3 (Beagrie 43pen, 50; Windass 83) WIMBLEDON 0

“It was the second last home game and one we had to win. Wimbledon were above us in the league and if we’d lost, that would have been us down.

“I was lucky enough to play 998 competitive games and would probably say that two were won in the tunnel.

“One of those was Scotland v Sweden in the World Cup in 1990. We were just angry Bravehearts roaring with our teeth out!

“The other one was that day against Wimbledon when it all kicked off with big John Hartson.

“He had tried to drum up his troops for the battle but they had a lot of foreigners because Egil Olsen was manager at the time and they didn’t want to know.

“He was shouting that we didn’t fancy it and put a knee in my undercarriage. Jakes then came over with a haymaker on his chin.

“We had some strong characters there. It was a team that could play but we could also handle ourselves.

“The corridor at Bradford is so narrow and as John turned round for some support, four or five of their lads had gone back in the dressing room and shut the door!

“Not only that, but Jeff Winter, who has become a good friend of mine being a Rangers supporter, booked Hartson in the tunnel. He was already on a yellow going on to the pitch.

“He must have been wondering where his team had gone while I’d been backed up by everyone.

“Beags scored two and Hartson’s head had gone with his own team. It was no surprise when he got another yellow and it ended up a comfortable 3-0 win."

Find out which are McCall's top three home games in the Telegraph & Argus on Monday.