City equalled a 29-year low when they ended last season by trailing in 14th.

An unbeaten six-game run in the final month, including four wins in the last five, added a bit of polish to a forgettable campaign.

But they still wound up in the club’s lowest league finish since 1981.

Let’s hope that is an omen.

That team from three decades ago dusted themselves off from the disappointment – and 12 months later won promotion in second spot.

Within three years, City had gone up again.

Bobby Campbell was the figurehead forward from that era. City’s record scorer with an unrivalled 137 goals – the only player in club history to break three figures – netted for fun.

The battering ram from Belfast scored 19 times in 1980-81 and then 24 to lead the Bantams out of the basement division the following season.

His physical style was perfectly suited to the rough and ready demands of the bottom league. And he believes nothing has changed.

“It’s horses for courses,” he said in a rare interview to the T&A. “You need someone like myself or John Hawley in the lower leagues.

“Then, when you get higher up, you look to players with more mobility.

“But for now you’re up against big physical teams and you’ve got to match them.

“You score a lot of goals from set-pieces. When I played for Bradford I guarantee a third of my goals came from free-kicks and corners.

“Barry Gallagher used to score loads. We always knew there was a chance when we had a set-piece around the box, especially if you did them quick and before the opposition was organised.

“I was never the fastest but my arm was long enough to hold the other guy off so I could get to the ball first when it came over. That’s what you’ve got to do.”

Campbell reckons that Peter Taylor, with his proven track record as a manager in the lower divisions, ticks all the right boxes to emulate that success from the early 1980s.

He added: “I think Peter is just the sort of manager that they need. He’s always been a good coach and had a good record, especially at this level.

“He’s done a half-decent job already and if he can get something organised at Bradford, I’m sure they will be okay. I think he’ll do very well.

“It was a great thing they did a couple of years ago with the season-ticket deal. It’s better to have someone sat in the seat paying less than nobody there at all.

“They’ve got a 25,000 seater but it’s a long time since they had 25,000 there. But if you get it half-full at least then the atmosphere’s good and they will really get behind the team.”

Campbell remembers playing against Taylor at Crystal Palace as a teenager – a night which finished with him kipping at a fan’s home.

The striker was on loan at Halifax from his first club Aston Villa, who were due to face Norwich in the League Cup final the following day.

Campbell recalled: “Peter was the top man at Crystal Palace at that time just before he went off to Tottenham. Terry Venables was the manager.

“I was only 18 and had been in the Villa team but suffered a bad spell and went off to Halifax for my first taste of West Yorkshire.

“We went down to Palace on a Friday night before the cup final and drew 1-1. This kind Crystal Palace fan put me up for the night.

“I was in the players’ bar afterwards and told him I was going to Wembley the next day. So he invited me to stop at his house.

“He didn’t live too far from the ground and we ended up getting through quite a few drinks!”

Campbell would love to see City fans sinking plenty this time next year. He still remembers with huge affection his own successful exploits.

But, like any hungry goalscorer, he feels his final tally should have been higher – and fingers one particular team-mate for that.

“I scored 26 goals when we won promotion (in 1985) and John Hendrie had one assist to me. If he’d learned to cross the ball occasionally, I’d have got 50!”