Peter Taylor has wasted no time in reminding his City players what he expects from them in the new season.

The Bantams began their annual training slog yesterday with a rallying call from the manager.

City are hotly-tipped as a promotion challenger and Taylor, who has taken three teams up from the bottom division, stressed the point straight away.

Taylor said: “We had a nice meeting before we started just to say what a tremendous and important season we’ve got ahead of us.

“I told the players just to think what this football club will be like if we’re having a brilliant season. So let’s do it right.

“We’ve got a chance but we can’t take that for granted. There are other clubs out there signing players that we’d have been very interested in, so there are others spending good money as well.

“Any League Two team going back to training will have the same drive as us. But we’re looking forward to it and we’ve got a decent squad, which hopefully will still get slightly better.”

Wayne Jacobs and Junior Lewis took the first pre-season session at Apperley Bridge with a full squad, bolstered by new arrivals Tommy Doherty, Jake Speight and Lloyd Saxton.

Taylor is close to adding another player, understood to be long-serving Cheltenham centre half Shane Duff, who is a free agent after ten years at Whaddon Road.

Taylor was content to watch his squad's first day back in business and was pleased with what he saw.

“It was hard work but sensible for the first day. The attitude was first class and the spirit excellent.

“Pre-season has changed over the years and there will be new things but hopefully we get the mix right. This is my first pre-season here and I’m looking forward to it.”

The City chief was also happy with the physical condition of the players after their two-month break.

“I was not disappointed with the body shape of anybody. Nine times out of ten they all come back better these days.

“I think people live better now and they do it right. Players don’t want to spend the first two weeks of pre-season losing weight.

“They want to be in the first team so they’ve got to make sure they are ready.”