Phil Parkinson could barely conceal his delight after guiding City to their first promotion in 14 years in their 64th and final game of a marathon campaign.

Not since the famous final-day win at Wolves in 1999 under Paul Jewell had the Bantams climbed into a higher division.

But a stunning first-half display which harvested goals from James Hanson, Rory McArdle and Nahki Wells blew Northampton away in today’s League Two play-off final and left Parkinson in raptures.

Only Chelsea, whose Europa League triumph over Benfica on Wednesday night was their 68th outing of 2012-13, have played more games than City this season in English football.

The 45-year-old Parkinson said: “To score three goals was a dream start and in the second half we were very professional.

“Northampton are a good side but today I thought we were excellent and deservedly won the game.”

Asked whether today’s success compensated for the Capital One Cup final defeat against Swansea, Parkinson said: “It’s more important because it obviously determines the future of the club.

“It was great to get to the League Cup final because of the revenue it brought in but this is what’s all about – this is the bread and butter.

“To get this club up is a dream for us all and we can now enjoy the summer and prepare for next year.

“It was our 64th game of the season and to put in a performance like that is enormous credit to the lads.

“They’ve been outstanding and if ever a group of supporters deserved some success it’s the Bradford fans.”

Parkinson confirmed he is close to agreeing a new deal to stay as City boss as negotations move towards a conclusion for deals for his backroom staff.

He added: “We’ll have the celebrations and we’ll get them out of the way before myself and the rest of my staff will sit down with the chairman.

“Hopefully we can keep taking this club forward.

“I’ve been saying all along that when I put the staff together I said we were going to have to work really hard and work every day and that I’d drive them mad ringing them all the time.

“We knew we were going to have to go above and beyond the call of duty, but that we’d all get our rewards and I’d like to see us sign our contracts at the same time.

“I agreed ages ago with Julian (Rhodes), but I want all the staff contracts done at the same time.

“When we’ve had the celebrations this week I’ll sit down with Julian and Mark (Lawn) and hopefully we’ll get that finished.”