CITY and Bristol Rovers may be two of the big boys in League Two – but Derek Adams insists that reputations mean “absolutely zero”.

Gas boss Joey Barton claims that every opponent raise their game against Rovers because playing them is their cup final.

For Adams, playing in front of by far the largest crowds in the division naturally piles that pressure every week on the Bantams.

But as the sides square off at Valley Parade tomorrow, he stressed that big numbers and names are no currency in the slog to win promotion from the fourth tier.

“There’s a lot of clubs in this division who should be up there,” he said.

“You look at the number of clubs who want to get out of this division and it would be into double figures.

“Nobody has got a right to get out of it – you have to work hard to do that. That’s what Bristol Rovers want to do.

“They’ve come down from League One last year and want to get back there and so do Bradford City.

“Reputations mean nothing, absolutely zero – I’ve been there.

“When I was Morecambe manager, I couldn’t care less about any other club we were playing against. Why should I?

“Having big crowds, having big budgets mean zero. It’s what you do on the field that matters.

“You can talk all you want. Clubs need to perform on the field.

“As a football club, we know there’s a lot of money spent in this division. But we’ve got a fantastic following – 15,500 at our last home game – and it only helps create a really good atmosphere.

“But football is played by 11 against 11 on the pitch, end of. It’s not played between supporters or by the size of a stadium or a budget.”

City battled it out for a point at Newport last week to make it successive clean sheets and Adams believes the mindset within the squad is getting tougher.

“When I always looked at Bradford City, they had a soft centre. They were a good footballing side – but good footballing sides don’t always win the division.

“You have to have mentality, game awareness and you’ve got to pick up points at difficult venues to get out of this league.

“I think we’ve shown that we’ve got that in the dressing room. We’re only 11 games into the season but we’re working on it.

“There’s one thing that matters in football and that’s to win a match. Everything else is irrelevant.

“Pick up a newspaper in the morning or listen to the radio, you don’t hear what happened in the game, you hear the result.

“The result is the only thing that matters and we understand that as a team.”

With the talk of possible vaccine passports affecting Valley Parade, Adams confirmed that the players would have to show a negative lateral flow test if the situation demanded just like the fans.

“Everyone will be treated the same,” he said. “The players will have to have a negative Covid test before they enter the stadium.”

City would be the only team in League Two affected by any government clampdown because their crowds are well above the 10,000 threshold. But Adams insists they will not “whine” about it.

“You can’t have it both ways. If you’ve got the amount of supporters we have and you want big attendances, you’ve got to get on with it.

“That’s the protocol that is in place.

“If you want to be a big football club then you’ve got to deal with the consequences of having 15-17,000. It’s just the way it goes.

“It doesn’t matter what division you are in. We have a lot of supporters paying good money to get into the ground and we have to deal with it.

“It’s what the government have put down. It’s just the rules – you have to deal with them.

“It’s like the laws of the game or squad sizes, it’s the same with Covid issues. It’s another hurdle that we have to get over.

“We don’t want to whine about it, we deal with it, we problem-solve and we get a way round it.”

Sam Hornby, meanwhile, is having a protective mask fitted so that he can train while his facial injury heals.

City will again go without a back-up keeper on the bench tomorrow.