IT HAS taken 11 years and five different clubs but Tom Elliott is ready to wear a City shirt again.

The lanky frontman’s arrival provides much-needed attacking support for the last 20 games of the season.

And Elliott will require little introduction to the training facilities after a pre-season spell at the club earlier in his career.

He was among the crop of trialists that Peter Jackson had cast an eye over in the summer of 2011 after City’s lowest league finish for 45 years.

Jackson signed strikers Mark Stewart and Ross Hannah but Elliott, who had trained with the squad and played in a friendly at Bradford (Park Avenue), missed out when City opted to sign Nialle Rodney instead.

Rodney made just seven sub outings before Phil Parkinson released him six months later. Elliott headed for Stockport and on to Cambridge, Wimbledon and Millwall before signing for Salford two years ago.

But Elliott still remembers that time at Apperley Bridge well.

“I was here for quite a few weeks,” he said. “That was the year Nahki Wells signed.

“The pitches are still the same but the gym and the building have improved a lot.

“I remember Michael Flynn and James Hanson were here and it was a hard pre-season.

“We did a lot of running round the 400-metre track – it was one of the hardest I remember!

“I had just left Leeds at the time and was a bit low on confidence when I didn’t get signed by Bradford. I went to Stockport and that got my career going.

“But it’s nice to be back here and getting the chance to play for Bradford now in front of the fans. Obviously, I was eager to back then but didn’t get that opportunity.

“Now hopefully I can show them what they missed!”

It may still be the same division but Elliott’s first impression is that the mood around the club feels very different from before. So, too, is his attitude as an experienced head coming in for the final 20 games.

“There is a lot more momentum, it’s a younger squad now with a lot more fight in them.

“I was a young boy then and wasn’t used to the pressure of a promotion chase and things like that. I just wanted to play football.

“Now I get all that side of it, fighting for places and wanting to go for promotion. I’m more switched on to that so I’m probably better prepared to be a Bradford player now.”

Elliott has scored four goals from 20 league outings this season – an almost identical ratio to Andy Cook’s when he arrived on loan from Mansfield on exactly the same day last year.

The 31-year-old is another with the know-how of winning promotion, which he has achieved twice before with Cambridge and Wimbledon.

That previous experience has taught him to keep calm during the ups and downs that City are likely to encounter between now and May.

Elliott added: “When I was getting my first promotion at Cambridge, we had a few losses in a row and I was worried we wouldn’t get there.

“But I’ve learned you’ve got to trust in the process and trust in the team. Relax and if you stick to the level of performances, the results will look after themselves.

“It’s all about staying level-headed. If you win, don’t start thinking that you’re going to win the league and if you lose, just look ahead to the next game.

“It’s probably better not to look at the table at this stage and leave it for a gap. We used to split into four games here and there when I was at Wimbledon.

“The gaffer has made it clear he wants promotion. When I heard Bradford were interested, he gave me the blueprint and we had a really good talk.

“Hopefully I can add my experience to the boys and we can go from there.”