Bradford City must harness thrill of Carlisle to thrive

Clear skies, a capacity crowd and a quietly impressive 2-0 win to round off the 2021/22 season, against a Carlisle side who had humiliated City up at Brunton Park in January.

There was an incredible turnout in BD8 that afternoon, with the official attendance of 18,283 being City’s highest home crowd ever for a fourth-tier fixture.

Granted, it was a special occasion as it marked the Bantams’ memorial fixture for the 37th anniversary of the Valley Parade Fire Disaster, but on the pitch there was nothing to play for for either side, thus showing that City will always have the power to attract crowds.

After the game, Mark Hughes beamed: “People will say it’s a difficult place to play if you’re not playing well but the reality for me is that my experience of the crowd has been fantastic since the day I walked in.

“I’ve had huge support. We’ve been able to work hard to play better here which is clearly going to be massive for us next year.

“We’ve got to be able to come to Valley Parade and turn teams over. If we’re really strong with our home form next year, then that’s going to go a long way as to whether or not we can sustain a real challenge.

“If we get the support that we’ve had since I walked through the door, then that’s not something I’m going to worry about. That will hopefully inspire the players that are going to be here.

“Clearly in the recruitment of players, we are looking for ones who can deal with it and the demands and expectation of the club and the fans. We want them to thrive in that environment.”

And Jamie Walker was announced on a permanent deal just a day after the game, before admitting to the T&A the following week: “To be fair, before the match at the weekend, I hadn’t made my mind up for sure, because I’ve got two young kids in Scotland and one of them’s at school, so it was a big decision.

“But after my goal at the weekend, and the way the fans clapped me off the pitch, it really made my mind up on what I wanted to do.”

Jamie Walker salutes the crowd after the game against Carlisle, who he says persuaded him to stay.

And if City can harness that feelgood factor at Valley Parade and carry it into next season, that could be key to a promotion push.

The early signs are good. Hughes has the universal backing of virtually every Bantams fan, over 12,500 season tickets have been sold already, and there are already plenty of new signings through the door with six weeks until the new campaign starts.

Historically, if City do well at home, you can count on it being a good season.

In 2012/13, City’s famous League Cup final and League Two promotion-winning season, the Bantams won 12, drew five and lost six of their 23 home league games, exactly the same record as champions Gillingham.

That helped City finish sixth, allowing them a shot at the play-offs. Meanwhile, none of the six teams directly below them hit double figures in terms of home wins.

The 2015/16 season saw City reach the League One play-off semi-finals, with the Bantams winning 14 league games at home that term, the joint-most in the whole division.

They did even better the following season, reaching the Wembley showpiece. They may have only had 11 victories at Valley Parade in the league, but they also had 12 draws, thus going unbeaten at home all season.

Charlie Wyke scoring City's winner against Swindon in March 2017, a season which saw the Bantams go unbeaten at home in the league.

But the five seasons after that have been less impressive. In 2017/18, when Stuart McCall was shockingly sacked partway through the campaign, City actually picked up a point more away from home than at Valley Parade.

Only seven home wins the following season saw them finish bottom of League One and be relegated.

The 2019/20 League Two campaign is the only one of the last five where City won more than 10 league games at Valley Parade (11) and that was from only 18 matches, given the season was curtailed by Covid.

Gary Bowyer’s style of play may not have been popular, but between himself and the returning McCall, they had City just four points off the play-offs when the season stopped.

There were just nine home wins in 2020/21, as City could only come 15th, and last term was a shocker, with just six victories at Valley Parade.

There were some real low points too, with the wretched 3-1 loss at home to away-day strugglers Hartlepool in October bringing with it a cacophony of boos, as did the defeat by the same scoreline to local(ish) rivals Harrogate in February, hardly surprising given the nature of those performances.

Matty Foulds looks gutted on that miserable October night when City crashed to an awful 3-1 home loss to Hartlepool.

But successive home wins to round off the campaign against Scunthorpe and Carlisle, the latter in particular, offered real hope.

Any jeers were replaced with cheers, and if City can find that perfect synergy between the players and fans at Valley Parade, which has comfortably the biggest capacity in League Two, they might be difficult to stop.

And as we’ve said, if City nail down that home form, the past has proved a promotion challenge could be on the cards.