Brad Halliday and Bobby Pointon offered new deals at Bantams

The Bantams have taken up the options with both players to extend their current contracts for another season.

But discussions have already begun to tie them down for the longer term.

Boss Graham Alexander said: “We’ve triggered the options. That was a formality we have to do at this stage.

“But we’ve sat down with both players and their representatives and offered them new, improved long-term contracts.

“We like both players and they have had fantastic seasons.

“Brad’s an experienced player, our most consistent player and won all the accolades. Bobby swept up what was left in his breakthrough season.

“In the last seven games of the season, he really put a marker in the ground, so to speak, and said ‘I’m here to stay’.

“But he’s going to have a tough fight, as they all are hopefully, because we’re going to have a really competitive squad next year. But they have both been fantastic.”

Halliday was named in the League Two team of the year and dominated the club’s own awards after excelling in his switch to right wing-back, where he scored four goals with five assists.

Homegrown product Pointon also netted four times in his first year of senior football, including spectacular strikes in the final two games against Barrow and Newport.

Speaking to the T&A this afternoon, Alexander added: “We want to build our squad around those sort of standards and levels of consistency with Brad and Bobby is flying the flag for the young players to seize the opportunity to break into our first team.

“That’s not a first team that’s floundering at the bottom and just throwing people in but one that is striving to try and be successful.

“He’s handled that pressure at the end of the season superbly well and we want to continue it with both.

Pointon, left, and Halliday both scored four in the season (Image: Thomas Gadd)

“The consistency that Brad has shown throughout the season is the standard that we want.

“We asked him to play in a slightly more advanced role than he’s ever done before.

“I think he’s taken to that like a duck to water and enjoyed that extra responsibility and pressure to really be an attacking force for us.

“He really enjoys his football and playing for Bradford. That comes through when you talk to him.

“We have tied them down with the triggers but we want to make sure we do that for the longer future as well.”

Taking up the one-year option has eased the threat of outside interest for both players while City look to rubberstamp their long-term plans.

“I think it’s a great place to be if other clubs are looking at our players in a favourable way,” said Alexander.

“It means they are doing something good and Bradford are doing something good. I look at that as a positive thing.

“What’s great for me to know is that these boys are definitely ours for at least the next 12 months. Hopefully they’ll agree to new deals and be here even further down the line.”