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After securing promotion back to League One, Bradford City were expected to struggle this season but the Bantams are off to an incredible start already and just registered another massive win.
It was a thrilling League Two campaign in 2024/25, with Walsall falling away and Bradford City clinching the third and final promotion spot on the final day of the season.
Graham Alexander has been busy this summer restructuring his squad to prepare for life in League One with ten new additions, all without spending a penny.
We had tipped Bradford for a relatively successful season in our League One predictions for 2025/26, but even we wouldn’t have guessed they’d be sitting in fourth place after four games unbeaten at the start of the season.
Sam Walker reflects on ‘positive night’ for Bradford City
Bradford’s latest win, a stunning comeback to leave Stockport County bewildered, was perhaps their most impressive result yet. Even better, it comes just days after securing a win against another hotly-fancied side in Luton Town.
Despite being 1-0 down at half-time, the Bantams rallied in the second half and quickly equalised, before going on to grab a winner with 20 minutes to go. Then, in the dying moments, goalkeeper Sam Walker pulled off what will surely go down as the save of the season to protect the three points.
Speaking after the game, Walker was full of praise for his colleagues, saying: “It’s what we work for. We pride ourselves on clean sheets as a defensive unit, that’s what we want first and foremost. But I think it’s really important to remember in games, particularly as we’ve stepped up a level, teams are going to get chances, and there will be goals that go in.
“As soon as we went 1-0 down, my focus shifts to, ‘right, let’s stay in the game as long as we can’. We were all quite pleased at half-time that we were only 1-0 down as that gives us a platform to go out in the second half and really dominate them.
“For 30-35 minutes we were right on top of them and deservedly got our two goals. The front lads were brilliant and tireless. I can see it in every game. The running and the pressing that these guys do is unbelievable. The lads that came on had big contributions, too, and that’s what we’re about.”
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Bradford City quick out the blocks in thrilling start to life in League One
Obviously, it’s early days in the League One season, and it would be unwise to read too much into any team’s success or failures at this stage.
For instance, Plymouth Argyle are in the bottom three as things stand, with fans starting to question Tom Cleverley and his players.
Meanwhile, Stevenage are top of the pile and have won all four games. After a 14th place finish last season, that would have been unthinkable before the campaign began, but it will be interesting to see if they can maintain that now.
For Bradford City, however, these early signs of success do suggest this historic club could have an exciting campaign in 2025/26. All things considered, this is a huge football club that has all the infrastructure needed to go on and achieve promotion in the next couple of years.
We’ve seen back-to-back promotions a lot in recent years. Could Bradford follow in Wrexham’s footsteps and take League One by storm this season?