FourFourTwo's Bradford City season preview 2023/24 - can Mark Hughes get over last term's play-off defeat and challenge for automatics?
(Image credit: Getty Images)
The Bradford City season preview 2023/24 is demanding, with nothing but the play-offs expected.
Tying down top goalscorer Andy Cook was great business by Bradford City, but it’s a topheavy squad that was carried at times last year by a handful of star individuals.
They must forget the League Two play-off semi-final defeat to Carlisle United quickly, with midfielders Kevin McDonald and Alex Pattison snapped up by manager Mark Hughes in a bid to get to League One.
Bradford City season preview 2023/24, the fan's view: Jason McKeown
Last season was a big improvement but ultimately very disappointing, with a play-off semi-final defeat to Carlisle. It felt like a missed opportunity: the squad looked capable of reaching the automatic promotion places, but every time the team got close to contention, they couldn’t take that next giant step.
I won’t be happy unless we finish in the play-off berths. With Mark Hughes in the final year of his contract, a top-seven spot has to be the goal, even if League Two looks tougher this season due to big money backing the promoted clubs and sides such as Gillingham getting financially stronger.
Our key player will be Andy Cook. We feared that we’d lose him following his 31-goal haul, but instead he’s signed a new three-year contract. Last season, Cook scored or assisted more than half of our league goals. He’s vital.
Andy Cook of Bradford City (Image credit: Getty Images)
Look out for Bobby Pointon, 19. He’s attracted glowing praise, from Hughes included, after successful loan spells.
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Our most underrated player is Brad Halliday, a decent, solid right-back who lets nobody down.
The active player I’d love to have back is Elliot Watt of Salford. We lost him last summer after he’d shown very good form under Hughes, then he had an excellent campaign at Salford.
The pantomime villain will be Jonny Williams, for sure! The Welsh midfielder will be an unpopular visitor to Valley Parade, after he was about to sign for us this summer but changed his mind at the last minute. He was apparently sitting in a hotel, paid for by Bradford, when he made the U-turn and moved to Gillingham instead.
Mark Hughes is the manager of Bradford City (Image credit: Getty Images)
The thing my club really gets right is cheap season tickets, in a city with a lot of economic and social problems.
The one change I’d make would be to buy back Valley Parade. We pay an awful lot in rent each year, and that’s money that could be invested into the team and our infrastructure.
The fans’ opinion of the gaffer is that he must be less cautious at times. He’s done plenty of good, and tries to play good football, but his management of the play-offs has hurt his standing with the fans. He got some big calls wrong.
We’ll finish 7th.
Season previews for the Premier League, League One and League Two are all available HERE
Ryan is a staff writer for FourFourTwo, joining the team full-time in October 2022. He first joined Future in December 2020, working across FourFourTwo, Golf Monthly, Rugby World and Advnture's websites, before eventually earning himself a position with FourFourTwo permanently. After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism and Communications, Ryan earned a NCTJ qualification to further develop as a writer while a Trainee News Writer at Future.
