The English football league is becoming increasingly competitive. Across all leagues, teams which were once fighting for relegation have proved themselves worthy and are fighting for a place at the top. As a result, football betting odds are becoming increasingly harder to predict.
Nevertheless, fans are continuing to back their teams and are putting money on who they think will be victorious in each league. Could Bradford win League One this season? I took a quick look at the BetVictor football league odds and it’s certainly going to be a competitive battle this season, but I think they’re a good bet to win the league.
Bradford City was founded in the year 1903 and soon became a part of the Football League Second Division. The promotion of the club in the top tier took place in 1908, when they successfully managed to bag the FA Cup in 1911. However, the FA Cup is the only win they can boast of to date.
After the relegation from Division One that took place in 1922, the club spent a total of 77 years outside top-flight football after which they were finally promoted to the Premier League in 1999. The relegation continued from 2000-01 – since then, the club has dealt with numerous financial issues which have brought them to the verge of closure.
Furthermore, the crisis led to two more relegations to League Two. During the 2012-2013 season, Bradford City was crowned as the first team from the fourth tier English football to become a part of the League Cup's final. They eventually lost to Swansea City with a score of 5-0. During the same season, the club made a comeback in Wembley for the playoff finals and subsequently won a promotion to League One with a score of 3-0 against Northampton Town.
However, despite of working hard and making their way up in the world of top flight English football, the club has time and again failed to win promotion to the Championship, especially in the past two seasons.
Bradford City was looking for a perfect end to the season after finishing the job against Millwall at Wembley. However, the football club was not the better team on the day. Despite of their loss, it can be said that the last season was one of the best for Bradford City in a very long time. The club’s greatest player, Stuart McCall, made a fantastic return in the Northern Commercials Stadium and changed the fate of the football club.
It has been a tough couple of years at the Valley Parade as Mark Lawn, Julian Rhodes and Phil Parkinson bid farewell to Bradford City. The football team had only eight players remaining following the decks being cleared at the beginning of last season’s transfer window. Furthermore, there are no scouting records to be found since the departure of Parkinson and his coaching staff to join Bolton as a manager.
It was heart-breaking for every Bradford City fan to see a picture of Parkinson holding a Bolton scarf at the Macron Stadium. Bradford City’s new owners, Edin Rahic and Stefan Rupp, replaced Parkinson with the club legend, Stuart McCall. However, supporters were greatly disappointed with this choice, despite McCall being one of the club’s greatest players ever. Fans were panicking as they believed that Bradford City was not ready for the new season and were thus ready to accept any eventuality. For the Bantams, achieving the playoffs after the 2015/2016 season seemed to be difficult.
The club seems to have regressed in the past season. However, we have to accept that they were going through a transitional phase. With so many departures, things seemed to be uncertain and Bradford City fans knew that the last season would be the most difficult one.
On May 20th, 2017, almost 24,000 Bradford City fans were present at the West side of Wembley stadium to support their club. All eyes were on the Millwall and Bradford teams lining up in the tunnel - what was amazing was that Stuart McCall was at the front of his team, standing tall with pride.
Supporters were roaring as they found another reason to love the living legend, Stuart McCall. The love story between Bradford and McCall began 37 years ago and once again, he was all set to lead Bradford to glory.
The club, board and supporters were exultant. From what was shaping up to be the poorest season in a long time, turned it into a very special season for the team. The arrival of McCall did not prove to be harmful for Bradford as was initially claimed. Under the guidance of McCall, Bradford City turned into a force to be reckoned with. Just a year ago, the club looked very different in terms of names, boardroom and dugout. The winning spirit, team chemistry and sportsmanship fostered by McCall helped Bradford City to keep moving in the forward direction.
Regardless, the special season came to an end with a defeat from Millwall. However, the team took the defeat as a lesson for performing better in the upcoming season.
As of now, Bradford City has set a training camp in Austria and ended the week with a win in Stuttgart, Germany. Stuart McCall gave a 45-minutes trial run to Gordon Greer whose efforts helped the team to win 4-1. McCall played two different teams to give everyone game time and find his best team before going into the new season.
The training camp in Austria seems to have had a good impact on the team’s morale. Stuart McCall promised to put on a good show for supporters coming in to watch their favourite team. After delivering on his promise, he said, “It has been a really good week, and the lads have finished it off well. It was a strong performance from us in both the first half and second half. There was a lot of pleasing individual stuff as well.”
Hence, there are several reasons why Bradford would be a good bet to win the league this season. One of the reasons are the fans of the club. Many supporters travelled all the way to Germany to see their team put in a good performance. This boosted the players’ morale and the manager’s which reflected in the result and the number of goals scored. Furthermore, the team chemistry, determination, ambition and support of the board might just be enough for Bradford City to triumph over other teams.
According to the manager, the team’s performance is a result of training hard. Timothee Dieng, Shay McCartan and Omari Patrick have been stand out performers who have managed to sustain their form pretty well from last season. This is how in such a short span of time; Bradford City have managed to become a fan favourite.
It seems like McCall has managed to streamline the process and get along with the team. The club has been playing fantastic football. It was only a matter of time before they could reach the Championship from the EFL League One. However, some things were just not meant to be. Regardless, McCall and his team are determined to win the league in the upcoming season.