Bantams ready to cash in on Wembley final ‘fate’
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: GERMAN DUO HOPING TO CELEBRATE A YEAR IN CHARGE OF BRADFORD
BRADFORD CITY co-owner Edin Rahic believes the League One play-off final taking place on the first anniversary of the club’s takeover is “almost fate” as he admits the enormity of reaching Wembley is yet truly to sink in.
The Bantams will face Millwall on May 20 with the prize of a place in the Championship – plus a cash windfall of £5m-plus next season – at stake.
For Rahic, who bought City with Stefan Rupp just a few days after the Lions had knocked the Bantams out of the play-offs in May last year, the impending visit to the national stadium for Stuart McCall’s men is one to treasure.
“I was there two weeks ago for the preparation of clubs who have the chance to be at Wembley in the play-offs,” said the 43-year-old, a former left winger considered good enough to be selected by Yugoslavia Under-16s only for two ruptured Achilles to call an early halt to his budding career.
“I walked on the pitch with James (Mason, chief operating officer) and said, ‘I would die to play on here’.
“It has not sunk in yet that we are there. I still can’t believe it. We have built with Stuart and Greg (Abbott, head of recruitment) a squad that is really great, (there are) no bad eggs. We have deserved it.”
Millwall’s dramatic 3-2 victory at Scunthorpe United on Sunday evening as Bradford were easing past Fleetwood Town means two clubs who met in the semi-finals last May will be pitted against each other.
A bumper crowd is expected for a fixture that, for the winner, will be worth an extra £5m from the Football League in solidarity payments compared to those paid to clubs in League One.
Add in a likely spike in attendances – particularly if Bradford prevail due to the large number of Yorkshire derbies in next season’s second tier – and promotion will have a huge impact on finances at either Valley Parade or The Den.
For German-born duo Rahic and Rupp, such a windfall would be a big boost for their plans to drive Bradford forward following last year’s buyout.
It is, however, the tantalising prospect of City triumphing under the Wembley Arch that is fuelling their dreams right now.
“This is a crazy story,” added Rahic, a former finance director at Bosch before becoming a private investor. “May 20 is the first anniversary of our takeover so it is almost fate.
“You have to believe in it. We don’t want to be arrogant, but you have to be confident. We are looking forward to the day.
“A lot of our friends will be coming from Germany. They have been asking me already. I think anything from 200 to 500 people will come from Germany.
“So many are asking me, ‘Can I have tickets?’ I say, ‘Of course you can, but you have to pay for them’. I am a Yorkshire type now.
“Yes, we will have our own German section there at Wembley. They are booking the flights now and we will organise the hotels.
“As for the day, we just have to enjoy it. Anything can happen in 90 minutes – or extra-time and penalties. Who knows? If our players play like I know they have for 55 games, with the same desire and energy and clever football, then we have a massive chance.”
Millwall, of course, will be feeling equally confident. Having qualified for the play-offs in dramatic fashion courtesy of an 89th-minute winner at Bristol Rovers on the final day of the regular season, Neil Harris’s Lions overcame being held to a goalless draw in last week’s first leg to knock out Scunthorpe.
Two goals from strikers with Yorkshire connections did the damage at Glanford Park, former Leeds United man Steve Morison netting twice after Lee Gregory, once of FC Halifax Town, had equalised on the night.
Both games between the playoff finalists finished 1-1 this season, while last term Millwall knocked the Bantams out of the play-offs 4-2 on aggregate after the Yorkshire club had claimed four points from the two league meetings.
Clearly, there is not a lot between two clubs who will each receive an allocation of 38,000 tickets for the final.
Asked about tackling a Lions side who ended Bradford’s promotion dreams a year ago, Rahic added: “Wembley is different, playing in front of 80,000.
“Millwall have two great strikers so we will have to take care, but we have a brilliant defence as well. Look at Fleetwood (who were shut out in both semi-final ties by Bradford). Fleetwood are so dangerous. They can have one chance and they will score.
“They waited for this one chance, but it never popped up. To be fair, if you watched the first game we well deserved to go through.
“At the end, you win it in the head. It is a mental game, it is not about football any more. We have a great chance because this is a winning team. There is such a good bond now. Run your socks off, it is as simple as that.”
MANAGER Stuart McCall has hailed his Bradford City players for bouncing back from the “kick in the stomach” that was losing a popular manager last summer to reach the League One play-offs for a second consecutive year.
The Bantams booked a trip to Wembley for the May 20 final with a 1-0 aggregate victory over Fleetwood Town.
Millwall, the side who ended City’s promotion dreams a year ago, stand in the way of McCall’s men and a place in next season’s Championship.
Victory under the Arch would avenge that semi-final defeat to the Lions, after which Phil Parkinson quit to take charge of Bolton Wanderers.
McCall was named as Parkinson’s successor in June and he believes the players deserve huge credit for how they dealt with last summer’s upheaval.
“It was a real kick in the stomach for the players when Phil left because he was a top manager and very popular,” said the Bradford chief. “For us to come in and have to bring in a new staff etc.
“The (players’) attitude has been spot on. When Kenny (Black, assistant manager) and I walked into the club, I don’t think there needed to be a great revolution – apart from bringing in players. The thing is to create an environment where players want to work, improve and succeed eventually.
“They have taken that on board and been top class. We sat down with the lads that were already here and said, ‘In life, it is about trying to improve on what you have done the year before’. They have done that.”
City’s squad are enjoying a couple of well-earned days off before reassembling for the club’s annual memorial service on the 32nd anniversary of the fire disaster.
Then, attention will turn to Wembley and the opportunity to end the club’s 13-year absence from the second tier.
McCall added: “I told the lads before Sunday’s game, ‘Look round the dressing room and see who’s next to you – do you want to be in the trenches with them?’
“We have got good quality and a desire. They have been a joy to work with all season. It is a squad game and the players who haven’t played have been just as important as the ones who have.
“If you only have 12 to 14 and the rest aren’t doing it in training or pushing you, then you don’t get the most out of them.”