I LOVE covering the Bantams for the T&A, as football is the sport I grew up with.
The first Premier League season I can remember was when I was five, and David Wetherall saved City’s skin with that final-day winner against Liverpool.
And sometimes I forget the privileged position I’m now in, a quarter-of-a-century later.
When I took our work experience student to Valley Parade in November, I just interviewed Graham Alexander and Max Power like it was nothing special, just my job.
But seeing how my junior colleague was so excited to stay behind to see them and shake their hands, despite the promise of his first family meal since coming home from university, made me realise how many people would kill to swap places with me.
The only slight negative when covering a game is you don’t get to fully bask in the 90 minutes.
Your fingers are whirring away on the live blog, you’re constantly thinking of questions you might ask in your post-match interviews and you’re worried you’ll look down at the wrong moment and miss a key bit of action.
It’s probably healthy to have that element of jeopardy, it keeps you on your toes and stops you from getting complacent, but it all adds up to mean you can never fully enjoy the game.
And that is why I was so desperate to go and see City on Tuesday night against Stockport.
That’s now Colchester, Fleetwood and the Hatters that I’ve done in the last 12 months as a fan and I’ve loved them all.
It helped that City won all those games too, but Colchester there was the banter with the away fans next to me, Fleetwood there was the North Parade madness before and afterwards, while Stockport was the Kop alongside other members of the club’s biggest midweek league crowd of all time.
You don’t get any of that, the core of what makes football so enjoyable, sat in the press box.
And also, not to get too superstitious, but there seems to be a weird divergence between me attending games as a supporter and me attending them as a journalist.
City have not won a game I’ve covered since they cruised to a 3-0 win at Accrington in March 2024.
Since, I’ve reported on the 1-4-5 game at Fleetwood where Alexander played Vadaine Oliver, Andy Cook and Calum Kavanagh up front together, thankfully dustbinned for good immediately after one half of experimenting.
I’ve covered the still-traumatising 5-4 defeat to Swindon, the kind of game that comes about probably once a decade.
Two goals up and cruising, a silly red card, but still 3-1 and 4-3 ahead, before the most sickening of stoppage times.
City hadn’t lost in seven league games when I turned up to Valley Parade a few months ago for an expected home win over Burton.
Of course, Gary Bowyer’s side turned into Brazil in the first half and came away with a 2-1 victory.
Bobby Pointon’s penalty was just a consolation for City in their defeat against Burton at Valley Parade three months ago. (Image: Thomas Gadd)
And three days later, City were brilliant in the first half at Doncaster in the EFL Trophy, the cherry on top being, incredibly, Tyreik Wright’s first goal since that aforementioned win at Accrington 20 months prior.
I started to relax, thinking I’d finally broken my mini-curse, so of course the Bantams collapsed to lose 3-1and left Alexander raging at full-time.
But on the flip side, in and around those three wins over Colchester, Fleetwood or Stockport, I’ve also seen that excellent friendly win over Middlesbrough last summer, and the final day win in 2024 over Newport as City just missed out on a play-off spot.
I’ve not actually witnessed the Bantams lose a game as a match-going supporter since Boro beat them 2-0 in the League Cup at Valley Parade in September 2023.
A bloke called Morgan Rogers scored for the visitors that night, wonder what he’s up to now?
Anyway, zooming forward two and a half years, I loved Tuesday night.
I got to go with one of my best mates from work, Harry, who I’ve not seen socially for ages, and we stopped at the Corn Dolly for a pre-match pint.
A pre-match pint in the Corn Dolly, with mine a Victoria Malaga, the Andalucian city where I used to live a decade ago. (Image: NQ Staff)
I’ve been a few times with my quiz league team, but to be surrounded by all that City memorabilia and the City fans in midweek was a genuinely lovely thing.
The Kop is such a special place too, and I’ve only been in it once before, for that Newport game that ultimately ended in disappointment.
It was great to be part of the atmosphere in there on Tuesday and be right behind Antoni Sarcevic’s cracking winner.
It was also a real treat to see Paolo Maldi… Curtis Tilt produce such a defensive masterclass for 90 minutes too.
Harry and I were singing away, chanting away, shouting at the ref to blow his flipping whistle for full-time, all the classics.
My view from City’s Kop after a job well done against Stockport on Tuesday, (Image: NQ Staff)
And as 20,000-odd fans streamed out, chatting away excitedly, I remember thinking what a fabulous night this was to be a part of.
Now to turn around my ‘reporter form’, which has mushroomed into an ugly two-year winless run.
Mansfield is now the next chance for me to get it right on March 17…
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