The Pressure Starts Here

Saturday 30th January, 1999

The next month is the most important in the footballing history of Bradford City.

It starts tomorrow against Birmingham City, deprived of midfielders through injury and the sale of Chris Marsden to Southampton City’s creative engine could drive the club to victory. Jewell will be happy with a point, Trevor Francis will not. The Blues need to win their home games, all promotion teams do.

On then to Watford, Ipswich and later, West Brom. All at home and all against promotion competitors. Nine points, and depriving other teams of wins, would near cement City into the play-offs and go along way toward automatic promotion. From West Brom on things get easier (Save the visit of Sunderland) but Jewell will want the team to go into those games without having to play catch up.

Three home wins and draws away in the next five games would put City onto 64 points, 21 points off the promotion target many clubs set at the start of the season. Moreover beating these teams would send a clear indication to the rest of football that City have the stuff of promotion and the confidence boost to the players, so often having to suffer the damning of faint praise, would be immense.

Defender Darren Moore (right) plays his last game before suspension as City select from a fully fit squad for the SKY TV game. Lee Mills has been picked out as a danger man ahead of the match and surely Birmingham will be wary of the former Wolves striker. Robbie Blake, an unknown quantity when the clubs met at Valley Parade earlier in the season, could be the real threat.

The club have kept promotion talk down, keeping tension from the team, but now, as the season sorts the men from the boys and Huddersfield, Norwich and Wolves fade into also-rans, the pressure is on.

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