'I'd rather be busy than bored' - Bradford City boss Graham Alexander on staying occupied in off-season and prospect of early signings at League Two club

That’s when the League Two play-off final takes place at Wembley and if the Bantams had timed their late-season play-off charge a little earlier, there is every chance that they could well have extended their campaign after only just missing out on a ticket for the end-of-season lottery.

Instead, City have extra time to prepare for 2024-25 and one thing is for sure, Graham Alexander is planning on putting it to good use.

The workaholic Bantams chief will afford himself less than two weeks’ holiday as he bids to truly shape the playing side of the club in his own image after arriving last November.

On planning ahead and being kept busy in the off season, Alexander, whose side were unbeaten in the final seven matches of season and took 19 points from a possible 21, said: “There’s so much more to this role than what the public see.

"I’m used to it. I’ve been doing it for 10 years now and very rarely have I had more than 10 days off in a summer.

"It’s always been about recruitment, trying to work out training pitches and making sure absolutely everything is ready for players coming back on day one.

"It’s so important that we start off on the right foot in a professional and ambitious manner. If you’re not prepared, then you put yourself on the back foot.

"I know it’s difficult sometimes. Bradford may have been a victim of that last year being in the play-offs and having a shorter summer.

"If you leave things to the (high) summer, it’s too late. I’d rather be busy than bored."

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The club have already announced their retained list and recruitment meetings have already taken place regarding targets in the summer window with Alexander in close contact with head of football operations David Sharpe and head of recruitment Stephen Gent.

If things drop into place, Alexander will like to make some early strikes in the market, but he also acknowledges the value of patience.

On the benefits of early signings, he commented: "It’s important. But I also think it’s important you have patience to sign the players who you know will take you forward.

"There’s a patience there. We have a clear idea of the profile of the player we want. We’ve got names for some of those players, but not all of the positions.

"So it’s a case if that player is still available and he’s our first choice, but he’s not here for the first week of pre-season or so forth, but we still have a really good opportunity to get him or we think that, then we are happy to be patient.

"It’s not about just making sure we have the 22 or 23 players in place from day one and that we’ve gambled on a few just for that purpose.

"We have to win games over a ten-month period. So I am not going to rush things to get them in by the first day.

"If we feel it’s the right player, then we will work exceptionally hard to make sure that happens.”