Bradford City v Newcastle United under-21s: Graham Alexander on changing times in squad numbers game

The Bantams welcome Newcastle United under-21s in their EFL Trophy opener (7.30pm) and will be without a clutch of first-team players.

The club are awaiting scan news regarding the extent of Aden Baldwin's lay-off after he went off with a hamstring injury early on in Saturday's League Two game at Grimsby.

Among those also on the injured list are Callum Johnson, Antoni Sarcevic and Vadaine Oliver, while Calum Kavanagh is a doubt for City's game with the young Magpies.

Blessed with healthy enough numbers for a League Two club, Alexander - who allowed senior players including Alex Gilliead and Sam Stubbs to move on last month alongside Jake Young - is likely to utilise his squad, with modern-day football dictating that squads possess a wholly different look to when he started out in his playing career in the late Eighties.

Times were somewhat different back then.

Alexander said: "I’ve got a team photo of my first season at Scunthorpe and I think there are about 14 players on it.

"That was the squad. Fortunately enough, it got me games as a young kid, but that was it.

"There were only one or two subs, so you didn’t need to carry too many. But you needed to be robust and resilient as players.

"Now there are seven subs or nine on a matchday in the cup games so you are going to have to carry similar numbers to cover that.

"I think the players have become different athletes to what we were back then.

"I’ve made the analogy before of a sports car and a diesel. I was certainly a diesel….

"I had one gear that could go on forever, but the change of speed was very poor. I wasn’t that dynamic, but I was very robust and resilient and I think a lot of players were back then.

"They are quicker now, they are more dynamic in their movements. But with that becomes a little bit more risk of injury.

"You need to carry more players to overcome those injuries and make sure the level of performance is always high."