Swindon v Bradford City: Bantams are far from the finished product

The Bantams made 20-year-old defender Greg Leigh, released by Manchester City after playing 38 league games for Crewe Alexandra last season, their latest addition earlier this week.

With Paul Anderson and Nathan Clarke having also arrived in the previous week or so, Parkinson’s squad continues to take shape.

The Bradford chief, who is in talks over a new contract at Valley Parade, said: “I am a lot happier with the squad than I was a few weeks ago but I still don’t believe it is a good enough squad just yet. The positive thing is it is getting there but we still have work to do.

“We have a lot of players who are behind in terms of minutes on the pitch. The pleasing thing, though, is we have a good age range. Plenty of the squad are in the mid to late 20s bracket.

There are a lot of things to work on, both for myself and the rest of the staff. But progress is being made.”

City face a tough start to the season with today bringing a trip to Swindon Town, last season’s beaten play-off finalists in League One.

Many changes have taken place at the County Ground since losing to Preston North End at Wembley but Parkinson is anticipating a tough game.

“Swindon had an excellent season so it will be a good test for us so early this time around,” he said.

“As for the division itself, a lot of teams have been talking themselves up this summer but we want to let our football do the talking.

“I haven’t seen a lot of the teams yet but it is going to be another fascinating season.”