Bradford City's more stable transfer window a reflection of quality we already have, says Graham Alexander

Manager Graham Alexander says a more targeted recruitment which reaped Tyreik Wright, Neill Byrne, Aden Baldwin, Callum Johnson, Antoni Sarcevic and loanee Jack Shepherd from Barnsley was not an ideological decision, just a response to a spring which made him believe in his squad.

The season just gone was the fifth in a row in League Two to end without promotion, but finishing with six wins and a draw out of seven encouraged Alexander.

"In January we only brought two permanent signings in, Sam Walker and Callum Kavanagh," said Alexander, appointed in November. "I didn't think I'd had enough time with all the players to assess them. We'd a really strong period when I first came in, then a difficult period.

"It was really, 'Which are they – the first run of games or the second run of games?'

"But I saw enough talent in there and I wanted to assess it and give the squad a bit of breathing space.

"Come the summer we'd had five months and it wasn't a specific thought about how many changes I wanted to make, I just took each individual player on his merits – is this guy motivated to win games for Bradford City? Is he a good team player? Is he ambitious? Is he trying to do the right things?

"If it was a yes he's in that group. A lot I felt were in the 'yes' group.

"In the main part I was looking at good players who maybe just needed a bit of glue and cohesion, a bit of clarity in what we had to do."

Alexander still wants “two or three” more signings but must balance the books and squad to get them.

Last season’s run-in gave him a good base, though.

"It was me saying, 'This is how we're going to play next season,’” he explained. “I used the seven games to see who could do it.

"The results went well against teams who were all in for their games but I think there was less pressure on us. That's what we now have to add into that mix.

"It’s doing it when the pressure's on, whenever everyone expects you to, that's where I feel we have to improve as a club."