Decade on from a high that has never been equalled

Mention the word 'Chelsea', however, and suddenly the penny will drop as memories of a truly remarkable night in the club's history flood back.

August 22, 2000, was the date when the FA Cup holders, then managed by Gianluca Vialli, came to Valley Parade and were given a footballing lesson.

It was the night when anything really did seem possible for the Bantams as a side who had been competing in the Champions League just a few months earlier were comprehensively beaten.

The final score may have been 2-0, but any doubts as to just how outclassed Chelsea had been came when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, a 15m summer signing from Atletico Madrid, was reduced to punching the dugout roof in frustration after being substituted shortly before the hour.

Dennis Wise, Marcel Desailly, Gus Poyet, Tore Andre Flo, Roberto Di Matteo and Gianfranco Zola were just some of the famous names sporting Chelsea blue that night.

But they had no answer to Bradford, whose fans were left rubbing their eyes in disbelief at some of the stylish football being played by their team.

The summer had seen Benito Carbone, David Hopkin, Dan Petrescu, Peter Atherton and Ian Nolan sign for the Bantams.

All five featured against Chelsea alongside the backbone of the team that had stayed up the previous season, the end result being such that there was a palpable sense of excitement over the future as the fans walked away from Valley Parade.

Alas, it was as good as it was going to get for Bradford with a drab goalless draw with Leicester City four days later memorable only for Rodney Marsh having his head shaved on the Valley Parade pitch.

The previous season, Marsh had dismissed City's chances of staying up – adding the rider live on Sky Sports that he would sacrifice his hair should the unthinkable happen and Paul Jewell's side avoided relegation.

A couple of weeks after the bore draw with the Foxes, a 6-0 thumping by Manchester United then set in motion a collapse in form so monumental that by the New Year it was a case of when and not if City would be relegated.

The coup de grace – or, as my old Chemistry teacher always used to call it 'the French lawnmower' – came at Everton in April, though there was one final insult in store for supporters as team-mates Stuart McCall and Andy Myers came to blows on the field in a 6-1 derby thrashing by Leeds United.

A record of just five wins and 28 points from 38 games told its own story.

Carbone, pictured, who along with Dean Windass had scored the goals against Chelsea on that never-to-be-forgotten night in August, finished top scorer with a paltry five goals.

A season that had started with City flying around Europe to compete in the Intertoto Cup had ended with a crash landing.

Sadly, the ramifications of not only relegation from the Premier League but also the spending spree that had brought in Carbone, Hopkin et al are still being felt at Valley Parade as Peter Taylor tries to pilot a promotion push on a budget that is far from the largest in League Two.

Even so, come Sunday, I, as one of those fortunate enough to be inside Valley Parade on August 22, 2000, will raise a glass to a night that can, even allowing for the chaos and calamity that followed, still be regarded as a genuine 'I was there' moment. Cheers!