Graham Alexander on Bradford City 'realism' – so long as players meet basic requirement

He believes that mindset extends beyond his squad to the terraces.

The Bantams' League Two title push has hit a bump in the road with back-to-back defeats.

At big clubs with high expectations, blips like that can escalate into full-blown crises yet they will have an even bigger crowd for Saturday's visit of Colchester United than last week's 1-0 home defeat to Tranmere Rovers.

A cut-price ticket offer is certainly a factor but manager Alexander argues it is also because fans see the bigger picture of a performance which deserved more last week, a team giving everything, plus realism.

"We've never tried to build up an unrealistic expectation of us as humans, as players, as a team," he says. "We've always acknowledged we can do everything right in our process but still have a tough time.

"Everybody suffers difficult periods in their life and football's no different.

"If everyone looks at their own life and thinks they've suffered hardships but here we are, still competing, still trying to live better lives, I think that's how football teams are.

"I do like the fact I believe the majority of supporters have bought into that but you have to show certain traits to affirm you are giving it your best.

"If you get beaten but you go to the last minute they can see your body language and effort and I think that builds up a belief and rapport – a trust.

"Anyone that's half-hearted needs to move away from Bradford City – supporters, players, coaching staff. I believe I've built up a fully committed group of players and we've got a fully committed fanbase.

"You've still got to try and win when you're not full of confidence and there's no guarantee when you are confident everything's going to work out."

Alexander has worked hard to build a culture at Bradford which showed itself in training this week.

"We just got on with it," he said.

"When we won the Walsall game we just focussed on the next game, we didn't even revisit that game, it was, 'Let's go on to the next challenge.'

"That means when you have negative results you can be consistent in your behaviour."

The Good Friday home game against Notts County will now be played the previous evening at 8pm for live Sky Sports coverage.