'Trained like animals': Michael Duff's insight into Bradford City's prized mentality

He liked what he saw at the club’s Woodhouse Grove training ground, which helped explain why the Bantams look set for another strong League One season.

After returning to the team hotel in Yorkshire following the 0-0 draw, City’s squad were back in training on Wednesday morning to prepare for Saturday’s long trip to Oxford United.

Some in the group had less sleep than others, but you would never have guessed.

Duff, whose third-placed side remain unbeaten under his watch - and recorded a third successive league clean sheet - said: "I looked at the group on Wednesday morning because there's a team, a group that trained, that was in the team last night and they trained like animals.

"They've really gone after it. There's been really high intensity training.

"Some from the bench got in during the early hours of the morning.

"It didn’t help that my key in the hotel didn't work and the night porter went AWOL for half an hour at half one in the morning! But I don’t have to run around.

"That's an insight into the group. You know you have to work to get in this team.

"No one's going to get it handed to them in this team, because of what's gone on previously. There are non-negotiables, which I would have anyway, but they're already here.

"You're not going to just turn up, have a jog around and get an opportunity handed to you. You've got to work to earn it."

City’s cachet as a club may speak for itself in lower-division circles, but because they lack the financial resources of many rivals, they remain underdogs at the third-tier level in that regard.

Duff experienced something similar in his successful season at Barnsley in 2022-23 when the Reds reached the play-off final in a division which included Ipswich Town, Derby County, Bolton Wanderers and Sheffield Wednesday.

On the correlations, Duff commented: "It's a completely different group (to Barnsley). I think the mentality of the group (here) is that togetherness, that underdog sort of mentality.

"But it's also having a little bit of ‘we are where we are.' It's not an accident, it's not a surprise. It might surprise a few, but I don't think in the group it is.

"Football's not won with budgets and all things like that. Maybe in the big league it is.

"But there are outliers at this level. You look at Bromley last year and Lincoln. I was at Burnley and we did it in the Championship.

"But you need to have the cultural bit and that's one thing we have.

"We are overachieving and know that. Some may say that we shouldn't be there based on data. You shouldn't be there in the league based on goals scored. But we are."

City may have scored just 10 league goals this term - only three sides in the division have inferior numbers - but there is a considerable flip side.

Their defence has let in just five goals in 11 league matches. It is currently the best record across the EFL.

Summer arrival Jon McCracken has kept eight clean sheets in 10 League One appearances for City, who haven’t let in a league goal under Duff.

All told, Bradford have conceded just once at league level in seven matches since September 1.

Duff continued: "I think they (defenders) are getting a lot of plaudits at the minute. But they want more. Not just the defenders, I mean the team.

"I know we did enough to win the game (at Burton) but Jon made a couple of good saves.

"One thing he has done all season, when he's been called upon, he's been absolutely top."