Match Thread Bradford City V Wycombe Wanderers Saturday 2nd August 2024 3.00pm (Now with The Voice review)

EFL League One Fixture #1
Saturday 2nd August 2025 15:00
Bradford City vs Wycombe Wanderers
University of Bradford Stadium (AKA Valley Parade)

Record:
Games Won: 6
Games Drawn: 1
Games Lost: 10

Last 5:
19 Mar 2013: Bradford City 1 – 0 Wycombe Wanderers
25 Aug 2018: Bradford City 1 – 2 Wycombe Wanderers
02 Feb 2019: Wycombe Wanderers 0 – 0 Bradford City
04 Nov 2023: Bradford City 1 – 2 Wycombe Wanderers [FA Cup]
21 Feb 2024: Bradford City 0 – 1 Wycombe Wanderers [EFL Trophy]

Wycombe Wanderers:
Far from storied historic opponents of the Bantams, Wycombe Wanderers first played Bradford City in 1993, the former Isthmian League exponents finally emerging from the non-league doldrums the year before. It took successive promotions from the Conference to (the then-named) Division Two, an impressive achievement for the former amateurs. That rise to the third tier of English football was a long and arduous road for Wycombe, but once there, the Chairboys became a mainstay of the Football League.

In 2012, Wycombe Wanderers were formally taken over by the Wycombe Wanderers Trust, a supporters-owned Trust under whom they had a brief fling with the Championship in 2019/20, as well as achieving multiple playoff berths recently (21/22 and 24/25) plus an EFL Trophy final (23/24) in their quest to reach – and consolidate themselves – at a higher level.

Installed at 20-1 to win League One this season, Wycombe Wanderers are implied by the odds as only the 9th best team in the division despite a 5th place finish last time out. Newly promoted Bradford City, for sake of comparison, sit only a little bit behind them as the anticipated 13th best club with odds of 33-1 to win the division outright. It would seem the oddsmakers could not ignore the way last season’s campaign petered out after a blistering start saw Wycombe Wanderers win 11 straight games across both league and cup between early October right through to late November – an astonishing achievement that had the Chairboys sitting pretty at the top of the table 4 points clear of Wrexham and 5 clear of Birmingham City.

As it proved, it couldn’t last. The sheer spending power of both Birmingham City and Wrexham was eventually rewarded with automatic promotions for each, while Wycombe Wanderers’ form settled down towards the end of the campaign. A club that ran out of steam? Perhaps, but the loss of manager Matt Bloomfield to then-Championship outfit Luton Town inevitably played a huge part, and former Sunderland coach Mike Dodds struggled to match up to the highest of standards set by his predecessor for the rest of the season.

Preparing for the new campaign, Dodds has had to contend with seemingly endless speculation and interest in 22 year old hot shot striker Richard Kone after the Ivorian netted 18 goals in his first season in the EFL. Just this week interest has been reported from the likes of Preston North End (with a £3 million bid supposedly tabled), as well as Swansea City and French outfit Toulouse. Kone has come a long way indeed since playing in the Essex Senior League with Athletic Newham as recently as 2024!

Whether Kone will be allowed to play the season’s opener against Bradford City remains uncertain with clubs like Celtic and Luton Town having previously been seen circling for the young forward, and no doubt the speculation surrounding him will be music to Bradford City fans’ ears. With no obvious replacement having already arrived through the doors of Adams Park in terms of goalscoring prowess, Wycombe may have to instead look to 6’4 Swiss forward Bradley Fink who arrived from FC Basel this Summer for an undisclosed fee. Last season’s second top goalscorer Daniel Udoh (8) remains at the club and should factor, while winger Junior Quitirna has made an impressive start to his Wycombe Wanderers career at least in terms of pre-season outings having signed from Crawley Town recently.

Kone, though, will be extremely hard to replace at this level no matter what, and so the questions around a potential departure – and where the transfer funds will be invested should he go for a pretty penny – could reach fever-pitch before the Summer transfer window slams shut on September 1st.

Elsewhere in the Wycombe Wanderers line up, centre back Taylor Allen looks an astute signing from Walsall having scored 10 goals last campaign, while attacking midfielder Ewan Henderson arrives from Belgian side Beerschot having started his career at Celtic. Former AFC Wimbledon midfielder James Tilley might be a familiar face for eagle-eyed Bradford City fans, while former Morecambe goalkeeper Stuart Moore joins from beleaguered Morecambe and will go toe-to-toe with former Feyenoord stopper Mikki Van Sas competing for a first team spot.

In terms of losses, few truly stand out aside from the one prospective outgoing – for which Wycombe Wanderers are still said to be demanding £5 million. However Wycombe Wanderers choose to handle that particular scenario regarding Kone will have a huge impact on Bradford City’s chances this weekend, but we have seen before with high value players that clubs will sometimes refuse to risk injury in favour of the perceived pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Is that the direction The Chairboys will go this Saturday? We will probably only find out shortly before kick off!

Preseason Highlights vs Tottenham Hotspur (2-2)


Bradford City:
Newly-promoted Bradford City will be looking at the new season with a great deal of excitement – and possibly some trepidation. The lay of the land in League One has changed dramatically since The Bantams last trod these hallowed turfs, with clubs spending ever more on transfer fees and wages in a bid to compete for a spot in the money pit that is the EFL Championship.

Bradford City haven’t exactly gone out and ‘done a Wrexham’ this campaign, but they have made multiple changes to the squad that finished 3rd in League Two last season. In comes one of League Two’s best-performing wing backs in the shape of Josh Neufville from fellow promotees AFC Wimbledon, while Stephen Humphrys’ arrival from Barnsley has been warmly received. Will Swan (Mansfield Town) and Jenson Metcalfe (Everton) are the only two players to command a fee – both arriving for undisclosed sums – but there’s been some astute work to bring in the likes of Kilmarnock centre back Joe Wright, Stockport County’s reliable Ibou Touray, as well as midfield veteran Max Power who returns to England after a foray in Denmark with AFG Aarhus. The likes of Matthew Pennington (Blackpool) and Curtis Tilt (Salford City) round out the signings, while the club’s biggest decision the other way undoubtedly revolved around letting club captain Richie Smallwood deport for pastures new. Fan favourite Jamie Walker’s departure was probably expected, while Romoney Crichlow’s exit is perhaps the other one beside Smallwood to raise an eyebrow or two.

In terms of squad strengthening, there’s little doubt the incoming players are generally of a higher quality than those that have departed, and this has lent the club a more League One-ready look. Whether that is enough for Bradford City to compete at the top end of the table remains to be seen, but the optimism will likely remain in place come Saturday afternoon. A host of new faces and a new club captain in Power will surely compensate for early injury concerns for the likes of Joe Wright, Neill Byrne, Ciaran Kelly, Alex Pattison, and Tommy Leigh – with the latter two potentially in the frame for an appearance against Wycombe Wanderers, but the former three likely out for a longer period.

Bantams fans will no doubt have one eye on how Max Power fares replacing the defensive-minded Smallwood, and what protection the midfield will provide the new-look defence, as well as how Humphrys and Swan will slot in to an attack led late last season by Calum Kavanagh in lieu of Andy Cook after his ACL injury. Bradford City do look a little light up front, though they retain plenty of options in attacking midfield, not least with the ever-popular home grown Bobby Pointon likely relishing the chance to ply his trade at a higher level for the first time, and with George Lapslie looking to make even more of an impact with his excellent late runs into the box despite largely being a bit-part player.

Preseason Highlights vs Middlesbrough (2-0)

 

Prediction:
Predicting the opening game of the season is never an easy task, not least when one of the two sides has recently changed division. Bradford City will be buoyed by last season’s success, and Valley Parade should rightly be bouncing. The positivity has continued even recently with the announcement that Graham Alexander and Chris Lucketti have both signed new 3 year contracts, making for a well-timed lead-in to the new campaign.

None of that makes this game any easier, though. Even the potential absence of Wycombe Wanderers’ best player, Kone, must be tempered by the fact that Wycombe are a good League One side who have signed some quality players who can contribute to their goal tally this season from all over the pitch. That their new forward, Fink, is an unknown quantity at this level makes for a degree of intrigue of its own, and at 6’4 and having scored already in pre-season, he might be a tough player for City’s backline to get to grips with.

But who knows how the former Borussia Dortmund U23 will perform, or if Kone will actually get a start regardless of the transfer speculation? With that said, settling on an outcome here will involve a great deal of guesswork, as well as an honest appraisal of where Bradford City are and how they have performed in preseason.

Set up as a hardworking team adopting their now-familiar 3-4-2-1 wingback formation, Alexander’s City side will surely be prepared to put their bodies on the line in an effort to frustrate the Chairboys, and at least at this early stage I would suggest that might be a good way to go.

At home, Bradford City were utterly prolific in terms of results last season, and they must hope they can continue to make Valley Parade a fortress again this year. It’s hard to expect a side to rock up and walk all over City with morale remaining high and optimism pumping throw the veins of both fans and players alike, but it’s also hard to see City being quite as effective on home soil given the calibre of opposition that will be visiting this campaign.

The pick will be a cautiously optimistic 1-1 draw, a result that City fans should greet warmly. A win would be utterly fantastic, but perhaps Bradford City aren’t at their strongest just yet with a few players missing and no game-changing loans having yet joined the fray at BD8.

Final Score:
Bradford City 1 – 1 Wycombe Wanderers