As he prepares for his return to English football, Bantams midfielder Nicky Law says City are ready to face whatever challenge is put in front of them by a new-look Port Vale side this opening weekend.
Stuart McCall's Bantams kick off their 2016/2017 campaign on Saturday (6 August 2016) with an eagerly-anticipated opening game against Port Vale at the Northern Commercials Stadium.
After sealing his return to City over the summer as McCall's first signing back in charge, Law, if selected, is set to play his first competitive game south of the border on Saturday since leaving Rotherham United for Motherwell in 2011.
While Law may have been away from the EFL for a while, opponents Port Vale are expected to have a number of players in their squad who have no previous experience of English football at all.
Following the arrival of former Leeds United defender Bruno Ribeiro as their new manager in the off-season, Vale have brought in thirteen new signings including players from Sweden, France, Portugal, Holland and Curacao.
Law said: "We’re expecting a tough challenge. Obviously we’ve done a little bit (of research) on them in the weeks gone by with the staff and things like that. They’ve made wholesale changes to the playing squad and they’ve made changes to the staff like ourselves, with the new manager; we’re expecting a tough challenge.
"Looking at them, they’ve signed a lot of players, and a lot of players maybe unknown to ourselves from abroad and things like that. It’ll be interesting to see what they’re like when they turn up on the day.
"The message from us has just been to focus on playing our own game, and to put our own stamp on the game. We feel that if we play to the levels that we’ve been producing on the training pitch, then we’ll be a match for anybody.
"It’s going to be a little bit strange this weekend, it’s my first game competitive game down here in five years. I’ve been keeping an eye on the English game but probably not as much as I did before when I played down here.
"The players and managers and things like that are a little less known to me now, but sometimes that’s not a bad thing, there’s nothing wrong with that.
"There’s a lot more games down in England that what we played up in Scotland, so that will take a little of bit of getting used to again, but I’m really looking forward to it and obviously being back here at Bradford which is a club close to my heart.
"Obviously I’m playing with the manager again in front of the fans that we have and hopefully there will be a great turnout at the weekend.
"I just can’t wait to get started."