The referee for Saturday’s (6 August 2016) season opener against Port Vale at the Northern Commercials Stadium will be highly experienced match official, Darren Deadman.
The referee comes from Cambridgeshire and took charge of 36 matches last season, in the Sky Bet Championship, League One and League Two.
The last competitive match Deadman officiated was Barnsley’s 3-1 win in the League One Play-Off Semi-Final second leg against Walsall en route to the Wembley showpiece.
City’s 1-0 defeat at eventual League One champions Wigan Athletic back in March was officiated by Deadman. Throughout the course of last season, he handed out 101 yellow cards (average of 2.8 per game) and three red cards.
Deadman’s first season as a referee was back in 2003/04 and he made his debut in Woking’s 3-2 victory against Ebbsfleet in the Conference.
The first time he officiated a Bradford City match was in January 2006 as the Bantams were held to a goalless draw by Tranmere Rovers.
His assistants this weekend will be James Bell and Anthony Moore. The Fourth Official will be Wirral’s Steve Copeland.