Reece Staunton has enjoyed the experience of City’s pre-season training trip to Scotland - after the team returned home earlier today.
As a second-year professional, the camp was Staunton’s first experience of training away from the Bantams’ Woodhouse Grove base.
And, with no less than eight new summer signings within the Derek Adams’ ranks, the 19-year-old has enjoyed the bonding element of the trip.
He said: “It has been a good trip. It has been great to get away and bond as a team, particularly with so many new players in.
“We have managed to get everyone together and have a good time, which is one of the biggest areas of focus on trips like these. It is important for us to build a strong team spirit.
“Last pre-season we did not have a trip away, so all this is fairly new to me as a professional.
“It has been good to get away with the lads and get together for the team-bonding exercises.
“Getting the footballs back out has been good, and is always important in pre-season to get your touches back early on. We are all just looking forward to keeping going over the next few weeks and beyond.”
Having been ruled out with a hamstring injury since late 2020, Staunton is itching to get back out on the field.
The City academy graduate has put in extra hours during the off-season to return to full fitness, and is looking forward to featuring in next week’s pre-season friendlies against Bradford (Park Avenue) and Eccleshill United.
The defender added: “Pre-season has been huge for me. I have been in three times a week - over the off-season - in order to get myself right for pre-season.
“I managed to do that, and get back to full fitness, and now I am just focussed on keeping building on my strengths and hopefully staying as fit as possible.
“I am probably as fit now as I was when I was at the peak of last season, which is encouraging, but I have just got to keep on getting stronger and fitter to get myself back into the team.
“The pre-season games are going to be massive for me, and I am really looking forward to them.
“I have not played now since November, so am very excited for the games having not been on the pitch in a while.”
Staunton is still available to sponsor ahead of the 2021/22 season. For more details, please e-mail commercial@bradfordcityafc.com.