Bradford City fans have seen a number of fantastic players pass through the doors at Valley Parade over the years.

That stretches back to their Premier League days, when the Bantams really gave something for supporters to get behind with two seasons in the top-flight.

Then there was 2012/13’s promotion-winning campaign and memorable journey to the League Cup final, where they were resoundingly beaten by Swansea City.

You could sit there all day and reminisce about your favourite Bradford player from over the years, but what about those that have passed through the club and not quite had the desired impact?

We take a look back on NINE players that have arrived at Valley Parade and flopped after sealing their transfer…

The way to start is with Bradford’s club-record arrival, who undoubtedly flopped after making the move to Valley Parade from Leeds United.

Hopkin had made a name for himself with Crystal Palace and Leeds, helping the latter on their way to Europe heading into the Millennium.

He was then moved onto Bradford in a multi-million pound deal, but failed to have a real impact at Valley Parade.

In total, the midfielder made 16 appearances for the Bantams and really struggled to have any sort of impact on the Bantams.

He returned as manager quite recently, but didn’t have much success then either.

Scannell started his career with Crystal Palace, making over 100 appearances for the South London side to really put him on the map in terms of the Football League ladder.

A move to Huddersfield Town in 2012 saw the midfielder make a further 172 appearances, with Scannell’s next permanent destination just across Yorkshire with Bradford.

However, Scannell proved to be a slightly underwhelming addition at Valley Parade and he never managed to hit these heights again.

In 2018/19, he scored just once in 24 appearances across all competitions and has since moved on to have spells with Grimsby Town and Blackpool.

Cadete was a player that was really high in profile when he rocked up at Bradford in the year 2000.

The forward had played for Brescia and Sporting, before making the move to Celtic and scoring 32 goals in 38 games in Scotland’s Premier Division, as well as a further seven goals in other competitions.

Bradford signed the Portuguese forward up in 2000, but he made only seven appearances for the Bantams in the Premiership.

In that time, Cadete failed to score a goal for Bradford and never managed to be on the winning side in the Premier League.

The Bantams drew with Aston Villa and Tottenham in two of Cadete’s appearances, but lost the other five.

McGinlay began making a name for himself with Shrewsbury and Bury, with a loan (and subsequent permanent move) to Millwall also elevating him in the English game.

Then, McGinlay moved on to Bolton Wanderers, where he became a real hit.

In 192 league appearances, he scored 87 times, with a further 31 goals coming in other competitions during that spell.

So, when Bradford swooped to bring the forward to the club in 1997/98, there were high expectations.

However, McGinlay made only 19 appearances for the Bantams and scored three goals in a hugely underwhelming spell that saw him fail to live up to the hype.

Guthrie was quite a recent addition at Bradford and features on this list.

Spells with Accrington, Southport and Welling came at the start of the forward’s career, but he became much more prolific upon his move to Forest Green Rovers in 2014.

He scored 19 goals for Forest Green, 13 for Colchester and 19 for Stevenage.

Bradford got their hands on Guthrie in January 2020, but he failed to hit similar heights after arriving at Valley Parade.

Guthrie made only 10 appearances in the league for the Bantams, with a further three appearances coming in other competitions. He failed to score a goal in that time, though.

Anderson emerged at Peterborough United and made a good number of appearances for Posh.

Between 2012 and 2018, he made 97 appearances, scoring eight goals and showing signs of promise.

There was a brief spell on loan with Doncaster Rovers, before moving on to Bradford.

Initially on loan, Anderson made 13 appearances for Bradford and scored once in a 3-2 win over Scunthorpe United.

A permanent move would follow for the midfielder, but he made just another nine appearances for Bradford and score once more.

Overall, it was a hugely uninspiring spell at Valley Parade for Anderson, who moved on to Aldershot.

Brunker had spent a large part of his early career on the move, not turning professional until he made the move to Bradford City in 2018.

At that point the striker agreed an 18-month contract with the Bantams.

Brunker was seen as somebody that was going to come in and compete with Charlie Wyke for the striker role at Valley Parade.

That, naturally, brought a little bit of excitement amongst the Bradford fans, but the German forward failed to capitalise on his first permanent contract.

Brunker failed to score a league goal for Bradford, netting his only goal in October 2018, as Oldham beat the Bantams 4-1 in the Football League Trophy.

Whilst expectation couldn’t have been too high, it’s fair to say that Brunker didn’t exactly excel with Bradford.

McLean was reasonably well-travelled by the time he rocked up at Bradford during the 2013/14 season.

The forward had made 88 appearances for Peterborough earlier in his career, before moving on to Hull City, Ipswich Town and Birmingham City.

Goals had started to dry up a little bit for McLean, but he was still an exciting addition at Valley Parade.

Between January 2014 and August 2015, McLean scored seven goals for the Bantams before returning to Peterborough, before spells with Barnet and Ebbsfleet. 

The forward’s spell at Bradford doesn’t exactly stand out as McLean’s worst spell, but it was still underwhelming on the whole.

Before we start, this is Gray’s second stint with the Bantams.

His first stint at Valley Parade was good, with the striker scoring 21 goals for the club.

He left in 2004, then would play for Sheffield United, Sunderland, Burnley, Charlton Athletic and Leeds United before returning in 2013.

During that second stint with Bradford, Gray made 15 league appearances and scored only once.

That goal came in a 2-1 defeat to Peterborough United, with Gray struggling to replicate what he’d shown during his previous stint at Valley Parade.

Maybe an unfortunate inclusion given his first spell at the club, it has to be said.