Joe Colbeck today revealed that he wants to play for City again.

The winger returns to Valley Parade with Hereford today – the first time he has been back since leaving for Oldham 15 months ago.

And Colbeck, who was named the club’s player of the year in 2008, admits he still harbours the ambition to wear the claret and amber.

He said: “I would love to come back and play there again one day. I loved my time with Bradford.

“I still look out for their score. As soon as I’ve finished our game, I’m trying to find out how they’ve got on.

“I still feel like I support them and want them to do really well. It would be great if I could play for them again at some point in my career.”

Colbeck played over 100 games for City but left under a bit of a cloud when he rejected a three-year contract offer from the club. The home-grown product was accused of being greedy by some fans at the time but he insists that was never the case.

“They offered me a long-term deal but I didn’t think it was fair compared to what other people in the team were on.

“I think they took advantage because I was under 24 but no player would have taken it.

“I was loyal to Bradford and playing every week. I wasn’t going after big money.

“It wasn’t as though I was asking for thousands of pounds a week. We were scrapping over silly amounts.

“I would have signed if there had been incentives to earn a bit more every year. I did want to join.

“I told Stuart McCall I was happy to stay on a week-to-week (contract) up until Christmas and prove my worth. Then hopefully we could negotiate something better.

“But Oldham came in and wanted to give me what I wanted. It was deadline day and I had to make a big decision in a short space of time.”

Dave Penney, who had rejuvenated Colbeck’s spirits with a loan spell at Darlington, took him to Boundary Park for £60,000 but they had both gone by the end of the season.

Colbeck joined League Two strugglers Hereford in June – and straight away scanned the fixture list for the trip to City.

“I don’t have any regrets (about the time at Bradford) whatsoever. What happened at the end is water under the bridge and it doesn’t change the way I feel about the club.

“I think I got chucked in at the deep end at a very young age. Colin Todd gave me my debut at only 17 and then I learned my trade from there.

“Winning the player of the year and young player is still the highlight of my career. That was the best season I’ve played.

“It’s going to feel very weird coming back, although there aren’t many lads from my time still there. It would have been stranger if Stuart was still the manager.

“Coming to Hereford is something new for me. I’ve moved away from Bradford and settled down really well.

“But I get back up whenever I get the chance and my phone hasn’t stopped ringing all week. I’ve been asking for 30-40 tickets for this game but could probably fill the bottom of the Kop.”