Rugby league has always been the game they play along the M62 corridor.

But the way next season's League Two is lining up, City will spend most of it operating around the M60.

The Manchester motorway will be a regular haunt on the claret and amber calendar with trips to the likes of Stockport, Bury, Rochdale and Macclesfield. Not to mention Accrington Stanley, the local' derby in terms of being the shortest hop from Valley Parade.

It seems the only Greater Manchester clubs City will be missing out on are the good ones.

On the plus side, car drivers can breathe a sigh of relief at the proximity of so many of the away games.

Having too much time on my hands at this time of the year, I compared the mileage involved following City in League One this season with the figures for the next campaign.

Any fan - or reporter - who followed the Bantams to every away game in League One would have covered just under 7,000 miles. They should also qualify for a compulsory sanity test.

But next season, that figure will drop by more than 2,000 miles to a total of 4,900 - and will be 200 less than that if Bristol Rovers get promotion by beating Shrewsbury in this afternoon's play-off final.

Not only will it be saving my generous employers a few bob in petrol expenses (wasn't it honest of me to declare that so early) but it should also guarantee a bumper turn-out at the away end wherever City go.

Like it or not, they are the big fish of League Two and the club that the so-called smaller ones, which is the polite way of saying the regular basement division nonentities, will be desperate to put one over.

And I think that makes a pleasant change, given what has gone on over the last few years. Better to be seen as a someone than a nobody, surely.

The pressure will be on City to live up to that reputation and perform as the rest of the division see them.

But let's not underestimate the Stuart McCall factor, particularly with the impact it will have in the stands.

Suddenly supporting City has become fashionable again. It's amazing how people have almost forgotten relegation since the news broke that McCall was coming back.

Home crowds are expected to shoot up following today's launch of the cheap season-ticket offer, which now looks like a piece of inspired timing on the part of the chairman.

Travelling numbers should also surge, especially with so many games within a 90-minute radius of Bradford.

Look at the geographical spread of League Two and there are only four 400-miles round trips - Wycombe Wanderers and the London trio of Barnet, Brentford and, the one I'm sure nobody can wait for, Dagenham & Redbridge.

Gone are the long hauls to the south coast; the end-of-the-world trek to Gillingham; the M5 caravan-dodging rallies to the west country. Even the raid across the Welsh border is only to Wrexham in the north, rather than the five-hour slog down to Swansea.

Suddenly life as a City fan does not appear quite so painful. Maybe the road to recovery might not be so long and winding after all.

  • Start or join a debate on this issue in our on-line forum - Click here