Stuart McCall today warned Bradford City's First Division rivals: We've had enough of getting sand kicked in our face.

The ultra-loyal City skipper is slogging through his 21st pre-season ahead of a campaign many expect to be his last.

And as he trained in Northern Ireland for tomorrow's opening friendly against Glentoran, McCall issued a rallying call to make sure he finishes his career with a bang.

McCall, 37, said: "We had two great seasons in the Premier-ship, and you can't take away the experience of playing Liverpool and Manchester United, but sometimes you went into games just hoping for a shot at goal.

"You can have enough of getting sand in your face and it's no fun for anyone getting beaten every week.

"But you listen to certain people going on about it and they seem to think we will be happy with mid-table this season.

"I'm not looking at it like that and I don't think anyone in the club is. We are positive in every way and hoping for a real push.

"Look at teams like Man-chester City and Watford with their big-name managers and they might attract bigger players. But there's no reason with the players we have at our disposal, that we can't mount a serious challenge as well.

"When we were in Division One last time it was a superb season. We scored lots of goals, played good football, got lots of

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points and won promotion - hopefully we can do it again.

"I remember my first time at City when we got promotion from Division Three and there were a lot of Yorkshire derbies and Lancashire games like Burnley and Preston.

"That was good for the fans and there will be lots of those big games again this season."

McCall admitted he reported back for training a little heavy after the uncertainty of his new contract but quickly shed the pounds in the tough training regime under Jim Jefferies.

He added: "We've been putting in some hard graft so far, especially the three days at Catterick army camp, and there have been a lot of double sessions.

"You've got to get fit in pre-season but it's nice to be playing again. I've been over here a couple of times with Everton before but never for three games like this.

"The buzz is there again as you get nearer to the big opening day against Barnsley and we're all looking forward to playing a proper match tomorrow."