When Bradford City kick off next season among English football's elite in the Premiership, goalkeeper Gary Walsh believes big name stars such as David Ginola and Frank Leboeuf will be in for a culture shock.

The Bantams spectacularly sealed promotion with their fine 3-2 victory over Wolves which prompted joyous celebrations all over Bradford as City ended their 77-year wait for a return to the top flight.

However, no sooner had the champagne bottles been opened than minds were turning to how City would fare alongside Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Walsh is relishing the challenge of ensuring City do not go the way of so many promoted sides in the 1990s by being relegated in their first season of Premiership football.

And he believes that City will have a secret weapon when it comes to unsettling some of the biggest names in European football.

"As far as I'm aware I don't think the club are going to increase the number of toilets in the dressing room area from the two we have at the moment which both sides have to share.

"The joke at the moment among the lads is that Frank Leboeuf, David Beckham, Gianfranco Zola and the like will have to queue up behind us. I can't see them being impressed with that.

"Most players tend to visit the toilet before a game and that will be a good leveller because it will be a case of 'Sorry Frank, you'll have to get behind me and wait your turn'. After that, I don't think they will relish playing at Valley Parade."

City's success in securing automatic promotion has been the perfect retort to all the critics who have spent the last nine months writing off the Bantams' chances.

Even when City jumped above Ipswich with just two games to go, television pundits such as Ray Wilkins and Alan Brazil spent all their time talking about the Suffolk side's chances.

In Brazil's case this was no surprise as he is a former Ipswich player while the rest appear to be transfixed by the fact that Ipswich had a very good side 18 years ago. City, in contrast, have spent most of their post-war life in the lower divisions.

Not surprisingly, City have already been tagged relegation favourites by those supposedly in the know.

But Walsh has revealed the confidence among the City squad that they will survive.

"We will be playing 38 cup finals. Nottingham Forest went up as champions last year and have won about three games this year so that proves it can be tough.

"When I was at Middlesbrough we had just got promoted and during the first two or three months we were doing really well.

"If we had beaten Everton away on Boxing Day then we would have gone second. We didn't and ended up finishing just out of the bottom three after a shocking run.

"It is up to us to make the most of being on a high for two or three months. Even Charlton were top of the league at one stage this season. Trying to stay up is a lovely problem to have.

"We can improve. We have let 40-odd goals in and that is far too many, but the better the players you play against means you become a better player."

Walsh is rightly proud of the fact that he has been the only ever-present in a City side which has won promotion to the Premiership.

He is also quick to point out that several of his team-mates have missed just a handful of games - something which he believes has been a massive factor behind the club's success this term.

"Seven or eight players not getting injured has been the biggest plus for us. So many players have played more than 40 games and with all of those playing so well, then it is no surprise we have done so well.

"We have not got a huge squad but have never got injuries in the vital areas such as central midfield.

"We have also brought players in at just the right time. Both Dean Windass and Lee Sharpe have brought something else to the squad because they are both class players - you can tell that in training.

"I do shooting practice with Dean in training and he is a superb finisher. I am surprised he has not got more goals.

"Lee is also quality on the ball with his best game undoubtedly coming at Port Vale when he was superb. His fitness is coming back and it is a mark of how far we have come that we have players like Lee as part of our team.

"Hopefully Bradford City can continue to grow and attract quality players to ensure a successful future."

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