Lee Todd made his first return to Stockport County as a player today hoping to re-launch his season with Bradford City.

The diminutive full-back joined the Bantams last summer from Premiership side Southampton in a £250,000 deal after just 12 months on the south coast.

However after giving away a penalty in a 2-1 opening day defeat by Stockport, he was then injured in the following game against Lincoln.

Since then he has suffered another groin injury and a hamstring strain which has restricted him to just nine games in the first-half of the campaign.

Speaking before the visit to his former club, Todd said: "Today will be the first time I have ever been to a former club as a player so it will be special.

"The only time I have been back before has been to watch so it will be strange. Having said that, I might end up going back to watch from the stands anyway!

"It has been very frustrating for me. For the last 18 months I have been in and out of the game due to niggling little injuries.

"I hope to have a big improvement this year. I never make New Year resolutions because they never come true but I hope it improves.

"I think it is worse for Ashley Westwood, who has also been injured, because when he has played he has done really well. However he has been caught on the same ankle a few times.

"I have played a few game but I have suffered a few bad groin injuries. Then down at Oxford I pulled my hamstring on the Friday before the game with no-one near me. I started to get the feeling that someone up there didn't like me."

The 26-year-old spent seven happy seasons with Stockport before moving to The Dell in the summer of 1997.

He made 225 appearances for County and helped the side into the First Division and into the semi-final of the League Cup.

Todd still has a lot of friends at Edgeley Park and looks back fondly on his time there.

He said: "At Stockport we had some good times. The best bit was probably the cup runs we went on.

"We worked it out that we had taken about 18 to 21 points off Premiership opposition in the cups while at Stockport which showed that the team was a good one.

"We beat Blackburn, drew with West Ham before beating them and then beat Middlesbrough in the second leg of the semi-final. I know playing one cup game every few weeks is not the same as playing every week in the Premiership. But it showed that we did do well in the cup.

"There is no secret formula to beating Premiership sides. We were just a team who worked hard and if Bradford are to get anything at Newcastle then we have to do just that."

Despite Todd's frustration at being on the sidelines, he is enjoying life with the first team squad at Valley Parade.

And he firmly believes that the club must give everything in their quest to get into the Premiership.

"If a team like Stockport did go up then it would be a once in a lifetime experience but the reality is they would come straight back down.

"But we have nothing to lose. There is a very good side here at Bradford with players with a lot of experience and the Premiership has to be our aim."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.