It has been quite a week for Bradford City manager Paul Jewell.

After starting January with a nail-biting FA Cup victory over Grimsby Town, the FA Cup draw then handed the City boss the chance to pit his wits against one of the most charismatic men in football - Ruud Gullit.

And then, as if to round off a fine few days for Jewell, he received his first award as a manager on the eve of his first anniversary of taking charge.

However despite all this excitement it has been noticeable how Jewell has taken the events of the past seven days in his stride.

In fact, the last few days have been very reminiscent of the period which followed the sacking of Chris Kamara when the likeable Scouser was installed as caretaker boss.

A lot was said and written in the aftermath of Kamara's dismissal but Jewell, despite knowing he could be out of a job at any moment, quietly and calmly got on with the job.

He prepared a shell-shocked group of players for the trip to Stockport County and managed to lead City to their first away win since early September.

Jewell badly wanted the job and it must have been difficult to see every out of work manager being linked with the vacancy at Valley Parade.

However after beating County, Jewell was given another couple of games in charge while the search for Kamara's successor continued.

As we all know, Jewell was given the job until the end of the season before subsequently being handed a two-year contract in May.

And the recent news that he had been made the Manager of the Month for December is a just reward for all the work he has put in behind the scenes.

The most noticeable aspect about City's performances this season has been their fighting spirit and will to win. This has not happened by accident.

Jewell was handed an unprecedented amount of money to spend during the summer and the most important thing he did was bring the right kind of players to the club.

All seven of the new faces which arrived at Valley Parade during the summer were good footballers who were comfortable on the ball.

However possibly as important as the skill level is what a new players is going to be like off the pitch. And that is where Jewell hit the jackpot during the summer.

All of the new faces have mixed in well at the club and the club are now benefiting from the team spirit which Jewell and his assistant Chris Hutchings have managed to build at Valley Parade.

December was undoubtedly a superb month for the Bantams and January could prove crucial. City have already got off to the best possible start with the FA Cup victory over Grimsby but with the four other league games along with the Newcastle tie, it is an important few weeks.

Next month will be tough with the visit of three promotion challengers to Valley Parade - Watford, Ipswich and West Brom. So it is important that City keep the momentum going.

However it won't be easy. Stockport are still a formidable side at home while both Crewe and Crystal Palace have started to find some form after a dreadful run of results.

And then City finish the month with one of the most important games of the season - away at Birmingham City.

If they could repeat the 2-1 victory in August then Jewell could be celebrating more awards before the season is over.

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