In the first part of our serialisation of extracts from Stuart McCall's forthcoming autobiography, he tells of the agony of missing out on promotion with Bradford City in 1988. The Bantams had a great chance of clinching an automatic spot but lost their last two games 1-0 at Aston Villa and 3-2 at home to Ipswich. So, it was down to the play offs where City still fancied their chances but after winning 2-1 at Valley Parade in the first leg of the semi-final, against Middlesbrough, they lost 2-0 at Ayresome Park to go down 3-2.

I sat in the bath for ages, tears streaming down my face. The recriminations started on the team bus. John (Hendrie) had a run-in with Mick Kennedy although I barely noticed. The boys at the back were silent. The next morning things started to hit home about the way we had missed out.

We had gone through so many obstacles and yet things had petered out. I started to think 'if only.' People said to look on the up side, that I would be getting promotion myself, but that's not the way I saw it.

If we had gone up I would have been happy to sign a ten-year contract and stay at Bradford forever. We could have given so much back to the fans who had shown such courage and loyalty in previous seasons.

That's how strong my emotions were. I thought about transfer deadline day and Jack Tordoff saying we should sell before buying. Futch and Leigh Palin had to go before we could bring someone in. One or two new faces would have taken us over the finishing line, I was sure of it.

It wasn't about gambling, it was about lack of ambition. After all these years I still feel a bitter disappointment and resentment. If I had stayed I might never have played in a cup final or made the World Cup or gone to Rangers, but nothing would have replaced playing for Bradford at the top level.

If we had gone up the club had promised to give us a trip to Disneyland which in those days was a big deal. The lads were due to have a week or so on their own before the families came out.

I believe that was all on the back of a large bet director Stafford Hegginbotham had placed at the start of the season. It was a carrot he kept dangling in front of us. He would have paid for it out of his winnings, that's the man he was. At least he liked a gamble. It could have been different if he had been in charge on deadline day.

Instead the club fixed us up with a trip to Rhodes as a thank you but because of all the talk about me leaving I only went for four days. It was an emotional trip, the last time I would go out with these lads.

When we were away Everton bid £800,000 and the club said they wanted more. It went up to £850,000 and Terry Dolan told me they were looking for £1 million. My worry was that Everton, who I fancied joining, would go elsewhere.

I had this letter of agreement that I would be sold, but there was no price. I was in the hands of the club about that part. In the end they settled for £875,000.

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