HIS young children wouldn’t allow Julian Rhodes to catch more than ten minutes of last Sunday’s Capital One Cup final on the telly.

But what he did manage to see once again confirmed Bradford City’s incredible progress on the football map.

Commentator Martin Tyler was describing Chelsea’s ploy to beef up midfield by adding centre half Kurt Zouma alongside Ramires and Cesc Fabregas. He spelled out why, name-checking that unforgettable afternoon at Stamford Bridge when the Bantams had made a mockery of Jose Mourinho’s star names.

The joint-chairman’s ears pricked up: “I thought ‘flippin’ heck, who’d have thought we’d get mentions like that’. They are talking about changing Chelsea’s midfield because of what Bradford City had done to them!

“But then it was voted the biggest cup upset in history, and rightly so. Somebody’s going to have to go some to beat that.”

Six months ago, when City lost at Oldham in the first round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, Rhodes had joked to Phil Parkinson that they would have to settle for three Wembley trips – the semis and final of the FA Cup and the play-offs.

Many a true word is spoken in jest ...

Now City amazingly stand on the brink of the first of those. Rhodes is excited by tomorrow’s quarter-final but also realistic about how tough it will be.

“Reading haven’t been in an FA Cup semi-final since 1927 and we haven’t been in one since 1911, when we won it.

“It’s a huge game for both clubs and we’d be absolutely delighted if we got back to Wembley. We’re one game away but it’s a big ask.

“I don’t think we’d have swapped all the games we’ve won for anything. We’ve done very well to come this far – and if we do get through it’s probably on a par with reaching the League Cup final.

“Yes, we’re a division higher and yes it’s only the semis. But it is a bigger cup, make no mistake about that.

“There have been some great highlights and let’s just hope there are more to come.”

Rhodes admitted he “almost felt comfortable” during the fifth-round triumph over Sunderland and anticipates a far tenser occasion against the Championship side.

“I do think this one will be harder,” he added. “Maybe Reading will be a bit more up for playing on our pitch.

“Their season comes down to this game. They are down near the bottom but there are quite a few points in between – it would have to go terribly wrong for Reading to get dragged into it. They’ll look at it and say if they can get to Wembley for a semi-final and stay in the Championship it’s a successful season.

“It’s a massive opportunity. It very rarely happens for clubs outside the Premier League.

“Sheffield United got there last year and that was deemed incredible.

“I don’t want to big it up too much but the whole season really is on this game.

“We do have the chance afterwards of going on a run and getting in the play-offs and going to Wembley that way but I think we’d prefer the guarantee of winning this one and going there.”

City are guaranteed another welcome windfall. TV money and their share of the gate receipts will be worth around £350,000 – a win would bank a minimum £810,000 in prize money.

As well as the £360,000 on offer for sixth-round victory, the losing semi-finalist takes home a further £450,000.

It seems a far cry from those days at the end of the August transfer window when City were sweating on missing their cut from Tom Cleverley’s stalled exit from Manchester United. At that stage, Rhodes wondered how they could recoup the club’s predicted £1m overspend for the year.

“We let everybody know at the start of the season that we needed to make £1m out of cups, transfers etc.

“As it stands, if we lose against Reading we will post a profit of approximately £600,000 this year on top of covering the £1m. If we beat them, that figure becomes about £1.8m profit.

“That shows how important a great cup run can be. Everybody talks about focusing on the league but the two things go hand in hand.

“If you want to be able to compete in the league, you have to generate the finance. The cups pay for that.

“Again it will be a strategy that has paid off. We took the gamble at the start and we’ve repaid it plus more.

“I did seriously think ‘how the hell are we going to get to the £1m?’ But we have done it and we have done it a few times in recent years.

“It means next season, if we lose to Reading we’ve got £600,000 towards any overspend.

“If we get to £1.8m you’ve got the choice of having a real go next year or spreading it out over a few seasons. It’s a nice decision to make.

“We had £4m of losses in the club up until four years ago. If we beat Reading, that figure has almost been eliminated.

“I bet there aren’t many clubs who can boast that kind of record.

“But we do have to keep doing the right things and hopefully we’ll end up in the Championship and ultimately the Premier League.”

Win or lose tomorrow, City will still have plenty to play for in the race for the play-offs – their number one goal from the start. Rhodes does not expect the FA Cup to have a knock-on effect.

“Hopefully I don’t think it will matter either way,” he said.

“If we get through, there are six weeks before the semis, which is plenty of time to focus on the league again. Likewise, if we do miss out you’d like to think the players will be determined to reach Wembley through the play-offs.

“There are 13 games after that. When we got to the League Two play-offs, we didn’t put our run together until the last eight when we were 11 points adrift.

“I’m not nervous about tomorrow, I’m really looking forward to it.

“I really enjoyed the Sunderland game and I thought the atmosphere was phenomenal. I know it will be the same this time.

“I know there’s a lot of money on it, which can be great for the club in the future, but it’s all a bonus really from here on in.

“I just want it to be another great occasion, the players to give everything and hopefully we get the right result. If we don’t get through, it’s still been a great cup run.”