CITY believe the take-up from their latest cut-price season-ticket offer can prove a persuasive weapon in attracting new players.

More than 3,000 were sold in the first week of the £149 deal – and around 20 per cent of those were to fans buying them for the first time.

The club are confident of smashing the 15,000 attendance target they set at the launch and hope those increased numbers will help to lure Phil Parkinson's transfer targets.

Chief operating officer James Mason said: "Speaking to Phil, along with Filipe Morais and Chris Routis, the players both said that playing in front of big crowds is exactly why they signed for Bradford City.

"We are hopeful that we can attract players in the summer for the same reason. Everyone wants to play at a stadium that's bouncing and rocking.

"In addition, we know managers at other clubs will loan us better players who they want to get used to playing in full stadiums.

"Jordan Pickford was the prime example from Sunderland. He came down here and played in front of large, passionate crowds – some of the biggest outside of the top two divisions – and that's great experience."

Valley Parade's average attendance figure last season of 13,352 was only beaten in the lower divisions by Sheffield United and Portsmouth.

With the current reduced prices running until July 5, City are looking to go well past that figure. Joint-chairman Julian Rhodes has already predicted that crowds could be pushing towards 20,000.

Mason said: "It's been a phenomenal start and exactly what we wanted to achieve. We wanted to attract plenty of new season-ticket holders alongside the existing ones and this price is enabling us to do exactly that.

"It was the key to rewarding existing supporters who have stuck with us through the tough times and attracting new ones who have seen the success in the last couple of years with promotion and the cup runs.

"We are hoping that £149 shouldn't stop anyone from buying one.

"The argument that price increases mean increased revenue doesn't always ring true because sales will drop off. In this case we are expecting a significant upturn.

"There was months and months that went into getting the pricing right. There's a fine balance where to pitch it and we think we've hit that figure bang on the head."