While winning games is crucial to Bradford City's success, behind-the-scenes commercial activities are also important as Chris Holland found out.

A BIT like an iceberg, Bradford City's recent successes on the pitch have been clear for all to see- and gained the relatively lowly club an international 'giant killer' reputation after beating several Premier League teams - but there's a lot more going on behind the scenes .

Bradford City's current owners, co-chairmen Julian Rhodes and Mark Lawn have put clearing debt and sound finances high on their agenda.

Of course, it has been made possible by the remarkable run of success by Phil Parkinson's League One team. In in both the recent Capital One and FA Cup competitions, they dispatched the likes of Arsenal, Aston Villa, Sunderland and, most memorably, beat Chelsea 4-2 away at Stamford Bridge last season.

City is one of only 15 Football League clubs out of 72 to make a profit last year. The surplus was £800,000 even after clearing their £1million overspend.

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According to chief operating officer James Mason, City is among only a handful of league clubs to have made money on a regular basis in recent years.

A lifelong City fan, James was appointed seven months ago to a job that requires him to wear many hats in an organisation with around 14 back room staff which demands multi-tasking and flexibility.

He was a BBC northern football reporter for 12 years covering teams from League Two to the Premier League and has also helped run the Apperley Bridge-based family fabrication and joinery business of which he remains a director and shareholder.

"I have been involved in football all my working life. When I applied for this job I brought with me a wealth of experience of how other clubs operate- picking up lots of marketing insights from Hartlepool Utd with 2,000 fans to Sunderland with 50,000.

"I am no stranger to profit and loss columns, budgets, VAT returns and dealing with key decision makers on big contractors. I can negotiate and make key decisions on saving and making money," said James.

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His responsibilities include heading the club's commercial team which looks after ticket sales, sponsorship and a host of other money-making activities.

The team includes formerHSBC business banking specialist Mick Russell - also a lifelong City supporter - and marketing expert Michael Shackleton who has big brand marketing experience with print group UK Greetings.

James is looking to expand the team in the near future.

He said: " We're currently operating in a positive environment. We've given our sponsors a 'bang for their buck ' in terms of media coverage - when we beat Chelsea we made the front as well as the back pages of every newspaper and gained international coverage . That is something you can't buy- but of course we can't guarantee such success all the time.

"We budget to go out of every competition in the first round and a cup run its a bonus. If we can provide additional revenue through comercial income that will help us through a fallow year when the team doesn't do so well.

"The commercial operation is more important than ever. Julian Rhodes and Mark Lawn have been phenomenal in macro and micro managing the club. If you don't run it properly the only option is administration and City has been there twice.

"It's not like a normal business. For instance, the club's turnover has fluctuated between £4 million and £7.5 million in recent years, depending on our success on the field. If we can bring additional revenue that is budgeted for that's something that will enable us to be more like a traditional business."

James' aim is to widen business support beyond Bradford-based firms. using the new-found positive profile and self confidence generated by recent footballing success.

"Traditionally, we have relied on business people with an affinity to City and local companies to back us and many have stuck with us through thick and thin.

"But we're not afraid to look wider for sponsors knowing that we have a valuable brand. and set out sights higher in generating income from sponsorship and corporate hospitality. We are currently pursuing the possibility of signing up a new major strategic partner but we are also happy to speak with smaller companies with a more limited spend," he said.

After just missing out on the League One play-offs last season, City has its sights set firmly on promotion to the Championship. That's goal number one. Another strong cup run would be a bonus and potentially financially lucrative.

Another strong card in the hands of James and his team is the above average level of support City regularly attracts.

It offers the cheapest season ticket deal in the Football League - £149 this year, with a free ticket for a child under 11 with every adult ticket. That covers 23 league games - and effectively pays for itself after six matches. An adult single match ticket costs £25.

" We have dropped our season ticket prices for the next season and the price works out at

£6.47 per game. It demonstrates our commitment to making football affordable and accessible. By making it good value we will attract people and more people in the stadium increases match day spend on refreshments, programmes and such like. A bigger crowd also boosts the players and helps to attract new players/

"Last season we had 12,550 season ticket holders and we've set a realistic but achievable target of 15,000 which should mean gates of around 17-18,000 every home game. That for a League One is phenomenal - many Championship clubs don't get that.

"We now need to attract firms that are not natural supporters or even in the district but see City as a viable sponsorship or promotion and marketing opportunity. We need to be confident about our brand when we're pushing that to the business community but its our responsibility to give sponsors value for money and a great experience."

In addition to the usual advertising, banqueting and other sponsorship activities, emphasis is also being put on business networking initiatives, including through the monthly Bantams For Business group, using a common interest in the club to generate business introductions and potential deals.

The commercial team wants to sign up a sponsor for the Bantams website which currently attracts around 5,000 daily hits. Social media is becoming increasingly important to its marketing approach with 43,000 twitter followers and 70,000 Facebook followers.

"We can reach 250,000 people through social media regularly, which has risen from 30,000 when I joined the club. We are increasingly using twitter to interact with supporters as well as a useful news source and also see it as a means of reaching out to potential advertisers and sponsors,"said James.

He describes Bradford City as a small business with a big brand.

"When I got my first City shirt the logo on the front said Bradford's bouncing back. That is certainly the case today for both the football club and the city," he said.