HIS tally of nearly 100 goals for the youth and reserve teams is thought to be a City record. But he scored just once in the senior side.

Kevin Sanasy is now back at the club’s community foundation where he helps to coach the under-15s.

Last Friday marked 16 years since the day that City’s relegation from the second tier was confirmed – and Sanasy netted in a 3-2 home loss against Wimbledon just four minutes after coming on.

Amid the doom and gloom of a second administration, the confident teenager was tipped as one to watch. But it never materialised.

“Danny Forrest and I were signed the same week when we were nine,” said Sanasy. “It was nice that we pushed each other all the way and there was always that good rivalry.

“Danny got in the first team just before me and I was wondering, ‘how’s he got in when I was scoring more?’ But it spurred me on to follow him.

“A lot of that youth team played in the first team. There was Tom Penford, Craig Bentham, Liam Flynn, John Swift and Jake Wright as well – there were probably seven or eight of us who were together through the years.

“We had a great bond in that team and were quite successful in the youth team.”

Forrest was handed his debut – and memorably scored – against Ipswich the previous season, two months before Sanasy was given his first couple of senior minutes replacing his fellow rookie in the final away game at Sheffield United.

“I wasn’t jealous of Danny other than the fact he did it before me. I’m not being arrogant but I knew I would get my chance because I could score.

“But Nicky Law never particularly liked me. I remember travelling down to West Ham and had a bit of a fall-out with Gareth Edds on the team bus.

“On the Monday, Nicky pulled me to one side and told me that if I ever spoke to one of the more experienced players like that, I wouldn’t play for him again.

“He said that he didn’t particularly like me as a person but as a footballer I was more than capable of playing in his team. Looking back, that was actually good man management.

“It put me in my place but also made me more hungry.”

Law had been replaced by Bryan Robson and the cause was lost by the time that Sanasy got on the scoresheet in April 2004.

Sanasy admitted he learned something every day from the England legend – “good, bad or ugly”.

He added: “I don’t think it was a good combination having Bryan Robson and Colin Todd. They had two massively conflicting opinions in terms of who should play.

“Bryan liked young players with a little bit of arrogance to stand up to the more experienced ones. Whereas Colin wanted the young lads to shut up and fall in line with the old pros.

“I don’t think the club at the time was in a position to have such high expectations with somebody who was, in a sense, a dictator.”

Todd’s rebuilding plans for the club following the drop did not include Sanasy. His exit, initially on loan, to Halifax would signal a career bobbing around various non-league clubs, including Farsley Celtic and Bradford (Park Avenue).

It remains a frustration that he felt there was never a chance to show the promise from his progress through the youth ranks.

Sanasy said: “If the club had put senior players like David Wetherall and Wayne Jacobs in charge of the likes of me, Danny Forrest, Tom, Craig and Lewis Emanuel, I think they would have been in a completely different position.

“They brought in a lot of bad, really expensive older players who were never going to solve the problem.

“Looking at it financially, we’d have been pretty cheap and given a season where we were never going to do anything in League One anyway, we could have had that opportunity to prove ourselves.

“I think we’d have all stepped up to the plate, rather than bringing in a hell of a lot of older players who were just there for a pay day.

“I’ve watched quite a few games in the last two or three years. All Bradford fans have ever expected is to see people run around and show a bit of passion and we’d have done that.”

Peter Taylor did offer Sanasy a pre-season trial in 2010 but he was already booked to go away on holiday.

Instead, he carried on scoring goals in the part-time ranks before “falling out of love” with football for four years.

Wife Charlotte then persuaded him to take the UEFA B coaching course in 2018, before Adam Fox invited him to do some coaching at the City foundation. He has been there 15 months.

“I feel I’ve got something to offer in terms of experience and showing the lads the standard they’ve got to meet if they want to get anywhere near.”