IN THE final part of the My City team-mates series, we look back on the rest of the 1911 FA Cup winners with Bradford author and historian John Dewhirst.

FRANK O’ROURKE

Signed in April 1907, the Scot was to become City's record goal-scorer with 88 from 192 league appearances.

This record was later broken by Bobby Campbell, who scored 121 in 274 appearances between 1979-86).

Frank's goals transformed the side and provided the basis of the Division Two championship success in 1907/08. After retiring in 1922, he served as trainer until 1926.

ARCHIE DEVINE

Scot Devine joined City in April 1910 from Falkirk and was later sold to Woolwich Arsenal in February 1913 for a reported fee of £1,300 - at the time said to be a record for that club.

He made 60 league and cup appearances, scoring 11 goals between 1910-13 and later returned to Valley Parade in June 1914, although he did not represent the club again.

FRANK THOMPSON

The sole Irishman in the side had joined City from Linfield. Thompson played 60 games between 1910-13, scoring 13 goals.

Thompson netted the winner against Burnley in the quarter-final before the record (reported) 39,146 crowd at Valley Parade and another in the semi-final against Blackburn Rovers at Bramall Lane. He won seven international caps at City.

DICKY BOND

Dicky was the notable absentee from City’s FA Cup glory. The outside right played 301 league games for the club and scored 60 goals, all in the top flight.

He also scored 12 times in 32 FA Cup appearances, including two in three games in the earlier rounds.

But he missed out on the biggest occasion in the club’s history because of suspension after using “improper language” against Woolwich Arsenal.

Known as the “firebrand winger with the face of a cherub”, season 1910/11 turned out to be a particularly turbulent one for Bond.

Telegraph & Argus writer Dick Williamson compared him to the George Best or Stan Bowles of his age, a maverick character who was hard to handle.

Bond was charged with being “drunk and disorderly” after a night-out in Otley just before Christmas and initially banned “sine die” by City. That did not last long but he was in deeper water two months later when he got involved in a slanging match with the Arsenal crowd.

The FA punishment that followed ruled out any further participation in the cup run – but Bond was there, of course, for the celebrations afterwards.

Bond served with the Bradford Pals during World War One before returning to the club in 1919. He became captain but City’s relegation in 1921/22 led to his move to Blackburn Rovers.

City’s reward for lifting the FA Cup had included a foreign tour, something virtually unheard of for football clubs at the time. They boarded the SS Salmo for a jaunt to Denmark and Sweden.

But it would not be long before the club’s progress would hit choppier waters. City never consolidated on the success of 1911 – they had hit a glass ceiling, according to Dewhirst.

“While there was a failure to rebuild, driven by financial constraints and maybe a degree of loyalty to the existing team, there was also pressure from a number of key players for better deals.

“Tom Paton had secured a lot of players from Scotland who were essentially opportunists. A number proved loyal and longstanding, others such as Jimmy Speirs and David Taylor in particular, wanted to do better for themselves.

“The FA Cup triumph put them in the spotlight and, reading between the lines, it is clear that they were beneficiaries of big-figure transfers - not necessarily higher wages as opposed to signing-on fees.

“O’Rourke had little patience and preferred to rely on his instinct for wheeler-dealing so simply cashed in and sold them.

“The departures of Taylor and Speirs and probably also Archie Devine were to prove costly. Immediately following the cup win the side were also impacted by injury.

“Investment came in 1914 with the overdue signing of a strong striker – Frank Buckley (late major) – but war then impacted. Buckley signed up and the club had to write off its losses.

“After 1919, the club were handicapped by wartime debts and began the long slide. The other way of looking at it is that the club had arguably overachieved.

"Given their relative financial weakness from inadequate income and the fragmentation of support from competing with Bradford (Park Avenue) in the city, they simply could not sustain themselves at that level.”