James Hanson recalls his favourite things at Bradford City

FAVOURITE GOAL:

“My bread and butter were always my headers and I was fortunate to score some big ones in big games.

“But if I narrow it down to my two favourite goals, they would be with my feet at Leyton Orient and Burton away. I struck both really well.

“The Burton one in the play-offs probably tops it because it was such a big game and got us ahead in the tie.

“As soon as I hit the shot, I could see straight away that it was in. The keeper was nowhere near it and the ball just arrowed into the bottom corner.

“A lot of people ruled us out that day because our performance hadn’t been the best in the home leg.

“But Thommo (Garry Thompson) gave us that great lifeline near the end and it did help that away goals don’t count in the play-offs.

“The Leyton Orient game was away in midweek. I’d be playing on the left wing for a while and I just asked the gaffer if he could put me back down the middle.

“I’d gone five or six games without scoring and wanted some chances. Steady (Jon Stead) had just been out injured with his foot so I got put back there that night.

James Hanson celebrates his thumping strike at Burton in the play-offs

“I scored two and had to come off at half-time with a tight hamstring – that’s just about sums it up. It could have been another hat-trick.

“Yeatesy (Mark Yeates) was playing on the right and he’d cut inside and seen my run between the two centre halves.

“He put it on to my chest and I knocked it down and volleyed it with my right foot.

“Nathan Clarke was marking me for them and he signed for Bradford the following year. The lads were all having a go at him saying, ‘why did you show Hans on his right foot?’

“He said the manager had a pop at him at half-time saying the same thing! But we carried on having a laugh about it through the next season.”

FAVOURITE GAME

“I played in some massive games for Bradford but it has to be Chelsea – even though I didn’t score.

“To beat the Premier League champions in their backyard in the manner we did was something I’ll never forget, especially when you look at the team that Jose Mourinho had out.

“That only really kicked home a couple of years ago when I was at Grimsby and we drew Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in the League Cup.

“They had pretty much a second team out and we got beaten 7-1. But it honestly could have been 15!

“So, when you think about that, you realise just how well we did down there against the quality we were playing against.

They had pretty much a second team out and we got beaten 7-1. But it honestly could have been 15!

“A few of the Grimsby lads were asking me afterwards, ‘how the hell did you boys come down here and beat that team?’ It made you realise the size of our achievement.

“Phil (Parkinson) stuck me on the left and I think it was the first time I had played out wide for him.

“Because it worked so well at Chelsea, he kept me in that position for the next couple of months and Steady and Billy (Clarke) played up front.

“I was a really strong runner at the time. We didn’t have GPS back then but I could have run 12-13km in every game.

“He just told me to use my legs out there and obviously the team have got a target to hit if they were under pressure.

“We had natural wingers at the club and I know Yeatesy wasn’t happy that he wasn’t starting – although he came on and scored that great goal at the end.

“Fil Morais was on the other side but there were probably a few lads wondering what the gaffer was doing using someone who didn’t usually play out there.

“First and foremost, I just wanted to be in the team no matter where I was playing because it was such a special game. I was happy to do the job.

“We actually started the game really well but made a couple of mistakes in midfield and got punished.

“They scored the second from a counter and we were all looking round thinking, ‘we’re not playing badly here and we’re two down’.

“It wasn’t like Chelsea were creating chance after chances and it was all one-way traffic.

“But then Steady scored that goal just before half-time and it gave us belief that if we carried on playing the same way, we’d get more chances.

“Obviously, second half it was mostly one-way traffic – for us.

“They had a lot of the ball, as you’d expect, but we matched that with the pressure we put them under. We did everything right that day that you should do against a top team.”

In part two, Hanson talks Stuart McCall, Phil Parkinson, rooming with James Meredith and Billy Clarke losing it at golf.