As David Wetherall hangs his boots up retiring from playing, he prepares to take up his new role at the club as 1st team coach.

In a series of articles talking to the Telegraph & Argus recalling his time with Bradford City he said:

"It's the goal that everyone talks about for keeping us in the Premiership.

"That header against Liverpool remains the best moment of my Bradford career without a doubt.

"But forget all the talk about it being the goal that made sure of our survival. Because I don't think that's strictly true!

"We'd have stayed up anyway, even if I hadn't scored. With Wimbledon losing to Southampton that day, a 0-0 draw would have been enough. So really it didn't matter!

"But it was a glorious afternoon and the culmination of a season's work, battling the odds stacked against us. Even going into the last 90 minutes, we remained favourites to go down.

"But we were used to that by then. And it worked to our advantage that we still had it all to do on the final day.

"I remember losing badly at Leicester the week before. As we walked back into the dressing room, we got the news that Wimbledon's result had gone our way and they had also been beaten by Aston Villa.

"We were still fourth from bottom and one place off the drop - or so we thought. But the Wimbledon game had about five minutes of stoppage time to play and right at the end they scored an equaliser which put them back above us.

"Looking back, that was the best thing that could have happened.

"Now, not only did we know that we had to get a result against Liverpool but, subconsciously, Wimbledon would have been thinking that they were virtually safe.

"They wouldn't have given us a prayer of winning that last game; it was only natural to think that because Liverpool had a lot to play for chasing a Champions' League place.

"Funnily enough, I don't remember too much about the game itself. My biggest memory, apart from scoring the goal, was the noise of the crowd in the second half and realising that Wimbledon were behind.

"There were a couple of huge cheers for the Southampton goals and both times Liverpool had a chance to score straight after!

"Of course it distracted us a little bit but when you get that double boost of hearing that Wimbledon were behind and then Liverpool missing a chance, you start thinking that it may well turn out to be our day.

"It's ironic that Southampton should have been involved in that final-day drama because I could well have been playing at The Dell rather than Valley Parade.

"Southampton was my most likely destination when I left Leeds in the summer of 1999 but I'd asked for a bit of time to think about it.

"My wife was very heavily pregnant at the time and it was obviously a massive move to take everybody down there. There would inevitably be a period when I'd be down south on my own, leaving my wife to cope alone with the baby, so it was not an ideal situation.

"But then Bradford came in with an offer at the last minute.

"From a family point of view, it was ideal; a complete no-brainer. But that was not what swung it for me.

"I decided to move across West Yorkshire because they were exciting times for the football club. It was a real challenge to join a club that had just come up for their first taste of life in the Premiership.

"I had got really engrossed in the Wolves game in May which saw them win promotion. Watching that day on TV and seeing the characters involved, I had a little bit of an idea about what I was joining.

"There was obviously some potential there with certain players. And when I spoke to Paul Jewell, I liked what he had to say.

"There was a buzz around the place. It felt like the start of an adventure which I was keen to be part of.

"And I never felt any added pressure from being a so-called established Premier League player.

"I've always been a great believer that whatever you do in life, you give it your best. Do that and it takes any worry or pressure off you.

"If your best isn't good enough, then there's nothing more you can do.

"So I didn't sit back and think that I've got to play great every game because I'm a big signing. I didn't worry about the price tag or my reputation but just got on with it.

"There was no pressure on the team anyway, because everybody wrote off our chances of doing anything. So we could only surprise people.

"If we'd finished bottom miles and miles adrift, nobody would have expected anything different. But I didn't want to join a club happy to finish bottom and then look to come back up again a year later.

"Paul assured me we were going to have a proper go for it and do what we could without breaking the bank to stay in the Premier League. I needed to hear that.

"I knew we wouldn't be finishing top but we would give it a damn good go to stay in there."