time in 25 years. McCall set himself a target of earning promotion back to League One in his first season. Bradford had just 13 players when McCall took over, and he made a number of summer signings including defender Darren Williams, midfielders Kyle Nix, Alex Rhodes and Scott Phelan, and strikers Barry Conlon, Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu and Peter Thorne. McCall recorded his first win as a manager against Wrexham on 25 August 2007 after substitute Luke Medley scored a late winner, but despite his pre-season target his team spent much of the first half of the season in the bottom half of the table. After going unbeaten in January, the club were still 15th in League Two, and McCall told the Telegraph & Argus he did not regret his pre-season target but was carried away with the euphoria at the time. City's form continued to improve during the second half of the season, and McCall led his side to 10th place in League Two. Despite City finishing outside the play-off places, they were again installed as favourites for promotion by bookmakers for the 2008–09 season. McCall released 13 players from his squad and replaced them with a number of signings with experience in a higher division, as well as Michael Boulding, who was one of League Two's top goalscorers during the 2007–08 campaign. McCall's side made a good start to the season, and after winning five of their opening six league games, went top of the league – the first time City had led the table in seven years. As a result of maintaining a place in the promotion places during the first half of the season and his "stabling influence" on the club, chairmen Julian Rhodes and Mark Lawn offered McCall a new contract in January 2009. Later in the month, Lawn gave further backing to McCall, who was coming under pressure from the club's fans following a run of one win in nine games; during the run McCall was also charged by The Football Association for the first time of his managerial career after he had contested a refereeing decision during a game with Luton Town. McCall signed a new contract in February, which extended his deal by another two years and would have kept him at the club until 2011. He set himself the goal of earning two promotions to put City in the Championship. However, less than