it's been a long journey from australia to bradford city and the brink of the fa cup semi finals for james meredith at one point, during a break between his seven english – and one irish – clubs, the defender found himself training alone in a park in derby ‘like rocky balboa’ amazingly, meredith will be looking forward to his fifth wembley appearance if league one giantkillers bradford can deliver another knockout blow to reading in saturday’s quarter final tie at valley parade james meredith holds of then chelsea winger mohamed salah during their fa cup clash in west london  jon stead scores in a remarkable performance as the bantams beat chelsea 4 2 at stamford bridge  the 26 year old aussie played at the national stadium three times with york city – twice in the fa trophy final and once in the conference play off final – as well as bradford’s 2013 league two play off final win over northampton town in 2013 but reaching wembley in the fa cup after beating chelsea and sunderland in the earlier rounds would top the lot ‘i’ve been to wembley six times now and played in four of them and they’re all fantastic occasions, but this would be even more special because it is the fa cup,’ said meredith ‘we don’t get the coverage in australia like you do over here obviously, but everyone follows the fa cup everyone knows it’s the biggest domestic cup in the world and the great stories that came out of it, my favourite being the crazy gang ‘now it’s the quarter finals, people are starting to get excited i think it’s being shown on setanta i know all my family and friends are going to watch it, they’ve worked out a way to stream it they’re excited about the game and they’ re all getting together to have some food and drinks meredith, who has played for seven different english sides since moving from australia, against sunderland  ‘one of my best mates flew over for the chelsea game and it was fantastic because when we scored that fourth goal, somehow i managed to spot him in the away fans and we were cheering really hard at each other ‘my dad said if we get to the semi finals, he’ll fly over it’ll probably just be my dad and my brother or sister the plane tickets aren’t cheap’ meredith left his family home in australia where he lived with his parents, two younger brothers and sister, to travel to england at the age of 16 and sign as an apprentice at derby county after being spotted at the club’s academy in melbourne after loan spells at cambridge united and chesterfield, it didn’t work out at derby and he went on to have brief spells at sligo rovers, shrewsbury town and telford united before joining york ‘i signed pro at derby but then i was released,’ meredith recalled ‘at that time i really struggled to get a club, like a lot of players do when they have no experience as a professional the 26 year old has been to wembley stadium six times and played on four of those occasions  meredith holds off lukas podolski during bradford's win against arsenal in the 2012 capital one cup  ‘i was in the country on my own at one point i was without a club for six months i was running in a park in derby every day on my own like rocky balboa ‘i found it really difficult and i was faced with the decision: do i go back home to australia or do i really give it a good go and try to make something of myself? ‘i decided to give it a good go and i ended up going all the way down to the conference north from there, i’ve had to work as hard as i can to build my career to get to a notable league to do the best i can for myself’ meredith is not the only one among a bradford squad that has exceeded all expectations under manager phil parkinson he added: ‘it’s the whole ethos of the club it’s what is bred into us by the management staff they are tough and hard and they want workers we’re in a working class city we have to work hard, do the right thing and look after ourselves properly that’s what has built this team spirit and enthusiasm ‘there are no big time charlies at the club, we all work hard for each other’
bradford city the fa cup quarter final saturday bantams wembley stadium bradford james meredith australian english irish meredith the fa cup
bradford city face reading in the fa cup quarter final on saturday . if the bantams win they will be heading to wembley stadium for the semis . bradford defender james meredith has already played there four times . the australian has played for seven english (and one irish) clubs . meredith said next visit would be 'more special' as it's the fa cup 