A bit of early-season fun for supporters of newly promoted League One club Bradford City on social media that quickly went viral and spawned a flood of copycat versions from not only rival fans, but also official EFL club accounts, including Grimsby Town marking their humbling of Manchester United in the Carabao Cup with, 'You've been slapped by the fish'.

Billy Sharp, the veteran Doncaster Rovers striker, even got in on the act, celebrating his goal against City earlier this month by mimicking the actions of a chicken when running in front of the away seats.

Amid this craze of bombarding opposition socials with a cluster of beautifully amateur memes following a notable victory -- the slogan itself is a play on City's 'Bantams' nickname -- sits a serious point. Here's a one-time Premier League club who, after years in the doldrums, are back on the up.

A quick glance at the League One table says as much. Bradford sit second in English football's third tier after eight games, behind leaders Cardiff City on goal difference. The two clubs meet on Saturday in south Wales.

Next week also brings a trip to Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup third round and a reminder for the 5,000 travelling fans of the heady days around the turn of the millennium when the West Yorkshire side visited venues such as St James' Park every other week in back-to-back years as a top-flight club.

"Great times," says Mike Harrison, editor of the long-running, award-winning City Gent fanzine. "I went to all 78 games, home and away, in those two seasons, as I suspected it might not happen again. We've been through a lot since then, but Newcastle will be a tremendous evening for everyone."

City paid a big price for those two years among the elite, with relegation in 2001 costing the club a lot more than their Premier League status.

Two stints in administration, plus the enforced sale of their Valley Parade stadium to keep creditors at bay, were merely the start of a slide that saw City dumped into League Two just six years after rubbing shoulders with Manchester United, Arsenal et al.

Now, though, things are very much moving in the right direction again following last season's promotion. The club have told The Athletic that season ticket sales stand at a record 16,064, earning £3.157million in receipts after tax, another record. Turnover is also up and expected to hit £12m-£13m this season, compared to the £8.5m-£9m banked last season, which was already their highest outside those Premier League days.

Commercial and sponsorship income has played a big part in that rise, with club coffers set to be swelled by an estimated £2.1million this season, while an unnamed American company has already been lined up as a back-of-shirt sponsor on a three-year deal that will kick in next summer.

It is at Valley Parade, however, where the feel-good factor is most tangible. Last Saturday, a crowd of 24,075 watched the first derby clash in the league against Yorkshire neighbours Huddersfield Town in 18 years.

Graham Alexander's side blew the expensively-assembled visitors away, racing into a three-goal lead by half-time to leave the old ground bouncing. Zepiqueno Redmond pulled a late goal back, but this was unquestionably Bradford's day in front of their largest league attendance since February 1949, when Hull City were the visitors.

"We've had some great victories already this season," says Ryan Sparks, who is in his fifth year as chief executive. "Beating Luton Town (in August), who were in the Premier League very recently, felt like one, as did the (Carabao) Cup wins against Blackburn and Stoke (two Championship sides defeated 2-1 and 3-0 on their own pitches).

"But Huddersfield felt like a milestone. They are a club with resources way beyond our own, so to be 3-0 up at half-time was a real marker. Winning what I'd class as a 'proper derby' meant so much to our supporters."

Not so long ago, the atmosphere inside Valley Parade was more funereal than fun. Up to 4,000 season-ticket holders were staying away every game towards the end of Derek Adams' stint as manager in the 2021-22 season, despite having paid up front for their seats.

Even as recently as March last year, there was a small pre-match protest in the stadium's car park calling for Sparks and owner Stefan Rupp to both go. It came amid a run of results -- City lost three home games in a row to Forest Green Rovers, Mansfield Town and Notts County that month, as well as suffering a 3-0 humbling at minnows Harrogate Town -- that had brought a weariness to the support base many felt would be hard to dislodge.

"I'd say the Harrogate defeat was the low point for me," adds City Gent editor Harrison. "Coming on the back of those three home defeats, you wondered just where the club went next.

"To have a day like Huddersfield just 18 months later is remarkable. Not just the result, but the atmosphere and how the team played, especially in a derby. Maybe the best thing is how we all went to Valley Parade last Saturday, excited about what lay ahead.

"Not in an arrogant way, in that we expected to win. More that we know this team will give their all in front of a crowd that is fully behind them."

A true indicator of a club's on-field health can often be found in the chief executive's mailbag or email inbox.

Lose a few games and everything from the manager to the quality of the pies is up for complaint. Go on a winning run, however, and suddenly those in charge wonder if either the postman is on strike or their internet provider is down.

Take Sparks at Bradford City. The only gripes in recent weeks have involved one fan who missed out on a ticket to Newcastle complaining about the loyalty points system used to distribute the club's away allocation and another who finds the new LED advertising boards so bright he can't see the ball.

Other than that, nothing. Unlike the days when City were struggling. "I remember looking at my emails during half-time against Notts County just before Christmas last season," says Sparks. "We were 3-0 down and every message was basically saying I should go."

A key factor in the mood shift has been Alexander. The former Scotland international's appointment in November 2023 came with City struggling in the lower reaches of League Two.

There have been a few bumps in the road since then, most notably that miserable March 2024 run when wins for Forest Green, Mansfield and Notts County at Valley Parade inside just eight days saw City concede 10 goals and score just once. But now, with 24 wins from the 30 league games on their own turf since then, there can be little doubt just what a transformative effect the 53-year-old has had.

"The big thing is Graham has earned the trust of supporters," says Sparks, who last summer agreed a three-year deal with Alexander. "When he said there'd be a reaction after we lost at Doncaster, people believed him. And we got one against Huddersfield.

"He's built an incredibly powerful connection with the supporters. Part of that is down to the type of player he wants to sign. Having come from a working-class background, he recognises this is a working-class city. People want to come to Valley Parade and see themselves represented on the pitch. They want to be able to relate to what they are watching. You go back to the 2018-19 squad that was relegated (from League One), they were the total opposite of that. There was no bond or understanding.

"What Graham also does well is look at the club as a whole. He doesn't see it just as a football team. It's why we can debate things. There's a team of people involved in running the football side. There's Graham, myself, (head of football operations) David Sharpe, (head of recruitment) Stephen Gent, all the backroom staff, (assistant manager) Chris Lucketti. There's conflict and sometimes disagreements. But we're also very quickly back on the same page. That's down to Graham building a bond of trust throughout the club."

This togetherness extends to owner Rupp, who has attended all four home games this season and will be at Newcastle next week.

This hasn't always been the case with the German, who bought City in 2016 alongside business partner Edin Rahic, who was later sacked as the club plummeted towards the basement amid significant financial losses.

City subsequently becoming bogged down in the League Two quagmire led to a section of fans turning against Rupp and Sparks, who has run day-to-day operations since November 2020.

An owner based in Germany rarely being seen at Valley Parade formed part of that narrative, so his enthusiastic presence at recent games has been welcome. As, too, has been his decision to increase budgets after a few years when the club was run very much on a self-sustaining basis. The upshot is the club expect to lose around £2million this season, on the back of a likely £2.8m deficit in 2024-25. Small beer to some in a division where clubs made a combined £117m loss in 2023-24, but still significant for Bradford.

Rupp's calculated gamble has so far paid off via promotion and a strong start to this season. It's also eased what to previous regimes had been the millstone of renting Valley Parade, sold for around £2.5million to the Flamingo Land Pension Scheme at the height of the early 2000s financial crisis.

Under the terms of a 25-year lease signed in 2003 that has seen rent rise by 2.5 per cent every five years, City now pay around £500,000 per year regardless of what division they are in. In League Two, this represented a decent chunk of annual turnover. A division higher, however, such an outlay is less arduous, while if City can earn another promotion to return to the second-tier Championship, their rent will become a drop in the ocean. The current deal includes a clause to extend by a further 25 years in 2028.

"The best Bradford City analogy surrounds shipping," adds Sparks. "There are clubs who can be speedboats, bobbing up and down on the waves. As a board, we operate at speedboat level because we're small and, as a staff, get things done quickly. But, as a football club, we're more like a significant container ship or oil tanker. And we all know they take ages to turn around. They also take some time to pick up any sort of speed. Once you get going, though, and it's full steam ahead, you take some stopping."

Cardiff and the rest of the League One promotion pack will no doubt have something to say about that. But, for now, Valley Parade is a happy place to be once again, as Huddersfield discovered last weekend when a chastening derby loss was followed by the team bus leaving with a couple of stickers featuring the new Bradford buzz phrase plastered down the side.

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