It's been seven years since Bradford City last went into a January window as a League One team. The new-found novelty would always prove a conundrum.
Positioned third on New Year's Day, would the division's overachievers stick and consolidate their brilliant return to the English third tier, or ambitiously twist and flex their financial weight to keep pace with the automatic promotion race? Now at the conclusion, their position is most probably somewhere in the middle.
Pragmatism partnered with shrewd activity has long been the football club's approach to recruitment, the centrepin of last season's promotion and this season's impressive start.
Last summer, owner Stefan Rupp made it clear to BBC Radio Leeds he had the financial firepower to make Bradford City a Championship outfit and did not require further investment to reach such a level. That statement would be put to its first real test this window.
Stalwarts such as Andy Cook, Brad Halliday and Alex Pattison were all moved on, with fellow promotion winners Calum Kavanagh, Neill Byrne and Lewis Richards also leaving for pastures new. Their departures a timely reminder that evolution has no room for sentiment, but to lose such experience from the changing room could also pose potential risk.
Eight players departed in total, with Tommy Leigh joining League Two Bristol Rovers on loan and Tom McIntyre's loan from Portsmouth cut short early.
Replacing them, a flurry of loan additions – another consistent trend in manager Graham Alexander's pragmatic approach to mid-season squad bolstering.
Oxford United's Louie Sibley was the first to promptly arrive, with the versatile midfielder bringing a wealth of League One and Championship experience at still only 24 years of age. Newcastle United duo Joe White and Harrison Ashby shortly followed, offering competition to the forward line and right wing-back roles respectively.
However, in perfect storm-like conditions, injuries to forwards Will Swan and Antoni Sarcevic, along with a season-worst three straight defeats, saw supporter calls to bring in more striking reinforcements grow louder.
To the club's credit, they certainly responded. Out-of-favour Wrexham forward Paul Mullin was quickly whisked in on loan, with Bradford-born Kayden Jackson 'returning home' from Derby County on a two-and-a-half-year deal shortly after. Both made impactful performances on their debuts.
Deadline day delivered two more additions, with the much-anticipated loan move for young Manchester United forward Ethan Wheatley and then – deal sheets at the ready – the late addition of returning midfielder Lee Evans from Blackpool on a six-month contract.
January has certainly shown how far Bradford City has come in a short space of time, and their play-off position in the League One table has most likely accelerated their evolution from a once routine League Two club.
Only time will tell if this January's recruitment will keep them in the race for back-to-back promotion, against some of the division's financial heavyweights, but it certainly hasn't harmed their chances.
