Just under a week before the start of the new campaign, Steven O'Leary joined the Bantams on a short term deal.

O'Leary initially signed a five month contract with the Bantams having already spent a short period of time at the club on trial. He started the trial in positive fashion by scoring in his first appearance for the club after 10 minutes during the 3 - 3 draw with Carlisle in a pre-season fixture.

The London born Irish midfielder started his professional career with local club Luton Town. He made his debut for Luton during the away fixture at Rushden & Diamonds back in November 2003, aged 18 years old.

In the following season of 2004/05, O'Leary found himself in a battle with the experienced Ahmet Berkovic to gain a place in the Hatters line up. This was a contest O'Leary struggled to win and therefore he found first opportunities hard to come by. He was, however, part of the squad that saw Luton Town crowned Coca-Cola League 1 champions at the end of that season.

Following Luton's promotion to the Championship, O'Leary was given the chance to receive some team football through a loan spell at Tranmere Rovers. O'Leary was a big hit at Prenton Park during his 21 appearances for the club, earning praise from supporters and manager alike.

He returned to Luton Town after his loan expired and signed at new contract at Kenilworth Road in May 2007, by which time Luton had returned to League 1.

The following year, Luton were relegated to League 2 and when he contract ran out at the end of season, O'Leary decided to end his seven year association with the club and head for pastures new. He ended up at newly-promoted League 1 Hereford United's Edgar Street.

O'Leary made an instant impact on his Hereford debut in August 2008, earning a goal and an assist to his name to help Hereford beat Crewe Alexandra 2 - 0.

Unfortunately for O'Leary and Hereford, the victories seemed to dry up for the Edgar Street outfit there after. Hereford were relegated straight back to League 2 at the end of the campaign and O'Leary left the club.

The Irish midfielder was handed his first action in Bantams colours at City's first home match of the 2009/10 season against Port Vale.

O'Leary impressed with his all-action style and was set to start Bradford's next match against Lincoln when injury forced him to pull out less than hour before kick off.

Unfortunately it would be the start of an injury nightmare for the former Luton man as he has yet feature in McCall's squad since due to complications with a broken bone in his toe.

With his contract due to expire, O'Leary signed a new one month contract at the Coral Windows Stadium in January 2010 to give the midfielder further time to prove his fitness.

O'Leary made his return to action in the Bantams reserves match with Rotherham United on 27 January 2010 and then found himself named as an unused sub for the League 2 fixture at Torquay United three days later.

This return to the setup convinced McCall of O'Leary's value to his squad and he duly signed him up on a further three month deal to secure his future at Valley Parade until the end of the season.