Bantams bag proven goalscorer
City boss Phil Parkinson has pounced to snap up his eighth signing of the summer this Friday by picking up the signature of proven goalscorer Alan Connell.
Connell, 29, has agreed a two-year deal with the Bantams shortly after securing an early release from his contract with League 1 side Swindon Town.
The 5' 11'' forward leaves Swindon's County Ground to make the move to the Coral Windows Stadium after helping Paolo Di Canio's men to the League 2 title last season.
He finished last campaign as the Robins' top-scorer just twelve months after topping the scoring charts at previous club Grimsby Town in the Blue Square Premier the season before.
Connell, pictured (right) alongside City Chief Executive David Baldwin, is now likely to travel with Parkinson's squad to Ireland next week.
The new Bantams forward is also expected to wear the number 17 shirt in the new campaign.
After adding to his growing strikeforce ahead of the upcoming 2012/2013 season, a purring Parkinson said: "I'm delighted that we've managed to complete the signing of Alan. He is a terrific signing for us.
"He is a proven goalscorer and has a great track record in recent years
"Alan is an intelligent player and will certainly add something extra to our attack."
Connell moved to Swindon last summer for an undisclosed fee after a highly-successful 2010/2011 season in the Blue Square Bet Premier with Grimsby.
He found the net 29 times in all competitions for the Mariners - finishing well clear in the club's scoring charts in the process - before ending the campaign by securing Grimsby's Player of the Year title.
The striker's League 2 championship-winning triumph with Swindon last season isn't the only promotion on his C.V.
Before his goalscoring feats with the Robins and Grimsby, Connell made up part of the Eddie Howe revolution at Bournemouth that earned the Cherries evaluation into League 1 against all the odds back in 2010.
Despite Howe being aged only 32 at the time and Bournemouth having a transfer embargo in place for the season, the Cherries finished as League 2 runners up, with Connell making 42 appearances during that campaign.
Connell's promotion with Bournemouth came during his second spell with the Dorset-based club.
His first time with the Cherries came at the very start of his career back in 2002 following spells with Ipswich Town and Tottenham Hotspur as a youngster.
Connell made his professional debut as a late substitute in Bournemouth's home match with Kidderminster Harriers in the old Third Division (League 2).
Bournemouth would end the 2002/2003 campaign on a successful note by defeating Leyton Orient in the Play-Off Final at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium but Connell sadly missed out on the occasion after damaging cruciate ligaments earlier in the season.
Connell eventually ended his association with Bournemouth for the first time in 2005 when he moved along the coast to join Torquay United
In the coming years Connell would feature for the Gulls, Hereford United - finishing as their top scorer at the end of the 2006/2007 season - and Brentford before he made his return to Bournemouth back in 2008.