Club sources insist they have moved on from the painful blow of Williams’ 11th-hour change of heart to reject the Bantams and sign for Gillingham on Wednesday.

The T&A understands that City are now focusing on other targets that they will continue to pursue – and are believed to be closing in on adding a midfielder and possibly another player in a different position in the coming days.

The potential midfield recruit is understood to be someone that they had been monitoring for a significant period.

And they are also working on making a further signing in the middle of the park from the list of names that had been drawn up in the recruitment process.

City were angered by Williams’ late U-turn over an agreed three-year deal at Valley Parade.

His decision to turn his back on the move just hours before he was due to put pen to paper came as a huge shock.

Nobody saw it coming after the noises coming from the 29-year-old’s camp in recent days about how excited he was at the prospect of teaming up with Mark Hughes.

What unfolded was a painful reminder of how quickly the picture can change during the transfer window.

Williams has instead opted for a club happy to significantly up the wage demands that City had been prepared to pay and he will not have to move from his Kent family home.

His decision understandably caused a huge furore among Bantams fans who had been looking forward to the unveiling of the former Wales international.

But City are determined to brush off the disappointment by nailing down other long-term targets as they look to strengthen the squad before the return to pre-season in a fortnight.

Former Barnsley player Clarke Oduor remains the only summer recruit at this stage.

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TIFFIN TO TAKE OVER HOSPITALITY OFFERING

Bradford City AFC is pleased to announce that Tiffin Stadium Catering will take over the hospitality offering in suites at the University of Bradford Stadium, from the 2023/24 season.

The deal will see the Bradford catering firm provide the entirety of Valley Parade’s catering for the next five years, having controlled the stadium’s kiosk operation for the past two seasons.

In addition to kiosks, the provision of hospitality catering will now be handed over to Tiffin, who will also take charge of the running of events at Valley Parade.

Tiffin Stadium Catering is born from Tiffin Sandwiches, with over 20 years of large-scale convenience food manufacturing and distribution experience making it the UK’s biggest and fastest-growing national supply and independent ‘Food to Go’ manufacturer.

Douglas Stewart, director of Tiffin Stadium Catering, said: “We are delighted to be bringing the club’s hospitality and events offering under our Tiffin umbrella, as we continue to develop our services at the University of Bradford Stadium.

“The first two years of our partnership have been enjoyable and fruitful, with stadium kiosks and the products we sell proving hugely popular on matchdays, and lots of positive feedback being received from supporters.

“We are now excited to be expanding further, and are looking forward to what we can continue to achieve together with Bradford City, as we aim to develop the club’s existing hospitality offering.

“We will be bringing more investment into these areas to hopefully provide a better service and more enjoyable experiences – both on matchdays and non-matchdays.”

City’s chief commercial officer, Davide Longo, said: “We are delighted to announce Tiffin Stadium Catering as our new hospitality service provider.

“We are continually striving to improve services off the field, across the entire stadium, and this deal is one which represents a real step forward for us as a business.

“With the matchday and non-matchday events to come, we believe the expertise Tiffin will bring will offer a variety of options in our suites and hospitality operation.

“Working with Bradford-based businesses is important to us, and something we take great pride in, and the last two years have seen us build up a great relationship with Tiffin, which we are excited to be continuing.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Doug and his team for their hard work, passion and determination to expand and help us provide a service we can be proud of, and am looking forward to seeing their area of our business develop over the coming years.”

To enquire about matchday hospitality at the University of Bradford Stadium next season, please e-mail events@bradfordcityafc.com.