David Wetherall believes the biggest mistake Bradford have made during their sad decline was "losing Paul Jewell" but insists he does not blame the Derby manager for walking out on the club.

Jewell steered the Bantams to the Premier League in 1999, but they survived just two seasons in the top flight and after falling out with then chairman Geoffrey Richmond, Jewell walked out on the club.

Within six years Bradford had sunk into League Two and Wetherall, who has retired to take on a coaching role at Valley Parade, told the club's official website: "Everybody blames the `six weeks of madness' as the reason why it all went wrong for us in the Premier League.

"But by far and away the biggest mistake the club made was losing Paul Jewell. For me, that was the beginning of the end for us in the top division.

"You don't realise how good something is until it's no longer there and that was definitely the case with Paul.

"I was absolutely devastated when I heard the news. I'd just got back from holiday and there was a message on the answerphone from Paul saying that he was off - I couldn't believe it after what we had achieved but, with what had gone on, he was right to go."