By James Chamley
After a dismal performance and result away to Exeter of all teams in November, the first questions about whether Derek Adams was the right man to take us forward began to be asked from a minority of supporters. At the time, I was of the belief we needed to stick by Derek Adams for at least a full season given the lack of stability we as a football club have had for far too long now.
I was prepared to wait at least another year in the belief that it would pay off in the long term. And yet, I find myself at the beginning of February standing with the growing number of Bradford City supporters wanting a change in manager.
Since that date, performances and results have continued to be poor. But it is Derek Adams’s overall demeanour and tone that is the main reason I believe he has lost the support of many fans. It’s certainly the reason, for what it’s worth, that I have lost faith with him.
Contrary to what some may believe, I am not of the opinion we as a fan base demand instant success or tiki-taka football. I have seen us in the past be incredibly supportive of teams who haven’t been performing well or not being getting results. I remember the majority of fans being right behind Phil Parkinson during his run of 1 win from 21 games in 2014 for example.
What we do demand, however, is a manager who can relate to us and who understands the history and ethos of the football club and builds a team in this image. This is why, during his tenure, despite his unpopularity with certain sections, I was for the most part supportive of Gary Bowyer. I will not try and defend his style of play and maybe he was rightly removed in the end, however I could tell from every interview he gave, he was proud to be the manager of my football club and was desperate to do well for us.
I remember him speaking around the time of the anniversary of the fire disaster, quite soon after being appointed and thinking to myself, this guy gets it. And again, when I attended a fans forum that summer, it was clear he had a lot of time for the fans.
Obviously, things did not work out for Bowyer, so a better example would probably be Phil Parkinson, who I will never tire of mentioning. A man who understood the club and it’s fan base. When recruiting in his first summer, he completely understood the type of players the fans would get behind during the good times, and more importantly in the bad.
Parkinson identified players who would roll up their sleeves and relish the challenge of in his own words, ‘awaking a sleeping giant’. This meant that during the 2013 season and beyond, when things didn’t go so well, we as supporters would get behind the team and the manager.
Of course, we also had Stuart McCall who we all know had a great affiliation with the football club, perhaps to his detriment in the end. These managers are the most recent examples of people who succeeded, failed and did a bit of both in between, but regardless of this, were all people I could get behind and give my support to.
I have been a supporter for over 20 years now and given that for most of that period we haven’t been very good, simply liking the man in charge is a big thing for me. And I believe it is for others too. I really am struggling to get behind or like Derek Adams.
The point I am trying to make is that to be a successful manager at a club with the biggest supporter fanbase in the division, you have to get said supporters on side, preferably from day one. Derek Adams has completely neglected this part of the role.
Maybe he believed he didn’t need to blow smoke up the backsides of fans because his outstanding previous record would stand up for itself. With every interview, it sounds more and more like he believes we are lucky to have him as our manager and that we should be somewhat grateful for his presence.
In his bizarre interview after Saturday’s defeat to Exeter, Adams stated he took a risk to join Bradford City by leaving the mighty Morecambe of League One and that we would not find a manager with a better record than his. Perhaps he is right, but it could be argued that being a strong fit for THIS football club is more important than being successful at a different football club.
The problem with the approach Adams has taken towards the supporters and the media is that things on the field haven’t gone well, and now he is left with no loyalty from a set of supporters whom he has no relationship with. His previous record is clear for everyone to see and maybe if we as fans had a greater bond with Adams, we could cite this as a reason to endure the tough period we are currently going through to stick by him and go again next season.
BBC Radio Leeds’ Jamie Raynor has given Adams plenty of opportunities to begin to build bridges with supporters in recent interviews and Adams has stubbornly turned down this opportunity. In fact, he has chosen to openly criticise some supporters in his most recent interview at a time where he needs their support more than ever. Wrong move Derek.
The questions some supporters will have over the possibility of removing Derek Adams will come from the need for stability and the matter of who replaces him. There aren’t many standout candidates out there and we have said so many times before that this club is craving stability.
However, stability should only be given to the right person, and Derek Adams should not remain in the role simply because we are too scared to make yet another change. Stability and patience should be given to someone who we as supporters can get behind and someone who doesn’t refer to the club and its fans as ‘they’ and instead is one of ‘us’.
A new manager at this level is always a risk, hence why they are managing at this level in the first place. Most potential managers will have failures on their CV and that will put certain fans off appointing them. But it’s important our next appointment, whenever that may be, must be a good fit to the club and whom we believe can successful for Bradford City. With respect, this might take a different skill set than the one required to be successful at a club such as Morecambe.
Do I truly believe a change in manager will change our fortunes? Probably not. After all, until major changes behind the scenes occur, then we will more than likely continue to underachieve and rebuild season upon season. That doesn’t mean, however, that nobody else can’t also be held accountable. And if we are to suffer this continuous, abject failure then, surely, we should do so with a manager at the helm who we as supporters can relate to and, more importantly, we like.
Categories: Opinion
widthofapost.com 
Another great article. I normally hate changing managers and I’m a firm believer that managers aren’t given long enough to build and succeed in the modern game. But the manager needs to be the right man for the job, I don’t feel that Adams is the right man to manage Bradford City and sticking with him for much longer could cause a lot of damage in terms of the clubs budget due to falling season ticket sales next season.
The football as been poor to watch, the results have been poor, I can’t think of any player that’s improved under his leadership, his relationship with the support is poor. Other than his success at previous clubs I can’t see nothing going in his favour.
The sooner he leaves the better in my eyes.
Maybe PP should be quoted as to his opinion about the loud and vocal contingent of City fans. Hear it from the perspective of BCAFC management alumni for once.
A good piece.
It goes without saying Derek Adams isn’t exactly customer friendly.
Our club has picked various managers since Phil Parkinsons tenure, with various credentials. Some, notably Bantam legend Stuart McCall, were crowd friendly. Ultimately that doesn’t guarantee you success.
I can’t imagine Plymouth Argyle & Morecambe supporters were overwhelmed by Derek Adams soundbites, but during his 2nd season he gained them both promotion.
We have seen the difficulties facing incoming managers over the last 5 years.
You inherit a squad of players, that you may not require. Because of their watertight contracts , it takes time for that group of players to become Yours.
Adams was given a 3 year deal for a reason. To overhaul our squad , and get us where we want to be. After the end of August 2022 this squad will be of Adams choosing.
By Oct/Nov Derek Adams will have no excuses , as results will determine whether Rupp/Sparks have a difficult decision to make.
Ps. We’re not Watford
CTID
Didn’t realise Adams got his promotions in the second year of his tenures at Plymouth and Morecambe. Makes it even more compelling to stick with him to see how things are going until at least Xmas 2022. This season looks a lost cause and In the summer the loanees will disappear , then Adams can build his squad in his own image. We didn’t sign him for his sunny disposition or PR skills but to get us out of the basement. We knew what we were getting although it is turning out harder to stomach than anticipated. Unfortunately attractive football and friendly banter will have to wait.
I break my self-imposed silence to say that, though no lover of Adams, I am still undecided on whether he deserves to be sacked forthwith or whether it is in the club’s immediate interest to persevere farther. I wouldn’t sack any manager just for a lack of rapport with the fans. Football is full of badge-kissers who say the right things – and achieve very little. I would encourage him It was in his own best interests to show more warmth, however. I wouldn’t sack him purely for the poor quality of his signings because I imagine he got more or less the best quality the club could afford. I would, moreover, hesitate to sack him because of the financial impact of paying off a three-year contract. I would, without doubt, be inclined to a sacking if I thought he no longer enjoyed the trust or support of the players. A discreet conversation with the captain and senior players might easily clarify that issue. One of the problems is that the person who would sack him is, one and the same, he who extolled his virtues only six months ago, courted him and gave him the length of contract wholly unprecedented at our level. Can this person be trusted to make another appointment? Suppose he were to get it wrong again. It’s a very difficult decision whether to stick or twist and I have no idea of the best outcome. But surely the intention behind awarding the manager that length of contract was to give him time to build something. And that consideration will probably buy Adams more time – the rest of the season, perhaps. Of the two men, I suspect Sparks is much more worried than Adams. The latter will receive a nice payoff and easily find another club, just as Bowyer did. The other man’s prospects of remaining in the game look less promising.
Due to the length of Derek’s contract I bet Sparks is feeling stuck. I’ve got a feeling he knows that he’s made a really bad decision but knows it will be a costly one to resolve.
My guess is that we will be stuck with Adams for the remainder of this season, then the dramatic fall in season ticket sales will force the club’s hand. Unless Rupp is willing to take a massive financial hit from the lost income they won’t have much choice but to part ways.
If Sparks is brave enough to make the decision then could see this team improving a lot before the end of the season. I think there’s potential in a lot of these players, they just need better leadership
For me, James has it spot on. Until the transfer window I thought we had to give DA at least to the end of the season but now his time must be up. Have we improved as a result of the new blood? Ask Harrogate, ask Exeter. The team we drew with over 90 minutes on their own ground in the league and (twice) in the cup, we now can barely manage a shot against. But I’m not sure it is the players – across the squad it is hard to look at a single player and say he must be replaced, no Hope Akpan, no Josh Wright. The set up is wrong, we don’t play through the middle, we don’t play down the wings, we don’t win headers and, yesterday yet again, we barely saw one City player manage a pass to a teammate. This isn’t the players, it’s down to the manager. Sorry, time to go. Michael Flynn anyone?
None of us know the detail of DA’s contract, even less the circumstances of his poaching from Morecambe. However if we go back nine months, the vast majority of people agreed with his signing even if we didn’t have positive impressions of his personality. He might well have been a cold and ruthless individual but at least he was ours. Last year I think most of us agreed that we needed a hard manager to deal with our players.
We don’t know how many other candidates were on the radar to be our next manager. We have even less knowledge about who would have wanted to be our manager and the same questions exist know as we contemplate the departure of DA. However it is clear in hindsight – and let’s face it, the 20/20 rear view vision is fashionable at the moment – that DA held all the cards in negotiations with BCAFC. Having just achieved promotion to D1 with Morecambe he was hardly likely to walk for a 12 month contract was he?
Therein we start to get to the heart of the matter because we all demand ambition and financial commitment from our chairman / owner. Last May we had the commitment to secure a manager with a winning record and to put in place a period of stability. The three years was intended to give us the rebuilding and stability that we all crave. It also protected us for the possibility of DA being poached by the likes of Salford or others in the event that he was successful at VP and had itchy feet.
The three year contract worked both ways and in business it is one of the risks that you take but above all it was a statement of intent about the future of the club.
Clearly it hasn’t gone to plan and I am as surprised and disappointed as anyone else. For the record I am also highly sceptical that he can turn it round. However I also acknowledge that I don’t have the knowledge about the circumstances, least of all those rather troubling questions of who in their right mind would want to be manager of BCAFC? Equally you could ask who would want to be CEO of BCAFC or to own the club or even to play for the club? If sacking DA was really so simple and the necessary magic wand I suspect that he would have been gone long before now. Likewise let’s not deceive ourselves that a new benefactor is round the corner wanting to pour his/her millions into the club.
In all of this SR and RS need to make a hard decision, whether to twist or stick. It is not an easy decision and they will be criticised regardless of which decision. Nevertheless whilst they are in positions of ownership and control, at the very least they deserve support and sympathy for the dilemma that they – indeed, we – are now in.
What do we need as a club , in my opinion, the owner needs to come out from the shadows and show his intent. Back us with a new manager and investment and bring in a director of football someone with experience to help our inexperienced c.e.o. .And if he does nothing, he puts us up for sale.At least it will bring things to a head .We can not carry on as we are .
Looking back at older features on WOAP, worth reminding ourselves of the positive response to the appointment of DA, for example:
A Real Fan
June 3, 2021 • 8:48 pm
Great appointment, just what we need very experience manager hard and takes know prisoners . What will we get for our money, team spirit ,organisation and players who will give 100% .He will have bigger budget and I can see us been right up there. Well done to the club very positive move .
That’s exactly my point when people are blaming Ryan, he did what he thought was best for the club, he cant be blamed for DA failure
We were duped – the end…!
Everyone deserves a chance, but like everything in life, you sink or swim on results .
I feel like just copying & pasting my comments made in response to the last few articles…..i acknowledge many of the points made here, and elsewhere. But i think we’re in danger of losing perspective and our judgement. Sack a manager after 6 months, when we’re in 11th place & 8 points off the play offs? Whose last win was..last Tuesday??
Yes, I know we’re suffering the expectation whiplash of starting the season as favourites for promotion (which justified a 30%+ increase in season ticket prices). But we as a club keep bouncing around our pick list of reasons that have resulted in 5 managerial sackings (plus the further 2 who looked at the hassle and just walked away) in the last 5 years & it’s just not credible to keep doing this every 6-12 months.
We will be on a spiral to more and more questionable managerial appointments also on long contracts (who would come here on a shorter term deal, with that backdrop?)
Other than just keep harping on about the negative reasons for keeping our nerve, I’m going to stick my head above the parapet and suggest some positive ones. Our performances COULD easily have generated the points to have put us in a play off spot now, because many of our matches where we’ve dropped points HAVE generated enough shots on goal to turn draws into wins. This team has got the potential and talent mix that does look stronger than last year’s.
I do, as I’ve said before think Derek Adams needs some steers on a few things. I suspect no one generally coaches lower league managers on things like motivation etc but in all the large organisations I’ve worked for, the most senior leadership DO get external coaching on softer skill stuff…it’s insane that football managers get left to muddle through on that front.
We dont know the in and outs (clauses).in DAs contract but City would be stupid if they have exposed themselves financially bearing in mind recent activities with terminating managerial contracts. It may be performance based in which case he could be relieved of his duties quickly and relatively cheaply.
Or indeed it may have been that DA would not sign without having significant compensation written in should it not work out at VP.
But one or two things he has said almost cross the line towards breach of contract for which again he could have his contract terminated without real financial damage to the club.
Always hard to.prove though.
For instance when he said ‘ the club would be imature to sack him did he really mean premature?
But his recent stance in blaming the fans is remarkable and yesterdays warning that we need ‘to be careful’ was poorly conceived. We invested heavily in him pre season (14k plus season ticket sales) therefore he can hardly claim we have not played our part. So we provided the means for him to use his budget and pay his wages. He should be respectful of that.
I get that he is neither media or supporter friendly but his lack of respect will be the end of him at this football club. One wonders if it is an attempt to engineer a way out of a role that he has found is too big for him. In that case, if proven, could that also be a breach of contract.
I get that that Adam’s is not interested in the clubs past but if he were to spend time researching it he would find there are few groups of supporters more welcoming to players and managers. They largely just want to see effort and commitment and it’s easy to see when it’s not there. With the possible exception of John Docherty we now have a manager who is not and never will.be a good fit at Bradford City.
We often talk.about the ‘darkest days of Docherty’ but will Adam’s inherit a similar tag to his short period here. To me he crossed a line when he had a go at the fans and attached blame to them.
For that he has to go.
You’re right, Mark, that none of us know his contract, so we’re all speculating. However I’d speculate a few things with confidence:
-A valid termination provision for performance when we sit in 11th place and 8 points off the play offs seems highly unlikely. Ryan Spark’s has openly said that we are not hitting the benchmark points targets we hoped for at this point, but I very much doubt Adams’ would have come here with a contract that left him open open to being sacked, without material compensation, on current levels f performance. I would think it’s more likely he’s missing out on bonuses for not hitting those unspecified benchmarks.
– I very much doubt his press comments, whilst poorly judged and pretty unhelpful in PR terms, would leave him at risk of breach of contract/ gross misconduct.
– I suspect our managerial merry go round and the efforts to entice him from a newly promoted Morecambe mean the club would be into six figure compensation for getting him out at this point. And that’s a dent in our budget going forward- and the next managerial contract for anyone with a remote chance of meeting fans’ expectations would have to be even more generous as all potential candidates look at recent history.
I really want the fanbase at large to take a reality check. I think our remote German owner has generally acted in an honourable way, but why WOULD he dig deep to fund these endless changes and a bullet proof, league beating team? And we continually reference the firepower of the biggest match attendances in the lower league…but continually forget to mention that our season ticket prices are two thirds or half of those at the clubs we play (Exeter £350, FGR £400). Are the fans demanding more up for stumping up for that?
Just sack the fella. Or we will sack our season tickets!! Which…will cost us and rip the soul out! Only to find out DA actually wasn’t capable by October 2022!! It’s a total shambles now and an even bigger shambles in 2 months time at this rate !!
I have been adamant that we should give a manager time. Whether DA is the right man to be given time we will never know if we sack him.
I think he’s been unlucky with injuries but I disagree his signings have been poor. Hendrie has done well in his 2 games and is better than the other options. Walker is a coup. Delfouneso looks decent but I don’t think is any better than Robinson. Elliott is awful but is an option.
The thing I don’t get is that we expect to make these signings and them to be brilliant because they’re wearing a City shirt. Hendrie couldn’t get a game at Hartlepool, Elliott at Salford and Cook at Mansfield. These aren’t great players! Cook tries hard but is not a great player. What I’m clumsily saying is that to make these into a good team takes time.
What doesn’t help is the abuse from the crowd. For so long we’ve heard how good the atmosphere is at VP – the 12th man is what they call it . I don’t agree – we have always been a quiet bunch, you can’t count the games like Arsenal and Sunderland – it’s games like Exeter at home, where the 100 or so away fans make more noise throughout than the X000 City fans. They sang about it being a library and they were right. Our away following (which I’m used to) is far better.
I also think that the last 2 interviews I’ve heard have been fine. I really don’t see an issue. He said we lost to the better side, we weren’t good enough and he’s the right man for the job. I’d be more worried if he said he was the wrong man for the job. As for his criticism of the fans, they boo the players when they are announced on the tannoy – that says it all.
I’ll leave with this thought. If Adams is sacked this week, has he failed? I would argue not, because he hasn’t been given the time to fail.
Rob, you make valid points.
For me, the disconnect is between what we were sold this season by the CEO and now the noises the manager is making.
Our CEO was clear in saying there was no room for mediocrity. On that basis, why are we signing players who are clearly not good enough to take us out of this league? If there’s no room for mediocrity, why is a team like Exeter head and shoulders above us in terms of the quality of players they have and way they play?
I’m not convinced sacking Adams is the answer, although I’m swaying more towards it being the answer game after game. He doesn’t appear to know how to get the best out of the players he’s signed. He watches the system he’s decided on be ineffective but chooses to blindly continue with it in the hope all of a sudden it will begin to be effective. Or he throws on Gillead in the hope his career statistics to date aren’t a fair reflection on his goal scoring / creating ability.
I don’t know what the club stands for anymore, I don’t know what our ethos and style is and that’s something that I lay at the CEO’s door.
Summing up, I’m not convinced that Adams was the right man for what the CEO wanted but I get the feeling the only way he would come to Valley Parade was on a long term contract. If, by some miracle, we manage to make the play offs and get into L1 for next season, who in this current squad do you see competing at that level? I can probably count on one hand those players – so if Adams is successful this year, there’s going to need to be another large re-build in the close season regardless.
Given the record at the club in recent years how do you know that the best players actually want to play for us or that DA can attract them? And besides, wasn’t the track record of DA about getting the most out of seemingly ordinary players?
At the start of the season it seemed that we had secured the right managerial appointment but things then started to go wrong. Was that the fault of the CEO or the manager? Do you expect the CEO to start picking the team and do the coaching or is that the manager’s job? DA has made a lot of noises but I suspect that quite a lot can be discounted, hardly surprising that he’s looking for excuses. If you look back at the promises of promotion and success, more than a fair share of them were being made by the manager himself.
Unfortunately sport isn’t as simple as saying we lost so we played bad or we won so we played well.
I actually thought we played ok on Saturday, much better than previous home games I’ve watched, but they were better. Simple as that and I put that down to a club that has given a manager time – 16 years and only 2 managers – that’s Exeter. The last time we gave a manager time we had our best period for many years.
I think it’s harsh and unrealistic and rather petulant to say “but you said we’d get promoted”.
In short, it’s not as simple as people seem to think!
@ROB…the problem with the exeter stats are that they are still in league 2. I am not advocating that Adams goes btw, i cannot stand his football not his reasoning, but i appreciate the comments by those who say give him time then judge. We have seen numerous managers since the sacking of McCall in his 2nd stint (a huge mistake imo), have this same issue with the supporters. The real problem is from above with an absent owner who has now reined in the finances. Bowyer had a very competitive budget and squad. The indications that the chairman wasnt going to fund this anymore was when we then began the process of getting rid of wages. The day we then promoted 5 youth players for Stuart to use was the day we should have all finally realised the situation we were/are in. Rupp wants to go imo and the club desperately need to to as well if the things that fans are wanting are to be given a chance. Fans will rightly say that there is no one queuing up to buy us and “beware of what you wish for” but i hope these are not the same fans continually moaning and wanting the manager sacked, because what do they expect? Adams was clearly signed because of his acheivements on a low budget and he had the best cv out there for the club purely on that basis. To sack him now leaves us where? And i repeat i totally dislike this style of football and attitude to games.
Danny. Exeter are still in L2 you’re correct but that is surely a matter of time and patience. Other than that I 100% agree with you and having seen the news this morning City are an utter shambles – we may as well give up.
I think it is impossible for any of us to really know what Sparks and Rupp should do. John Dewhirst sums it up well.
Last night I was angry and wanted Adams sacked.
On reflection, for what it’s worth, I think I would give him the chance to prove himself.
I don’t care whether I like him or not. But I think he should be persuaded by his boss to show more understanding of our loyal fans.
But we should also show more support of him and his players. Not booing them would be a start.
If he decides to retain him I would like to see Sparks come out with a genuine statement of support for Adams.
Derek Adams needs to be judged 3 at the end of October. If we are at least seventh at that stage then he will be in a better position than Gary Bowyer, Stuart and Trueman/Sellars were on their own departures. He needs 8.5 months from now (basically a league season duration). Failing to achieve top seven by then means he can be released. This season is not going to be enough and in reality has ended up being Parkinson’s 2011-12 season. Next season has to be 2012-13.
Fans are deserting the club in droves. Each home game there are more and more empty seats where familiar faces used to sit, come rain, hail or shine.
The mutterings of a boring, aimless style of football have been overtaken by an almost obsessive criticism of an increasingly unpopular manager.
We all crave for stability but, apart from the history of his cv, which he keeps reminding us of, there is nothing to suggest we should persist with Derek Adams. The guy is completely the wrong fit for us. Once the stayaways find an alternative way to fill match days, they’ll take some enticing back. For that reason, the club needs to act now to preserve a good portion of next season’s season ticket sales. Pre-season promises from Ryan Sparks just won’t wash any more.
To be fair, we had the best pre-season that I remember for a long time and when we beat Stevenage I think we all shared Ryan Sparks’ confidence that 2021/22 was going to be a good season. The big difference then was the winning mentality that existed in the team which has since seemingly evaporated. Ditto I concur with the comment by Malcolm Harrison that we have become too predictable to play against.
I don’t disagree with your point about the stayaways but I think it unfair to start pinning blame on Ryan Sparks for his enthusiasm and ‘promises’ which is frankly unnecessary. People cannot on the one hand dismiss him as inexperienced / clueless and on the other say that they were taken in by his sales pitch.
I think it’s interesting looking back on what was being said on this website, for example the comments after that Stevenage game: https://widthofapost.com/2021/08/18/something-special-is-cook-ing-at-bradford-city/
Notable is that someone mentioned at the time of the Mansfield victory about the risk of injuries (which has been an issue) but there were not many people doubting DA’s approach or his signings / squad.
Jason’s character assessment of DA is also an interesting read and I don’t think anyone can genuinely claim that we didn’t know what we were getting: https://widthofapost.com/2021/06/03/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-bradford-citys-next-manager-derek-adams/
If you read what Simon Hallett, owner and chairman of Plymouth Argyle said about Derek Adams, AFTER he had sacked him, then you will realise that there is more than just his impressive CV as a reason as to why we should keep him.
Adams needs a personality transplant. As a man manager he is woe-full. Sacking him is not the answer. We will end up worse off financially and gain nothing. Sparks needs to have a conversation with him. He is not press savvy that’s for sure. No man is bigger than the club. Fans will always rant at the manager if things go wrong. City fans are no exception. Most managers will see that has an occupational hazard and deal with it. Adams just alienate himself from the fans with his comments. On the playing side we have key players out. Vernham being the main miss. Angol is also a loss. Saying that good teams cope with key players missing but not Bradford. I say give him one more transfer window and a warning that his attitude to players, press and fans need to change.
What does really concern me is the DA seems unable to see how easy we are to play against. If i was the opposition manager coming to VP, all you need to say is get in their faces and close them down. We cant cope with those tactics. Yet we never employ those tactics ourselves. Players at our level cant always adapt to styles of play that managers want. So surely the manager has to adapt his style to use the strengths we have in the squad. I felt sorry for the players at the end of the game when they were made to feel very uncomfortable as the reception they were getting, when the are playing to the style DA wants.
This time last year as we were playing with academy mangers, I was looking at the transformation at Morecambe living in Lancaster too it was both jealousy and envy. I remember calling my father and said that Bradford needed Adams he the may to finally push us on. Fast forward April/May and the rumours started of him coming to us. I began to think for a minute my phone had been tapped by Bradford City. And then finally he was unveiled I began to think what a coo we done it, this be the year. I now want to openly admit I got it wrong and currently hope my phone is tapped!! He has to go the football is dire, the tactics inept and don’t get me started on 423 bloody 1. I’d never seen this formation ever until last year Trueman and sellers protecting back 4 and saving us from relegation. Not attacking enough for a side pushing for promotion. As for his interviews always referring to club in third party refusing to admit blame and then slating fans. I thought at beginning he was doing on purpose to get sacked and I’m still thinking he don’t care. As for new appointment names and history doesn’t matter to me. Give fans 100% and entertain us again and see where we go from there as for hype I don’t think I will ever get sucked in again.
The players obviously don’t like, or buy into what you want. Neither do the fans.
Sorry but it’s Time to go.
Try and build your career and reputation somewhere else.
It just seems now every season, to some fans if we don’t get in at least the play offs, then the manager has to be sacked, and that is no way to run a football club.
Problem is though because of the cheap season tickets the owner always feels they have to bow to the demands of the fans, so unless something changes dramatically, I expect Adams to go at the end of the season if not before.
I just think getting rid of him after a season or even less is premature, considering we headhunted and paid compensation for him, and he has got two clubs promoted in his 2nd season at this level.
I also think some supporters expect us to walk this league because we’ve got 13,000 season ticket holders, but fail to recognise they are paying cheap prices, creating unrealistic expectations, hence the constant demand for sacking of the manager when once again they are not met.
During the ”Matter of Heart” video, Rupp tells Rahic (35 mins 35 secs) that he read somewhere that the half-life of a manager in league 1 was 10 months. Rupp said ”how are you supposed to have long-term goals like that, you can’t” and that that was no way to run a business and it is what makes them stand out from the rest. So how has that recognition of a problem of a high turnover of managers worked out in the way of operating as a business at City?
If Adams were to be sacked this week the ”half-life” of a Bradford City Manager under Rupp’s ownership would be an average of 8.25 months ( I haven’t included Greg Abbott’s or Martin Drury’s 1 week each, filling in, roles and I have not included the six weeks without a manager between the time Grayson left and Collins was given the job). McCall had 19 months in the role which then brings down the average time of the rest of the 7 managers down to an average of just over 6 and a half months each with not a single one of them serving for a full season. Collins had only 2.5 months in charge.
When McCall took over after Parkinson we finished the season in 5th place in 2016/17. The following season, 2017/18, when McCall got sacked in February, ended with an 11th place finish. Then in 2018/19, having tried 3 different managers we ended in 24th place and relegated to league 2. In 2019/20, we tried the 2 managers in a season approach again and ended in a lower league position, 9th, than we were in with the manager that we sacked. Season 20/21 saw our league finish fair even worse as we ended the season in 15th place despite getting through another 2 management teams in one season.
Supporters can either support the continuation of a failing policy of sacking managers, before they even get the chance to fulfil a full season in charge, or they can wake up to the fact that it makes no sense to continue with a faulty process and raise their voices in support for Adams being allowed to see out this season and then assess what went wrong, why and how to prevent those problems re-occurring.
Almost everyone sees the need for stability yet very few seem to have the courage or discipline to stick with the identified and agreed strategy. If Rupp, Sparks and Adams have all agreed with a 3 year strategy for improving our standing in the league then they all need to come together and speak as one and make it clear to supporters that Adams is going to remain in place until at least the end of this season. This may or may not affect the level of abuse that Adams and Sparks get but if supporters take a step too far they should be banned from the ground.
Like every Club we have a minority who behave disgracefully. Remember those who abused Lawn in the car park at Accrington? The ones that abused Nahki Wells as he sat in the crowd with the City fans at Preston and had to move from his seat? And what about those fans that regularly tarnish this Club with their abuse of their own players -who often, when they become ex City players, then take great joy in celebrating in the faces of those abusers. We can’t allow these types of supporters to punch above their weight and influence, negatively, how Bradford City Football Club should be making its decisions.
What a great summary. Thanks.
Sack the manager sack the manager.what a set of brain dead supporters we have.Let him get on with the job in hand,and see where that takes us.I bought a season ticket hoping we would get promotion.but if not this year. l will buy a season ticket next season with the same hope.If Derek Adam’s doesn’t want to talk to me,am I bothered? Not on your life.If you clowns boo’ me I’d tell you to go …. off he’s more polite than me.