By Jim Nicholson
What a difference a week makes. Three wins in a row, nine goals scored and up to the heady heights of fourteenth in League Two. All is well, nothing to see here… right? Wrong.
There is still a disinterested owner, still a CEO that has forgotten how to speak, still a recruitment guru with 01642 numbers on speed dial and still thirty-six first-team players being managed by their fourth manager of the season. This brief, if welcome, upturn in form on the pitch does nothing to hide from what needs to happen off it.
Change is badly needed and every Bradford City supporter has their own ideas as to how to make it happen: change the owner, change the CEO, change the recruitment guy, change the players, change everything. All of these ideas are valid and almost always grounded in some logic, but what is absolutely clear is that there is a faltering (and in some cases broken) connection between the club and the supporters.
Making Bradford City a great club is not solely linked to investment (although that would obviously solve some of the bigger issues). Big steps forward can be made if people think smart and do a few simple things well. And no, that does not include introducing pool tables…
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Setting a vision
Aside from vague soundbites scattered amongst interviews over the last two years, I can’t find any evidence of anything approaching a set of values that the club is governed by. I’ve heard culture, I’ve heard ambition and I’ve heard pride, but these are all buzzwords with no substance attached to them.
I wondered if this is the case for all clubs, but in League Two alone over half have a mission statement, set of values or club vision. Some are better than others, but all are better than “Bradford City Association Football Club (Bradford City AFC) is committed to providing an excellent service.” which is what exists within our Club Charter.
I’m not going to get into the minutiae of what should and shouldn’t be included, but fundamentally Bradford City is a community club and the basic values it lives by should reflect the people that support it.
Then to set the vision. Where does the club want to be? Is it aiming for the Premier League like Wrexham, or simply to play at the highest level possible like Crewe? Does it focus on financial sustainability like Newport? And, what realistic promises does it make to fans around sustainability, diversity, matchday experience and ticketing? It is important that this club can be judged on factors other than on-pitch performance – and that the people in power can be held to account against promises made.
By doing this, and communicating it well, every single part of building the club becomes easier. You live and die by the vision you set, but right now, no promises made mean no promises broken.
Structure for success
We have to consider the structure of the club through two lenses, on-pitch and off-pitch. These are two very different areas with different levels of interest and scrutiny.
Off-pitch is fairly easy to analyse – does the club have the right people in the right roles and are they delivering a tangible difference? A 40%+ uplift in revenue from the financial report 2019/20 to the one for 2021/22 suggests that the club is growing substantially. A quick look at social media posts from the club announcing new and renewed partners only goes to confirm this.
There are existing roles across all major business areas (finance, marketing, commercial, media, operations) and whilst I think it is fair to say that there are areas for improvement or for the people in those roles to be critiqued, the structure makes sense.
On-pitch is a whole other story, and it’s a simple one. The club is obsessed with the cult of the manager and appears to be convinced that if they can just get the right man in, everything will be fine. If it hires someone absolutely different to the last bloke, who was rubbish by the way, then he will lead the team to glory. Spoiler alert: it won’t and he won’t.
This is also a relatively easy one to fix. Decide on the type of football club it wants to be, create roles to sit within the structure and hire good people to deliver. It’s really not rocket science.
But how does it decide what type of club it is? It all comes back to having a clear vision – if Bradford City is to be a club with a very defined playing or recruitment style then it might be beneficial to go down the route of hiring a Director Of Football with a Head Coach and Recruitment Analysts. The advantages here are that there is consistency in the profile of players, meaning that there is less player turnover when the Head Coach changes (and they will, of course).
Although there is a risk that the DoF underperforms or that the pool of Head Coach’s becomes limited, it is an efficient way to use a budget over many cycles.
An alternative is to have a fixed playing style but without a Director Of Football – usually including a Manager and a Head Of Recruitment with the CEO driving the footballing philosophy – let’s call this the ‘Rahic Model’. For this to be successful it requires a strong CEO with a concrete vision for how the club plays and a hands-on approach. With accountability almost solely on the CEO, it is a very demanding structure with a high-level of risk if performance is not to standard.
Interestingly, the first year of Rupp’s ownership was the closest the club has come to a defined structure, with Stuart McCall responsible for coaching a fluid, attacking style and Greg Abbott recruiting young players with potential high re-sale. It genuinely felt like it could be the start of something great, but unfortunately, Rahic was a… actually let’s just say, less than desirable.
The final way is to not have any fixed playing style and not have a Director Of Football, more commonly known as the ‘Sparks Model’. This brings the worst of every scenario, with each Manager determining their own style, dictating the recruitment strategy and leading to a huge turnover of players whenever they move on. It is a structure that fails to empower anyone within the club and puts every ounce of faith in one outsider to get it right.
Although there are those lightning-in-a-bottle moments where it works spectacularly well (see Phil Parkinson), it feels like the wrong approach for a club that is apparently seeking to run a sustainable financial model.
Whilst I don’t think it is necessary for the public to have visibility of every aspect of a football club, it is important for the club to be transparent about the key roles for on-pitch staff. By allowing supporters to understand who is doing what and why, better judgements can be made on who is over/under performing.
Creating a pathway
Bobby Pointon, enough said. How refreshing has it been to see a kid come all the way through the youth system and into the first team? There is a clear strategy in place to sell the early developers to Premier League academies, which makes a lot of sense given the impact it can have on current and future revenue.
But what about those who go all the way through the structure?
Given the lack of U23/ Reserve teams, there needs to be a pathway to senior football, and at the moment it doesn’t appear to be delivering at a level that is beneficial to the first team squad. We see contracts being given to the brightest prospects and then a series of loans down the pyramid before 99% of them leave the club. Is this because they are not good enough, or are they simply not getting the opportunities?
Looking at the options, one of the biggest blockers is squad size. There is a consistently heavy squad caused by the constant changes in manager and player profile. This year alone there are 36 first-team player profiles on the official website, of which just five are recent academy graduates. This means that cups and behind-closed-doors games are used to give playing time for more seasoned professionals, leaving young players with next to no opportunities to test themselves.
A solution might be to commit to a leaner and meaner first team squad (I know, I know), supplemented by a core group of academy graduates each year. This would be a feasible approach if our club vision is well thought through and senior roles are filled appropriately. The three EFL Trophy group games are scheduled in the first half of the season and could be prioritised for the academy graduates to gain experience of senior football. For those that show their talent they can remain with the first-team for the remainder of the season. For those not quite ready, options to loan down the pyramid will help to gain further experience.
There are huge benefits to putting focus on youth development with the relationship between players and supporters being stronger if they are “one of their own”. It also has benefits on the budget, with a good pipeline of graduates into the first team meaning a “quality over quantity” approach can be taken to signing senior players. Win win win.
Communicating
There’s an old adage that if you’ve got nothing good to say then you are better off saying nothing at all. That is clearly rubbish in the context of running a football club, but sadly it’s a position we appear to be in today.
For the first year of his stewardship, Ryan Sparks did not stop talking. And I mean didn’t stop. Social media, podcasts, newspapers, websites, forums – the man was everywhere. But I understood it, and appreciated the openness. However, some of the statements were bullish and misguided, leaving him open to criticism when things eventually (and typically) went wrong. There was also emphasis on better and more transparent communication, which was refreshing, and the revamped financial reports were a particular highlight for the nerds amongst us.
Last year was far more reserved and felt better balanced, but again the big, bold statements were often poorly timed and not reflective of what supporters were seeing with their own eyes.
And now…. zero. Communication has basically ground to a halt, to the point where there were four-weeks following the sacking of Mark Hughes without any sort of message from the club.
What is the solution? It comes down to agreeing on a vision for the club and reporting on how it is progressing towards it. For example, a few times a season the CEO could give an overview of off-pitch matters, providing an update on how the club is progressing towards its goals (perhaps ahead of supporter forums?). At the end of each season they should then address the footballing side: what went well, what went poorly, what are the plans for the summer – this should be factual and to the point, skip the buzzwords or grand proclamations.
Occasionally there will be a crisis, and that is when communication needs to change appropriately. With the recent managerial appointment, high-level updates should have been given on a regular basis by the CEO. I’m not saying supporters need, or deserve, to be privy to the inner-workings of the recruitment process, but updates on general progress would have built trust, prevented rumours and stopped Kevin McDonald from becoming an unwilling (and undeserved) spokesman for the club.
Outside of statements from the CEO, the marketing team at Bradford City really need to consider the part they play. They are the everyday voice of the club and their initiatives can have a huge impact on the mood of the overall supporter base. The ill thought out and poorly executed attempt to re-brand the club crest was embarrassing for everyone involved and caused real reputational damage. I have no real problem with the idea of modernising, but there are many that would need guiding through a change of this magnitude with sensitivity. Change management is a key part of any business, apart from this one it seems.
Getting communication right can make the world of difference to the mood surrounding a club. All supporters ever want is to feel involved and there is generally an understanding of how much information can be shared. There really is nothing to lose by giving updates, maybe just hold back on the soundbites.
Thinking Ahead
An essential part of any business is to forecast what the future might look like and have plans in place to minimise the risk. Football is no different, with players and managers moving in and out of roles on a regular basis. The best clubs understand this but, as ever, Bradford City think, and act, differently.
Being proactive in protecting the best assets can be tricky. Move too early in rewarding new contracts and the club can be made to regret their actions (Tyrell Robinson, Omari Patrick). Leave it too late and players will be persuaded that their future is brighter elsewhere (Elliott Watt, Paudie O’Connor).
This isn’t a recent problem and the reasons for this can only be truly understood by those involved, but it is one that needs resolving. Bobby Pointon signed a one-year contract last summer and appears to be one of the biggest assets the club has right now… time is ticking.
Aside from contract renewals, there also needs to be consideration for potential transfers. The speculation surrounding Harry Lewis in the summer was the first time in a while that a player at the club has been subject to interest whilst under contract. From the outside the club appeared to handle it well, but how much planning has already been done to identify a replacement? If, and when, Harry Lewis leaves, is the club in a position to move quickly to replace him? And most importantly, will that replacement fit the profile of the team?
History would suggest not: in 2014 the club replaced the young and highly-talented Nakhi Wells with Aaron McLean whose peak years were clearly behind him. In 2018, the club then replaced the powerful and highly effective target man Charlie Wyke with Eoin Doyle, a player with a completely different skill-set. On both occasions the replacements were “big names” but were a completely different profile to the player they were replacing. Neither fit seamlessly into the team, endured torrid times at the club and were a waste of what was a large amount of money.
Avoiding this comes back to understanding what the club is and the role it can play in a player’s development. For example, Peterborough are notorious for identifying the best players in League Two and the National League and offering them a platform to develop before selling them for x-times what they paid. The profit is then reinvested in the team and the cycle begins again.
And finally, we get onto the biggest area of planning: the manager. One thing in life is certain, and that is that a manager will move on from a football club. Whether they are sacked or picked up by a club higher up the pyramid they will leave one day, and it is important there is a succession plan in place.
The club should always have a “live” candidate list of out-of-work managers that best fit the club’s profile and those in work at a lower-level who may be ready for a step up. All of this is done with the idea of making proactive steps immediately after the previous manager leaves (I’m sure there are even scenarios where off-the-record conversations can be had to make the process even smoother).
As with everything else, if the club has a vision for itself, understands the profile that fits the structure and has a ready-made shortlist this process could, and should, be able to be concluded swiftly.
***
There is an enormous amount of work to do to drag this club into this century, and I have no doubt that the path will not be without bumps, but if an idiot like me can write over 2,500 words on a strategy that costs not much more than time and effort, then I am sure the super-brains at VP can also make something positive happen.
If not, and the decline continues, I might just head down The Winchester, have a nice cold pint and wait for it to all blow over.
Categories: Opinion
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Excellent peice.
Excellent well balanced and thoughtful article – thanks Jim.
This article hits the nail on the head, a really good read
City’s current goal is self sustainability and they are floundering. Sad to say, leadership and accountability are lacking.
Phil please stop misrepresenting the clubs finances on here and the T and A comments section. You are not qualified to analyse the Accounts. There are no issues as to the clubs solvency and no significant creditors so far as i can see. There are notional liabilities to Rupp which he will never recover however those better qualified to comment will confirm
We’ll said. Phil the Canadian has previous for naive and misguided remarks about the club’s finances.
Some readers may wonder if there is some substance to his bizarre propaganda. In this way the rumour mill starts, leading to potential reputational damage causing problems for the club.
Ryan Sparks is predicting a record Turnover for last season. It should be interesting to see how it impacts Current Liabilities.
Really well thought out piece, excellent points clearly made. Hopefully the powers that be get to read it!
Much of what you outline above is identical to my own thoughts.
Particularly with regard to club/ supporter communication which is virtually non-existent.
It’s frustrating because the club does not really realise what a valuable asset lies at their finger tips.
PR department.
Do we actually have one?
It can be used effectively to make fans feel included.
Wrexham.are pushing out daily drivel which keeps the name/brand under people’s noses.
In our case Rupp should be saying more.
A vision for the club under his ownership.
A short, medium.and long term aim or plan which if worded correctly could be ‘sold” to the fans as s collective plan.
Instead we have silence creating hearsay, rumour and achieving nothing of benefit.
Really enjoyed this, well structured and articulate.
I would like to know if there is a vision, as most businesses are governed by them so there’s accountability.
I know it’s probably different in football but there’s no reason to me that some if not all the principles could be adapted.
This is a blueprint that any club can easily implement and will give city a strategy, vision, goals and much needed accountability.
At the moment the club is not transparent with its fans. It’s floundering big time. There’s nothing to buy into and no accountability apart from the buck stops with the manager.
The business model of sustainability is very much based and dependant on the high number of cheap season ticket sales sold every year and a savvy manager that can sign and organise the right players with little else in place.
Without any on the field success and the current direction of travel season ticket sales will inevitably decline making it more important that the club employ the correct strategy to move the club forward or look to sell to someone that can. The silence and current strategy is just not an option.
A mission statement is a good starting point that will map out the clubs strategy and the fans can understand and engage with a clear business and footballing plan.
Unfortunately there is nothing of the sort and in my time following the club it has always been run in this way and has had success based on a model of sound managerial appointments.
This has left the club with with no bounce back ability what so ever and I recall city were described as a club built on quick sand. True to this day.
Since the club was relegated from the Premier league 2001 and Tier 2 in 2004 It has managed 1 promotion in 20 years. There has never been a rapid return from a relegation and the club appears to sink into terminal decline until a manager can bring his own strategy and contacts to club and work miracles.
The club faces many challenges and always has since it’s very existence. But can we as a club afford to continue working within the perimeters of a hiring and firing mentality that is solely dependant on a managerial appointment delivering what the fans crave?
A good piece Jim.
Well said.
Very good article. I agree with everything. For an organisation the size of Bradford City our lack of vision is really worrying. Many of our problems could be massively reduced if we had a proper long term plan. We’ve got to be one of the most inefficiently run clubs in the league (on the football side).
Just reverting to the clubs charter..look under Supporter engagement’ and tyr club should be having two general meetings per season. Or Fans forums as we used to call them.
By not doing they are not fulfilling their charter or that of the EFL.
I think the cub use the ‘Supporters Board’ as a means of getting round that but the SB is very much orchestrated by the club.
Just another example of how the club fails to ‘engage’ with the fans.
I note the club claims to have a Supporter Liason Officer.
Who is it and do they also operate behind a wall of silence. One of the best examples of involving the fans was ‘Friends of Bradford City’ which operated up to 2016. In addition to raiding funds for the club ( which involved fans) they also had a motto. ‘Positive in our support’ which portrayed a mantra which spread around the club.
No coincidence that the club enjoyed success during their existence.
And what became of the very successful ‘Junior Bantams’.
This engaged young fans at an early age and often they were hooked for life.
Interesting article. I’m not one for club mission statements and all that nonsense, but clearly something behind the scenes is amiss.
Jim, you clearly know what your talking about. I vote for you to be the next CEO!
Have to agree with most of the above. The only trouble is that when your in league 2, your only one poor season from dropping out of the league. So when things on the field are going wrong, I can well understand why the panic button is pressed.
This article has got me thinking – the things that have really made me feel connected to the club as a fan over the last 10-15 years are the things not run by the club but run by the fans. The City Gent, Boy From Brazil, Bantams Banter and the City Vent and of course WOAP. These all make me feel connected and give me pride to support the club rather than the club itself – it’s all about the fans!!
Amazing that you omitt ‘The cows arse’ from your list!!!!!
But you are right, it’s been the supporters in various guises that have generated a lot of the connection between club and fans over the years.
Add in ‘Bernard of the Bsntams’, the Centenary exhibition at the Industrial Museum, the recreation of the 1911 FA Cup final, played at VP in 1991, Bantamspast and the museum, various books and publications, the annual FA Cup game between City fans and Newcastle fans, the new season barbecue held at the Fountain In, etc, etc .
At present there seems to no iniatives like this coming from our supporters.
Very well written Jim and I take my hat off to you (& all other recent article contributors) as the thought out content provides lots of things to think about. Always good to get a varied view of the issues. I like Ryan Sparks and wish he would just start to talk again but just be careful with what he says. Still a young guy who will make mistakes but he shouldn’t be appearing to hide in his role as CEO. C’mon Ryan get back on the communication side of things for all our sakes.
Excellent article, well written and says a lot about what I think about the situation but I would struggle to put it into words as well.
Football is about budget, there are occasional fairy stories like Leicester and occasional under performance like Chelsea but generally and certainly over time football clubs are where there budget sits. Last year we had a playoff level budget and that is where we finished, this year we were under performing that budget so we’ve made a change and there is a good chance GA can get us back in.
Location, infrastructure, stability, communication etc all contribute and I would love for them all to be better but the reality is we’ll be roughly where our budget is, regardless of mission statements, Directors of football etc.
Yes. Good, thoughtful piece, and some good insight. I agree with most of this.. As someone who has been a senior middle manager in a few large organisations, I am cynical about the point of explicit “mission statements”…but agree that there needs to be a clearly understood ethos and direction.
Also, you rightly point to the continually reactive, instinctive approach to club strategy, and agree we need to find a way to see the wood above the trees.
No matter what the budget, there needs to be a culture.
For too many years we have been a club that either does or doesn’t do well.
I’d love to see the long term plan.
Most business managers will have a one, three and five year plan.
I’m not saying that we can plan that accurately but the emphasis should be on track.
The Peterborough plan has seemed obvious to me for years. At the moment we have little money so why not buy young and hungry players from the league below and sell them on if they prove to be great. Then use that money to invest in improving the club as a whole. We did do it with a certain Mr Wells. Obvious really. Buying the likes of McClean and Derbyshire is terrible short term thinking
An excellent article and very well written, I happen to have the same views as the author so no thumbs down from me. Some great points raised in the comments section too , which is nearly always the case.
I worked for West Yorkshire Fire Service for 30 odd years, and I was left shaking my head when someone at Birkenshaw decided that we needed to publish a mission statement. It goes without saying that a Fire Service and a football club should know what its aims are. Having said that it might not do any harm to have something printed out for Ryan to occasionally remind himself what we are aiming for. One promotion in twenty years makes sobering reading, especially for those of us who have already clocked up well over fifty years attending matches at Valley Parade. Will I ever see another promotion Ryan. Well at this rate I might not.
I started going regularly in 1979 when we missed out on promotion by losing the last game of season.
1979- 1999 was a great period of the clubs history albeit with an administration, the fire and playing at neutral ground until VP was rebuilt.
From 1979-1999- 4 promotions, 1 relegation.
2000-2023 1 promotion, 4 relegations, 1 league cup final.
So just 1 promotion in the last 23 years.
A bit “utopian” for me. Had Hughes been just a bit less stubborn and a bit more positive in his game management we’d be in L1 now. And what if the chosen vision isn’t working? Will fans stop booing and threatening to throw tennis balls because at least there’s a vision? Having said that you make some good points as do the replies on here. Some of the recruitment has been unfathomable (names have already been mentioned). Loan players coming in haven’t generally added anything other than numbers. And communication does need to improve. Hopefully Sparks has learned from mistakes and can be better, less smugness and arrogance, more warmth and just keeping us all connected. I like what MacAnthony has to say and how open he seems to be about Peterborough. He seems to rate Sparks who could perhaps learn from him.
This is a very good article and I agree with the vast majority of the observations made. In fact I would suspect that there would be broad agreement in the corridors of Valley Parade with many of the recommendations. The issue is that you can’t simply flick a switch and achieve an overnight transformation – if it was easy to do so I think we’d have seen at least a flicker.
I think that part of the malaise is the sense of identity for the club. Historically the club has leveraged its / our identity as underdogs – as plucky bantams – going all the way back to its origins, 1911, subsequent FA Cup runs, the Premier League and then 2013. I believe that in the last ten years we have deceived ourselves that BCAFC has somehow become a big club with a sense of entitlement. For example, in my opinion Carlisle defeated us because they exploited their own underdog spirit ahead of the second play-off and with hindsight it was obvious before the game started at Brunton Park that they were psychologically better prepared.
Historically we have had the greatest sense of mission at VP and of ‘who we are’ when we’ve had a successful side and a degree of stability. It is hardly surprising that BCAFC has underperformed when you look at the amount of change in terms of managers as well as players. Jim also alludes to the short-termist nature of decision-making which is true, although as Phil Ideson highlighted previously this approach has been driven by the urgency of selling season tickets and paying the rent.
With regards a mission statement I am pretty cynical about them in the corporate world and I think it’s best to keep things simple. As customers / supporters, surely what we want is entertainment and a team that gives 100% honest endeavour in each game although I’ll bet that each and every manager who comes for a job interview with us or any other club will commit to delivering the same. I just hope that there won’t be another manager interview at VP for a long time to come. Maybe this time we will be lucky with GA.
What is currently needed is for GA to stabilise things on the pitch and for the long journey to begin with a few steps – by getting points under the belt. In the meantime it would be pointless for Ryan Sparks to announce a grand strategy because until people can see some progress, no-one is going to believe him.
Beyond doubt there has been a failure of communications by BCAFC but the sad reality is that there is a vocal number of fans who don’t want to believe any statement that the club makes. On this platform for example you have Phil W who consistently looks for any opportunity to criticise and is currently trying to spread malicious and factually incorrect rumours about the club’s finances. Then there are those for whom the only form of exchange is Rupp Out / Sparks Out and of course we have Nigel whose idea of being constructive is to throw tennis balls on the pitch.
Yes, the club needs to communicate a vision but I think it’s best to get some stability before making the announcements. However, it’s not communications per se as opposed to managing expectations that is necessary. That starts with the recognition that at the moment the prospect of a new owner is pretty slim and that the club operates with financial constraints, notwithstanding the success of its commercial initiatives. With regards communications the only way that this will be fixed is if everyone accepts that it is a two way thing – not just statements by the club but also a willingness to constructively engage by all parties. I would hope that in the new year when there is confidence that the team is not in meltdown that there will be a fresh start with dialogue and supporter engagement by the club.
Thanks for your response John, much appreciated.
I do want to challenge your statement that “can’t simply flick a switch and achieve an overnight transformation”. I absolutely agree with this, but we are now 2-3 years into the current regime and the room is still pitch black.
You raise an interesting point around the club’s lack of identity. The word “malaise” saddens me deeply, but I think it is right. That those within the club cannot talk clearly about it’s identity goes someway to explaining why we are in the position we are. I do not believe that this is a difficult thing to own:
1- look at the traits that typify Bradfordians – pride, determination, resilience
2- look at what it means to be a Bradford City supporter, of the togetherness that has be fostered through years of underachievement and unspeakable tragedy.
3- look at the characteristics of the plucky Bantam – fearlessness and fight, a never say die attitude
4- look at the city of Bradford and it’s rich heritage and cultural diversity
If an identity cannot be forged from this then we may as well all pack up now. Bradford, Bradfordians and Bradford City are truly unique and we need to celebrate that, not worry about how our role may have changed or that expectations have developed over time.
You and many others have talked about mission statements and I agree the concept feels very corporate and naff. But, check this out from Wrexham:
“Our goal is to grow the team, establish Wrexham AFC as a Premier League club, in front of increased attendances at an improved stadium while making a positive difference to the wider community in Wrexham.”
That’s cool, right? Super clear what they are trying to achieve. What’s better is they then give promises to the public about what they will and will not do. Imagine that level of transparency from Stefan and Ryan. Even if you don’t agree with what they are saying, at least they are owning it.
Finally, just picking up on your statement that “it would be pointless for Ryan Sparks to announce a grand strategy because until people can see some progress, no-one is going to believe him”. I tend to agree that we don’t need a grand plan, and you’re right that trust is at an all time low, but I think that is understandable. Given that building the strategic vision is the literal job of a CEO, there is no reason not to do this and Ryan is absolutely accountable for this. Just be smart and start building the foundation. Take little steps, build trust and then keep going. As I said, it’s really not hard unless you make it that way. What I don’t agree with is pretending that cupping our ears, closing our eyes and hoping Graham Alexander is the next Phil Parkinson is any sort of strategic decision.
Let’s hope someone finds a torch soon as I’m tired of this club stumbling around in the dark.
I am not for one moment saying that the club does not have an identity and having promoted interest in the history of the club I am hardly likely to ever do so. I refer specifically to a collective sense of identity and I suspect that that if you undertook a survey you would find that there is less unity now than there has been for a long time about that sense of identity. Traditionally we have been underdogs and thrived on that but many of our fans now see us as quite the opposite, as a big club. And the example that I gave of Carlisle is of how I remember BCAFC from years gone by. For what it’s worth Carlisle fans talk about our sense of entitlement which I thought was notable.
It isn’t up to Ryan Sparks to define an identity for us but if we start winning games it won’t be surprising how the mood changes. I agree that a manager does not deliver ‘strategy’ but in the absence of a big investment, a new ground or something transformational it is a new manager who invariably drives the change and delivers those small steps. It was the outgoing manager who was held responsible for poor performances after all.
I agree 100% with those who highlight how supporter initiatives have played a massive role in helping to shape our sense of identity. Maybe the fact that we are seeing less of this comes back to loss of a feel good factor or individuals simply not making the effort or who just can’t be bothered. The historical reality is that in just about every decade of the club’s existence it has benefited from supporter initiatives of different kinds and yes, the absence thereof arguably represents a malaise.
With regards Wrexham’s mission statement, it is not exactly foreign to our ears. Establishing the club in the Premier League or improving the stadium might be far fetched in our situation but the club has genuinely made an impact on the wider community. And as regards growing the team, all the efforts somewhat go to pot when you change the manager as frequently as we do which makes a complete mockery about talk of ‘strategy’.
Drafting a clever statement for BCAFC is not going to have massive impact. On the other hand an improvement in communications is desperately needed but as I have said, I think that needs a reset from everyone. The club is not the chairman or his CEO, it is all of us and if mission statements are needed they need to be written on a bottom-up basis.
First of all, thank you Jim for your constructive criticisms of what you perceive to be the shortcomings responsible for our Club being stuck in league 2 and offering constructive proposals as to how a DoF might help to “solve the problems”.
If the powers that be believe that the Club needs the assistance of a DoF, and can afford to recruit one, I will give them my support. However, as matters stand, and with my limited knowledge as to the benefits that adding a DoF would bring over and above how the Club structure operates at the moment, I just can’t see how it would suddenly produce a dramatic and or consistent improvement on the pitch. We have seen the same squad of players go from “Sunday league players” to highly capable league 2 players simply by changing the tactics employed by a different manager. Would a DoF guarantee to reduce the turnover of Managers? Could the DoF prevent proven, capable, experienced and previously successful managers from getting sacked after a short but poor run of defeats or when only a third of their way through a season or 3 year contract? There doesn’t appear to be the evidence to suggest a DoF has this “authority”. The the idea that a DoF will provide “stability” for a Club doesn’t appear to have protected the Head Coach/Manager longevity at Clubs such as Salford and MK Dons -and on this subject it would be interesting to get the views of Graham Alexander on the “pros and cons” of working alongside a DoF at these two Clubs.
Is there ANY objective measure to show that having a DoF has improved the success “on the park” at league 1 and 2 level that that otherwise could not have been achieved by investing the “cost” of the DoF into a league 1 or 2 team player budget? In Salford’s case they appear to have had both yet are having as great a difficulty as us in getting out of league 2 -Salford City accounts, released by Project 92 Limited for the year ending June 30, 2021, show the company was losing an average of £91,000 per week.
When Stephen Gent was announced as the new Head of Recruitment, 2nd May 2022, he said “I have been at Middlesbrough for over 10 years and worked in a lot of different roles, which gives me a varied background and a lot of knowledge and experience.
“It is about sitting down with the manager and coaching staff and outlining what we want in terms of a playing philosophy, which we have to be aligned on.
“It is important we get it right in terms of the mentality and key characteristics of players needed to play for Bradford City, first and foremost.
“The long term is going to be massive for us. We want to bring players through and recruit them at the right ages, and hopefully that will stand us in good stead for the future.”
Gent said, 6th September, 2022: “If Harry Lewis, for example, has a fantastic season for us, which hopefully he will, he’s going to have interest.
“Don’t get me wrong I wouldn’t want to lose him but it’s part of the game. If a club come in with an offer that financially we can’t refuse, then we wish him all the best.
“But then I’ve got to find a replacement and that’s what I’m doing now.
“It’s not a case of thinking he’s not good enough but of who the next goalkeeper will be should Harry Lewis go.
“It’s the same with someone coming after Matty Platt or Timi Odusina, these lads are at an age where if they do well in League Two other clubs will be interested.
“We don’t want that to happen. But it’s football, it’s a business, and if it does happen we’ve got to have adequate replacements for each player.
It will be my head on the block. They are my recommendations and I’ll live or die by that.
“If Ryan turns round to me in January and says we’ve had a bid from a Championship club and we’re going to accept it, then it’s my job to show who we’ve got lined up to take their place.
Ryan Sparks has said, 3rd December 2021, “I always talk about the word ‘culture’ and it’s not just at administrative level. It’s everywhere and we’re not quite where we need to be on it.
“We’re looking for a winning culture where we don’t understand or accept anything other than victories.”
Discussing recruitment so far, Sparks said, 1st July 2023, “I think it’s important to get lads in early, but not essential, as you’re always prepared to wait for the best players.
“That probably relates more to the loan market though, because the targets we’ve been landing have been ones we’ve worked on since last summer and through January, with only some more recently.
“They’re players we’ve always planned to have in our squad at some point and they’re not just random picks, a lot of watching and scouting and data has been done around them.
“We try and make sure we get the players we want.
“Some don’t always end up signing for you and choose to go in a different direction”.
Ryan Sparks, 4th August 2021, “Stefan understands I’ve got a clear plan and vision for the club which he agrees with and buys into. He had the cajones to give me the job when people were saying I was inexperienced and the cheap option,” Sparks says.
“It does feel as if the narrative has changed. It’s a massive distraction if that kind of takeover talk is around the club. Bradford City is an attractive proposition – we get people knocking on the door once a month saying ‘I’m going to buy it’ and it never really transpires.
“It’s very important that unless it’s a serious approach you don’t engage because it can be a very time consuming process. In my time here we have had times where we have had the big promises and the funds never turn up. It’s not on the agenda at the moment.”
Instead the agenda, he says, is “clear”. “(It is) get us back to League One as soon as possible where some would argue if you look at our history books it belongs, at the very least. Then upwards from there,” Sparks says.
“We’ve got ambitions to get to the Championship and a manager who can deliver that and we’ve got a budget that can compete.
“Whatever happens from an ownership point of view in the future, it won’t be anytime soon and I can’t control that. What I can control is what we do now: stop worrying about what’s happened (before).”
As far as Mission Statements at VP go, the BCAFC Academy has one and it also has a clear “philosophy” to guide it along it’s road in producing players who can meet the requirements of professional football along with contributing to the sustainability of the Club. This suggests, to me at least, that there is some “long-term” planning taking place. And if we feel that one of the major issues holding this Club back is a lack of a vision statement then maybe we should -and once again I am going to pick on poor old money-bags Salford- see if we can feel invigorated to aim for a similar Vision to Salford City. Here goes: “To be a sustainable, competitive football Club that is at the heart of the community and inspires the next generation of players and fans”.
So what’s my point? I think we already have the “vision” and the “Mission” in the heads of those that are doing THEIR jobs in trying to keep all the plates spinning. Objectives for promotion HAVE been verbalised and are on record. And by providing some of the quoted statements above from various news articles, I hope it will serve as evidence that there is indeed strategies, plans, objectively measurable goals with timescale, and even data being collected to replace players such as Harry Lewis. I would also hope that those who have read this far will be motivated enough to take those quotes above and apply them to the main headings of Jim’s excellent article to see if we are as poor in structure, communication, Vision etc as is being constructively pointed out in the article. And, finally, Well, where do we wish to draw a line between managing fans expectations with the honest ambitions of the CEO.
Apologies, I mistakenly omitted this paragraph as part of the evidence for objectively measurable goals and timescales:
Ryan Sparks, 11th January, 2022, Bradford City fans forum: “If we don’t get promoted this season, I will class that as a failure. Surely as a supporter you would want me to push for it.
“We’ve had seasons when it’s been ‘at least we’re here’ but I don’t really get that.”
Very good post. On the DoF point, The problem with it for me is that it only works until, well, it doesn’t. When that particular philosophy begins to fail, you just end up with another layer of what in the corporate world would be called middle management, that needs to be replaced along with the ‘manager’.
I’d say that at this level it’s probably over complicating matters for little gain. I believe Swindon have gone through a few DoFs in recent years (maybe under a different name), and they consistently bobbed about in League 2 and the lower reaches of League 1 if they’re lucky.
Great post Lonnie. D of F is not a cure all and a reminder to all that although there is room for improvement the club is not a basket case and effort has been made to communicate aims and objectives in the past.A lot of Business School psychobabble vented recently which has questionable value in reality.