By Jason McKeown

The danger is they’re still not reading the room. Still not fully getting it. Still making promises they can’t live up to.

At the top of Bradford City, they’ve pledged to do things differently. More investment. More communication. More engagement. In March’s overdue Open Letter to supporters, Stefan Rupp declared, “I accept criticism that has come in my direction, and that is very much my responsibility. I am determined to not let people down.”

There are signs for sure of a fresh start. A different way of doing things. David Sharpe brought in as head of football operations. A summer visit to West Yorkshire from Rupp, where he answered a range of questions. A stated goal to buy back Valley Parade. A promise to attend more games this season. “Maybe it’s the time to step up and give the people more information from the owner’s side than we did before,” Rupp declared on his June visit to West Yorkshire. “Times have changed and I also have to change.”

It sounds good. It really does. Greater investment in the infrastructure of the club. A move away from the self-sustainable model, so more can be spent building a team that can get promoted. A potential end to the financial millstone of forking out six-figure rental payments every year just to play at home. More communication – and with it more accountability.

But there is a guarded, muted response to such positivity from many supporters. A sense of wariness, from a fanbase that has a long history of being let down by those in charge of running of the club. Words are fine, but they are words. Actions matter. Trust will take time to restore. We wait and see, and – after a pretty flat start to the pre-season friendlies – we worry they might be taking us for fools again. That trialing players from Spennymoor and Grimsby isn’t exactly a sign of the promised greater player investment.

Bradford City has particularly suffered in recent years from its more populist communication approach. Big promises made. Boastful talk. But too often, reality proves to be a disappointment. Plans made and ripped up. Little to no accountability from the top. Managers in and quickly out. Eventually, populism gave way to silence. At the darkest moments of last season, there simply wasn’t any visible leadership from the top. Those times are the ultimate stress test, and they need to be managed much, much better.

The danger they are not reading the room comes from thinking that warm words in June will placate any rough times in October. And when you scratch the surface and look at what has been said so far, there are still gaps that we supporters are almost left to fill in for ourselves. And that’s where the challenges might lie ahead. We have more transparency into the club’s thinking and strategy, but we still need even more.

And that’s why, after a close season where many supporters rightly or wrongly expected to see more tangible signs of investment through the club’s transfer business – which so far isn’t the case – the worry is that we’re still not quite on the same page. And so more frustration could easily lie ahead.  

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In March 2009, the recently elected US President Barack Obama arranged for his secretary of state, Hilary Clinton, to give a special present to Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov when they met for the first time. The history between the US and Russia was complicated to say the least, with decades long mistrust and conflict through the Cold War only coming to an end in the early 90s. Relations between the two countries were still not great at this point, but Obama wanted it to be different. For change.

So when Clinton met Lavrov, she presented him a small yellow box with a large red button on top. It was supposed to symbolise a reset button. On the front, the Russian word ‘reset’ was written on. A gesture from Obama to Russia that the US wanted to put the past behind them, and forge a more positive, productive partnership moving forward.

(15 years later, I think we can all agree that the gesture didn’t work.)

Rupp didn’t rock up to the June fans forum with a reset button for Bradford City supporters, but that is effectively what he is trying to do. The past is the past. Not great. Not fruitful. Regrets? We’ve all had a few. But with Rupp’s pledges to do things differently, the hope for everyone has to be that this is a reset moment that genuinely does lead to better things.

There is every reason to want this to work from here. To be glad Rupp is more engaged. But the hard work has only just begin. Mission is not accomplished. What Obama and Clinton hadn’t realised prior to that 2009 presentation was that someone had mistranslated the Russian word for ‘Reset’. Unwittingly, the reset button box presented to Lavrov featured the Russian word for ‘Overcharged’ instead of ‘Reset’.

A miscommunication that set the tone for what followed. Rupp must hope his own metaphorical reset button carries the same message as the one fans have taken.

Hey Bobby, what’s German for ‘sign some players?’

***

Stefan Rupp’s purchase of Bradford City in 2016 was supposed to take the Bantams to another level. And I guess it did. But we all thought another level meant upwards and forwards, not downwards and backwards.

Eight years on, it’s hard to argue that Rupp has so proven to be a successful Bradford City owner. From taking over a club knocking on the door of the Championship, to relegation and to League Two purgatory. Over those eight years, 10 different managers have taken charge. A club that prior to 2012 and Phil Parkinson underwhelmed and went through manager after manager has become a club that has underwhelmed and gone through manager after manager.

Rewind to 2015 – the year that saw Rupp and Edin Rahic open talks to buy Bradford City – and the ownership situation was summarised by then-chairman Mark Lawn as this, “Julian [Rhodes] and I can’t afford to have this club in the Championship. We wouldn’t be able to put the money in…I’ve got to be honest about it.” And what about selling the club? “We want to make sure that someone who has got the money understands the workings of the club and how you’ve got to be with the fans, that you’re all one and not aloof. That’s important.”

Lawn was a supporter of the club since the 1960s, the Rhodes family long-term fans too. They certainly weren’t perfect, but they at least had a connection with the club and the supporter base that made them relatable. That bought them patience in lean times. Two of our own.

Rupp doesn’t have that. And to use Lawn’s words of 2015, the jury is very much out on whether he “understands the workings of the club”. Few would argue he has got it right in how he is with fans. Aloof? That would be unfair. But available to supporters he hasn’t been.

Living in Germany, Rupp is never going to be the hands-on chairman in the ilk of a Geoffrey Richmond and his legendary six-hour daily meetings with the manager. But his rare visits to West Yorkshire have helped to foster a growing unease and hostility amongst supporters, which spilled out when he showed his face on the club’s worst afternoon of a disappointing 2023/24 season, when Mansfield Town humiliated the Bantams at Valley Parade in March.

Rupp received a rough ride from nearby supporters. And less than a fortnight later, back in Germany, he welcomed Ryan Sparks for crunch talks that have heralded a change. 24 hours before a supporter protest, Rupp published that open letter vowing to do things differently. Apologising for his mistakes, and promising to put them right. From greater communications with supporters to greater financial investment.

Last season brought home to everyone that things could not continue as they were. That distant, hands-off ownership was not going to lead to success at a club badly underfunded in certain areas off the field, hampered by the financial realities of paying huge sums of rent to use Valley Parade, and where supporter faith was rapidly dwindling. Crucially, Rupp has realised it too. Now we wait to see if he can live up to his words.

A close season visit to Valley Parade – where he fronted up to fans at a forum and spoke openly to the media – was good. Encouraging words about seeking to buy back Valley Parade should lift the spirits of every supporter. Above all else, Rupp has pledged to be more present.

He has to live up to that.

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Rupp is a wealthy man. In the club’s long, bumpy history, they have never had an owner with such considerable financial means. The problem for us supporters, when assessing the last eight years, is that this wealth hasn’t proven to be an advantage. It hasn’t taken us to the next level. And yes, there have been times to definitely feel grateful to Rupp for his deep pockets – the January 2017 signing of Charlie Wyke, the financial clean-up of Rahic’s mess, and getting through the considerable uncertainty of Covid. But ultimately, the club has stagnated since 2016. We want Rupp’s financial resources to provide more than just security.

You don’t have to have a rich owner to be successful, as so many other clubs prove. But the difference is that other owners have football expertise they bring to the running of the club, which has given them an advantage over the likes of City. Rupp here has fallen short. He is the first to admit he is not a football expert and – unlike Rahic – it is to his credit that he understands his limitations here. But at times it has left City with the worst of both worlds – a rich owner who doesn’t really invest (at least in a life-changing way), and who also doesn’t know football.

The sustainability model that has been preached by the club in recent years is now apparently no more. With City stuck in the slow lane of the motorway, easily overtaken by any club with football nous or heavy financial backing, it’s become painfully clear sustainability on its own cannot work. Especially with the club not able or willing to stick to any plan (and especially manager) for longer than 12 months. And with the growing financial imbalances in the EFL that – with the launch of a vast new TV deal with Sky this season – will only get wider.

City want to be a Championship club in the long-term, but they’re stuck on the other side of the divide, and the challenge gets harder and harder with each passing year.

So a change of strategy – provided it is truly delivered – has to be welcomed. It lifts spirits and gives us reasons to be optimistic again. Whether you are pro or anti-Rupp, it’s difficult to dispute that he’s taking the criticisms seriously. That his intentions – which have never been bad – are decent. After some very dark times last season, there’s a glimmer of light again.

But still, in the wake of back to back pre-season friendly defeats and only a slow trickle of new faces, it’s fair to say the jury is out. In Rupp’s defence, it’s too early to truly judge. Past City close seasons have shown that some of the biggest and best business happens late on. In the famous 1998/99 Premier League promotion season, for example, City broke their transfer record twice within a matter of days – but Lee Mills (the club’s first £1 million player) only arrived the day before the first game, and Isaiah Rankin (a £1.3 million signing) the week after.

Sometimes it pays to wait for the truly dial-shifting, premium players to become available. But the growing unease over City’s low key business so far underlines the thin ice that Rupp is still treading on.

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Looking forwards to this season, the problem for Rupp is that he has very little margin for error. There isn’t going to be much patience if the club continue to flounder from here. If we don’t get it right this time, when are we ever going to be successful under Rupp? This is now a Rupp apparently more engaged, more active and more benevolent with his money. It might not be his fault if it doesn’t work from here, but that won’t stop him getting the blame. Especially if there is little that happens between now and the closing of the transfer window to suggest the club genuinely has a larger transfer budget.

Does Rupp have to buy back Valley Parade? Well publicly stating you want to gives us something to measure him by. So it is something we supporters can rightly hold him to account for. Buying any property isn’t easy and will take time. Rupp has a duty of care to keep us informed. The recent Telegraph & Argus article that falsely claimed there could be a significant hold up – an article that rightly or wrongly carried a strong whiff of club briefing – was not a good start here. The understandable hostile reaction again showing that the foundations of trust are not there yet.

There really is no question that City have to be successful this season. They cannot flounder again. Start slowly, sack the manager, appoint someone totally different, rip up the squad, finish mid-table, and talk about how next season will surely be better. It’s a script we’re completely sick of following. The simmering tensions of last season ultimately gave way to some level of forgiveness. But do not think we’ve forgotten.

In some ways, David Sharpe might be the most important extra investment Rupp makes in the short-term. Sharpe spoke very well at the June fans forum. A guy without an ego. Quick, in each of the answers he gave to supporters, to talk up those he is working alongside. Sharpe is clearly a motivator with great expertise. The link needed between head of recruitment and manager, when last close season this was clearly broken. The guy to take the burden off Sparks in making football decisions. Someone with an excellent track record, who everyone can trust.

Sharp’s presence means that Sparks can take more of a behind the scenes role. Last season was a really bad one for the CEO, who lost the trust of so many supporters through his indecision and press conference performances that badly misjudged the supporter mood. Sparks clearly cares and has a lot to offer the club, not least in the commercial space where the club’s operations are much slicker and professional. At times last season Sparks must have felt like the loneliest person in Bradford. In Sharpe, he has someone to share the burden and who he can lean on. And Rupp also needs to be there for him to further ease that pressure.

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Rupp, Sharpe and Sparks are effectively the guys at the top. The leaders who must set the strategy, tone and culture of the entire football club. They need to give everyone who works for the club the tools to succeed, and the support when they need it.

It’s no secret that several sacked Bradford City managers of recent years felt let down by the support of those within the club when they needed it. When the chips were down, they were often hung out to dry. Not every single manager who has failed at Bradford City under Rupp failed because they weren’t good enough. Some might have succeeded if the club had stood by them when they needed it most. If they had done more to support them before situations grew too toxic.

That’s down to Rupp to oversee. And in Graham Alexander, he has a manager who firmly deserves the backing and resources to bring the sort of success his track record promises. I’m not sure Rupp and Sparks can get away with another manager failing at Bradford City.

So it’s all on the line for Rupp. He’s clearly determined to win back the trust he has lost from his Bradford public. He wants to put right the mistakes of the past. And with the greater focus and financial backing, the club evidently has a better chance of being successful at last. Pre-season angst right now will be very quickly forgotten if they make good on their promises.

Rupp and co just need to ensure they truly are reading the room, and on the same page as supporters. If for any reason they spot that they aren’t, they need to be proactive in addressing it. Perhaps one of Rupp’s biggest personal challenges is to understand he can’t always be the good guy he wants to be – and that true honesty means communicating bad news as well as positive.

There is a long, long way to go for Bradford City to get back to where they were in 2016. But at the very least, this season they can return to the level they started. And if Rupp truly has pressed the reset button and can repair the frayed trust within large swathes of the fanbase, the club has a chance of truly reviving itself again.       

Categories: Opinion, Previews

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