By Leon Carroll
In response to the recent Width of a Post article about whether Stefan Rupp’s attempts to reconnect with fans last week was a success, I tweeted that “We’re essentially cosplaying as a professional football club, on a film set with fronts of buildings but nowt behind it.” I was quite pleased with the analogy, and it got me thinking about the actual structure of the club. Before writing all that follows, I hadn’t read the reader comments on that WOAP article, but I have now and have just seen that David Rowbottom actually captured the essence of what I have written and drew the same conclusions. Great minds and all that.
Our well documented spell in the basement division and fall from the relative height of the League One play offs, when our current owner arrived on the scene has been discussed at length on these pages, so I decided to have a look at who runs some of the clubs who have outstripped us in recent years, having all previously been in non-league but who now sit above us, either in League One or – in Chesterfield’s case – currently one place above us in League Two.
This is not an extensive or in-depth analysis because, well, I just don’t have the time, but I think it provides an interesting comparison which is worth highlighting and can act as starting point for further discussion.
We all know that we are owned by Stefan Rupp who is also listed on the club’s website as the Chairman. The day to day running of the club is down to CEO Ryan Sparks. We then have people responsible for different areas of on and off pitch matters, but this first attempt at a WOAP article will focus mainly on executive roles and we will return to City after our tour of other four club’s boardrooms – Lincoln, Stockport, Exeter and Chesterfield.
Starting with Lincoln City, who lost their League status in 2011 but were famously promoted as champions under Danny Cowley back to League Two in 2017. The following season they won the EFL Trophy and missed out on promotion in the play offs. However in 2018/19 they went up to the third tier as League Two Champions. So far, so envious. They have since established themselves in League One, with a play off final defeat to Blackpool in 2021 the high point of their time in that division so far.
Lincoln clearly have some significant financial backing, as a glance at the page on their website listing their directors and “significant investors” will show, including Strategic Advisor Landon Donovan. However, I want to focus on the board. Lincoln’s chairman and majority shareholder is a South African businessman, whilst the vice chairman is a local Imps fan with experience of being a CEO of a wine distributor which was floated on the stock market for £110m in 2021.
Lincoln then have a board of ELEVEN directors, all with boardroom experience including at McLaren, in marketing, finance, investment management and construction. Five of the directors are locals and Lincoln City fans, whilst others are from the US and South Africa. The key take away though is the board has eleven lifetimes of experience of successfully running companies. We’re not finished with Lincoln either, because they also have a Chief Operating Officer who previously carried out the same role at Doncaster Rovers.
Moving on now to Stockport County, who as you know sailed past us last year into League One. After going into administration in 2009 the club suffered years of financial strife along with being relegated out of the league in 2011. County dropped to the National League North in 2013, where they stayed for six years before winning the NLN title in 2019.
The club was bought by local businessman Mark Stott in 2020 before winning the National League title in 2022 to return to the Football League. Stockport finished fourth in their first season, memorably losing to our friends Carlisle in the final, but went significantly better last season, beating Wrexham to the League Two title with two games to go.
Stockport’s board of directors doesn’t quite measure up to the standards set by our first club, Lincoln, but it comprises a non-executive chairman with a long experience in property management, the CEO has over 20 years experience of similar roles, and a COO who arrived last year after 14 years at Manchester City. The remaining directors include the owner Mark Stott, the CEO of a successful Manchester property business, and experienced lawyer and company director Mark Dawson.
The third club on our boardroom tour is Exeter City. The Grecians were relegated to the Conference in 2003 plagued by financial problems, and directors at the time being convicted of fraud. As a result a CVA was put in place which was ultimately cleared by the good fortune of an FA Cup tie at Old Trafford and subsequent replay which provided the necessary funds.
Exeter finally returned to the EFL via the National League play offs in 2008. Promotion to the third tier followed a year later as they finished runners up to Brentford, before they were relegated back to League Two in 2012. After being losing play off finalists in 2017 and 2018, they finished in second place in 2022 to return to League One.
Exeter City are owned by the Supporters Trust, which marks them out from some of the other clubs on this whirlwind tour, but that doesn’t mean they have inexperienced fans running the club. Alongside the CEO responsible for day to day running, City have a board of six directors, including a former CEO of Thornton’s Chocolate, a former board member of Warwickshire CC, and others with high level experience at boardroom level in finance and law.
Our final visit is to Chesterfield, the club currently closest to us in league position having returned to the EFL in May. The Spireites, like us, experienced serious financial problems early this century with the former owner responsible for the club ending up in administration being imprisoned for fraud and the club being deducted nine points.
Ownership of the club passed to the Chesterfield Football Supporters Society in 2001. Whilst owned by the supporters the club moved to a new stadium, something I have mentioned on these pages before having written about it for a town planning masters dissertation. The club was sold to a local businessman in 2011 but acquired by the Chesterfield FC Community Trust in 2020 before being bought by the current owners earlier this year. Chesterfield’s record in the past 15 years includes two League Two titles in 2011 and 2014, the EFL Trophy in 2012, a League One play off defeat in 2015 followed by successive relegations in 2017 and 2018. After three unsuccessful NL play offs they won the National League title in May after six seasons in non-league.
Chesterfield have a chairman with significant boardroom experience including as chief executive of a midlands council, along with a chief executive who has been on the board of directors since 1987 and is a former retail managing director.
The remaining directors include Dave Simmonds, a former sports lecturer and principal of Chesterfield College who is a qualified football coach and previously ran Derbyshire Schools Football Association alongside setting up Chesterfield’s academy; a published forensic psychiatrist and safeguarding/welfare expert; and a chief finance officer. The owners, brothers Phil and Ashley Kirk, are also on the board, as well as Phil’s wife Sharon who has a background in executive recruitment. Phil Kirk made his fortune in the oil industry and both brothers are lifelong Spireites fans.
And that concludes our short tour, so what have we learned? Well, its clear that three of the four clubs have good financial backing or at least do so now they have new owners in the case of Stockport and Chesterfield, whilst Lincoln’s owner has been chairman since 2018, but money isn’t everything as we will come to later.
So let’s look at the relative successes of those clubs before returning out our own Bradford City. Since 2007, the year we dropped back into the fourth tier for the first time in 25 years, those four clubs have experienced eleven promotions including eight league titles, two EFL Trophy wins and seven unsuccessful play off campaigns. In the same time Bradford City have experienced one promotion via the play offs, three unsuccessful play off campaigns and improbably reached the League Cup final. We last tasted promotion success 11 years ago.
Now let’s take a look at our board. We’ve already mentioned the chairman Stefan Rupp, and the CEO Ryan Sparks. I’m sure we have a similarly experienced and well qualified board of directors to support those two? Well, no actually. The only other member of the Bradford City Board of Directors is Alan Biggin, an experienced accountant who also doubles as the club’s company secretary. That’s it. Three directors, one of whom lives in Germany. Whilst I am sure David Sharpe could, if asked, bring to bear his previous experience as chairman and CEO at Wigan and Mansfield respectively, he is not currently in an executive role, or at least that is how it appears on the club website.
When you scan down the rest of the staff directory, we have similar numbers of employees all doing similar roles to the other four clubs in this little analysis, but only three directors.
Whilst its not known to what extent Rupp is involved in decision making, planning and running the football club, it does appear to all fall down to one person – Ryan Sparks. Sparks has been working in professional sport for 11 years including roles at Bradford Bulls and Featherstone Rovers in media/communications. He arrived at Bradford City in 2018 as Head of Media, moving up via Director of Communications to CEO in 2020.
Stefan Rupp meanwhile is still a bit of an enigma. We know he likes racing cars and we know he made his money selling his shares in Fischer Seats in Germany, an aerospace seat manufacturer but apart from that, details are sketchy. I don’t ever recall reading about Rupp’s role at Fischer or his previous background, so please comment if you know.
In researching this article, I could see that Rupp is listed as MD of RS Racetec gmbh, though the website for that company simply has the message “under construction” on its single page. Meanwhile, a listing for RS Racetec on a luxury vehicles selling site has Stefan Rupp himself, the managing director, listed as the contact for the company. RS Racetec does not currently have any vehicles for sale on the site. Its not entirely clear therefore what exactly RS Racetec is or does, and therefore what Stefan Rupp’s actual business strengths and positive qualities are which the club benefits from.
As an aside to the main thrust of this article, it seems strange that we are so far along in our relationship with the man who owns OUR football club, yet we appear to know so little about him.
All of which serves to emphasise the difference between those responsible for bringing success to Bradford City and failing miserably, and those who have and continue to bring success to the four examples looked at here. The boards of Lincoln, Stockport, Exeter and Chesterfield boast a wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise in various fields that Bradford City just don’t have. We instead rely on a communications officer learning the role of CEO on the job, and a mysterious, absent owner whose business acumen is actually totally unknown to us.
That experience, the sheer number of directors and the contacts they will have, the expertise they can share, the knowledge they possess of business, finance, law and football, and the way they no doubt share in the burden and responsibility of running a successful (and lets face it, by comparison to us they are all successful) football club.
How on earth are we meant to compete with that with what we have? Is it any wonder we are flailing and failing, stumbling from one poor appointment to another? How much have we spent on pay outs after sacking managers on long contracts that could have been spent on a proper board of directors?
One of Lincoln’s directors is also Athletic Director at Arizona State University whose sports teams compete at the highest level of US college sport which for the uninitiated is televised nationally for the biggest sports – Arizona’s average attendance last season for American football was 49,220. Imagine the contacts he has. What contacts do we have?
Fans have in my opinion rightly been critical of Ryan Sparks but let’s be honest, the guy never stood a chance. He’s up against clubs with significantly more boardroom power and knowledge, with owners who are prepared to invest. Like, really invest. The clubs described here haven’t simply succeeded by ‘throwing money’ at things, they’ve succeeded by spending their money wisely, because the people making the decisions actually know what they are doing.
They’ve done it before, with success in other industries, and are replicating those successes in football.
What those directors really provide though, is leadership. That’s a word that has been used often in recent years and especially this year. Successful clubs have it, whereas we clearly don’t. Clubs with strong leadership are more likely to be successful. Whilst professional sport has no guarantees, that assertion cannot be disputed. Clubs with strong leadership are also unlikely to post that prices are being increased to improve customer experience, or to brag about repairing the roof of the club shop when the team is on a losing run.
Meanwhile we are left to stagnate without leadership, and with “do not go bust” as our goal. We have an absent owner allowing Bradford City to be run like a village cricket club, and with very little in the way of anything of substance to back it up.
A little like a film set with two dimensional mock-ups of a football club but nothing behind them.
Categories: Opinion
Let’s get ambition back on the table 
Deep dive: What do we want this Bradford City to be? 
In praise of Bradford City 
Championship football. Too early? 
widthofapost.com 
Great research and a good interesting read, cheers
The club is like the city. Dying a protracted death in front of our eyes.
Susan Hinchcliffe and the Council and Ryan Sparks at Bradford City.
Two people promoted way above their station causing untold damage and appear accountable to no one.
Excellent article. Incumbents are totally out of their depth as always thought.
You need a clear identity as a club, then a strategy to outline the path to that vision, from there a proper plan and then measures and milestones. These other clubs have businessmen who will bring this experience.
We have zero experience on this front and it constantly shows itself to be a huge gap. Nothing will change at Bradford until the top echelons of the organisation are completely changed.
This article has summed whats happening and wrong with Bradford City 101%
Sadly till people in power and running day to day affairs at the club are gone from top to bottom,we must just /as supporters/get used to never getting promoted for the present time.
Well you say in yesterday’s comments that there are the people of the opinion we should just leave Sparks to it, even though it is clear he isn’t qualified or has the experience to do the job he has been given, and in a classic head in the sand way we just cross our fingers and hope it all comes good.
We as a multi million pound business are running the business with the number of directors and a board that wouldn’t look out of place for a Micro company setup at companies house.
Rupp is hands off, I said yesterday that in itself isn’t an issue if the right people are brought into the club to run it for him. Many businesses seem the owner take a back seat role with the expertise to run that business being brought in.
Ryan Sparks is not that expertise, he never was and quite frankly it was pure laziness by Julian Rhodes to recommend him for the role during his caretaker role as chairman after the Edin debarcle.
And this is what I can’t understand, after failing so bad with Edin, why was the cheapest laziest option chosen when the evidence of what happens if you cut corners and place someone unqualifed into the job was laid bare for all to see during Edin’s reign.
the reason why Mr sparks got the position is totally down to a error of judgement by a previous owner called Julian Rhodes
this error was because Julian knew him as a friend not as a professional person capable of been a acceptable CEO, FEATHERSTONE ROVERS CEO WOW that’s all he was previously
Julian Rhodes is the kind of person who would just pick someone sat infront of him for a job rather than go out and source a credible replacement, that is what we got. We literally got someone who was in the office on that day and it probably depended on who brought him his coffee in when Rupp rang up requesting a recommendation.
There is absolutely no way anyone outside of the club was considered or even looked at.
and Sparks knew Sharpe and Sparks knew Trueman and so it goes on. Big old stadium with no gaffers no directors anywhere to be seen most of the time etc etc it’s perfect for either a very lucky hire to succeed every 10 years then leave when he gets a better more loved football club or a revolving door of wasted opportunities.
Most similar size clubs across Yorkshire region and Boro Hull etc would not stand for this shambles and would properly protest more than 1 half organised version of what we saw last year. In the ground in the city and outside the ground. We get what we permit and we permit this more than most question is are we smaller than we look on paper fan wise as well as the boardroom? When is the next fans forum for instance ? We had a fan organised one last season before the protest and subsequent latest set of lies from Rupp. I can’t remember who organised it but sounded a very balanced man. Things like that need to be constant so the club is accountable. Currently they are only accountable to companies house.
‘Long term plan’ is an overused cliché for me. But it’s probably too late into Rupp’s ownership to commit to something, for the club and fans patience. It could have been done in 2016, when Rahic left, when Sparks become CEO or when any of the many managers started.
The thing is, almost every time a comment from Sparks/Rupp/ a manage is made on how to improve our situation, the next transfer window is referred to like some kind of miracle cure. And only fuels the idea that the club never looks further than the next transfer window.
I get in L2 there is a general element of short term thinking, but we’ve had it for far too long.
Why did Rupp appoint such inexperience to run the club, particularly after the Rahic saga? Nevermind it being a foreign business in a sport he has no interest in.
What is Rupp’s actual vision, goal, or even use for us?
To me we are just an asset in the portfolio he can show off at networking events; ‘I own the 2013 cup final club’. Talk of ground purchasing is one thing, but over the last 8 years fans have every right to be cynical.
Does he want sporting success? Make money? Invest and develop a wider infrastructure/ecosphere in Bradford leading to job creation and economic improvement?
Does he even try to promote us in his homeland as an opportunity to invest in to others?
I don’t know. Just what is it? It just seems to me he’s happy as long as he doesn’t have to spend a penny (‘owner spend in my time here has been zero’ – Ryan Sparks on BBC West Yorks) and we just stagnate, covering the bills through ST sales, the odd player sales and the low value partnership deals.
He’s coming across more and more as someone who it bitter he was duped by Rahic, and refuses to sell at a loss – which is a risk in investment. One the shares I own has gone down 30% the last few weeks. I’m wondering whether to keep or sell – not as the same level as Rupp and the club, but sometimes you have to cut your losses and not feel the shame in it.
Well written.
You really set out the problems and made me even more depressed.
A very well written article. I have known that City lacks structure, but this crystallises it all in one article. City has become a hologram of the past, but nobody has told the fans.
Of course we are not going to succeed structured as we are, we just don’t have the depth of knowledge to succeed or finance. It is also interesting that maybe Rupp doesn’t have the business acumen either.
Every. Single. Word.
Bravo Leon – thank you for the time taken to research this and for making the case so cogently.
We really are cosplaying as a football club. We really are run like a village cricket team.
From Derek Adams to Gareth Evans, everyone is shocked by how empty the club is behind the scenes – empty of ideas, empty of experience, empty of networks, and empty of any sort of plan to make things better.
It boils down to this: would any of the 91 other clubs give Sparks a job as CEO? Obviously not. So why have we?
We can’t hope to compete in modern football, with its increasingly elite and global corporate mentality, when we have just three people in our Boardroom, one of which is absent and two of which have no obvious experience or relevant networks to improve us.
We are set up to fail. And so we fail.
Utter shambles.
Does a disservice to village cricket having been involved as player coach and administrator since the 70s. Certainly my club gas better structure and knowledge and experience in key roles. Unlike City.
Very interesting read. I personally wished Ryan Sparks good luck (on twitter) when he was appointed. It was a risky decision giving him such a role given his lack of experience but potentially worth the risk. It’s now apparent though that we are going nowhere as a club and we need much more experience at director level to either replace or support Sparks to get the club moving forward
Brilliant piece, as it gets to the nub of the matter.
It’s very easy to get into a polarising argument about whether Rupp is a good owner or a bad owner and for that argument to hit a deadlock. He’s clearly not Karl Oyston (but he’s clearly not Steve Gibson either). Plenty of clubs have success with a ‘remote’ owner and I don’t think Rupp is starving the club of adequate funds to compete with the teams in this division (see how we’ve wasted money on paying off managers and players who can’t make the bench). So superficially it’s easy to say the problem isn’t Rupp and – relatively – Rupp isn’t a ‘bad owner’.
But the truth is, Rupp doesn’t care enough. He’s ambivalent to us. While he’s not deliberately malign, he’s just apathetic. Which is just as bad, because it’s just as disabling for success as being a scoundrel. It’s his lack of care and attention that leads to someone like Sparks being given free reign over the club, for some many years, without anyone holding him to account.
It’s that lack of care and attention that stops him demanding the same kind of management structure and business return that he would if this was the chairman of a listed company. There’s no way a team of local businessmen (or women) who are fans of the club would run it in the way that Sparks and Sharpe do. If he cared, he would have a list of measures against which he would judge the Exec Team (lol). And that care filters down, because it raises standards for everyone, from the Head of Recruitment down to the Ticket Office Administrator to the Physio. And that culture and that togetherness also filters into the dressing room and onto the pitch.
Instead Rupp judges solely on whether the club breaks even financially, with secondary concerns on whether the team is close to promotion and whether the fans are disgruntled. If those three issues are met each April then Rupp doesn’t care. And sadly I think a lot of our fans are as easily bought off – if the tickets are cheap, if the club stays in the league… We have low expectations (and sometimes even those are not met). We need to start demanding more and that starts with demanding more from whoever is fortunate enough to be the custodian of the club.
I wish I could ‘like’ this twice!
Very well put mate…
I’m glad this takes away the fan obsession with sacking managers. I agree leadership is the issue. The owner isn’t interested & hasn’t recruited a chairman or board that is & has the ability to support the CEO. If we don’t get promoted this season then I suggest there’s a season ticket boycott.
We will never do the season ticket boycott- we just won’t. It is protest that js the key Rupp as a businessman doesn’t want reputational damage. It brought him out of hiding last year very quickly! That said if he is happy to lend his name to a half built website then that doesn’t say much for his acumen. Maybe it says everything about his half baked I’m a millionaire anyway attitude towards BCFC.
It is really quite simple.
The disinterest and apathy soaks doen from the very top and at each level eventually reaching the manager and players.
Plus of course as far as the fans.
Its not that they (RS and co) are doing a bad job. They just dont have the ability and experience to do a good job.
Its a small industry and everybody knows everybody.
When Rupp and Rahic arrived they probably did so with the right intentions.
They even stated that sacking managers on a regular basis was wrong. Not good business practise and certainly not part of the German model.
They soon found out that the English game was in.their words “corrupt”.
Maybe the word lost something in translation but certainly the game operates in a certain way in the UK and Rupp and Rahic tried to do it their way. They decided to circumvent the agent system by obtaining their own.players.
The agent were incensed and closed ranks.
Even today I believe it still has an effect on our recruitment of players. The agents have never forgiven.
Actions like that have not worked, made City no friends at all in a small industry and been ultra ineffective.
So with Rahic gone, thank goodness, Rupp decided to apoint someone with no experience to run City, whilst swimming against the tide.
It was never going to work.
At City we used to have an effective group(Associate Directors) who were mainly local, but offered a good sounding board for those tasked with the day to day running of the club. They offered specialist skills, experience, and loyalty and all they asked in return was use of the boadroom on match days and a seat in the stand.
Their input over the years can not have a value put on it.
It was the likes of Bobby Ham and Steve Longbottom who stepped in to save the club in 2002 when we were minutes away from.going out of existence.
Roger Owen with his property management skills and experience has overseen the fabric of the club for years. Saving the club a lot of money with his local contacts etc.
The list goes on.
The very essence of Bradford City AFC.
The club itself together with the fans.
It worked well.
Now we have a CEO who has distanced himself from this group, ignoring the input they could give to a young inexperienced guy tasked with the day to day running of the club.
How rude? How stupid? How arrogant?
So City have had a structure within the club that worked and was effective.
its just that Ryan Sparks decided not to use it.
Absolute total shambles of a football clubs structure the owner, the CEO and a person in charge of finance, as Directors.ie nobody with any football knowledge at all . The owner stefan rupps background in Germany as a millionaire is shrouded in secrecy , This makes me wonder if he intends to spend his million on BCFC , So the big question is who is in charge of the sinking ship certainly not proper football minded people. Let’s be honest it’s about time investors and supporters came together to buy out Rupp get rid of The CEO who failed at bradford bulls and Start afresh . We call ourselves a big club yet we do not own the stadium or the training complex ,what does that say?.A good example is Burnley a Town of 80 000 people good stadium and a fantastic training complex that they own . Quite a few years ago Bradford City were on the brink of Administration under Stafford Higginbottom and the Telegraph & Argos an appeal for donations to the club was set up the T& A was the mouth piece thousands of city supporters donated large amounts of cash , I think we could do it again let’s face it can we rely on a guy from Germany to fulfill his promises from the supporters forum back in July. Oh yes let’s not forget about the club shop roof.
Derek Addams,said what was wrong with the club when he was manager,but no one took any notice of him.They just wanted him out,and were glad when he left.No wonder he has a laugh at us when Morcambe beat us every time we play them.
If you want to see at a very basic level what no leadership structure does then you only have to cast your mind back a week.
Due to there being an owner who is absent, Ryan Sparks as CEO and a club accountant the one person who is making decision is Ryan Sparks, and no matter what these decisions are there isn’t any scrutiny or counter argument or options offered.
Look at the £1.50 telephone ticket charge. In a proper run company someone would say this is the communication we will be putting out, it’s a communication which makes it look like we are doing the customer a favour by charging them £1.50 per ticket whenever they ring up. In a proper run company there would be a second opinion or someone to stand up and say, hand on a minute this doesn’t look right. It would be a PR disaster, we can’t release this.
As it stands we don’t have that, one man seems to have the final say on everything.
And then the letter from Rupp (allegedly), referring to the new shop roof.
Either completely and utterly tone deaf, ignorant, or deluded about the general situation at the club and the perception of him and his ownership.
They cant read a room..Anyone with an ounce of nouse would have seen.the folly in making that statement just before a game that most fans thought was a banana skin.
Claiming we are in two cups.
One that nobody is remotely interested in. The other that we were likely to be out of the following day.
Who is interested in a repaired roof?
I always thought things like that were just ‘done’ like we all do at home. New kitchen, new boiler, new carpet.
Nessecary but nothing to shout out about.
That and the telephone charge were PR disasters..In fact you could not do it more badly if you tried to.
The original post is excellent, well done Leon, and really hits the nail on the head. However, the statement, “When Rupp and Rahic arrived, they probably did so with the right intentions,” (not by Leon) is something I strongly disagree with.
While Rahic did have an interest in football, it was clouded by his delusions of grandeur. His strategy of buying players on the cheap and hoping to sell them for millions was more ambition than reality—not much different from today in some ways. However, Rupp ultimately saw an opportunity to make an easy buck. Some might call that greed. Any research Rupp did before diving into football ownership must have been minimal, considering Rahic’s prior experience as the owner of a car dealership and an estate agency. Hardly a solid foundation or springboard into owning a football club.
Rehashing the past, while informative, doesn’t feel particularly constructive. What truly matters is focusing on the future and taking steps that can make a real difference. The original post does offer several suggestions for potential improvement, which is encouraging.
Personally, I believe Ryan Sparks has had ample time to make significant changes, that real difference, and he’s fallen far short of expectations. To move forward, I think there’s a strong case for parting ways with both Sparks and Gent at the earliest legal opportunity—this would not only potentially save on two substantial salaries but also provide a chance for fresh leadership. I’d propose appointing David Sharpe as the CEO, combining this with his current role as Head of Football Operations. Additionally, we should retain the Graham Alexander management team, as both men bring a proven track record of success in football. It is my opinion that we keep putting our faith in the Manager/Coach merry-go-round has proven futile and only a fool would expect different results from repeating the same process
Long term, the club should focus on finding a new owner. Someone like Darragh MacAnthony, who not only has the financial resources but also a genuine passion for the game, could be an excellent option. He seems to be in football for the right reasons—enjoyment and love of the sport—not just to make a quick profit. Alternatively, if David Sharpe demonstrates exceptional capability and can rally a consortium to buy Rupp out, (a new board of directors) that could also be a path forward.
Ultimately, action needs to be taken, or nothing will improve. The phrase “Actions have consequences” is often used, but the reverse is equally true—doing nothing also has consequences. Let’s not allow that to be our reality.
Jack
Great article, but painful to read and see things put in such perspective. I commented on yesterday’s article saying the fans hold the power here, but it involves making tough choices. It’s time for people to stop going to games, stop putting any money into the club. I know this goes against the grain for so many, but I fear it’s the only way. I hate to say it but fans turning up week in week out and just accepting the clubs steady demise is enabling Rupp and Sparks to keep rinsing the fans. And that is exactly what they are doing. As long as the fans keep the club ‘sustainable’ for Rupp it means he doesn’t have to invest or sell.
Once the crowds drop and the income reduces he will be forced to think more seriously about selling up.
Thanks for the article, i’d also be really interested to understand the assets of those comparison clubs.
My worry for City in addition to the inexperienced leadership team is that it has no assets to attract any change of ownership. If I understand correctly Bradford City is:
It’s league affiliation
An expiring ground lease with large cash payments due for upkeep
A training ground lease from a local school
Were the comparison clubs in a similar state or did they have better assets that encouraged local ownership and business investment?
Leasing a ground is not an uncommon thing. Off the top of my head, Oxford, Hull, Coventry, Colchester.
All that owning the stadium would do would mean the cost of buying the club would go up in line with the cost to buy the stadium. It’s a classic red herring of issue. If someone wanted to buy the club they probably would have the money and the expertise to speak with Gibb and put in an offer for the stadium, and if say Gibb was happy to sell to Rupp for £5m why wouldn’t Gibb be happy to sell to another owner for the same price?
If the club was run properly then interest would be seen. A club rolling round league two with no direction is not going to see much interest, not because it doesn’t hold any assets.
I disagree.
The cost savings could pay for x3 Andy Cook’s.
We could then play a 4-3-2-1 with Andy Cook making up the front 4. He did well in the right channel a couple of times on Tuesday night getting the ball in the box.
And then, if he was already there to convert those chances…, well…, imagine..!
The cost savings? You know taking ownership of the ground is likely to require a mortgage which has to be serviced, it’s not just handed over for free.
you are swapping one debt for another.
It’s not so much that the ground is leased it’s more that the lease is about to expire.
It could be that the monies Gibb wants for the upkeep is too much for Bradford to afford, that could lead to legal action between the two parties and a stale mate on any potential extension. They could also be after a large increase in the rent or perhaps have an alternative offer for development.
Equally a buyer or strong leadership team may look at us and decide that we don’t need / can’t afford a 25,000 seat stadium and that only way forward is not renewing and moving us somewhere…
If Bradford had a 15,000 seater stadium owned or on a long affordable lease that we sold out most weeks, I think the list of potential buyers would be substantial
Looking up the leagues, Newcastle, Manchester City and West Ham all lease their stadiums. Stamford Bridge is owned by a ‘not for profit company’. Swansea also do not own their stadiums. Closer to home Hull and even Huddersfield do not own their stadiums. Ironically Morecambe also do not own their stadium. So a significant number of clubs, with a range of success don’t own their stadiums.
In some ways the stadium issue, diverts attention from the critical point, which is how the club is functioning on the pitch!
Finally, an article that focuses on the structure of the club rather than the playing and coaching staff.
The structure that the players are being asked to operate in is not fit for purpose. That is clear. I would ask you, your friends and family to back off criticizing the players at this time. Football is a confidence game. The two other WOAP articles that have appeared since last Sat – including all the comments afterwards – are really damaging morale for those involved with the football performance side.
The players and GA need support from fans during the ‘active campaign’ (i.e. the football season), in my view. If things are irrevocable it is understandable that a lot of noise is generated, but the time for action is Easter – or December if particularly bad.
GA and the players have been thrown under the bus with all the talk of the ‘January transfer window’. This is so damaging (i.e. the implication being that these current players are not good enough and have been written off – that is not true… why expect anything except a dip in performance?). That’s why GA’s response in the T&A is that he is thinking about now – not January.
Those inside the club are briefing against each other. It’s poisonous. GA isn’t the problem, in my view. He has had a relatively stellar playing career getting experience of all 4 pro leagues and had the bottle to nail so many penalties – a conversion rate that is exemplary. That takes real courage. GA isn’t the problem. And yes, I know the football isn’t that exciting and there are problems for all to see, but ask yourselves and those you hear complaining, ‘Could you really imagine anyone who might coach this team and squad doing better?’
I would urge all of you to take the focus off the players and GA and direct your frustrations with your match day experience at those running the club in a positive and constructive way. Nominate some ways in which the club’s leadership team(s) can demonstrate they’re adding value to the club and fans.
Getting angrier and angrier isn’t the way… be constructive and itemise what will help. If they don’t read this directly themselves it will filter back somehow. I ask you – what will help with your matchday experience?
Fill your boots…
Thanks Graham
Nope – I am just an impartial football fan, who has his eyes wide open.
I don’t have any connection or vested interest in the club. I can see where the issues are and Leon has done us all a service pointing this out (thanks for writing this – it’s illuminating).
What do you think needs fixing most of all, Rich?
I roughly agree. Back the team, and the manager (despite whatever doubts we have), until the season is done. Having a go at the players and coach helps nobody. Everybody loses.
Criticism of the club leadership, however, seems legitimate and urgent. How much more of this can we stand. The promise of a transfer window and a roof on a shop aren’t quite the vision we’re looking for are they.
I live in Exeter. Spent 30 years following city everywhere and moved down here a couple of years ago.
I’ve a season ticket at Exeter and I was shocked at the difference between the clubs when I started to see how they do things. Because I’d only ever known City I knew we were bad but when you see it from another club and can compare, it’s humiliating how poor we are in every single aspect. Communication, matches experience, facilities, club strategy (tbf, we just don’t have one), forward planning and execution of activity. I realised we all have Stockholm syndrome.
I think you are being generous in saying how sparks doesn’t have a chance, whilst I agree in some ways, I can’t offer anything positive in how the clubs been run to defend him.
Exeter have used windfalls from transfers to invest in facilities, they’ve a fantastic training centre thanks to Ollie Watkins, they will be extending it further thanks to Jay Stansfield. This will generate them further money in the future with more young players (earlier this season they broke a run of years by not having a youth player in the starting lineup). What do we do with mcburnie’s money years ago, it went on managers and average players.
I’d imagine Exeters budget isn’t way above what ours is.
I don’t see any way this lot can improve, if they haven’t now it’s foolish to think they will change. I really fear we are a slump away from going down.
For once, we agree with each other. Management? What Management
Superb article, thank you.
I just wanted to add that Ryan Sparks is not a Director (or statutory director) of Bradford City. The only two Directors are Stefan Rupp and Alan Biggins, Alan Biggins has been involved with the club for decades and performs the statutory role of Company Secretary.
Ryan Sparks only directorship recorded by Companies House is that of MATCHLESS MEDIA LIMITED which was subject to a compulsory strike off in 2018.
The title “Director” is just that and does not represent any legal or statutory authority or responsibility. In reality we have one equity holder and one Director.
Hi John, and thanks.
Yes you’re right, I neglected to explain that Ryan is an employee not a director. My use of the term “board” was technically incorrect but it does appear from the outside that he is a decision maker in the running of the club rather than an employee with a defined remit. I included him on the board for that reason.
Hi Leon,
Loved the article – I have a question.
Are the directors at the clubs you looked at paid?
I’ve never understood if directors are employed by the club, have some stake in the club or are volunteers who bring expertise to the club – rather like school governors…
Hi Andy C
that’s a good question and one I don’t know the answer to in relation to this small sample set. Directors can receive a salary, and/or if they have shares can receive a dividend. I doubt many clubs pay dividends so it’s more likely they’ll receive a salary or directors fee if they receive anything at all.
But I think the general answer to your last paragraph is they can be one or more of all three of those categories. Its likely that the non-retired people have other directorships or business interests so it wouldn’t be a main source of income, but you would imagine that the ones who are not fans of the club in question receive some sort of remuneration.
Spot on article. After years of saying it, its great to see that the penny has finally dropped that Ryan Sparks & Rupp couldn’t run a bath never mind a professional football club.
So the question is, What do we do about it?
Last season talks of protests & meetings were met with apathy & abuse. Do fans care enough to act or its it passed the point of no return?
Do we still care enough to act & force Rupp to sell up or be serious about BCAFC or do we just sit at home and watch the club die a slow death?
Said it for years, that the club is run on a below non league basis off the pitch. The ongoing failure runs deep & it has Julian Rhodes signature on it. His sale to Rupp & Rahic, his commendation that Sparks was the best option for CEO. This view has lead to abuse but now it finally looks like the penny has finally dropped. So what now?
Protests and fan meetings last year were met with distain by some. The big question is does the BCAFC fanbase still care enough to act and pressure Rupp to make changes or final see than he needs to sell up, or has apathy taken over from anger and we have just accepted that the club is going nowhere & are happy not to rock the boat.
sorry for the double post…
thank you Jon. Spot on about Rhodes. It started there and runs through the club to this day.
that family are false messiahs in the extreme. Hung onto the Richmond coat tails, then Julian played spoilt brat train set style with the club…not just with flamingo land lad but with at least one other investor who wanted in just after the sickening and utterly Rhodes led relegation from the championship.
To see a few, of naive disposition, virw julian rhodes as a saviour is utterly incredible.
having been at the same school as Sparks….nowts changed.
Say the right thing and rear lick. Lad is clueless apart from pr-ing himself. Something Woodhouse Grove does well tbf
as for the other free loader grandaddys boy whelan. Absolutely had over a barrel on that one. Was clear he should not be anywhere near city but some still applauded this as some kind of progressive move.
The accepted incompetence at the club is staggering and a shame for the fan base but then perhaps it’s part of the wider malaise of the city, region etc