By Jake Verity
It’s another dismal away day. Another visit to Meadow Lane where we’ve ended up three goals down in the first-half. Another day where thousands of City fans turned up, but the team did not. Nothing ever changes, does it?
We think it will. We hope it does. But we end up let down, again.
Plenty have lost patience with Graham Alexander at this point.
You can argue he’s made some very questionable decisions over the last couple of months. For context, we’ve won just once in the league since beating Gillingham on the 20th October. This is terrible. There’s no other way to put it.
The next two games are against 2nd and 5th. If they go as badly as you’d expect, it could be a very difficult festive period for him.
But frankly, Alexander isn’t the topic that we’re all discussing at this point.
He wasn’t here when we got relegated to this division. He didn’t write an open letter earlier to the fans earlier this year. He hasn’t presided over eight years of managed decline.
But we all know who was, and I’m afraid that time is up now. Excuses are over. It’s not good enough and we don’t deserve this.
This is not a club on its way up. There is frankly nothing I’ve seen that gives me confidence that I should expect success in the immediate, or even distant future. Unless things drastically change, this club is destined for mid-table mediocrity yet again.
If you haven’t read my recent article covering the last eight years, please do take a look. I’m not shamelessly promoting it because I want plaudits.
I just think it encapsulates exactly what has happened to us over the last eight years.
My club, our club, is in a tricky place once again.
What’s the aim?
If it’s for this football club to simply exist, then there’s absolutely no point in its existence. I know that might be controversial, and not what anybody wants to hear. But it’s the harsh reality.
I’m not willing to just turn up every year for nothing to improve or change. Would you keep paying your money and investing your time in effort for anything else in your life, with such a poor return on investment?
The thing is, we’re all here because we love the club. It’s woven into our DNA. There’s nothing else keeping us around really.
Sometimes you have to tell the things you love that it’s not working out, and that they need to change, before you leave. We’ve already had a go at doing that last year. But it feels like we were told what we wanted to hear. Rather than anything actually changing.
Looking back at each of the last six seasons, the goal has been promotion. By this metric, we’ve been an utter failure. But more recently, we were told that the goal was to just keep the club running sustainably. By this metric, we’ve been a success.
There is a really big issue here. Without season ticket sales, we will struggle to have a club that keeps running sustainably. A constant failure to deliver on the first metric, directly affects the second. The club realised that earlier this year and more than likely panicked. Hence we suddenly saw some engagement with us as fans. It feels unlikely to be the same this time around.
We’re now seeing louder noises for a change of manager. But frankly, it’ll do little for us.
Managerial Madness
I’ve already laid out the reasons why I like Alexander in the past, and I still broadly feel the same. He’s got a reasonably decent record at this level with us, and other clubs he has managed. I also do think he gets the club too.
He does have his drawbacks and limitations, like all managers do, especially at this level. But I think he’s more than capable enough to get a side promoted out of this division.
I appreciate that some of you reading this probably don’t feel the same, and that’s fine too. But there are some real issues I see, should the club change manager once again:
1. Who is doing the recruitment in January, and what playing-style will we be recruiting for?
2. Who is actually available, and willing to become this club’s 14th different manager in eight years?
3. What happens if this manager fails to deliver success between now and the end of the season?
4. Will it change anything structurally in the club?
If you answered “I don’t know” to any of those questions, then I honestly think we don’t have a good enough case to change the manager. I personally don’t have enough confidence in the club to deliver positive solutions to any of those four points. I imagine many of you reading this don’t either.
The other issue is that by changing managers, we are entrusting the process to people who have failed to deliver success so far. Why would that suddenly change now?
It must be enormously difficult being Bradford City manager, when the club simply isn’t geared for success.
I’ve talked in previous pieces constantly about clubs coming up from the National League over the last couple of years and overtaking us. Wrexham and Stockport are now vying for the League One title. Chesterfield and Notts County are in the top-seven of this division. It’s fair to say that York City looks like they could be next on that list.
It doesn’t matter who our manager is, if the infrastructure around the club is all wrong. A football team is usually a by-product of its surroundings. A successful club on the pitch, is often successful off it.
The real change we need is at the top, not the touchline.
What comes next?
Two tough games that will probably determine Alexander’s future. Another likely sub-par transfer window. A disappointing end to another wasted season.
Or maybe, hopefully, it’s something else?
The thing is, if we actually want to have a positive season, we’re losing time to turn things around – and it’s going to fall to the fans to fix things.
It’s hard to do that, while we probably feel more like cashflow, than custodians.
But we must remember this is our club. Nobody else’s.
We are the bricks behind the boardroom. The force that funds the football. The voice of Valley Parade.
Things will undoubtedly have to get better – but the question is whether that improvement comes by us, or the club.
We’ve done our bit. We’ve paid our money. We’ve turned up over and over again.
So for the last time, over to the club. They have a final chance to give us a reason to hope once again.
Before I go, let me wish Merry Christmas to all of you reading this. I hope you all have a lovely festive break, and that we can somehow find a way to pick up some points over the next few games…
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 
You don’t actually mention anybody by name other than Alexander. Unless we are happy to maintain the status quo who should depart? That is the question. The owner is here until he gets the offer he wants or he sells at a loss. So if not Alexander, the manager being the usual fall guy, who has to go if this bad run continues. The club itself is presumably looking to change our fortunes with some clever bits of business in the window. But the same people who signed dross in the last window are the ones recruiting and signing the next batch. We are going round in circles. I agree by the way that sacking Alexander is not the way forward unless we have a better candidate lined up!
The chairman doesn’t have to be hands on, infact there are chairman who aren’t hands on and just take a back seat, but for that to work you need some expertise in place.
I thought we would have learnt our lesson after installing Edin, after that disaster a cry for help emerged and JR was brought in on the basis he had been at the club previously but instead of picking a suitable replacement the keys were handed over to a social media man.
Who’s fault is that? Is it Rupps for trusting JR or is it JRs for being lazy in not bothering to look beyond the last person to bring him a cup of coffee.
Still this could have been put right as its been 4 years since this appointment and there is no evidence that Sparks will walk because he is out of his depth of that Rupp will relieve him of his duties.
Rupp just has to take it on the chin and accept the club isn’t the club he bought mainly down to the people he has left to run it and sell up at the current market price, which isn’t what he paid when we were knocking on the door of the championship.
I see the same old pathetic excuses claiming it’s the fans and it being toxic being used as an excuse and that season ticket prices need to be raised to push these people out, but you never hear from them as to why cheap season tickets and the same crowds weren’t an issue as recently as 2015/16/17.
Sparks should be gone, GA is getting to the point of no return as his post match summaries are not for games I have just watched, and Rupp after 8 years to bring someone suitable to run the club for him is now beyond rebuilding any bridges.
Absolutely everything RW says here
👏👏👏
Changing managers has done nothing in the past to cure the dour nature of the time gone by since Rahic walked through the door. The facts are that if Rupp sells in the near future then he will definitely lose on his investment, is he likely to do that? so is it possible that he can be convinced to look at the business plans of Wrexham, Stockport, Chesterfield and even Notts County all whom have been brought up from the National league in recent years. Arguably If we had the gonads to finance our club for success then we could be in their position or even above that. A bit on the gloomy side but I dont see Rupp digging deeper to lift his investment into a saleable position ? What do you think.
Any loss on investment is down to Rupp for the way he has let the club be run.
putting amateurs in to run the show. The club was a few minutes away from extra time for a place in the Championship, now the best we have to look forward to in the eyes of some is a trip to play some kids at Villa Park.
if you buy a car and smash it into a wall you don’t get the value of the car when you sell it on.
I broadly agree with everything that you have said but just say it!!! The club must be sold to someone with a, money to spend and b, ambition
I also don’t think Alexander should be sacked but I’m not sure it’s as black and white as ‘the wrong question.’ There are so many questions at our football club now and none of us fans have the answers or wholeheartedly agree on what needs to change. Finding the right manager is still one possible resolution.
When Phil Parkinson took hold us this club we had very interested co-owners/chairmen and a now very highly regarded CEO. I think most fans would welcome that CEO back in some capacity. I also am not sure when he took the CEO role officially but he was at the club a long time before PP.
Regardless, Parkinson took a club that had finished 18th in League 2 the year before and were heading for the trap door that year too. Things were worse then – anyone who thinks this is worse than the Peter Taylor/Jackson era is suffering from recency bias!
Of course the 2 administrations had set our club back much further but under Parkinson we operated within our means, we injected cash through player sales and cup runs and the odd loan here and there from fan owners.
However, just because it was worse before, that doesn’t make the current status of our football club any more acceptable. It isn’t we must expect better. Regardless of investment from Stefan Rupp and where our budget is in relation to the other teams we are objectively being outperformed by teams with lesser budgets, who are run worse than us (Crawley anyone?)
Phil Parkinson took this football club and grabbed it as if it were his own. People talk about our injuries now but under Parkinson most of those players were always available and Nick Allamby received enormous praise for the fitness of our squad. PP always seemed to approach games with an attitude of making sure we were in the game in the last quarter and then push for the win.
Our club slowly declined on the pitch when he literally took everything out of the door with him – he knew what was coming. McCall is a good coach and got a higher level on the pitch in that first season but it was with Parkinson’s players. He was never a manager like Parkinson and Rahic wouldn’t have let anyone be.
Changing the manager is a possible solution but as the last 14 managers show (it was 9 managers between Jewell and Parkinson too) it is solution with a low success rate. We shouldn’t sack Alexander because of current form – I do believe injuries have had a big impact but if David Sharpe believes he has identified what we need and that person is available then that will be the time for change. Can David Sharpe have more success? Will he be given the autonomy? Is he himself any good?
Speaking of which Mansfield’s form has started to nosedive…
Always a voice of reason.
I definitely wouldn’t sack him without a plan but I just can’t see it with him. In sport you should always play to your strengths, we play to our weaknesses!
Does Sharpe actually work for the club, or are we being duped again.
Google him.
It brings up `Steel Hub Management` and Sharpe seems to be one of a team of consultants and FIFA registered agents. Is Sharpe full time, part time, or employed by City on a consultancy basis?
I would not put anything beyond our current leadership.
I noted Port Vale’s Nathan Smith is a client.
Does this represent any conflict of interest for David Sharpe especially since Vale is City’s next opponent??
Seeing is Believing
Duped 100%
I’ve seen this steel hub stuff bandied about a bit, and it seems completely untrue. A guy called Dave Sharpe does work for SHM, but it’s not David Sharpe as far as I can tell.
The Dave Sharpe that works for SHM has played football, David Sharpe hasn’t ever played as far as I know. They have also been in business since 1998, David Sharpe was born in 1991!
It seems a bit off to just spread this around without doing a little bit of research 🤔
In response to your questions:
1. Who is doing the recruitment in January, and what playing-style will we be recruiting for?
It will be David Sharp, Graham Alexander and Stephen Gent and they’ll be recruiting for 352. Sharp has literally said this in a sit down interview with Jamie Raynor the other week. I don’t like the idea of recruiting to a specific formation because it makes you a one trick pony. We’ve needed to change due to injury and player personnel but haven’t been able to because he’s got no wingers and he’s stubborn.
The main consensus online is that we need a new striker to partner Cook but a new striker isn’t going to score many because the same problem will persist under GA, we won’t create anything. Watching in the stands at Notts County, I thought this was the most creative we’ve been in recent memory in the league which says a lot doesn’t it. Swindon we created nothing, Colchester the same. If you don’t create a bundle of chances for your strikers, they are going to struggle to score.
2. Who is actually available, and willing to become this club’s 14th different manager in eight years?
This comment gets made every time we have a sacking or impending one. There will be loads of managers willing to come. Mark Hughes was, Derek Adams was. When former managers come out after their failed reign and say about the lack of infrastructure (I.e. no ownership of stadium/training ground) some fans naturally highlight this because it agrees with their opinion. If Derek Adams didn’t know about all that until he was manager then he’s an idiot, maybe he should have done some research. Or maybe he’s just looking for an excuse to detract away from his failings.
3. What happens if this manager fails to deliver success between now and the end of the season?
What usually happens when teams fail to get promoted is that they are in the same division again the year after and the new season starts in August. In more of a response to the question, it depends. It depends if he can change the clear underlying issues that we have on the pitch. Because there is a difference between poor performance as a result of incompetent management and what happens upstairs. There is one problem that has been persisting over the last 2/3 months and it’s the reason we’re losing and it’s the fact we don’t create anything. If you don’t create, you’re going to struggle to score. GA has done nothing to change it so far, he’s stuck to the same formation, one that has 5 defenders and one holding midfielder in Smallwood and sent them out in the hope that it might miraculously change.
4. Will it change anything structurally in the club?
Well we’d have a new manager, one who’s hopefully willing to adapt to problems and change his ways in the short term rather than just sticking with formations that consist of 3 centre backs when we only have 1 fit available CB for example.
This idea that nothing has changed above the manager is nonsense, it has. They appointed a Director of Football operations in Sharp, who has come out and said that we’re building for promotion. Building doesn’t mean instant success.
One final thing – Do I trust them to get the next managerial appointment right, no I don’t. But that’s not a reason to stay with the current one who’s extremely poor. City do need to give a manager time to implement change but that doesn’t mean giving it to the wrong one. Sparks said upon sacking Hughes that the underlying data was worrying, well how does it look for GA. We have the same creativity levels as the bottom teams, they just don’t have Andy Cook
Puzzled with this piece. Are you suggesting that Rup, Sharp et al, are responsible for the recruitment of this squad?. Gent and Alexander would have played a strong part in the decision making of putting this squad together. We have a large squad and one that lacks youth. The Stockport and Mansfield players we signed are not pulling up any trees. We have 1 goal scoring striker. He doesn’t score no one else does! Our tactics are confusing. We play players out of position. We have a Captain that has more poor games than not. Yes we have had injuries. Now most are available but do not have the ability to make a difference. Port Vale are going through a bad patch has was Notts County before we played them. I see little joy against Port Vale. We are almost into January so the market opens. I do not see a plethora of good players wanting to join our ranks. Possibly, a few journey men will be signed but nothing that will bring about any change to the performances. GA to me is an average manager. I find his comments bizarre and somewhat unbelieveable. Never his fault. Not admitting his team selection and tactics are wrong. It is always the players and never him. I give him 2 more games afterwhich he must go.
System regarding Gent and Sharpe is basically that Gent’s job is to follow the managers requests, any player being looked at , it’s Gents job to raise a dossier on both on and off field issues, are there ‘problems’ that could affect the player and others ,will he fit in with the team and club, etc. Sharpes job is to oversee all the football activities , negotiate contracts, maybe point Gent and manager in a specific direction that has arisen , and yes, have one eye open regarding recruitment of replacement staff. Neither Gent or Sharpe has kicked a ball for us, ditto Sparkes , this, and the ‘nobody likes us ‘cos we dont own our ground /training ground’ is total nonsense, West Ham dont own theirs ,one of several , Huddersfield are a minority shareholder in theirs , training ground is owned by the former chairman and the council 50/50, so we need to concentrate on the simple facts , onfield we are a mess , so, do you think that allowing Alexander to spend the budget next week,?? personally. i don’t
Seems we have been trying to find a partner for Cook for a long time, maybe instead we should try and shift him in January. He’s been magnificent for us (the only watchable thing in the team for a few seasons) but he’s 34 and does require the team to play to his strengths which we have failed to do for a long time. Does it make sense to spend in Jan to support a 34 year old striker when we have so many holes in the team and the season running away from us?
Cook is the only thing working in this club.
If everybody did their jobs as well as he has done we would not be having this conversation.
Good idea, let’s shift the the bloke who scores the majority of our goals.
We’d be playing Boston and Halifax Town if it wasn’t for Cook!
Agreed Christian, what do we do in a year or maybe two when Cooky is no longer the player he is now. We have to look to the future both on and off the field. I dont think GA is the long term future but I feel that we should keep for now.
I really struggle to understand this idea that the abysmal performances we see weekly are the fault of the Owner/CEO, backroom staff?? The issue to me is very clear, we have an ultra defensive manager, with no plans to alter a failed system, !! players brought back to defend and free kick, corner, throw in taken in our half? ball gets cleared to one of the opponents centre backs who has ample time to find a team mate in space, how many goals have we given away?? Having the two players stood for dead ball kicks with the keeper, slightest pressure and bang, poor kick ,County waltz through and one down ,and while our players are arguing, double whammy.
All predictable , and all down to half baked tactics, Saturday all corners took two players to actually cross the ball , supposedly to the far post, not one got within yards of City players on the edge of the box, All of this starts and finishes with the manager, the players don’t have any idea what their roles are and are terrified of even shooting, One on target Swindon, three against County, is that good enough??
It seems WOAP are following the line that Alexander can do no wrong,so somebody or something needs to carry the can. CEO? he is in overall control of the company, not the football, Sharpe and Gent? neither have kicked a ball for us, Gent’s role is to look for and at players that the manager would be interested in and do the due diligence . Are there any offield issues, is he a good team player who would settle in, will he move closer to the club area. Sharpe’s job oversees both Alexander and the general football side of things, plus negotiating contracts, maybe pointing Gent and manager in certain directions regarding players, and yes, keeping an eye on possible replacements in the managers position if necessary.
Of course we come then to the ‘nobody is interested in taking over the club because, A We dont own the ground? Huddersfield dont own theirs West Ham dont own theirs,, nearly half the clubs dont own their grounds, Town also dont own the training ground ,Half is owned by the former chairman, half by the council, others have similar arrangements to us. So maybe we need to concentrate on the issue,
In a weeks time the transfer window opens, are we happy that the small amount of money available to us will be wisely spent by our manager?? Let’s see shall we
various managers have come and gone, the owner and the CEO have stayed the same.
The issues still remain and whenever a manager comes in, they are sacked and appointed by the CEO.
Running a football club takes a skill set that a social media manager clearly doesn’t have, so you have to question why we are surprised 4 years into his appointment it’s still a disaster.
Agree with virtually everything here.
Sparks needs to be moved on for so many reasons then go from there.
Just another version of Rahic bluffing Rupp.
it took a group of fans John D etc to fly to Germany and find Rupp to let him know how grim this is.
any takers for this sort of action ? Jason et al honestly I’m prepared to fight for the club’s future and speak behind the scenes, you have my email let’s start there of so?
Rich
If Rupp has stabilised the club and it is more sustainable than why are we talking of getting rid of him?
Its the manager and players that are failing us, right?