By Jake Verity

The feelgood factor is back at Bradford City, and how great is it to be excited again?

As supporters, we put a lot of investment, of both our cash and emotions in the hope for success. Though it might feel at times that we’re being heavily expectant, and even perhaps harsh on the club – we’ve waited more than long enough for something proper to cheer about. The good news is that since Christmas, it feels like we’re on our way to getting where we want to be.

A big part of it? There’s no doubt in my mind that it’s Alex Pattison and Antoni Sarcevic. Very happy to be challenged, but I’d say they are two of the best players we’ve had at this football club in a long time. They are very definitely, a level above.

But the wider squad is shaping up to be one that’s quietly impressive. That works together and has a sense of purpose. It feels there’s a cohesion on the pitch, and dare I say off it too? Graham Alexander came in for reasonable criticism before Christmas, but is deserving of all the plaudits moving into this New Year. I have been an ardent supporter of his, and remain one. It’s been neatly pointed out by some fans that the two alternatives to him, Stephen Clemence and Mike Williamson have struggled badly. He’s the best manager we’ve had since Parkinson in my view – and a promotion would only cement that.

The best part is that we’ve wasted no time in the window trying to bolster the squad either. Which is why I have to give some credit to the club. I think most fans are probably willing to do the same, though there is still work to be done. This window has seen a different approach to what we’ve grown all too used to in previous years, and represents progress of the pitch. That for me, is a step in the right direction.

In this, the first of a two-parter, I’ll be reviewing our business so far, both the incomings and outgoings below. Part two will address a few places where we’re probably in need of additional reinforcements.

But before I move onto reviewing our business, I just want to make a separate point. How good was it to see Andy Cook enjoying himself in the away end at Carlisle? I just hope he knows that’s how he’s made us all feel for the last few years. The enormous gap his absence has created is being ably filled by Calum Kavanagh, and with any luck – this squad has enough to make sure his return to a City shirt is with a League One badge on his sleeve. Best of luck with your surgery, Andy, and hope to see you back soon.

Now back to transfer business.

Incomings

Let’s be honest, this is what we’re most excited about. Or rather, we are before we actually sign them!

The rumour mill is good fun, especially when your club is in the market. Four signings so far, with an average age of 23 – and two are our own players. That’s not too bad at all.

The most important thing is they share a lot of experience for players who are entering what should be the best years of their career. Between the two permanent signings of George Lapslie and Tommy Leigh – you’re getting two players who have collectively played over 300 games in the Football League. That’s not bad at all, when you consider they potentially have another nine or ten years ahead of them.

George Lapslie

The signing of George Lapslie made clear we were going into this window with a very different approach. I said in the match report after the draw against Barrow:

“Over the last ten seasons, we have only once brought one player in at the start of the January window – Ciaran Kelly from Bohemians in the 2022/23 season. I have been critical of the club’s approach off the pitch at times this season, however this is the sort of proactiveness which we have wanted to see for some time.”

Lapslie has made 200 appearances in the Football League, 80% of which are in League Two and the remainder split across the Championship and League One. At 27, he adds much needed energy and dynamism into the attacking-midfield spots. The challenge for him is that the diamond of Richie Smallwood, Sarcevic, Pattison and Bobby Pointon will take some breaking into – because that is about as strong of a midfield as you can get at this level.

The bonus is he offers much needed competition. It means players will raise their games. And crucially, he offers cover for any injuries. With the attacking midfield positions so integral to our play, it makes lots of sense that we’ve signed him. I would assume naturally that Lapslie is a ready-made replacement for Sarcevic, who similarly works well in transition and goes from box-to-box linking up play.

Tommy Leigh

The previous logic also offers a pretty good explanation as to why we’ve spent money bringing Tommy Leigh into the club. The 24-year-old midfielder brings plenty of experience at his age. He is also known for his energy, but his best assets are creativity and eye for a goal from midfield – both qualities which we welcome at Bradford City. With 21 goals in 102 games for Accrington, of which 13 were scored in 63 League One appearances – it’s a good signing on paper.

It hasn’t quite worked out for him at MK Dons since signing in the summer, but their loss can very much be our gain.

With Alex Pattison becoming so integral to our play – and the expectation that he’ll need to chip in with more goals in Cook’s absence – Leigh is very much another player who should be contributing goals from midfield. He perhaps doesn’t quite have pace and dynamism to the same extent that Pattison does, but he can also slot in as a striker in a false nine. He did for a few minutes at the end of the game against Carlisle, and I’d imagine we’ll see a lot more of him very soon.

Michael Mellon

It’s fair to say that over the last fifteen years, Bradford City have had three top-quality strikers. They are Nahki Wells, Charlie Wyke and Andy Cook. Don’t get me wrong, James Hanson is a club legend and contributed plenty of goals – but only once made the fifteen goal mark in a season.

The likes of Jordy Hiwula, Billy Clarke, Eoin Doyle, Jon Stead and James Vaughan all chipped in with a reasonable amount of goals. They also added other things to the teams they played in. But none were quite at the relative level of Wells, Wyke and Cook when it came to finding the back of the net in a Bradford City shirt.

When Andy Cook went down at Barrow, we all knew we had a big task on our hands. Largely because we were desperate for another striker alongside him, anyway. A few days before, rumours of Burnley striker Michael Mellon being at the Chesterfield game created excitement that we’d be finding a player alongside Cook. But it was rumoured not long after the game that he’d be on his way to Derbyshire soon, quashing a bit of optimism.

I think we owe a bit of credit to the club for acting quickly after Cook’s injury to go out and make this loan signing happen. The club have gone out there and beaten competition for a decent signing – even if he’s not necessarily a replacement for Cook. Again, a welcome change to previous years, where we have often brought in experienced strikers struggling to score, at the end of their career. We also did well to bring in Kavanagh last January too, a point we shouldn’t forget.

Now don’t get me wrong. There’s going to be a lot of expectation on the 21-year-old striker’s shoulders when he starts playing in a Bradford City shirt. That’s because the 13 goals he scored in 22 league games for Morecambe last campaign is a pretty incredible return. It’s only two short of Nathan Lowe’s remarkable tally on-loan at Walsall in the first-half of this season.

The question is, what will Mellon be able to achieve for us? And when will he make a start? Because frankly, I’d rather we had our own 21-year-old striker up front and scoring goals for us in Calum Kavanagh for obvious reasons. Both players are rather similar in their playing-style, so it shouldn’t require a big shift in play, which is helpful.

The hope is that they can bring the best out of each other – or in some ways, that Mellon isn’t starting too often, because Kavanagh is scoring goals.

Brandon Khela

I don’t mind this signing, though it’s unclear what the immediate plan is for him. The 19-year-old on loan from Birmingham City has the least experience in the Football League of the players we’ve signed, and that can often go one or two ways. Either he’ll be a level above, or perhaps won’t quite be ready to join a promotion-chasing club. Hopefully it’s the former, and not the latter.

The good news is he’s versatile and can play in most places across the midfield, or even at full-back. He comes with good reviews, and played the second-half of last season at Ross County, so does have some experience already in going out on loan.

The risk with signing young players on-loan is that you don’t want to be developing young players ahead of your own (ie Kavanagh / Mellon), if they can’t add ready-made quality to the squad. So let’s hope he’s ready to make an impact if he gets game time. One to watch, perhaps?

Outgoings

I’ll try not to spend ages on this section, because I think we all understand the decisions that have been made. I think the club has also done a good job so far, and made the right calls – again, a welcome change. We’ve kept the players we need, and moved on the ones where it’s not quite working.

Take Corry Evans. You can tell he has real quality, but unfortunately he was a bit too injury prone for a club that needs a fully available squad. I think in the past, we’d have probably kept him until the end-of-the-season, and wouldn’t have even signed a short term deal in the first place. So, it’s good to see the club being much more ruthless when it comes to bringing players in, and also letting them go.

You’d expect the club to be in the market for another midfielder with similar qualities to Smallwood (more on this later), though if not, it’s because I’m guessing we’ll either put Lapslie/Khela there – or change the shape.

It just hasn’t quite worked out for Tyler Smith either. So, it’s good to see him going out on loan. He did score five goals in 38 league games last season with limited minutes; and 12 in 47 when you add his cup goals onto that – even if quite a few of those were scored in the EFL Trophy.

At only 26 years-old, he’s still got plenty of his career ahead of him. It’d be good for both us and him if he can start scoring for another club – and I’m glad we’ve not given him to another club higher up the league from previous experience. He gets into good positions, and as we know from his goal against Barrow last year, he’s a decent finisher. Smith just needs to get his confidence up, and also to play in a slightly different system too.

Finally, Harry Ibbitson looks like a young talent, but needs to keep getting experience. It’s good to see him go to Guiseley for a month so he’s only up the road and playing for a promotion chasing side. Hopefully when he returns, we can find a few minutes here and there for him in suitable games. But make no mistake, this isn’t the time to be trialling new players for the sake of minutes. We need the best players out there who can help us win games and get out of this division.

In part two, Jake will look at what further areas of the squad need strengthening.

Categories: Opinion

Tags: BCAFC