By Jason McKeown

The big question is what prompted this change? As Bradford City mount a strong promotion push, fuelled by signs of greater investment, there really can’t be much doubt that the strategy has indeed altered. That the promises made a year ago are being fulfilled. An owner who was becoming increasingly unpopular has started to claw it back. Stefan Rupp might not be getting too much credit just yet, but the club’s current trajectory would suggest it’s coming.

It’s worth reflecting on events that began exactly a year ago this week. The Bantams had just defeated Accrington Stanley 3-0 to go within five points of the play offs. And everyone was looking forward to a period of three home games in a row, followed by a trip to neighbours Harrogate Town. Fair to say things imploded spectacularly from there. Over 11 harrowing days, City lost four times, conceding 13 goals. They slumped to 17th in the table, grateful that the teams at the bottom were well adrift.

In the midst of that horror run, Rupp showed up at Valley Parade for the visit of Mansfield Town. It was his first live game since September, and he witnessed a mess. City were 3-0 down inside 18 minutes, 4-0 behind by half time. As Mansfield saw out an emphatic 5-1 thumping, Rupp and CEO Ryan Sparks were barracked by nearby fans. That was the second of the four games of hell.

Following the 3-0 thumping to Notts County – game three of that run – I wrote, “We are witnessing the slow extinction of Bradford City Football Club.” That slow death continued at Harrogate, where the Bantams meekly lost 3-0 again. Sparks and Rupp were the target of chants demanding they get out of the club.

Cue a five-day period before City’s next game – a Good Friday home clash with Tranmere – where a pre-match supporter protest was announced. In that time Sparks flew over to Germany to meet Rupp and discuss the future. The day before the Tranmere game, Rupp issued an open letter to fans. “I have not been present enough and have been too quiet. For that, I apologise,” Rupp admitted. “I accept criticism that has come in my direction, and that is very much my responsibility. I am determined to not let people down. I have been doing a lot of thinking since my last visit to Bradford, in the defeat at home to Mansfield Town, which was a difficult afternoon, and very hard to watch.”

The letter included an acknowledgement that the club’s sustainable, break-even model was no longer working in giving City adequate resources to get promoted. And that they would change strategy in the summer. “As the better-resourced clubs continued to spend, it is clear our budget became less competitive,” Rupp declared. “I gave Ryan clear direction to run our club as close to breakeven as possible, however I recognise this can have its limitations, and we must, to some degree, move away from an approach where our primary objective is sustainability, in order to achieve our goals.

“When needed, I have always financially supported the club, though I accept this support will need to go further, and Ryan and I are on the same page with regards to future investment required.”

12 months on, there is plenty of evidence to suggest Rupp is fulfilling those pledges. We don’t know what the playing budget is, but the greater depth and quality of the squad, compared to recent years, is undeniable. At the recent quote unquote fans forum on BBC Radio Leeds, Sparks stated that Rupp had invested an additional sum of money. “It’s a lot of money, it’s seven figures…I had a very honest conversation with Stefan. We talked about how, to be able to compete, we were going to need a significant budget to be maintained, and the club could not afford that and break even. This was down to rising costs and pretty stable revenue. The gap to break even was bigger, and will continue to be bigger with other rising costs.

“I asked for an amount of money which has been provided to pay the wages at the level we wanted to pay. And in January we reached a position where we were close to our SCMP cap, as you will hear many clubs talk about, and Stefan released a proportion of the funds he had put into the club as equity – essentially donated it to the business – allowing us to spend further funds to enhance the squad.”

SCMP is the new EFL rules on how much clubs in League One and Two can spend on players. In League Two, it’s 50% of turnover. Equity injections can be included as part of turnover to increase it, thereby allowing clubs to operate with larger player budget. Sparks also confirmed the fees generated from selling Harry Lewis and Jake Young have been put back into the playing budget “along with a lot more money as well”.

Beyond the increase in playing budget, we’ve got proper football expertise in the shape of David Sharpe’s appointment. Additions in coaching staff, who on paper have strong CVs. A playing surface that is no longer an embarrassment. And on the field, even though the Bantams have just experienced a disappointing loss at Gillingham, the Bantams are 16 points and 11 league places better off than at this stage last season.

Is everything perfect? Definitely not. In the same open letter Rupp last March vowed, “My intention going forward is to be more visible, and I will communicate more regularly with you to ensure you are kept updated on plans for the club’s future.” Rupp has been at more games for sure, but overall communication remains lacking. Rupp also talked about sorting the club’s Valley Parade future and the update from the fan forum is that this isn’t progressing as hoped. So yeah, work to do for sure. But there is no doubt the goalposts have shifted, and that the strategy for this season is markedly different to the seasons before.

And that’s great, it really is. Yet there is still that lingering question of what really prompted this change. Was it the dismal sight of Liam Ridehalgh playing as centre back against Mansfield (withdrawn after 26 minutes) because an injury-hit squad was so threadbare? Was it the words exchanged with Sparks in Munich in the days that followed the Harrogate loss? Or was it the general supporter discontent and pressure, which manifested into hundreds of fans protesting outside Valley Parade on Good Friday?

It’s easy to shrug the shoulders and say it doesn’t really matter, but I actually think it does. Especially on that last potential reason. Because it was, to say the least, a difficult atmosphere among supporters last season. A battleground, in some ways, between fans disgruntled with the direction of the football club and those who felt the leadership was not to blame. This debate had been going on for several years – really upping in volume during the pandemic. But it had almost always remained on the fringes. Debated online rather than on a matchday. Yet over 2023/24, there was a notable shift in the number of supporters disillusioned and frustrated by Rupp and Sparks. People were beginning to boycott (and some have still not returned).

City had gone into 2023/24 with the hangover of play off heartbreak. They started slowly, and never got going. Mark Hughes became the target of the ire and was sacked in early October. Fair enough, but the club’s lack of forward planning resulted in a 33-day search to find a replacement that undermined confidence in the leadership of the club. Graham Alexander was eventually appointed, but he was clearly not first choice (take your pick from Kevin McDonald and Danny Cowley). On Alexander’s unveiling, Sparks gave a tone deaf press conference performance that further alienated fans. The storm clouds were firmly brewing.

That discontent eased in the weeks that followed – not least when Alexander found some form on the pitch – but it never went fully away. January, for example, was not fun. And then when the March collapse of a year ago happened, there wasn’t much patience. Bradford City has historically had problems with resilience to on the field setbacks. When it goes wrong on the pitch, like a relegation or play off heartbreak, they rarely recover quickly. We’d had several seasons of utter rubbish and here we were again. As the guy who sat at the top of all of this, overseeing years of failure, it was understandable Rupp’s ownership came into question. A well-resourced owner, but the club weren’t benefiting from it at all.   

The debates that raged then were whether City fans were entitled to expect better. That if the plan is to be a sustainable football club, how can the Bantams compete with big-spending clubs like Stockport, Wrexham, Mansfield, Notts County, MK Dons, Salford, Doncaster and Gillingham? That Rupp was at least keeping the lights on. That he was a decent man who’d not deserted the club when it went through some difficult moments. That Sparks was doing his best in difficult circumstances. A young man who deserved more support.

There is truth in all of this, but none of it painted a promising picture of the future. And it failed to answer the question of how long should fans tolerate the struggle? Since 2017, we’d witnessed City fall from knocking on the door to the Championship to treading water in League Two. There had been positive progression in 2022/23, but it all fell away again so quickly and depressingly in 2023/24. And most of us had had enough.

In my own, tiny little Bradford City corner of running Width of a Post, those arguments were especially fierce. As we became more critical of the club, we got more angry emails from readers who thought we were out of order. Some vowed never to read us again and probably haven’t since. We were even encouraged to close down the site, because we weren’t serving a constructive purpose to the future of the club.

All of which is fair enough and everyone is entitled to their opinion. But it did beg the question of how bad did it have to get before even the most pro-club supporter said they’d had enough. And it was out of step with the prevailing mood. Ultimately in 2023/24, City lost the centre ground, and a lot of fans who would never criticise the club were now doing just that. It was open season on the club. It was difficult to muster much sympathy towards Rupp and Sparks, given their complete lack of communication. 

I think it matters that fans were willing to stand up and say no more to the mediocrity served to us. That we put pressure on Rupp and Sparks to change or leave. The slow extinction of Bradford City Football Club very much was happening in front of our eyes. The future of the club was at stake. The demise of the likes of Scunthorpe, Oldham and Rochdale looked to a route we were following. It had all come to a point where constructive criticism had to become louder.

And you’d like to think that it was impossible to ignore. That the pressure fans placed on Rupp and Sparks changed their thinking. That as much as Alexander and the players deserve so much credit for the excellent season we’re enjoying – Sharpe, Sparks, Rupp, Stephen Gent and everyone else behind the scenes too – we supporters have more than played our part. Because without the disgruntlement, without the protests and without the signs of apathy, would City be where they are right now, or would we be once again treading water in mid-table, operating in a sustainable but limited way? 

We may never know the truth. But if City go onto earn promotion this season, there is a crucial chapter in the club’s history waiting to be written. A story to be told of how fortunes were revived. Because Bradford City had been following a certain model for several years, with little success. They changed it this season, and look to be en route to move forwards because of it. And as much as some supporters have stood by Rupp and Sparks throughout, and can feel a sense of justification by what’s unfolding, they can’t deny that the upturn is down to the club taking a different tact. That something prompted a welcome change.   

Away from this, the other major question is what happens after this? By breaking away from breakeven, Rupp has presumably accepted a financial loss this season. He’s funded the gap this time. Will he want to fund another gap next season? The season after? The season after that?

Back in last month’s fans forum, Sparks was clear about the importance of the change in stance. “I’ll be honest, if we wanted to break even this season we wouldn’t be competing at the right end of the division. We’ve been given as a team what we needed, what we asked for, and we’re very grateful for that.” Sparks added that operating costs will rise significantly again next season. So even before the club talks future playing budgets, break-even seems a more difficult objective than ever.

Imagine, as we must, that City don’t get promoted this season. The greater investment, and the calculated gamble of spending more than your means, won’t have worked. Will they have to over-spend again? Will Rupp be prepared to that? The story of 2008/09 – where Mark Lawn invested an extra £1 million to try and bankroll promotion, with failure to go up leading to huge budget and staff cuts that set the club back at least three seasons – should not be ignored. The genie is out of the bottle, and it will be hard to put the lid back on that. Even if City go up, there will be expectations on Rupp to invest sufficiently again, to keep them moving forwards.

It is all to be seen. For now, Rupp deserves some credit and appreciation from fans. Sparks merits greater respect. The best thing you can say about the CEO, tasked with the everyday running of the club, is that everything looks so much more joined up now, with everyone working on the same page. You don’t achieve that without effective overall leadership and Sparks is evidently providing it.

Neither Rupp or Sparks will get that credit from some supporters at the moment. Many will understandably choose to hold back any praise until City truly accomplish something. And even then, some will justifiably point out that it took far too long for the Bantams to get their act together. But that centre ground is shifting again. Some terrible mistakes of the past are starting to be righted. Lessons have been learned and applied. Bradford City is in a better shape than it was 12 months ago, thanks to the influence of all those involved.

Including the fans.

Categories: Opinion

Tags: BCAFC, Ryan Sparks, Stefan Rupp