By Jason McKeown

No Bradford City supporter will ever forget where they were when George Lapslie hit that shot towards goal at 4.56pm on Saturday 3 May. The air reeked of desperation and heads were in hands as it looked like Bradford City had blown it. A token Tommy Leigh punt forward was cleared into Lapslie’s path. He took a touch, before unleashing a low effort towards a goal that was heavily protected by a wall of white Fleetwood shirts. Lapslie’s shot smacked against visiting defender James Bolton’s thigh.

And at that point, the ball could have bounced anywhere.

The ball could have rolled tamely into the arms of goalkeeper Jay Lynch. The ball could have spun wide of the post for a corner. The ball could have looped up into the air and been headed clear. And if any of these scenarios had occurred, in all likelihood Bradford City’s final game of the season would have ended 0-0, denying them automatic promotion and consigning them to a play off campaign that you would have struggled to muster any confidence they would go onto win.

But instead of forcing an easy save, going wide or falling into a position where it could be booted up the pitch, the deflection caused the ball to arrow past Lynch and into the back of the net, promoting Bradford City. It was the cue for hedonistic celebrations that rank as one of the greatest moments in the club’s long, eventful history. It was the start of a riotous party that went on for days. It was confirmation the Bantams’ six-year hiatus in League Two was over.

Football is such an amazing sport because of how such fine, miniscule and random margins – such as the bounce of a ball – can determine an entire season’s work. This very site is a tribute to that thought, lovingly named after the goalpost at Molineux that proved the crucial difference in Bradford City earning promotion to the Premier League a quarter of a century ago. If we ever need to rename ourselves, The Width of James Bolton’s Thigh would work nicely as a modern retelling of the same ethos: that the smallest of factors can make the biggest of differences.

Which is something that City are beginning to demonstrate this summer. After the promotion euphoria finally faded, it seems we have a very different Bradford City to the one that was there before Lapslie took aim at 4.56pm. It is a club re-energised. More purposeful. Oozing confidence and swagger. And as supporters, one of the hardest parts of this summer has been keeping up with the pace of change.

We see that self-assurance manifesting itself in Ryan Sparks, who has spent much of the close season appearing on podcasts to talk up the club’s success. The strategy that he has instilled, tweaked and built on has taken years to reap rewards – and could just as easily be viewed as unsuccessful, but for the bounce of that ball. But given no football CEO can ever dictate what footballers do when they cross the white line of entering the pitch, Sparks is certainly entitled to share in the credit for the fruits of his labours.

More interesting though is what the taste of success has done to chairman Stefan Rupp. The guy who was accused of being too distant, too passive and wholly unambitious has certainly come a long way in shifting supporter opinions. Especially after his June visit to West Yorkshire, where he attended the fans forum and embarked on a round of local media interviews.

During these appearances, Rupp firmly batted away any suspicion he would like to rid himself of the considerable headache of owning a football club. Instead, he made clear his love and affection for the Bantams, and his determination to keep progressing it. This includes handing Head of Football Operations David Sharpe, Head of Recruitment Stephen Gent and manager Graham Alexander a strong playing budget for League One. Rupp told BBC Radio Leeds’ Jamie Raynor, “The overall budget for the team might get us a play off position…We have momentum we can really use. If you look at the league this year, with Wrexham and Birmingham gone, maybe we can take our chances and see where we will be at the end of the season. Anything is possible.”

Whilst Rupp was undoubtedly misunderstood in the past – hampering his own reputation by his unwillingness to communicate directly with supporters – it’s clear there is a change of tact and a change in direction. The picture he is painting of the future of Bradford City represents a major gearshift from recent years, where he and Sparks talked about being a self-sustainable football club that spends only what it makes. Now, Rupp is funding playing budgets that City’s incomings and outgoings cannot provide for on their own.

In that same interview, the excellent Raynor did a good job trying to unearth what has caused this rethink. Rupp explained, “It took us several years, but we are now in a position where it’s an attractive proposition to invest in Bradford City. If I wouldn’t have had this emotional bond with the club, I wouldn’t do it.”

And what of the long-term aims? “I definitely have the money to take the club to the Championship.” Music to the ears of most City fans.

So it seems that the ambition and strategy of the club is changing and changing quickly. Sparks would again appear to be deserving of some of the credit for this, after reportedly flying out to Germany in the weeks after promotion was sealed to talk to Rupp about setting a higher budget for City’s return to League One. Aided by your friendly local neighbourhood paper the Telegraph & Argus – who, in an amazing piece of coincidence, ran several articles laying the groundwork of talking up how tough League One was going to be, and how Rupp needed to be prepared to fund the greater challenges, in the days before Sparks flew out – the CEO returned to England with a commitment from the chairman to provide a higher playing budget.

It would appear the City hierarchy don’t view the return to League One as being about mere consolidation and making up numbers. Rupp and co seem determined to compete at the top end, as evidenced by a string of summer signings that look mightily impressive on paper.

The devil is always in the detail, and there are common threads to be found of new arrivals. Many have considerable experience (which is a kind way of saying they’re over 30 years old), and/or proven promotion success elsewhere, often from this division. Recruitment feels like a team effort too, with a transfer brains trust engineering the arrival of many players who have previous relationships with Sharpe and Alexander especially.

Was this the original plan in mind when City stood atop of Cake Ole’ in Centenary Square, three days after the Fleetwood game, as they celebrated promotion with thousands of delirious supporters? It seems doubtful, not just because of Sparks’ subsequent pilgrimage to Germany, but in how some of the thinking seems to have quickly altered.

Which leads us onto Richie Smallwood, who would appear to be the highest profile victim of City’s surge in ambition. It was unquestionably the shock of the close season when Smallwood took to social media to announce he was not going to be offered a new deal by City. It came just a few short weeks after the club’s annual retained list announcement had revealed an intent to keep their skipper.

Smallwood subsequently gave an emotional interview to the Telegraph & Argus, where he stated he had no idea why the club changed their mind on keeping him. Alexander would later clarify he did in fact travel up to the North East to tell Smallwood face-to-face the reasoning for going back on a promised contract offer. The City manager has taken full responsibility for the decision, and shown empathy to Smallwood over the player’s apparent confusion.

What did Alexander tell Smallwood? From the moment the City boss arrived in November 2023, Smallwood had been a massive favourite. The proverbial first name on the teamsheet. Alexander defended Smallwood when he was struggling for form in early 2024, and has pretty much always played the midfielder when available. So no one batted any eyelid when it was initially announced Alexander wanted to keep his captain for next year’s League One campaign. It felt like a question of when, not if, the ink would be drying on a newly signed deal.

Whatever your opinion on the merits of keeping or releasing Smallwood – and for what it’s worth, I’m comfortable with the decision to let him go – it’s a real surprise how this situation panned out. To say you want to keep the player, and then change your mind, raises more questions than it does answers.

We can only guess I suppose. But trying to go by the timeline we do have, Smallwood was promised a new deal before the Sparks-Rupp player budget chat in Germany. And then, when a bigger budget was agreed, that Smallwood promise was reneged. Suddenly, what seemed like a no brainer (keeping your player of the season) become viewed as a risk. Alexander told Radio Leeds of the Smallwood u-turn, “There was something nagging me and I was looking at the challenge ahead.”

This says a lot about the shifting goalposts.

Because a bigger budget is an indication bigger ambitions, and with it that brings bigger expectations. If, on Tuesday 7 May, you’d surveyed the thousands of City fans inside Centenary Square, celebrating promotion, what they hoped the Bantams would achieve in 2025/26, the majority would have said mid-table with a smile. But with Rupp’s bold talk about a competitive budget (“The overall budget for the team might get us a play off position”), and with each eye-catching arrival, that expectation is beginning to change.

And with it, the view of Smallwood’s future changed. Is he good enough to play for a League One club in 2025/26? Of course he is. Just look at his career. But at 35, is he still good to play for a top six League One club in 2025/26? Hmm. Alexander clearly thinks not. So Smallwood unexpectedly leaves feeling confused and harbouring an understandable level of bitterness.

And at this point we need to talk about Alexander. The City gaffer goes into 2025/26 with a heightened level of popularity for his terrific achievements. But he also goes into 2025/26 with a level of insecurity that will grow over the coming months – because this is the final year of his Bradford City contract. Fairly or unfairly, there doesn’t seem to be any talk – or any supporter clamour – to tie him down for longer. And so we have a manager tasked with leading a club into a higher division, with a rising ambition to compete at the top end, where he himself is only contracted to lead the club until next May.

For a guy who has been in management for over almost 13 years and who has been unjustly sacked more than once, you could understand if Alexander is looking a little further ahead and feeling slightly vulnerable. In theory, if City are mid-table come December, Alexander should be viewed as doing a good job. But with statements about us having a budget that could be strong enough to earn a play off finish, and the realities that come from lying in mid-table – namely you lose almost as often as you win – it doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to picture the City boss suddenly coming under pressure.

That last paragraph might make uncomfortable reading to you. It should do. Alexander is a City hero and rightly so. He does not deserve to be talked about as facing the sack right now, or indeed any time soon. How dare you WOAP! Go back on your summer break and stop poisoning the Well! I agree with all of this. Please send all deserved complaints to Width of James Bolton’s Thigh Dot Com. 

But as unwelcome of a thought as this seems right now, I do think the maths stack up. We have a chairman talking enthusiastically about how League One is not his ceiling point, and how he is putting in plans in place to push on. We’ve been aggressive in the transfer market, going after players sought by other clubs and no doubt having to back such ambition with some relatively lucrative contracts. We have a budget that “might get us a play off position”.

We’ve just pipped Barnsley – a club not that long ago pushing for a place in the Premier League – for the signature of one of their best players. We’ve recruited Joe Wright from Kilmarnock, despite the Scottish Premier League side desperately wanting to keep their player of the season. We’ve nabbed fellow promoted side AFC Wimbledon’s rising star Josh Neufville. We’ve brought in Stockport’s first choice left wing back Ibou Touray, after he turned down a Hatters’ contract. We’ve snapped up Salford’s Curtis Tilt after he turned down a contract offer from the League Two side. We’ve signed triple League One champion Max Power. We’ve secured Matthew Pennington from Blackpool, who the Tangerines were holding talks to try and keep. We’re heavily rumoured to have tried to sign Nahki Wells. And we’re probably not done yet. You don’t do all of this merely to stand still in League One.

All of which is not to say Alexander should be looking over his shoulder any time soon, but it does suggest he needs to keep delivering. He has the budget to go far and will rightly back himself to live up to the club’s rising ambition. But it will mean moving fast. Hence a leaning towards signing experienced, proven top League One players. And hence a place for Richie Smallwood being promised and then taken away.

It all makes for exciting times – it really does. We’ve suffered years of mediocrity and frustration at failing to make an impact in League Two, whilst falling desperately short of fulfilling our overall belief that Bradford City can and should be pushing for Championship football. But with one bounce of the ball, everything has changed – giving us a new-look, self-assured Bradford City that is acting ruthlessly and is dreaming bigger.

Categories: Opinion

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