By Jason McKeown
The road in is a familiar one and so is the dead end it takes them to. Amongst the crowded group of Bradford City players who have reported back for pre-season training at Woodhouse Grove you will find Tyler Smith and Adam Wilson. They spent much of last season out of loan, but now they are back in recognisable surroundings, working towards a future that appears to lie elsewhere.
It definitely must have felt odd for both players to watch on from afar as their employer, Bradford City, earned promotion without them. On the afternoon the Bantams dramatically beat Fleetwood to go up, Smith was 215 miles away down South, fruitlessly toiling his way through Barrow’s final day 0-0 draw at Colchester. Wilson would have had his feet up at that same moment, preparing for the Welsh Cup final the day after, where he would help The New Saints (TNS) beat Connah’s Quay 2-1 to lift silverware. Neither player got to go on the piss with Sarcevic. They were forgotten figures, missing one of the best parties Bradford has ever seen.
But with those loan spells over, both are back again at Bradford City. Only they’re not going to be here for long, it seems. Both have been unused subs in City’s two pre-season friendlies so far. Graham Alexander has basically told them the exit door is open, with the Telegraph & Argus quickly reporting that the clubs they each spent last season with would like to sign them permanently. It was revealed last week Smith has turned down an offer from Barrow. Still, it seems highly unlikely the transfer window will close on Monday 1 September with either player a Bantam. There may be others on the fringes nudged into departing too, such as Clarke Oduor.
There is no disagreement to be had here with Alexander’s logic regarding Smith and Wilson. He inherited both players when he took charge in November 2023, and the City boss has built a successful team that hasn’t found room for either. With the Bantams moving up a level and eight (and counting) summer signings, the City first team prospects for either Smith or Wilson are very bleak. It is best, all round then, that they move on.
But still, it’s not exactly a nice situation – and how their departures are handled is important. The drip, dripping of the club’s push to get them out the door, via snippets in the T&A, isn’t especially edifying and unfairly causes supporters to get on their backs. “We just need to get rid of…” “They just need to go”. And we do need to get rid, and they do need to go, of course, but both players deserve to leave in a way that is right for their careers. Neither player forced the club into offering them three-year contracts, and City seem to be the party that ultimately wants to break those deals. The club has a duty of care that should be just as important as the care they showed bringing them to Valley Parade in the first place.
Because whilst both players can be rightly accused of failing to pull up any trees in claret and amber, they are a victim of changing circumstances and the landscape shifting beneath their feet. Not just in terms of a swap in manager, but the evolution of the team that means they have no obvious place in it.
Smith was signed in the challenging summer of 2023, in the wake of City’s play off semi final defeat to Carlisle. That day at Brunton Park, Mark Hughes infamously took off a rampaging Scott Banks for central defender Matty Platt, so he could go with three at the back. It was a damaging mistake, but the 3-5-2 switch was a prelude to a thinking from Hughes that the 4-2-3-1 set-up wasn’t delivering effective enough performances. And with League Two looking much tougher in 2023/24 with the arrival of Wrexham and co, Hughes and Stephen Gent recruited for a 3-5-2 formation. Smith – a Championship striker at Hull City – was seen as important to that. A partner for Andy Cook, able to get behind backlines, stretch the play and give the Bantams a greater focal point for their possession-based dominance.
Only Smith got injured pre-season and was only fit enough for the bench during the opening weeks of the campaign. And without any comparable option, Hughes went for a 3-4-3 formation that relied on pacy wide forwards flanking Cook. Early season losses to Crawley and Morecambe cast serious doubt over its workability. And then, when Cook got injured, the final few days of the transfer window became a scramble.
Which is where Wilson appeared. A pacy wide forward, once on the books at Newcastle United, who was impressing greatly in the Welsh Premier League for TNS. He was inexpensive. He was a punt. A lets-give-him-a-go signing with little expectation and so little risk.
Wilson was awarded four starts for the Bantams – the last of which was away at MK Dons in October 2023, after Hughes had been sacked and Kevin McDonald was in caretaker charge. A few days before that was Wilson’s best moment in a City shirt, where he scored a thunderous late equaliser against Wrexham in front of a packed out Valley Parade. Once Alexander took charge, Wilson got to experience just 87 minutes of action across five substitute appearances. His last competitive outing for City was the 3-0 loss to Harrogate in March 2024 – the game that prompted Ryan Sparks to rush out to Germany to persuade Stefan Rupp to invest more. Fair to say a lot has happened since.
Under Alexander, Smith’s prospects were initially much better. He is the answer to the pub quiz question of who scored the first goal of the Alexander era. With two up top favoured, Smith scored six goals in Alexander’s first eight games in the hotseat. Alas for the player, it didn’t last.
That January, Alexander and Gent recruited Calum Kavanagh and the young Boro forward forged a useful partnership with Cook that almost took City into the play offs. Smith had to settle for the role of impact sub and memorably scored a stoppage time winner at Barrow that set up a final day chance of the play offs. But with further new striker signings last summer, Smith found competition for places even tougher in 2024/25. The chance was definitely there for him, but he couldn’t grasp it. Ultimately, he was loaned out to Barrow and netted five goals from 11 starts (10 sub appearances). Decent, but he was hardly missed.
Wilson was loaned back to TNS early doors in 2024/25, and had a good season back in familiar territory – the Welsh club winning the title by 14 points. He even got to play in the Europa League. And it’s no wonder TNS want him to come back again. And maybe that’s where he does end up. Though if he’s trying to hold out for something better, you can’t blame him. TNS are the only professional club in the Welsh top flight, but their top earner is said to be on £1,200 a week and the club attracts average attendances of 300. In other words, it’s a bit of a stepdown from scoring in front of 21,000 people against Wrexham at Valley Parade. At 25, the dream of an EFL career doesn’t necessarily have to be over.
But it is basically over at Valley Parade for Wilson, just as it’s basically over at Valley Parade for Smith. With City summer signing Stephen Humphrys talking about how he expects to play in a three-player forward line that keeps swapping positions as they link up, you wonder if City are even going to play a true out and out striker this season, at least until Cook is back.
That definitely means there is no role for a winger like Wilson – even if he could prove he could play at League One level. It also puts Smith well down the pecking order. Kavanagh did so many great things selflessly leading the line in Cook’s absence last season, where he had to do so much off the ball running to help others be more effective. That is not the sort of player Smith is. His qualities are not what Alexander is setting City up to require.
But they will both be on decent money, relatively speaking. And when there is so much talk about a lack of loyalty in football, it really needs to work both ways. Both players have another year on their contracts and part of their talks to leave will surely include getting a fair settlement from City for the lost earnings we (manager, club and supporters) are asking them to accept by moving on.
Who knows what Wilson is earning. Probably not a huge amount in the grand scheme of City’s wage bill, but he will likely have to accept less money by moving to TNS or elsewhere. As for Smith, his earning potential was clearly higher two years ago when he was a coveted Championship forward, and Barrow or whoever are unlikely to match what he could earn from seeing out the final year of his Valley Parade contract.
So there is an obligation on City to look after them because we courted and persuaded them to sign these contracts in the first place. Both players have their faults, but they do not deserve to be painted as bad guys if they don’t exactly jump at the first alternative offer they receive. City should be able to shake both players’ hands with no hard feelings, because they bear some of the responsibility for why these transfers failed.
We welcome new signings through the door with a loving arm around their shoulder. But to keep enhancing our reputation as a club, we need to be similarly fair to players when they leave.
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After Cooks injury I would have liked to have seen Smith given a chance in the new formation. With his pace and less reliance on the long ball he may have shined. And ee certainly weren’t over burdened with strikers. Wilson seems to have skill and a good attitude and gives us the real opportunity to change the formation of the team.
A good deal of considered and compassionate words, Jason, about two redundant players. I seem to have less regard for them and sympathy for their situation than you do. Neither was considered good enough for us in the fourth tier, both have been told they can leave and, I suspect, both are hanging on waiting for improved severance pay and better terms elsewhere. I will be surprised if we take them to Austria. It does, as you say, highlight the dangers of giving out three-year contracts, to players like this, Odusina, Oliver and others. We seem to have learned our lesson, thankfully. I am pretty sure there will be a couple of other players who find themselves either elsewhere or not registered by the time the window is closed. Already we have more than can be accommodated and that is before we bring in any loanees. I am not even sure how seriously we are considering the two trialists. Last year we seemed to take along a keeper – whose name I forget – and a centrehalf from Oldham, Martin Taylor (?) just to make up the numbers in Austria. But in the ruthless world of football, money is better spent on trialists than players you want rid of. Of these two new possible additions, by the way, Magloire was once officially clocked the quickest player in Scottish footballer; and Hunt is a very accomplished fullback.
Can’t blame the players involved at all, I imagine the club will have to agree to making up the difference on the final year of their contract from any interested party and they probably got a pay rise for promotion. It’s a short career and in a world where many are facing a challenging job market football is no different and they need to consider what’s best for them. I think in Smith’s case he’s better going to a team competing at the top end of the National League than the bottom end of League 2. Score 20 goals in the National League and someone is more likely to take a chance than another season of 5 goals in League 2.
Oduor is an interesting one, now 26, it feels like Barnsley suggested a player not living up to his potential and Kenya have said similar. It seems Alexander feels there is a player in there and never mentions him alongside WIlson/Smith – just that he wasn’t available in the second half of last year. Neat and tidy on the ball but rarely impacting a game and too often slowing attacks down with too many touches – maybe Alexander will use the fear of the last year of his contract to try and tap into that ability and earn a new contract or put himself in the shop window.
It’s interesting but not surprising, having watched lots of podcasts with footballers, seeing how many of them will play hard ball and be willing to sit out their contract unless they get a full pay out. When I was younger this would have frustrated me but tbh I am somewhat sympathetic to them, especially those in the lower leagues and with families of their own. I know even a good league 2/national league player will earn money the average person could only dream about, but, you can understand why some would dig their heels on to maximise their income while they are able to play football because their career could be ended with a very bad injury and they know most will retire around 35.
They know they’ve got a short career to earn very good salaries and usually at a point when people with “normal” jobs are starting to earn better money they are retiring and I imagine a good portion of them are looking for “normal” jobs, where other people may have developed 15-20 years more experience than them in the same role. Of course, footballers do get some good opportunities within football with good salaries but I’m unsure how many take this route.
With the 3 year contracts I do wonder why we implemented this policy change? Perhaps it was a nationwide movement but I am unsure what triggered it. In November 2021 the pension age for footballers increased to 57, from 55. I doubt this is what caused it, but, the timing seems to line up with us offering longer contracts from that point. I remember being shocked, in the past, when we would give out 2 year deals but then many of our players seemed to be getting 3 years between 2022/2023. If anyone knows what caused this change, and whether it is nationwide, it would be good to know.
As usual, I’m just rambling and letting my thoughts spill out… Thanks for the article Jason.
I do think Smith and Wilson are well within their rights to wait for the right opportunity, I do hope they both move on in good time, for both themselves and us! Obviously, there is a level of don’t take the mick, where my patience would start to run thin (i.e. a club is giving them a decent offer on the same or better wages but they are demanding a full pay out from us before they move on).
I can’t vouch for remembering this perfectly, but I seem to recall hearing a footy finance podcast talk about the benefits to lower league clubs of giving out 3-year deals including that it allowed them to structure the finance over a longer period.
Like you or me getting out a personal loan over 1 or 3 years, the latter helps to keep the monthly outgoing that bit smaller. So in 2022/23, when sticking to a ‘sustainable’ business model seemed to be the only game in town, perhaps the longer contracts allowed the club to submit healthier looking in-year accounts as their future wage liabilities were deferred over a longer period?
Obviously players prefer the longer contracts too, for job / wage security, so probably sold as a ‘win/win’ option, until the player becomes surplus to requirements.
As I say, I “think” that’s what they were saying on the podcast, happy to be corrected though…
I remember doing a Noddy guide to reading business accounts at a firm I worked at a long time ago, and the bloke leading it named 2 top clubs, one of who put player contracts on their balance sheet as assets, the other put them down as liabilities.
The boys earned those contracts and they deserve them, they were signed to play for a manager in a certain formation and through changes/injuries beyond their control they never got the chance to show what they could do. Essentially robbed of two years in the shop window and that will have a major impact on their future earnings.
No hard feelings here
i agree with this- not just about what’s morally right, but as you say, clubs who can be seen not to treat their players well through their playing cycle, may find it bites them at recruitment.
i also don’t like the occasions when players are “frozen out” and even made to train on their own. I recollect this happened with Josh Wright, Jake Young. It reflected poorly on the managers.