Rupp & Sparks Out?

Is this exactly where an experienced Head Of Football / DOF (call it what you want!!) would be used and beneficial? Asking questions as to why/what's the reason/what games do you think it would have benefitted the result/what's the impact upon existing squad and players/additional cost? etc etc etc....

We didn't have that with Sparks as he has none of that knowledge so the script was ripped up and we start again!!

 

A nice write up from an outsider outlining the state of where we're at;

https://unexpecteddelirium.substack.com/p/are-bradford-city-becoming-league

 

That hurts -
“4-0 by half-time, and if there are two worse league teams in the country than Bradford this season, they should consider themselves lucky of that fact.”

The last time we were in this position we didn't have a pot to p1ss in.
This time it is totally self inflicted.

 

Yeah, I'd not come across that I til this article. Pretty damning isn't it.

For those whom haven't seen it. Chief football writer at I Paper. Says all you need to know.

 

Alexander doesn't seem the type to me to stick around if he doesn't like what he see's above him, just from how he talks and comes across about his way of working. I think if he cant get something good out of Gent in Jan and some drab off the books, he might well succeed. If Jan is a flop and the summer promises aren't thrilling, I wouldn't be surprised if he walked.

I genuinely think that Alexander will be either the next Parkinson with big wins and promotions or will think the model isn't capable of building anything and in the summer and hand his notice in.

 

With a 2.5 year contract he’s certainly not going to walk out, he’s probably in last chance saloon as a manager if he fails here.

 

It’s all about results Dennis,if Hughes and Gent had spent what is a decent budget on better players the club would be in a similar league position to last season. Then all this nonsense of chucking tennis balls wouldn’t be happening.

 

When he joined he was keen to talk up the 'chance of success' as a key motivator.
Should season ticket sales fall to 10k and we remain sustainable, will he think the chance of success is minimal?
He will also have 19 OOC players in the summer so he will have the chance to bring in 13/14 new players.
What will we be able to offer though, if only 10k season tickets sold.

 

Ifs buts and maybe's, unfortunately.
We are where we are. The summer's recruitment was a disaster and last seasons reliance on two players is there for all to see.

 

Exactly that. If we finished where we are now, I doubt the budget will be a top one again as the interest just wont be there next season around renewal time. That chance is going to get ever smaller. It's not just the players on the way out, it's attracting them in. If we go into January 18th-21st and handful of points off the drop, the calibre of player willing to join us will also be lesser. We need to pick up some wins between now and January and Gent already needs to be on the phone to anyone to try and get some of the fringe players out the building.

 

I saw an interview with the Barrow DOF and he said how hard recruitment was for them last season. Players just don't want to join a club that they think will be/are in a relegation battle.
He said their success this season is down to recruitment being so much easier this season as possible recruits didn't think they would struggle.

 

In Gents own words as Jordan has shared this morning, the book stops with him when it comes to recruitment so it’s time to move away from blaming Hughes. Blame him for failure in the playoffs absolutely, but Gent has confirmed recruiting is his game. Just as it was when recruitment was terrible under Turnbull. Now if we can get to the bottom of who recruits these guys and sets their aims and goals we may understand where a key issue at the club is, leave it with me I’ll look into it further…

 

But they didn't.. that's the dilemma.

A dilemma that keeps repeating itself.

 

I know there's a little belief of, we can write this season off and go again for promotion next time, as there should be some money clubs/big attractors leaving the league this year. Let's say Stockport, Wrexham, Mansfield and Notts all go up, that still leaves Salford, MK, Gillingham, maybe Swindon if they sort themselves out. But the chances are all 4 wont go up and there are your Crewes of the world proving that they are no joke this season. Chesterfield should come up and already have a great squad let alone leaving Cook to build with cash to burn in the summer. Let alone the clubs that come down from L1.

I know all we can do at this point is look forward to the rebuild, but there's still a good chance there will be about 10 clubs with fanbase and budget expectations to be in the top 7 come next season and we are starting off at a really low point.

 

Good grief. I knew it was bad but when you see it in black and white that Saturday was the first time since the 12th August that we've scored more than one goal in a league game and only the second time we've done so all season, it really brings it home just how desperate things have become.

 

Alexander certainly has plenty of work to do with this squad.

 

He really has. Let's hope he's up to the task.

 

Mark Wilson on X: "Danny Cowley tells @talkSPORT “we got a long way down the road with @officialbantams but we didn’t feel it was the right opportunity for us….” What does that say? A club with a huge fan base and one of biggest budgets in division and yet it’s not the right opportunity? #bcafc" / X (twitter.com)

 

Family reasons?
GA the one they always wanted?