Next manager

Fully agree with this. Sparks has been handing out ridiculous contracts for really poor players.
Giving the new man a contract until the season not only gives them an incentive to be immediately successful it also gives us an opportunity to reassess in the summer before we allow them a summer of recruitment. If it’s not going well then we can cut ties without having to pay up on a 2-3 year contract.

 

Was he an Italian stallion

 

I don’t agree with that at all if we are appointing a new manager they have to be given time otherwise it’s totally unfair a half a season us nowhere near long enough

 

No manager worth his salt would agree to a 6 month deal. Only benefits the club, not the manager

 

Simon Grayson has never recovered from that arrangement.

 

There is a reason this process has taken 5 weeks. For whatever reason Sparks has struggled to find a manager. I have my own opinions on this, mainly due to the poor quality of squad and the fact that BCAFC has turned into a managerial graveyard. It’s no coincidence that this all coincides with the tenure of Rupp and Sparks.
I agree with you that half a season offers no stability but at the moment we don’t seem to have people at the club who have a clue what they are doing. At least with a shorter contract it gives us the opportunity to change things if things once again go belly up.

 

He got the sack at MK for the same thing...... but now he plays the opposite brand of football. Wanted MK to play a 4231 control possession tactic and their players were crap at it. Williamson has gone 5 at the back and it's still a possession game but it's much faster and it tore us to bits. He got manager of the month playing a counter attacking tactic with MK but he didn't want to stick with it, slowly wanted to be a control team. Rather than go back to what worked at the start, he stuck with the "style of play" and it did for him in the end. Interview below just before he was sacked....


“I was told we need to win, but we have a certain identity. I’ve tried to understand the club’s history and identity, and I respect that. I refer to data to keep me on track sometimes, or to find solutions to problems, I do it in games too. I think it has changed, the data and stats say yes too, but people want to see wins.

“It’s a balancing act at MK Dons where you want a bit of both.”

Known to play possession-based football under many previous managers, Alexander’s side won four of their five opening league fixtures with just 44 per cent of the ball.

In the last five - three defeats and two draws - they’ve had 14 per cent more possession. And he said these are not the only stats to have gone up recently.

He said: “Our possession stats, control of games, our ball retention, our pass accuracy has gone up, the number of shots and expected goals has gone up, expected goals against has dropped significantly. All those metrics have improved. The things that have gone down are shot accuracy and the results.

“Everyone wants a win, but at certain clubs, you have to win a certain way. And if you look at the stats from the last month, you'd think we were a certain type of team who plays a certain type of way.”

 

Maybe that's why we still haven't got a manager. Very few would agree to a short term contract til the end of the season. Perhaps it was offered to Cowley, and his Mrs didn't want him away for 6 months, or didn't want to live in rented housing. That's the family issue right there. It only works if someone is brought in to firefight, like Warnock does.

 

Anyone can do that though

 

Grayson is past it. I remember his post match interviews where he stated his half time team talk was to tell the players to “run about a bit”. His words not mine!

 

Someone who looks too much into things.
It's not the premier league ffs.
One thing we've realised under Hughes is if we look too much into the stats we lose focus of what we really need to do, score!!

 

oh I dunno, I’m a big enough deal in fishing circles that I won’t need to name drop…..

 

Sounds to me like he was playing in an effective way but was then asked to play in a different way instead and so is arguing he's done what was asked of him by backing it up with stats

 

Agreed but surely at this point we need an appointment that actually benefits the club.
Bowyer got a 2 year contract and lasted 10 months
Adams got a 3 year contract and got 8 months.
Hopkins got 2 years and went after 8 months.
McCall sacked just weeks after a contract renewal.
Hughes lasted longer than he should have.
Short term is exactly how we should be treating things at the moment as we appear to be rudderless from top to bottom. Something has to change at the very top now imo before we can see stability otherwise any new manager is just a plaster over a wound that won’t heal.

 

But that should be an even bigger challenge for any manager who has any belief in himself, what a challenge to manage Bradford City of for nothing else our fan base.

 

Yep, know that, just advising that I'd seen it....

 

The hardcore 3500 that turn out for FA cup games you mean?
You’ll not find a club in the country where the ratio of fans changes so drastically when they have to pay for tickets outside of the their season ticket. It just goes to show how many people actually attend due to the low prices.

 

I think you've identified the cause of our problems but instead of suggesting we change course and actually back a manager you've instead decided the solution is to take steps to ensure we can churn through them even quicker

 

Not at all. I just don’t think a long term appointment at this point is the right way to go.
Handing out contracts like confetti just for things to last no longer than 10 months. Maybe that’s the real reason Cowley didn’t come here? Maybe that’s why after 5 weeks we are still manager-less?
Like I said.. it does nothing for stability I know that but until Rupp and Sparks leave then this time next year we will be having the same discussion. We can’t just keep doing the same thing and praying it changes.
2016-2018: Stuart McCall

2018: Simon Grayson

2018: Michael Collins (Head Coach)

2018-2019: David Hopkin

2019-2020: Gary Bowyer

2020: Stuart McCall

2020: Mark Trueman (Caretaker)

2021: Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars (Joint Interim)

2021: Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars (Joint)

2021-2022: Derek Adams

2022: Mark Trueman (Caretaker)

2022-2023: Mark Hughes

2023: Kevin McDonald (Player-Caretaker)

2023: Mark Trueman (Caretaker

Just look at the state of that. It sits solely with Rupp and Sparks and they have to go.

 

i can only imagine their excitement