Ryan Sparks

12 on the way out? That's a major clear out.

 

Not really. There's 14 out of contract anyway so either only a couple are being offered new deals or 3 or 4 are and a couple of players under contract are possibly being moved on. I can't for the life of me guess who that could be though.

 

Pleased they are going to do something about the fitness conditioning this has been an issue now since allamby and is overdue. And if we want to play a pressing game a peak of fitness is required

 

?

 

Not sure what we can really do about the high rental costs except buy the ground and build our own training facilities

 

Good

 

Unless the club is sat on £10m, they still need to pay back the loan for that.

 

If it’s the right 12 and the ones coming in are of superior quality. We need 6 at least to walk straight into the first team.

 

I'd like a couple to sprint into the first team. Ideally with a ball at their feet.

 

Canavan, Cooke. Those are probably the only players who should be starting every week, maybe Sutton, and then Hosannah and Cook if we can get them back. Loans need to be first team quality, Pickford, Burke, Cullen, Davies and not Samuels, Burrell, Stevens. The team needs real quality otherwise it’s relying on the likes of the quality of Clarke and Evans and will have yet another season in league 2.

 

Yeah, for all the January posturing we still have a pretty average league 2 squad. At the moment, bar Cooke and Canavan, not one of them justifies a place in a promotion winning side, let alone a league 1 set up. And if we want to be taken seriously thats what we need, players who stand out at this level. When a team like Harrogate has numerous players that would get a starting berth in your team then you are nowhere near ready for promotion. Summer needs a marker laying down with who we bring in.

 

Hardly the fault of Sparks. We were 2nd bottom when he replaced Rhodes. Believe me we are lucky to have him but unfortunately as with Baldwin he won’t be here for long as he will be poached by a bigger club.

 

We’ve had markers in the past with the signings of Vaughan, Donaldson and Doyle but the manager was wrong. If we do the same again can we trust T & S to make it work? There has to be a coming together where the manager and players click. If one or the other isn’t right it won’t work. This is a dilemma facing Sparks right now.

 

Can we please make that 14?

 

Sparks is right in that we cannot continue to spend nearly half the clubs income on rent and rates, Leeds were in the same position until present owner bought it back for £20 million

 

I’m not having a dig at the lad, honestly, but from the outside he’s done what any competent person would have done, sacked McCall, appointed a commercial director to bring more money in, appointed a recruitment manager to try to change the twice yearly shambles of the transfer windows and he seems to be trying to change the mentality of the club.

For all the lionising of him, standards have been so low for a decade or more, desperately so for four or five years, it was an open goal for him to make improvements. I wish him all the best, his success is Bradford City’s success, but let’s not make him out to be some kind of latter day John Harvey-Jones.

 

I think that dilemma is the one in many supporters' minds right now after recent performances. I'd begun to have my doubts about T&S taking us forward and that post-match interview catapulted me into the out camp. It was so reminiscent of so many of our failed managers over the years and I just can't see that the duo have the experience, imagination, tactical nous, positivity or simple intelligence to be trusted with our future. They had an ideal opportunity to show how they could be adaptable and positive in a bid for the playoffs and all they could offer was dull negativity. I don't think that those wavering about coming back to VP will be encouraged to renew by the prospect of more of the same come August. Anyway, we'll see what the summer brings.

 

He has made a good start and addressed and is addressing things that needed to and that is all anyone can ask