Ryan Sparks Interview

He tries to paint last season as a success by comparing it to previous years when we didn't reach the semi final of the playoffs and refers to it as 'progress'. If that's how he's looking at it, it will only be progress if we go on to do even better than that this year, otherwise it's just a blip in our perpetual mediocrity.

 

I think at this point Ryan hates the fans as much as we (I'd say majority of fans now) do and he's now taking the piss for a laugh.

 

Of everything in the interview so far this is pretty minor, but I found it incredibly tiresome reading about the Carlisle game yet again and reading that the CEO of our football club still seems to be wallowing in reliving it. Fair enough he has to answer the questions put to him but not once does he appear to draw a line under it - it's little wonder we've struggled from a 'play off hangover'.

He talks about moments and being ten minutes from a penalty shootout that could have got us to Wembley as if reaching Wembley was the ultimate aim. Winning at Wembley is the ultimate aim and better yet, not having to rely on Wembley at all. You have to hope that they also considered the reasons why we couldn't get wins against Walsall, Newport, Hartlepool, Crawley, Gillingham or Crewe in the run-in from March onwards - all of whom finished in the bottom half of the table.

 

Totally agree. I don’t see last season as progress. The performances were boring and frustrating but for Cook’s exceptional year and Lewis to a certain extent; two players dragging the rest with them is not progress. I think I was happy on a couple of occasions leaving the ground. My emotions were one of frustration and sometimes anger.

 

“I admire someone who places pressure upon themselves. I do too because there are things I could have done in the last three years that would have made my life a lot easier.

“I wanted to take the job in the first place, which was massive pressure for me, and I admire people who do that – particularly at a club where there is such expectation and you want to win so badly.

“There’s a lot of common ground and I think he’s made a good start to his time as Bradford City manager.”

Me, me and me, every single time

 

Great post.

A good L2 manager would have taken us up automatically last season for sure

 

This reads like a Jake Humphrey set of quotes. 'Massive pressure for me and I admire people who do that'. So in effect he admires himself. Nowt like trying to slap your own back is there lol.

 

He needs to delegate and admit we need a DoF or a football man in the set up, rather than trying to do everything himself on the cheap.

We need expertise and we need direction.

The earlier bit about this being our ‘most extensive’ recruitment period annoyed me as in today’s he was saying it wasn’t about recruiting a manager to play a certain way, even though we’d just signed a squad to play that way. Seems like he’s bullshitting as he’s going along

 

Ryan Sparks "bulshitting as he goes along", never, I'm not having that

 

Your first quote invited numerous questions.

 

Hey Ryan, if you (or one of your minnions) is reading this, you are a billy bullshitter who has taken the football side of the club backwards, have no coherent plan, do everything on a wing and a prayer, and haven't the first idea how to make us a success or even appear to be making a success in the eyes of the fans.

Your time is up, your history will read "Failed as CEO", so you carry on patting yourself on the back and get ready for the shitstorm when you launch next years season tickets.

Do us a favour, resign.

 

Wasn't it under Sparks watch that Stuart McCall was handed a contract extension, only to be sacked a mere few weeks later?? You literally could write a complete book of all Sparks' f-ups over the years. The quotes by Sparks in the following article could literally have been about every single manager we have had in the past 5 years

https://www.bradfordcityafc.com/news/2020/december/city-part-company-with-mccall/

 

To what extent do you think he actually believes the words...? My worry is, he very much believes it.

 

He saved us from non league don't forget

 

Of the big "Sparkisms" I'm not sure which rank as the biggest Fcuk up.

1. Giving Stuart a new contract then sacking him
2. Overlooking Deluded Derek's narcissistic personality
3. Giving T&S a permanent deal then sacking them
4. Declaring we won't accept mediocre then doing just that

It's a tough call.

 

I think he believes whole heartedly every thing that comes out of his mouth.

 

Read "The Psychopath Test" by Jon Ronson. Sparks passes every single criteria.

 

“Self praise is no praise at all”

That’s not Shakespeare either @Petrov

It’s Lord Byron.

 

You've forgotten the bit about how he has a lot of respect for Hughes and hopes Hughes has the same respect for him. Yes Ryan, I'm sure twice premier league champion, 4x FA Cup winner, 2x League Cup winner, 2 x Europa Cup and UEFA Super Cup winner Mark Hughes has a lot of respect for you, given your achievements are more or less on a par with his