Ryan Sparks

They also allowed the club to be run on a season by season basis with no thought for longevity. No infrastructure, sell whatever they can and take whatever they could. After the massive success we had under Lawn and Rhodes, we should have had a legacy for the following 10 years. Instead, they weakened us by allowing Parky to call the shots off the pitch, which ended with him taking everything including the kitchen sink when he left.
Yes the cup runs and promotion were great but we were vulnerable and shouldn't have been left in that position.

Sparks looks like he's trying to address that by putting together the correct infrastructure behind the scenes, that way the club won't be impacted too much whoever the manager is.

 

Let's hope history turns out as kind to rupp as it has to lawn. If it does weve been a success

 

There is an air of expectancy about how the club is approaching this year and beyond, hopefully no more of that 'happy to have a club to support' that permeates the fan base. A club with as big a fan base as this and a 25,000 seater stadium should never be there just to make the numbers up, the fact we are shows just how apathetic the majority of the Bradford population had become to its football team.
Always made me laugh the ones that blindly follow while refusing to listen to anything they saw as criticism, any mention of ambition met with howls of derision. Well look what a an unbeaten run with some good football does. Push that momentum with a good transfer window, ifollow sales have gone through the roof. The support was always there, the intelligent ones weren't prepared to sit there and pay to watchg the ship go down.
Theres a simple outlook to this, show some ambition, laydown a strategy and the fans will back you to the hilt. Thats all we ever asked for in the first place.

 

I don’t want a CEO who is talked about a lot. If they are doing a good job the general talk will be about on the pitch matters and that’s how it should be

 

Spot on.

We will be waiting a long time before we see Rupp lay out a 10-20 year plan, and he might be here that long if the most important thing is that he gets his money back.

We're going nowhere fast.

 

As much as I think that Rupp's initial lack of oversight and Rahic's meddling could have destroyed the club entirely if he'd stuck around.

City could have ended up with even more rapacious owners, like Burnley are now saddled with. With the club's own cash being used to pay off the previous owners and a leveraged sale (much like Man United's) that's left a previously profitable and debt free club with substantial debts. I seriously hope that if/when the club moves forward on the field and becomes attractive to someone else in the future, that the Football League will have banned new owners from using this model to purchase clubs.

 

A lot of the debt was the £1m loan plus 9.5% annual interest owed to Mark Lawn.

 

The debt was from before Mark lawn joined. Without the loan there would have been nonWembkey cup runs or promotion

 

Excellent interview with Ryan Sparks here:

https://widthofapost.com/2021/02/13/ryan-sparks-our-ambition-is-to-turn-bradford-city-into-a-club-to-be-proud-of-again/

 

It's a very encouraging interview and dispels the fact that Rupp is not really interested in the club. He is already a Danny Rowe fan.

 

Interesting timing on the back of Edin and McCall interviews.

So played a part in the ridding of Edin, no animosity with Macca, Rhodes a good bloke, finances all over the place.... 2-4 year plan. Sounded like a party political broadcast...

Like I said to the Macca interview, good luck in the future.

 

Do you have a link for any of the above interviews mate ?.

 

Like the way he gives Rhodes credit which is deserved because of the financial trouble we were in when he came back

 

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/19079091.rahic-absurd-blame-bradford-city-going/

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/19082132.mccall-speaks-frustration-bradford-city-sacking/

 

It shows the real work and rebuild both on and off the pitch that Sparks has to do.

Since @Offcomedun posted 2 and a half hours ago, 4 replies to Sparks WOAP article. Compare that to McCall article and the debate in the Salford match day article.

A real turnaround and rebuild (yes that word again!!), to just get the fans back onside

 

It's bizarre. People have been chuntering about Ryan Sparks for ages. We get a major interview, clarifying various issues and setting out future plans, and no one seems interested in discussing it. Why?

 

I can only speak from my point of view but I think their is apathy between the fanbase and the club. Yes, those of us whom continue to support the club, want the best but a distrust and apathy, as I say, exists. I use the word rebuild so often and it's so needed off the pitch.
When I read it, probably a fault of my own, it seemed cleverly timed by Sparks on the back of the Edin and Macca interviews. Somewhat reactive than proactive. I just couldn't get this out my head as I was reading it. That's a flaw in me.

But, and it's a big but. What if my apathy is a similar, amongst a percentage of our fans. Its gonna be a hard work around for Sparks and Co.

 

It’s a good interview, but that’s all it is at this stage. How many false dawns have we had and people in the paper saying things are better and have changed? Sparks’ tenure will be judged on actions and long term of the club. Very early days yet, but other than a poor contract extension for McCall he’s off to a good start.

 

In agreement ( well maybe not your third word?) thats why Sparks is still a neutral for me but he heading in the right direction. The 2-4 year plan certainly, initially, got a sigh from me but in reflection, it's not an unreasonable time frame. But it's frustrating to know in a 9 year tenure of SR, that we will only be back where we started...... IF the plan is executed.

But I hope he gets it right. Firstly for Sparks himself but foremost, for the club as a whole

 

Pies in skies come to mind. Is there any single club in this entire country that has a 10-20 year plan? Think you'd be hard pressed to name one that has one beyond four or five years ahead. Let's deal with the reality. Of course Rupp wants out. He knows he made a big mistake with his Rahic- driven ahem, 'Bradford City Project'. In the meanwhile, it cannot be denied that he's been fair in putting some money into the club to ultimately allow us making proper money signings. Of course it's not an ideal situation. Wouldn't it be wonderful for a big money buyer to take over the club? But face up folks, that's not going to happen anytime soon. The current positives are evident. The Jan window signings have brought us a far stronger first team and squad back ups. The players like and respect working with T and S. As a young CEO, Sparks is really finding his feet. All is far far more positive than it was before Xmas.