Bradford City manager search: Patience needed from fans as Bantams need huge rebuild

It underlines what most people probably knew deep down: the issues go beyond the manager’s office.

Deep-seated problems cannot be solved quickly.

More than the right manager Bradford need patience – and not just from the boardroom.

A club of their size and history should not be in the middle of League Two, where they have been mired since 2019, but they are by no means the only club on the wrong rung of the football pyramid in that respect. They are in the right place for their football.

It was with good intentions they were so blatant in their target of promotion this season but it left them looking for quick fixes instead of proper rebuilding. In ninth months Derek Adams signed 18 players for someone else to get a tune out of. Adams is a good manager linked with the vacant Aberdeen job almost as soon as he was sacked but not all good managers do well everywhere – look at David Moyes – and nine wins in 37 Bantams games were not enough.

His negative football lost the fans some time ago and even if there were some elements of truth to his final post-match interview, voicing it was a spectacular own goal.

“If they’re not going to get a new manager, they’re not going to get as successful a manager as myself, that’s obvious to everyone,” he said.

“Some supporters are not extremely nice and they’ve got to be very careful.”

The size and passion of Bradford’s fanbase make it an extremely powerful weapon, but a dangerous one when turned on itself. It is hard for any manager to carry on without them so Adams’s successor must be someone they believe in.

Defeats, even draws, hit fans hard. They are obviously going to be more emotional than those looking on from outside and do not want people running the club detached from those feelings.

But they may have to suck up more backward steps yet before this club finally gets moving in the direction it ought to.