Bradford City v Wimbledon: How Graham Alexander is looking to maximise Bantams' leadership qualities

Bradford City do not have a "leadership group" because manager Graham Alexander wants all his players taking responsibility at home to Wimbledon on Saturday.

Many clubs have a group of usually senior players who act as a bridge between the coaching staff and the squad, and who share the captain's armband as players are rotated.

Alexander does not go in for that, simply because he does not want anyone discouraged from stepping forward on or off the pitch.

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"All players can show responsibility and leadership in different ways – by training the right way, behaving the right way, taking disappointment the right way, reacting the right way, all those sort of things," said the Bantams manager, who needs others to step up with Neill Byrne and Aden Baldwin expected to miss the next two to three weeks.

"I wouldn't want to put that emphasis just on four players because it can take away the responsibility from other players.

"I ask everyone to behave in a certain way and we have to keep each other in check from time to time.

"Sometimes people can surprise you and come from nowhere to show those ability and skills so I leave that environment open.

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"I think if you ask players to step up, they can respond the right way.

UNAVAILABLE: Centre-back Aden Baldwin is injured, so others must step upUNAVAILABLE: Centre-back Aden Baldwin is injured, so others must step up
UNAVAILABLE: Centre-back Aden Baldwin is injured, so others must step up

"On the odd day, the odd session or half-time where you see a good example you can highlight. You don't ask them to step forward but you use them as an example.

"Every professional footballer's played 100 games as a kid so bring that experience to the fore. I believe I became a better player when I had more responsibility put on me.

"It wasn't to do with age, it was what I was expected to give to people or the group.

"Different characters have different ways of showing it."

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It all feeds into the kind of surroundings Alexander is trying to build around the League Two club.

"Culture and environment take time," he said. "At the start of the season you can put nice pictures on the wall or nice words but it's how you act, how you behave and consistency in that.

"But it takes time for new players to trust what we are as a staff, how their team-mates are and how we run things, and to know if we say something, we mean it. You can only understand that once you we follow it up with actions.

"The players who didn't play might be thinking, 'I've got a fight on my hands.'

"We want to win games and if any player can help us win games, they're going to play."

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