Derek Adams happy with return on budget at Bradford City

Historically and in terms of the club’s fanbase, Bradford City are widely viewed to be the biggest club in League Two and few would argue with that statement.

By definition, that suggests the club comfortably outstrips all of their rivals in terms of budgets and transfer spending, but Derek Adams would beg to differ.

He feels it can ensure the club can pay a premium for some players because of who they are, but it does not necessarily mean they spend more money on their players than all of their competitors.

But with the summer window now closed, Adams has professed satisfaction at City’s work in bringing in 10 signings, the latest of whom is Theo Robinson.

The 32-year-old has signed for the rest of the season with Adams happy with his four senior options in attack, even though one in Lee Angol is currently injured.

The City boss said: “We have used the budget we have and with the four strikers going into January, we have got to be very happy.

“We have got good experience between the four of them and they can all play different styles and score goals.

“Over the last couple of weeks of the transfer window, it becomes difficult because there is a lot of speculation about who is going to sign who and who is going to leave.

“But once the window is finished, we can concentrate until the end of December,

“You are judged by the money that you can spend. I was at Morecambe last year and we had the lowest budget in League Two. Because you are at Bradford City, you have to pay a wee bit more money for players because we have such big crowds and agents and clubs think we spend more money than other people, which is not the case.”

Robinson is unlikely to be available for this weekend’s home game with Walsall, as he continues to work on his fitness, while Angol (hamstring) will be sidelined for much of autumn.

Adams is hoping that initial fears that Angol will be out for three months won’t transpire.

Winger and fellow summer recruit Abo Eisa (groin) will also be out for a spell, but the City chief is attempting to remain positive.

He said: “I would hope that he (Eisa) will be shorter than Lee and I hope that Lee will be shorter than the three months.”