Salford City v Bradford City: Derek Adams calls for transparent club budgets

But Bantams manager Derek Adams knows better than most those things only get you so far in the fourth tier, and would relish the transparency which allowed managers to be judged as much on their means as the ends.

Adams won last season’s play-offs with Morecambe as Salford and Bradford fell short. Whilst the Bantams have had the third-best start to this campaign, Gary Bowyer’s Ammies have only one win from six league games.

“I had the lowest budget at Morecambe and we got promoted, Salford had the biggest budget in League Two and didn’t,” stressed Adams. “It doesn’t matter. Sometimes you can over-spend on a player, we’ve all been guilty of it. It’s how good your squad is at knitting together over the season.

“I wish budgets would go out (into the public domain) and managers and coaches were judged on the budgets they had.

“I’ve had two transfer fees – £15,000 and £25,000 – in my whole (14-year managerial) career and last season Bradford City spent a lot more than that.”

Bradford, whose goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell is set to make his 400th career appearance this afternoon, learned this week Abo Eisa and Lee Angol should return next month as it has been decided neither need surgery on hamstring injuries.