Taylor remains the right man to halt Bantams' sorry decline

By the end of the month, he would be handed temporary charge of the England national team as the search for a new manager that ended with the appointment of Sven Goran Eriksson got underway.

The Leicester City chief could, it seemed, do no wrong. This apparent Midas touch continued for the next few years as Taylor led Brighton to the Second Division championship before moving to Hull where, together with Adam Pearson, he led the Tigers to back-to-back promotions and laid the foundations for what would prove to a successful tilt at bringing top-flight football to the East Riding for the first time.

Later, Taylor would have two successful stints in charge of England Under-21s and he also enjoyed another promotion success when in charge of Wycombe Wanderers.

No wonder, therefore, that Bradford City's decision to hand the reins to the 57-year-old last February was so warmly welcomed by the supporters.

Here, at last, was a manager who could end the 10-year decline that had seen seven of his predecessors try – and fail – to halt the club's slide.

Eight months on, however, and the reality is rather different with Taylor taking his Bradford side to Barnet's Underhill tomorrow knowing that a heavy defeat could see City propping up the entire Football League.

It is a puzzling state of affairs, not least for the man who moved north earlier this year confident of sparking a long-overdue revival.

"The situation we are in is not acceptable," admitted the Bradford manager yesterday. "Second bottom is not where we expected to be. We are under-achieving massively and I am probably more frustrated here than I have ever been in my career.

"But I am still not looking at relegation, instead promotion remains the target. We have been going through a difficult time but I have the determination to turn things round and so do the players."

City's woeful start – they have lost more games than they have scored goals – has come as a major disappointment.

As the bookmakers' pre-season favourites for promotion, the Bantams were expected to be the team to beat in League Two.

Instead, they are in danger of becoming the team everyone wants to play with a record of just four goals and eight points from 10 games speaking volumes.

Supporters are, understandably, just as frustrated as Taylor with the boos having rung out at the end of all five home league games this season.

As ever in these instances, the manager has found himself in the firing line – even though the vast majority of those now advocating change welcomed his appointment in February.

Others, though, see the club's struggles as merely an extension of a decade that has seen Bradford go from beating Chelsea in the top flight to being kept off the foot of the League by Hereford United.

The Bantams have seemed so locked into a cycle of decline that a change of fortune has, to many, become an increasingly forlorn hope.

This inability to stop the rot has not, it has to be said, been for the want of trying on the part of the Bradford board.

Joint chairmen Mark Lawn and Julian Rhodes have tried everything in the past three years, from appointing a fans' favourite as manager (Stuart McCall) and providing him with substantial funds, to bringing in a successor with a proven track record.

Likewise, off the field they have slashed season ticket prices to boost attendances and create a genuine buzz around the city. They also agreed to open up the Bradford End to home fans in an attempt to generate an atmosphere inside a stadium that was built with housing bumper Premier League crowds in mind.

The failure of these initiatives – City have lost more home games in the league (86) than they have won (80) since the start of the 2000-01 season – has led to some fans, most notably on internet messageboards, turning on Lawn and Rhodes.

What these critics tend to forget is that without the two men – and, in particular, Rhodes, whose family have ploughed millions into keeping City afloat since the turn of the Millennium – there would not be a Bradford City to moan about.

I will admit to an interest here – the three years I spent charting the club's story between 1997 and 2000 for Bradford's local evening paper were happy times.

Not only were Bradford successful – they won promotion to the Premier League during my tenure and then stayed up against all the odds by beating Liverpool in what turned out to be my last game.

But they were also a friendly and welcoming club, so much so that friendships forged during that time are still cherished.

It is why I hate to see Bradford occupying their lowest position since the 1965-66 Fourth Division season that culminated in a 23rd place finish.

A repeat this season will mean Bradford joining Accrington in the unwanted distinction of having had two clubs fall out of the Football League.

It is an unthinkable prospect and why the unstinting support of every City fan has never been more important than it is now, as is the need for cool heads both on the field and in the stands.

Taylor was given the job in February because his credentials were by far the most impressive. They still are.