Why tight finances make it all change in Football League's bottom two divisions

Nicky Law was the man in question, having joined from Glasgow Rangers at the start of July last year.

That the midfielder had been back in Yorkshire for less than a year as McMahon seemingly edged towards the exit door and a move to Blackburn Rovers spoke volumes for the turnover of personnel at Bradford.

Not that the Bantams are alone in that respect, with most close seasons now seeing a flood of comings and goings at lower division clubs.

It is a trend McCall first noticed a few years ago and one he puts down to clubs being increasingly unwilling to offer long-term contracts for fear of being caught out financially.

“Football has changed, certainly in the lower divisions,” said the 53-year-old, who cut his teeth as a player in the old Third Division with the club he is now managing for a second time.

“In our day, it was probably three-year deals. But two-year contracts are the norm now, though, having said that, some of the younger ones who came in here have been given three years as you also have to protect your assets. Usually, though, two years is the norm.

“Age also comes into it more at our level, once a player gets over 30 then the clubs become more reluctant to offer him more than a year. It means the cycle each summer is for eight or 10 players to come in. That isn’t just us, it is most clubs.

“If ‘Macca’ had not signed, Nicky Law would be our longest-serving player. Or certainly senior player.

“I have never known that happen before in football. But it is a sign of how the game has changed. Finances dictate so much today and it is very rare to see anyone in the lower divisions get a three-year deal.”

With almost a month of the transfer window still to run, Bradford have brought in 11 new faces and seen eight leave. These departures included long-serving trio Rory McArdle, Stephen Darby and Billy Clarke, plus player-of-the-year Mark Marshall.

It has been a similar story at another of the county’s League One representatives with Rotherham United’s signings and departures this summer both stretching into double figures.

Millers manager Paul Warne said: “The funny thing now is that football has changed massively in that, because of the transfer deadline for the lower leagues as well, you accumulate a lot more players because you are always thinking, ‘what if?’

“People collect more players and I think because of that, they take less risk on them and contracts are shorter because of that.

“What I have said to all the lads is that I have signed them for this season and also next season because I don’t like a massive turnover of players.

“With the squad that was successful when I was playing here, we virtually stayed together all of the time. The skeleton of the side should stick together and, in the ideal world, if you are successful, then you don’t need to make loads of signings and that’s what I am trying to build.”

Doncaster Rovers have been less active with this summer’s additions numbering just four. A year ago, however, was a different story with 13 new faces arriving as Darren Ferguson rebuilt for life in the basement division.

Looking ahead, McCall continued: “Two-year deals being the norm means half your team is going to be coming out of contract in the summer.

“For us, the lads who joined us last summer will be in that position towards the end of the season. The likes of (Nathaniel) Knight-Percival, (Timothee) Dieng, (Romain) Vincelot, (Nicky) Law and (Colin) Doyle. Tony McMahon also signed another year’s deal so that is more than half the team.

“I would have liked to sign a couple who were heading out of contract last January. But when you don’t know what league you are going to be in or what the finances will be, it is difficult.

“Plus, it can disrupt the squad mid-season. If you offer a new contract to one player but not another and they are both in the team, that can lead to disruption. It is a Catch-22 situation.

“Also, there were players we were undecided on if we had gone up as to whether they would be right for the next level. It is all things you have to weigh up.

“Obviously, doing it that way means you run the risk of losing players. Which we did. Only Macca came back of the 10 senior players and, at one stage, he looked to be going.

“I have got used to it. At Motherwell, when we broke the points record, there were seven players we lost that summer. That didn’t include Omar Daley and Kallum Higginbotham, who were subs a lot of the time. That was the time when I had a chance to go to Sheffield United but decided to stay loyal to Motherwell. We built it up again. The side wasn’t as strong but we got an extra seven points. It means I am used to it.”