‘PLAYING SAFE? THAT’S NOT ME’
NEW Bradford City boss David Hopkin says he is “not like everybody else” after swapping the safest job in Scotland for England’s most perilous post.
Hopkin, 48, led Livingston to two successive promotions but dramatically quit in May, just days after securing a place in the Scottish Premier League.
Now the Bantams’ former record signing has thrown his lot in with Edin Rahic the controversial Bradford co-owner who is already on to his fourth manager of 2018.
“It’s true I had a great relationship with the owners at Livi,” says the Scot, a no-nonsense midfielder for Chelsea, Crystal Palace and Leeds.
“I probably could have stayed there as long as I wanted and I’m sure that’s what a lot of people would have done.
“But I’m not like everybody else. I don’t like playing safe. I looked at a lot of managers who’ve come out of the game and often they stayed at a club too long. One bad season is all it takes sometimes. That’s why I left without having anything lined up. “I had five or six offers in the summer but
there was nothing that looked like a challenge. This is different. It’s one of those clubs in England that should be much higher and that’s the attraction.”
Attraction
Nobody who sits in the Valley Parade dugout could ever be accused of playing it safe. In February, Stuart McCall was sacked despite reaching the previous season’s play-off final and sitting sixth in League One.
Michael Collins, appointed in the summer at the age of 32, was given just six games before being canned for an “unsatisfactory” start.
In between, caretaker Simon Grayson rejected a twoyear deal amid concerns over the owner’s involvement - rumoured to include meddling in tactics and team selection.
Rahic refutes those claims, and Hopkin does too. “I had a meeting with Edin and (co-owner) Stefan Rupp,” he said. “The remit was very clear. I’m in control of everything on the football side.
Ability
“That’s the way I’ve always worked and that’s the way I’ll work here. As for everything else, that’s where my ability and my coaching has got to shine through.
“I believe I’m very good at what I do, but I also know I’ll be judged by what we do on a Saturday afternoon. If results aren’t good enough then we all know what will happen.”
Hopkin also rejects suggestions that he has unfinished business at Bradford after his club-record £2.5m move from Leeds in 2000 lasted just 11 games.
“It didn’t go as I’d hoped,” he admits. “But Bradford made their money back when I joined Palace, so nobody lost out.” Back then, Hopkin was a midfield destroyer with a fearsome reputation - and that has followed him into coaching.
In his early days as a coach at Livi, gaffer Mark Burchill affectionately described Hopkin as a “tattooed nutter” who acted as his “bad cop” in the dressing room. Hopkin, though, says his style is far more nuanced.
“As a player, I was captain of Crystal Palace and Leeds,” he says. “I’ve always been a leader, and you can’t do that just by being a so-called bad cop.
“You do that by understanding individuals. Some people need an arm. Some people need a bollocking. In some cases, it’s pointless to do either.
“Ultimately, it’s about giving people boundaries. My players just have to understand that I have certain standards – and that if those standards drop, I’ll let them know.”