Bantams told to keep clear heads to help stop slide
GRAHAM ALEXANDER is urging Bradford City’s players to avoid ‘getting weighed down by all the issues’ currently surrounding the club and ‘keep their minds clear’ amid a fraught time in the season.
City slumped to a fourth successive league defeat in Saturday’s grim 3-0 loss at Yorkshire rivals Harrogate Town, a performance and result labelled as ‘unacceptable’ by senior player Kevin McDonald in its aftermath.
It was a day which also saw City owner Stefan Rupp and chief executive officer Ryan Sparks come in for more criticism from the angry Bantams’ travelling contingent, who made their feelings known in a dire second half.
The derby reverse left City in 17th spot in the League Two table. Should their poor form continue, then they are in real danger of equalling their worst Football League finish in modern times. Or worse.
Bradford ended in 18th position in 2010-11 and then again in the following season. The worst finish prior to that was way back in 1965-66 when the club were re-elected in the old Division Four.
With injury issues thrown in the mix alongside fans’ agitation and poor form, the equivalent of a perfect storm is brewing at the troubled club.
Alexander said: "It does (feel like that) a little bit. But instead of getting weighed down by all the issues, we have to keep our minds clear and our composure and work through them.
"Certainly there have been loads of things that have gone against us – but also loads of things we’ve brought upon ourselves and have to improve.
"We have to work methodically to make sure that we do those things.
"We can’t be feeling sorry for ourselves. I think there are a couple of individuals who might be, but there’s no place for that in football – not in a successful team anyway.
"We have to disband that feeling straight away and make sure we’re going to create that success.
"We have to make our supporters, the people around us, feel that we’ve still got good characters and personalities. That’s what we have to show. We’ve got no other choice. If we show anything other than that, then we’re going to lose.”
Saturday was an occasion when few City players passed muster, with one of the very few exceptions being loanee Dan Oyegoke, who recently returned to action following a longterm shoulder injury.
The Brentford defender had the misfortune to score a late own goal, but his performance over the course of the piece showed the character that Alexander is looking for from his players in the games ahead.
Alexander, whose side host Tranmere Rovers on Good Friday, continued: “We’ve all been there as defenders.
"If you put yourself on the block and try and do the right things, sometimes it’s going to go against you.
"But he can hold his head high in the last two games. He’s come from five months out to straight into playing twice because we’ve lost two players to internationals.
"We’ve lost centre half after centre half after centre half and we’ve had to throw him in there.
"But it’s probably what Dan needed at this point and he showed the right spirit."