‘Tough times’: Sparks backed by Alexander
GRAHAM ALEXANDER has stuck up for under-fire Bradford City chief executive officer Ryan Sparks and stressed that he is working ‘exceptionally hard’ to make the club better with ‘whatever we’re dealt with’.
The disconnect between sections of City’s fanbase and the club hierarchy is growing with Bradford City Fans Independent Group having organised a protest outside the directors’ entrance at Valley Parade ahead of Friday’s game with Tranmere.
Fans directed their anger towards Sparks and owner Stefan Rupp during last weekend’s dismal loss at Harrogate. City are 17th in the table.
Alexander, pictured, said: “Sometimes it’s the players, sometimes it’s managers, sometimes it’s people above that (who get criticised).
“My experience in my four-anda-half months is that Ryan has supported me, allowed me to manage, pick the team, coach and make the decisions I wanted to in January.
“It’s just part of the game and unfortunately it happens.”
Alexander spoke with Sparks at length on Monday and while offering him support, the City boss admits that the CEO accepts that criticism comes with the territory of being a figurehead at a club when things aren’t going well – as it does for himself.
He continued: “There are tough times in life and you have to understand that they will come, especially if you want to be in professional sport.
“He’s a grown man, he’s not a baby who needs me to rock him in my arms or anything like that. “He knows it comes with the territory. But from my perspective, he’s a guy who works exceptionally hard to make Bradford City a better football club with whatever we’re dealt with.
“We have to work with what we’ve got and that’s what I see in Ryan.
“We might put on a brave face and deal with it. But we’re human beings and if you care about your job and trying hard to produce results for people, then criticism is going to hurt.
“I didn’t go too deep into it with Ryan. We were talking more about solutions to help the team win rather than ‘woe is me’. It was all about how do we help Bradford City become the team and the club we want it to be.”