RECORDBUYHOPKIN HOPINGHECANKEEP COOLINTHEHOTSEAT
IT was all going so swimmingly. A standing ovation to hail a new manager, a mea
culpa apology from an under- fire chairmanowner, fans who desperately want to believe.
Then football got in the way. Two minutes and 49 seconds on the clock, a perfectly threaded through-ball from Josh Cullen, a player who used to be on loan at Bradford of course, and Karlan Grant did the rest.
It was hard not to feel a modicum of sympathy for the blacktracksuited figure of David Hopkin, who featured large on the cover of the matchday programme and who remains convinced he will outlast his previous stay at Bradford City.
‘Of course I’m enjoying it,’ Hopkin said after his first home match in charge. ‘It’s a fantastic club. I would have loved to have stayed longer (as a player) and I am going to make sure I stay here as long as I can as a head coach.’
Quite the ambition given Stuart McCall, Simon Grayson and Michael Collins have all departed this year and German co-owner Edin Rahic has struggled with the concept of patience.
Under 18s coach Collins was given six matches at the League One club.
It was in July 18 years ago when Hopkin made the still-record £2.5million switch from Leeds to Bradford. By the following March he had gone, after an injury-blighted stay with just 16 appearances to his name.
An example of the boom and bust years was also in the programme with a profile on Italian Beni Carbone, who earned £40,000 a week at the height of the silliness. Then there were two spells in administration,
relegation to the fourth tier, the Wembley League Cup final and promotion double, and the shock FA Cup win at Chelsea.
No-one ever said Bradford City were boring.
On Saturday, despite the worst possible start, Bradford’s players showed character and intent in their efforts to rescue a point, only to see Charlton’s Lyle Taylor smack one into the top corner with a few minutes to go and make it two defeats from two games for Hopkin. ‘ It’s tough,’ said Charlton coach Lee Bowyer, once Hopkin’s teammate at Leeds.
‘I don’t want to give him too much sympathy. I like him and when he gets his injured midfielders back and puts his stamp on it, he will be fine. I wish him all the best.’
Valley Parade is a higgledy, piggledy ground of mismatched stands surrounded by a jumble of concrete industrial units. It is supposed to be called the Northern Commercials Stadium — good luck with that one.
In one quiet corner on the outside there is a touching memorial to those who died in the Bradford fire of 1985.
What the stadium lacks in aesthetic appeal, it makes up for in atmosphere, especially from K Block, where flags wave high and proud, and drums and a cornet welcome the team. This is the voice of the people and Rahic appears to have only realised he should have listened earlier, even if co-owner Stefan Rupp continues to be a silent partner.
‘I am truly sorry for the decisions I have made,’ he wrote in the programme. ‘I understand some of our supporters are hurting and so am I.
‘Over the coming months I am looking forward to meeting with various supporter groups, partners and season-ticket holders.
‘ I fully intend to right the wrongs of the past few months with the club’s best interests at heart. I feel responsible and accept I am open and deserving of some of the criticism which has come my way.’
What the supporters will come up with depends on results, which puts the ball back firmly in Hopkin’s court. He needs Josh Wright and Kelvin Mellor fit again and will be looking to livewire Jack Payne, on loan from Huddersfield, striker David Ball and Irishman Eoin Doyle to turn the side’s fortunes in the meantime.
All three contributed to a match which saw Hopkin, pacing the technical area like some ginger ninja, booked along with assistant manager Greg Abbott.
‘I got a yellow card because my foot is over a white line,’ Hopkin revealed. ‘ He (referee Jeremy Simpson) said my foot was on the pitch.’ Afterwards he met a favourite Bradford son in former manager Paul Jewell, who took the team into the Premier League. Any tips, gratefully received.