City players behind Grayson as summer of upheaval dawns
COME the weekend and Bradford City’s final day assignment at Scunthorpe United, envy will be a hard emotion to fight for those sporting claret and amber.
The Iron booked their place in the play-offs on Tuesday night in front of the live Sky cameras, just as City’s home campaign was limping to a conclusion with a draw against strugglers Walsall.
Rotherham United are likely to await Scunthorpe in the semifinals, while Bradford seem condemned to a summer of ‘what ifs?’ and ‘if onlys’.
For 90 minutes on Saturday evening, however, Shay McCartan believes that can be put aside as the Yorkshire side look to end what has been a hugely disappointing campaign on something of a high.
“We have to be professional,” said the Northern Irishman, signed last summer from Accrington Stanley. “It will be a different atmosphere because they are cemented in the play-offs. But we have to work hard and try to get the three points for the away fans coming. To finish a season losing games is horrible.”
One big decision that has to be made amid the recriminations over just where the season went wrong concerns the future of Simon Grayson, who signed a deal until the end of season when succeeding Stuart McCall in February.
Budgets, recruitment and the club’s infrastructure are all likely to play a part in whether someone with four promotions from League One on his CV sticks around.
“We want him to stay but obviously it is up to the gaffer what he wants to do,” added McCartan.
“I think he has done well. It was hard for him when he came in because we were so low in confidence and he was trying to put his style on us.
“But I think we got there in the end and the players are all behind the gaffer. We want him to be here next year.” DONCASTER ROVERS manager Darren Ferguson has reiterated the need for some keynote summer recruitment – after revealing that several out-ofcontract senior players will be leaving the club.
Rovers’ retained list will be announced shortly, with Ferguson holding individual meetings today with players whose deals expire next month.
Cedric Evina and Andy Williams are widely expected to be leaving, with James Coppinger, Mathieu Baudry and Craig Alcock also out of contract.
Ferguson has revealed that he has already informed those players who will be departing with loanees Andy Boyle, Tom Anderson, Jordan Houghton and Rodney Kongolo also returning to their parent clubs.
In terms of knowing his playing budget for next season, the Rovers chief – anxious to push for the play-offs next season after fulfilling this season’s brief of consolidation – is still awaiting definitive developments and to see where the club stands.
National reports are also suggesting that Ferguson, keen for clarity on the situation, is likely to attract from interest from rival clubs this summer.
On budget talks, he said: “We are no further from the last time we spoke about it. We will see how that goes and I am losing quite a few players and of those out of contract, quite a few will be leaving.
“Obviously, we wanted to finish higher. But it has been a solid enough season.
“We have come up from League Two and we know the difference from League One is a fair amount and had to deal with an incredible amount of injuries and over ten months, the players have given an incredible amount to the cause.
“In League One, clubs are spending more budgets than I have seen and that has had an effect on the league.”