Imagine the scene, Ryan Sparks is sat in his office at Valley Parade under pressure like he’s never been before, whilst Stefan Rupp is somewhere in Germany, probably a race track, trying to forget Derek Adams said Bradford City won’t find a better manager than him. Sparks is busy sifting through a list of candidates, who, in reality aren’t better than Derek Adams, when in desperation he checks his junk mail folder. There must be something. Low and behold there is something! It’s an email from Mark Hughes of all people, and he wants to manage Bradford City. Back in Germany Stefan Rupp is as usual blissfully unaware of what is going on back in Bradford, and when his phone rings, he is just having a sip of coffee. Ryan Sparks explains what has just happened and suddenly he accidentally spits his coffee out against the the wall. Rupp lets the news sink in. Mark Hughes! Yes, yes, yes! There is god.
And so it happened that Ryan Sparks could calmly sit in front of the awaiting press, feeling confident that he had killed two birds with one stone, a new manager had been found and the new season ticket sales campaign had taken care of its self. Mark Hughes has taken over the job as Bradford City manager when it looked like whoever was on the list of candidates would be met with disappointment, where the question was in reality, which candidate would disappoint the fewest Bradford City supporters. The favourites list on all of the bookies websites were not exactly names to get excited about. Robbie Fowler was probably the biggest name in there, but his experience as a football manager is barely worth talking about.
Two other names being linked with the job, Pete Wild of FC Halifax Town, and to a lesser extent Luke Gerard of Boreham Wood. In some quarters they were popular with Bradford City supporters, but the reality is that their popularity was less to do with how suitable both men were for the job, and more to do with how far our expectations have dropped since Stefan Rupp bought the club. It is true that both managers have done an excellent job at their respective clubs, but those clubs are both in the National League, and in reality would be no less risky than hiring Mark Trueman again.
The other choice was Richie Wellens, who aside from one good season at Swindon Town, cannot justifiably be considered a better manager than Derek Adams. Hiring him would most certainly lead to us being back to firing him before we even got to the January transfer window. And so the cycle continues. The same applies to he highly divisive Steve Evans. Although some supporters seemed to believe that by saying he could get Bradford City promoted meant he could. It’s worth pointing out that he has said that about every club he has been linked with or managed.
The appointment of Evans was probably never in reality on the cards because it would have exacerbated and already toxic environment at Valley Parade, which might I add didn’t exist before Stefan Rupp arrived at the club. Not only would the fans already vehemently against his appointment be criticising Ryan Sparks for his controversial choice of manager, but those in favour of his appointment would soon be pretending they were never wanted him either. Exactly the same thing that happened with Adams, and that would be another PR disaster for Sparks.
Everyone needs a bit of luck, and for Stefan Rupp and Ryan Sparks the email from Mark Hughes must have felt like a gift from god. It is surprising that Hughes didn’t have a bandage covering a severed hand at his first press conference, because it most certainly will have been bitten off when he offered his services. And if I was Sparks or Rupp, I’d be exactly the same! It has nothing to do with how suitable Hughes is as manager, but more to do with the fact he used to manage Manchester City, and he’s a footballing legend. Robbie Fowler only had the latter, but managing East Bengal kind of ruins the credible manager part.
Only the biggest cynics like me would see any negative in hiring Mark Hughes, it was nailed on that it would be universally popular, and best of all it would certainly kill any ‘Rupp Out’ campaigns. In reality it is a bit of a sleight of hand as many of those who won’t hear anything negative said about Stefan Rupp can now point to Hughes and say that he won’t have come cheap. And the very excitement of such a big name in the Bradford City hot seat has served to reset everything again, and, besides, whatever Hughes has cost will be made up for by the number of season ticket holders that will have changed their minds about not renewing.
Unlike those who continue to defend Stefan Rupp and seem to believe everything he says, I’m prepared to be balanced and say that I would imagine that Mark Hughes has been given some guarantees by him. As things stand with the current budget which is regularly described as “competitive” (a vague phrase that doesn’t mean it is as high as it sounds) it is nevertheless in reality clogged up with dead wood, that we are going to struggle to get rid of until their contracts expire.
To get around this, Hughes will need the money available to him to be increased to be able to bring in the quality of players that will make us contenders, to cover the shortfall of the players that shouldn’t be at the club, but we can’t get rid of for another year.
Should Stefan Rupp deliver a significantly increased playing budget it would be hard to argue with anybody claiming that he is doing the best he can for the club. But after what has gone before, it is HIS responsibility to prove that to us. We have already given him the benefit of the doubt. It is not our fault that HE let Edin Rahic squander his money, an oversight that carries its own red flags about Rupp. We already gave him the benefit that he isn’t the bad guy, that was Edin. We gave him a fair chance and look where we are.
Hiring a big name manager is not a “fresh start”, it isn’t in its self a reason for a reconnection between Rupp and the fans. Gary Bowyer was the fresh start, remember. The reconnection will only come when we start to see evidence that Hughes is being given a budget and the support that backs up any talk of ambition.
Hiring Mark Hughes as manager is not on its own merit proof that things have changed, there is a lot of work to be done. The risk this time around is that if Hughes has been made certain guarantees that turn out to be as misleading as last seasons season ticket sales campaign, Mark Hughes will probably choose to resign early into his tenure. If this should happen, it is a big clue that the competitive budget is just words, and we can sack as many managers we want, but until Stefan Rupp sells the club, we are doomed to being at best a mid-table league two club for many years to come yet.