One of the biggest challenges facing Mark Hughes in the summer will be persuading centre-back Paudie O’Connor to remain at Valley Parade and sign a new contract with Bradford City. With reports of competition from other clubs wanting to recruit our 2020/21 Player of the Year (and probably this seasons), including football clubs plying their trade in League One. Holding on to him for another season is beginning to look unlikely. With the most lucrative link being that of Sheffield Wednesday, who are managed by former Bantam Darren Moore.
The time to persuade O’Connor to sign a contract is now, not in the summer. This would at least provide Bradford City will some sell-on value rather than losing him to another club and getting nothing. But unfortunately there are a number of things standing in the way of this. One is that our playing budget for 2021/22 is all used up, meaning that more money would have to be made available from somewhere for the signing on fee and the increase in wages he would expect. But putting that aside, even if we did offer him a new contract right now it would definitely require a clause allowing him to move to a League One club, so it is purely an exercise in cashing in on him, not keeping him.
The question is whether Stefan Rupp would be prepared to make money available for a contract to be offered right away, and even if it was, at this stage of the season, what real benefit is there to Paudie in signing it? Also it’ll take a bit of time for Paudie and his agent to mull over the details and decide whether it is worthwhile signing, and time isn’t something in abundance at this point of the season. The other issue is the wage he would need to be offered. It would most certainly put him in the bracket of our highest earners along side Andy Cook and Alex Gilliead, that would take almost £2,000 out of next seasons playing budget, and with the other players that are under contract unlikely to be in demand from clubs who can afford them, it will mean having to sacrifice our better out of contract players, probably meaning only Paudie would have his contract renewed if Hughes is to have any space in the budget to bring any new faces to Valley Parade. So if the reported interest in Paudie O’Connor is accurate, then it would probably be in the interests of the Bradford City supporters to prepare to say goodbye to him when we play our last match of the season against Carlisle United at Valley Parade.
All we can hope is that Sheffield Wednesday isn’t one of the clubs that want to sign him and that the reports are way off of the mark because even if he was willing to remain at Bradford City instead of the Owls, it will most certainly mean matching what he has been offered and that would comfortably make him the highest paid player in League Two. So once again the famous number four shirt will become available to a new player. It is worth pointing out that Paudie O’Connor is now 24 years old and is at that point in his career where if he wants to move it forwards, now really is the time. Another quite famous number four around these parts, namely Stuart McCall, was also 24 when he joined Everton from Bradford City for £850,000. The only difference this time around is that we won’t be getting a penny for O’Connor.
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