Leon Wobschall looks at the appointment of Graham Alexander by Bradford City and the size of the task ahead of him as he attempts to turn around the Bantams' 2023-24 League Two campaign ...
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00:00 We're going to be talking about Bradford City, recently taken on a new manager in Graham
00:13 Alexander.
00:14 Leon, I think he's had a couple of games in charge, they've lost both of them obviously.
00:19 He's got a good pedigree, but he comes in with a big job to do, doesn't he?
00:24 The expectations at Bradford are big, is he the kind of guy that can handle them?
00:31 Yeah, I think they're in a bit of a mess at the minute.
00:35 Bradford Phil, I attended a game against Notts County on Saturday, a difficult start to the
00:42 season and it really reached a bit of a niddy for him at half-time.
00:48 To be fair, they were playing a very good side and going forward, Notts County was,
00:53 to be fair, as good as anything I've seen for not just this season, but I'd say the
00:56 last couple.
00:57 So they were 4-0 down at half-time and the music in the stands was a little bit grim.
01:05 There was a good support there, nearly 2,300 supporters there.
01:09 The game was on Sky, you've got things like Christmas coming up and they'd still taken
01:15 a hell of a lot of supporters down.
01:17 There was a lot of chants against the owner, Stefan Rupp, and it just seems to be a bit
01:21 of a perfect storm that Graeme Alexander has come into at the minute.
01:27 City are on a bad run of form, they've got one or two injuries and it's been certainly
01:34 a hangover from last season when, not forgetting, they got to the play-off semi-finals and apart
01:42 from the season unravelling at the end at Carlisle, they were on the cusp of Wembley.
01:47 So it was a positive season in the respect that Bradford have had a couple of pretty
01:53 rough seasons at League Two level, let's be honest.
01:55 They got into the play-off semi-finals, it was progress, but it's all the old failings
02:01 if you like and it's never looked further away from getting out of League Two at the
02:07 minute.
02:08 What's been the general reaction to his appointment?
02:11 Obviously Mark Hughes, he was a big name, a lot of fanfare when he came in.
02:15 Like I say, he got to the play-offs last season but the season just didn't take off for whatever
02:19 reason.
02:20 Graeme Alexander is from a different kind of background, not as glamorous or whatever
02:24 you want to describe it as at the time under Mark Hughes.
02:29 But in terms of how the fans talk to him, do you think it's an appointment they realise
02:34 they probably need more than what they had before?
02:36 Yeah, I think it's probably fair to say, Phil, I think Graeme wouldn't mind me saying he's
02:41 not a sexy appointment if you were.
02:47 But you look at his scrutiny, his pedigree, he's had promotions from the National League
02:52 with Salford, also got promoted with Fleetwood.
02:55 He's a good, solid lower division operator and well-respected on the circuit.
03:01 You look at his playing career, he had an exemplary playing career.
03:04 There's not too many players who've played over 1,000 games and he's represented quite
03:11 a few clubs with distinction, the likes of Preston and Burnley.
03:14 He was very good at penalties as well, wasn't he?
03:17 Yeah, very good at penalties and he was, yeah, he was for a lot of years a really respected
03:25 full-back, wasn't he?
03:26 Then at the end of his career, he invented himself and became a bit of a holding midfielder.
03:30 But yeah, I think he's a solid, not a sexy appointment.
03:37 I was encouraged by the fact that a lot of the Bradford fans, you go on Twitter now and
03:41 you think there'll be a lot of moaning, he's not a name, he's not this and that and the
03:45 other.
03:46 But I think they realise it's the situation they're in.
03:49 Someone who's just got a solid pedigree and he's a pragmatic appointment, they're happy
03:57 to go along with it, to be honest.
03:58 But as I've mentioned, he's walked into some problems there for sure.
04:03 Yeah.
04:04 Yeah.
04:05 Yeah.
04:06 Yeah.
04:07 Yeah.