Bradford City and Graham Alexander - YP FootballTalk Extra - video Dailymotion

Yorkshire Post

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.

Bradford City and Graham Alexander - YP FootballTalk Extra

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