 Hello, good evening and welcome along to this Bradford City virtual fans forum hosted by BBC Radio Leads. My name's Jamie Rainer. For those of you who don't know, I'm the Bradford City commentator here at BBC Radio Leads and I'll be looking after things this evening as we broadcast to you live on the club's official YouTube channel. I'm also joined by Louis Reynolds from our West Yorkshire Sport team. He'll be reading out some of your reaction throughout the evening. I think I can speak on behalf of everyone when I say, oh, how I wish we could be doing this kind of thing in person. But as is the case right now, well, we're going to have to wait a little longer before we can all share a pint together and put some of your questions to the powers that be at Bradford City Football Club. However, I'm really pleased to tell you that we have a great guest list for you this evening with CEO Ryan Sparks alongside joint managers Mark Truman and Conor Sellers taking your questions that you've sent into us. We've had over 50 of them through and I'm sure you'll appreciate we won't be able to get to every single one. Club captain Richard O'Donnell and Callum Cook will also be joining us later in the evening, so do stick around for that. If you have to leave us halfway through or indeed can't watch the full thing, we'll rerun a recording of tonight's forum on BBC Radio Leeds next Tuesday evening between 6 and 7pm. I'm told the full broadcast from tonight will be available on Bradford City's YouTube channel later on. As you can see, we're joined by Ryan at the moment. Mark and Conor will be joining us later on in the evening and then Richard and Callum will follow afterwards. But that's enough from me. Let's get straight into the evening and start by saying good evening to Ryan Sparks. Thanks so much for joining us live on the YouTube channel, Ryan. How would you look at this season so far? I mean, I'm going to say it now. I'm going to use it one time. Unprecedented it has been. What is your take on it? Yeah, it's been a season of two halves, hasn't it, for us really. The first half probably one to forget, the second half slightly better so far. A couple of disappointing results recently but obviously we've come quite a long way since December. It's been an unprecedented season. I'll only say it once myself. It's very, very difficult to navigate your way through. Those difficulties don't look like they're going to let up in terms of the vaccine, the virus and the challenges that brings towards us as a business. But yeah, we just try to keep walking forward on and off the field and that's what we're doing at the moment. But it's been a season like no other and hopefully we never have one quite like this again. There's a great deal of uncertainty of course that surrounds this season and I suppose that's fuelled quite a few of the questions that we've received for tonight's show. I think the big one on every football fans mind right now is how do we see fans returning to football grounds? Indeed, how do we see fans returning to Valley Parade and watching Bradford City in the flesh once more? It's not an easy question to answer to be honest Jamie. I know there's a lot of optimism certainly from on the PR front from the government. It's not the optimism I'm feeling at ground level if you like. I think this summer is going to be very important with regards to the Euros and how that goes and the playoff potentially the playoff games could be moved I understand move back to allow fans in maybe on a pilot level. I would imagine in the summer one of our friendlies may be a pilot if everything continues to go in the right direction. Fair play on the vaccine front has been remarkable if you think about how far they've gone with that you know and the information we're getting is that a lot of people if not everybody in this country will be vaccinated by October. It might be a little bit too late for us to start next season with full crowds we don't know yet. We just do not know we do not have enough information and I think it may take another six to eight weeks to get the information we need to be absolutely sure and with that in mind obviously from our perspective with regards to season tickets I've always said that you know we won't put on sale a non-viable product as far as possible and you know I'm pretty committed to that so we've got to make sure that what we're going to sell is realistic and viable and at the moment I can't make those guarantees. I don't want to say it's all doom and gloom and negative but it's certainly not going to be you know normality you know with the click of your fingers I don't see that and you know we'll be watching I'll certainly be watching with interest the rugby league season and the cricket and seeing how that pans out from a fans perspective and it depends if you spit to some people are very confident some people not so much some people in the middle we've got to prepare for all eventualities in terms of the stadium we're preparing for normality but we're mindful of the fact that we might not be quite out of it by August. You mentioned season tickets and we'll move on to that point in due course as you can imagine there's been a number of questions regarding next season's season ticket sales I should say but I want to start with a question that came in from James and thank you for sending your messages in by the way westyorksport.bc.co.uk James says when fans are allowed back into the stadiums will the club have to initially pass set stages of holding smaller crowds before fully opening? Yeah that's my understanding yeah I don't think it will be and that might you know fingers cross that they are the friendlies and we can get around it that way and by August I said we are able to open the doors completely but yeah my understanding is it will be small steps that step up quite quickly providing August a plan but again we're getting entirely dependent on what happens with the with the pandemic and you know I guess there might be some nervousness about the government deadlines and opening everything back up and what the impact that might have and the lag in the data on it so yeah it's going to be interesting to say the least but we think we do you know we do we do anticipate the sort of the baby steps and I think that probably is the right approach they tried it if you remember back in October November December the kind of baby step approach and and then they just put a massive stop to everything so we kind of had a go at it but the the rate of infection was out of control you know if you go back to December. Suppose a silver lining to come from potentially no fans being allowed at valley parade is it's giving you an opportunity to take stock and look at the ground in more detail and we've had a number of questions in respect to valley parade as a stadium as a whole Andy Firth gets in touch and says regarding valley parade are the club looking to buy the ground back from Gordon Gibb or is that not a realistic option? Well nothing's off the table you know we are in a difficult position in terms of the finances of course but you know valley parade is very important to us we've got at least until 2028 actually with that we actually met with Gordon Gibb today and you know we've been in contact which is good and we've got to just probably start a good relationship hopefully there but yeah it's you know nothing's off the table and we'll see how that pans out but yeah we've got a lease for the next seven years we've got an option in our favour after that for 25 more years and you know we have to decide how what's going to be best for the football club in the long term but you know as you can see the first four or five months I've had in this role I'm looking at what's going to be right for us in the long term so of course valley parade comes into interview as a major part of this football club. Is it something that you and Stefan have discussed of late since you've been in the role? Yes in terms of the actual situation at valley parade the condition of valley parade this one comes in with no name actually but it says will the club be able to invest in the pitch at valley parade in the summer months? There'll be work on the pitch in the summer it'll be relative to our budget and we have to be very very careful what we do and the work we are doing at the stadium you know we're doing a lot of it with our partners and we're getting a lot of assistance don't get me wrong there is some significant investment you know the stand I'm sitting in now is a major major issue with its roof that's been long-standing for I would say 15-20 years and issues come off the back of that with regards to water damage and we have to deal with it so you'll see scaffolding on this stand in the coming months which will be a significant amount of work because we redecorate areas of the stadium that have been badly damaged you know we are working on the on the sweet areas at the moment so when we are able to welcome supporters back and hopefully have an evening like this but in real in real life it'll be an area of the ground that people are proud of rather than wondering why it's got to the state it's in you know there's a great area of focus great deal of focus should I say being put on our home if you like I want people to come back and feel differently about the place right from a partner to a fan in the stands there are a number of areas for me that have been left left to a point where you're not not externally but internally they just lack a little bit of soul I think it's the right word and we're trying to put that back there and so far so good obviously the maintenance staff are extremely busy this is a big big stadium I'd love to get our supporters down to help with the work and I'm sure they'd like to but unfortunately we're not able to do that due to the restrictions so very busy lots of jet washing lots of painting lots of painting all kinds of things going on at the moment but it's nice to see which is very refreshing when you walk through the doors on the morning and it's having an effect on our staff from a morale perspective and I expect it to have an effect on our supporters and our sponsors and directors as we go forward it's amazing what a look of paint can do really and I know that first hand right now as someone who's moving house um Paul asks in regards to the state of the actual turf the pitch which we can see behind you in your backdrop Ryan he says is it realistic to expect a better playing surface when in reality the pitch has always been difficult in the winter to say the least well yeah I mean it depends what you do with it you know we will rip this pitch up the second that season is over so we're going to go as early as we can we're probably going to play a game here in July from a pre-season perspective and details that will come out but we're going to give it as much time as we can I won't lie to you the pandemic helped the pitch to a degree because it had a long long period to be removed and and and relayed and that had months and months to grow and that's why to be fair it's in relatively good condition at the moment but it's coming around to be ready to be done again and I think if you look across the football league the pitches have been pretty difficult in later this season Newport forcing them out of their home in recent weeks and that's down to the fact that you know clubs have rightly cut their cloth accordingly you know you it would have been very very very high risk to just put six figures into grass not knowing if you were ever going to see a pound through the door after that so you know we've got to be very careful what we do and I've also got to make sure that the money we spend on pitch maintenance is shared at the training ground there's no point playing on decent pitch if you train on a mud bath so the budget covers all of our all of our pitch areas if you like this time around some Mason gets in touch he says are there any plans to improve the toilet areas in the stands also could we get better food or drink options in the kiosks people don't mind paying those prices but the standard of food offering is poor can't be linked in with local beer and food companies yeah it's very idealistic to say let's link it in with local beer and food companies that commercially never really stacks up and we're not on our own in that if you walk around other football grounds and will be grounds it doesn't work like that however I agree with Sam the catering is poor it will be addressed it already has begun to be addressed there is some shall we say vulnerability in the market people not so keen on working with us from a kiosk perspective because they don't know where we're going to be at and I can appreciate that but we will get a deal done our beer offering will improve dramatically we're going to invest in them areas so it's my intention to bring the price down and the quality up and just in general on the whole improve the matchday experience um what was the part with the other part of the question there uh the other part of the question was the improvements of the toilet areas yeah yeah again an area that needs upgrading we're in talks with a couple of potential partners as to how they can help us with that and we're going to put like a sort of long-term plan together and with piece by piece improve the toilets we'll probably make a start in the cop in the coming months with one or two it's an expensive job again so it has to be slowly but surely pieced together but hopefully the supporters will appreciate the fact that although there is a bit of a fourth bridge job to do here in terms of improving the facility to increase you know enhance matchday experience as long as they can see it's coming down the line I think you know they appreciate the work but you know it's difficult to do it in these times and it's even more difficult to do it um you know when when you're trying to balance balance everything and move the club forward but we you know I'm committed to ensuring the stadium is something we can collectively be proud of going forward yeah final question on Valley Parade Ryan and Peter with this one any thoughts of creating a safer standing area at Valley Parade I think I've seen some recent restoration at Manchester City which I realise is a quite large comparison no it's a simple answer that um not because we don't want to because we can't afford to um and the seats are already in a uh a pretty tired state and you can see we've made a start on that and we're going to try and do a little bit more this this coming season maybe if we can afford it um it's a very very expensive job in itself um but no no we won't be putting a safe standing area in the ground at the moment. Moving on then to season tickets and I said I'd ask you about this in due course um and Mike starts us off with this one he says what are the plans with season tickets Ryan and when will they go on sale are you able to tell us if the price will remain the same? Well we're assessing our options at the moment you know mathematically it's challenging you can appreciate if we're only able to house say six and a half thousand for our opening game um can we honestly expect to sell 13 to 14 thousand season tickets as per the 1920 season possibly not um you know I I know where we have to get to from a ticket in revenue perspective to ensure the viability of the football club um and I want to be very fair as fair as I can be with it um I've got no desire to increase the price uh of season tickets um we've got a very loyal fan base that deserve that loyalty back um you know but it's a real challenge so at the minute you know from a season ticket perspective on hold is is what I would say there's a live mode there's a live kind of comment um we're assessing what options we've got and how we would do it uh we don't know too much about iFollow and how that may work again in the future if at all um in one regard I love it but in another regard I hope we don't need it if we don't need it I mean the fans are back in so um but however I do think it's got its benefits for the wider audience and we're kind of fighting for that at the moment as a club so um a lot to play out on that um I would like to think may uh on sale but it may be June um and and and and and if everything lines up okay and we have the guidance we need and the euro starts to go to plan and and Wembley is seeing crowds and they're happy with the data maybe we can press the normality button which would be wonderful but I'd be wrong with me to make any guarantees to us and you mentioned iFollow there and this was something that came up quite a lot in the emails that we received Ryan, Joe, Nathan, Chris and Jonathan all asking about whether or not the current service will continue as it is particularly for those who don't live within the area can't attend the games in person and indeed those who have disabilities and can't attend match days I certainly hope so um you know from a club perspective it's provided strong revenue for us in excess of half a million by the end of the season probably which you know in a pandemic is the difference between being here and not as a business um so we massively appreciate that the numbers at the moment are fantastic you know we're nearly at three thousand every away game and I also have argued you know on behalf of football club to the AFL that you know our away support wouldn't take a hit in my opinion I think there are a supporter in our fan base that will go to an away game and there are supporters who simply do not and I think we should be able to cater for those people while of course no disrespect increasing our revenues so you know from my perspective iFollow can live on I think it would be a real backward step for the football league and the game as a whole for it to at this stage be almost reduced to what it was before which was kind of an unknown for certain people and really understood it our numbers were never as good as they are now now there's an education to iFollow and people including yourselves have made use of it um so I think it's got a place and I think we have to develop streaming in the sport um certainly for clubs like Bradford City it can help in in the overall picture and if confidence is low in terms of coming back out in public and sitting next to people which is natural um please allow us to you know provide a viable alternative rather than nothing at all so that's my view on it um it's not shared by a lot of people in this division because they rely on us for their payday with a great respect that's not my problem um it's that my problem is to in to take this club forward and about but my argument to those clubs and I have put it to the football league is that we will not harm their bottom line because our fans will go anywhere you know we have 13,000, 14,000 season ticket holders you know if we've got a decent away following it's in the two and three thousands we all know that um there's still 10,000 people there to potentially cater for so let's do it. And you speak of the numbers Ryan and they have been mightily impressive of late we've seen them released on the club's social media channels and indeed on the club's official website and Steve Cornwall Bansham says I've been happy to see the increasing numbers of iFollow viewing figures are the numbers Ryan around what you were expecting slash hoping and how do our figures compare with other clubs in the division? So they are they are what we initially budgeted for you know at the start of the season they are around that mark now which is crucial um I can understand why they might not have been there before there was some issues around piracy as well which I would not hide away from saying which were affecting the numbers initially um but yeah they're high at the moment and it probably puts a second in this division behind Bolton Wanderers I think at one point we may have been as low as fourth or joint fifth which was a little bit disappointing for what for what we are as a football club but um like our season on the field we've pulled it back a little bit and uh were second and um you know Bolton Bolton are just tipping us they've had a couple of four thousands which is great for them um but you know in in terms of percentage increase would be miles ahead you know of anyone at the moment but certainly if you took the season from January um so yeah you know really good very helpful and and what and and the current numbers are around the numbers we budgeted for um which obviously helps the bottom line Moving on and under the assumption that we'll see fans back in grounds as of next season and indeed fans allowed to go to away games uh James asks this question um away priority cards seem a little dated and become a free for all on securing tickets for small allocation and big cup games are there plans to put a system in place to award loyalty for away travel for example two points for an away game and one point for a home or cup game then the more points you gain the better chance you have of securing a ticket a lot of other clubs work this way and reward their fans for loyalty good question and the answer is yes we've upgraded our season ticket season tickets we've upgraded our ticket in sort of whole operation in the in this in this time which was always part of the plan that's gone through so obviously when when season tickets go on sale and match tickets you will see a difference so you're buying sort of experience the club's much better fixed now from a data perspective so you know if you tell us you want to hear from us from our newsletter you can tell us on multiple platforms including the ticket in uh sort of system which we didn't have before um we've we've sort of improved our savvy if you like and and brought the club into 2021 in the last few months the ticket in machine if you like gives us that data now so we know who's been where and the point system we can carry it um and and we intend to so you know that will be built into next season as far as i'm aware and that was one of the top requests for me when we put the new system in that we can um deal in facts rather than fiction so you know it's the easiest way to do things um and yeah i think that would be a good step for us and any rewards you know that genuine loyalty you know to go into away games you know they should be first in the queue i agree we'll leave it there for season tickets and apologies if we didn't get chance to read out your question but i am very aware of time and we must move on we will be joined by mark truman and conor sellers very shortly on this virtual fans forum hosted by bbc radio leads but as you can imagine ryan a number of questions have come in in regards to recruitment so prevalent you were in the january window but peter asks have we identified targets for the summer yes yeah we have here we've got um you know your recruitment did our recruitment didn't stop in january might have done last season it didn't do this season we meet fortnightly to discuss recruitment and when the windows are open it's it'll be far more frequent than that um you know we have identified our targets we've identified the players that fit our our profiles for each position and of course can sit in line with the potential budget we have on the table um creating a budget for next season i will assure you is virtually impossible because we have no idea what our revenue is going to be from various areas um you've mentioned kiosks and catering will we be able to provide that i have no idea so um that makes it tricky um but putting our front foot forward which we will do we know where we need to strengthen the squad and we know what kind of players we believe can can add to what we've got um but yeah no our recruitment i really you know fully immersed in our recruitment strategy if you like and i think you saw the initial fruits of that in january um we delivered what we needed to do um and we'll do something similar in the summer you know we we will we will create a squad that we believe can challenge and can compete in this division you know we're not we're not i've got no intention and there's just turning up and making up the numbers for another season to be honest and with that in mind the budget more prevalently steven robinson says we invested substantially in january with that in mind and a season with no crowds how does our playing budget look for the summer ride it'll be a competitive budget um the exact amount is very difficult to pin down um but we know where we need to be to compete in the division there will be clubs i don't need to name names that will just a budgeting is of no interest to them you know they will just blow uh whatever they need to do to get to where they need to be but there's no signs for it if you want to check that out look at more come look at Newport in this division if you get your culture right and you get your recruitment spot on um money is not the answer in my opinion it's um clever recruitment with a with a clear vision for what we need to get out of to get out of this division and and we'll put that on the table you know we we will not be one of the top three spending clubs in the division that's a given but it doesn't mean anything to me you know i'm not concerned about that at all and when we talk about recruitment where are you looking league one league two non-league primarily um now we're looking everywhere you know we've got you know when when if you ask out in sort of network we're not looking in europe because we can't sign anyone in europe because of brexit you know that that's a fact so uh you know we've we've got eyes on all areas the national league um leagues in the uk leagues above us you know we will watch any player that we believe there is um you know a desire to sign um you know and and league turnbull heads all that up you know in terms of who we're watching why at the request of mark and connor and yeah they've you know we've got our eyes on a few uh there may be some surprises there'll be some unknowns but that's that makes it all the more interesting i guess in terms of the existing playing staff um mike says what's the situation with the out-of-contract players has it been communicated to the players if they will be offered a contract or not next season the conversations regards players um out-of-contracts are ongoing really i mean it's quite early still in the piece you know we're still in march um and um you know the players we're not a long way from starting to identify that and and discussing it with the players but you know there's no rush we've got a long time in the season left and of course as i've touched on there are some uncertainties for us going forward um and a lot of it will depend on what we're looking to achieve next season but yeah now you know the players know where they stand um you know we've got plenty of people talking to them and uh and so we've had no issues so far there's no one uh you know expecting anything just now i think they know it's going to be tough for clubs to do the recruitment you know uh clicking the fingers stuff but yeah we're pretty comfortable with the position we're in and uh i'm not seeing any discomfort from players that are out of contracts at the moment well as you can see and thankfully technology has worked in our favor you think we've got the hang of this after all this is zooming for so long that mark and connor have joined us on the bradford city virtual fans forum with ourselves on bbc radio leads will get their thoughts in just a few moments time but we are also joined by louis reynolds from our west yorkshire sport team and we are of course broadcasting live on youtube louis what's the reaction so far the reaction jamie thank you and uh good evening everyone for watching along get home it's been positive there's a lot of talks of breaths of fresh air um under under yourself ryan and and since mark and connor have come in that's coming from freddie and ice comments coming from tibs actually i think a lot of people will resonate with this you said look it's all well and good talking about food and beer and that improving i just want to get back into valley parade and watch some football i'm sure a lot of people at home will be echoing those thoughts from tibs um nicks being in touch she says look it's been a difficult season in patches but we're in a much better position now and it's pure credit to everyone at the club currently keep up the good work that's from nick and just a quick one if we um if we could just chuck back to the ifollow there um we've had a question any chance of us international banton fans will see cheaper ifollow options ryan i'm assuming that's not really in the club's hands it isn't it isn't uh we've answered a survey we're looking for that um but ultimately we will not make that decision so but you know of course we want to make the club as accessible for as many people as possible but uh we'll know more on it in the coming weeks and months the fact that uh ifollow is continuing to be a subject i think is positive so and we'll see where we get to and just on that ryan would you would you open up the floor to international fans at all to to get their thoughts on that or is that something you're going to look at yeah potentially you know if we're if we're asked uh by the afl to do our own surveys or anything like that you know you don't remember ifollow is not a club product it's a product that we kind of are a part of if you like but i do know they have their own surveys and they put they are planning to put out an ifollow survey to fans in general which anyone can answer so i would urge you to for sure brilliant and yeah jamie just to wrap up they're very positive a lot of talks about breaths of fresh air and looking forward to the remainder of the season top stuff louis thank you very much for that we'll be back with louis to get your thoughts and reaction for those of you watching on youtube but they've been sitting there patiently so we best bring them both in the joint managers of brad for city football club connoisseurs and mark truman to both of you thank you so much for joining as i realize you've got a very very busy schedule as we've discussed so often in this recent run all your preparation is going into colchester mark i'll start with you though it's an opportunity for us to maybe just reflect briefly on your time in charge at the football club i mean how have you found it so far is here a positive start for us um obviously was mentioned out there the players um have bought into what we're wanting um and then gone out there and applied it um obviously got a kind of hit a difficult spell which we knew would would always come um it just now was kind of staying focused and managing this this this tough time i will come to you conno with the first fans question um this one doesn't have a name on it actually but i thought it was a nice thing to start with is what's the biggest thing you've learned about yourselves and the role since you made the step up um i think the the way to explain it would be just the the intensity of the role and the day-to-day work and the planning the preparation uh we would we were doing all those things in in our other roles but it was kind of added on top so and that's been sort of the differences i think what you're finding yourself is is that hopefully you can go to a new level um and you can you know keep on learning and keep on um becoming better as a person and as a as a manager these days so um it's been a positive start and we just want to maintain them levels and mark i realize given the nature of this call right now it's been so limited the content that you've been able to have with the city faithful it's such an unorthodox introduction to management life more generally given the pandemic and bantam pete asks what were the individual journeys that mark and connor have had in their lives and careers to be at bradford city and how did they end up being paired together as the by the bantams and as he calls you the dynamic duo um well obviously we we both both played through it through academy level um and then i went out to play in america connor connor played played pro here in the broads um but then we both kind of knew we weren't going to hit the the the level that we wanted to hit in terms of playing football so we went down the the coaching room um i i coached at hollyfax 18s and 20 threes for for a number of years in a lot of good experience there and then then joined working for bradford in the academy and that's where obviously i met connor we know each other a little bit from playing but then um since since we've been together in the youth team a couple of years we've obviously we we a lot of our beliefs are the same um and you know from there we we've moved into the first team and for you connor yeah it's uh academy from from a really young age i think walking through the doors at around six um you know and leaving it around 18 to pursue a different sort of um going into kind of first team environments was was difficult um but again when when it sort of went pear shaped for me i felt that i needed a a stable career i was kind of fighting for contracts one year here one year there in in other countries and i maybe felt that wasn't for me so so i went into the conference north harrigate town and and sort of you know started working at bradford city alongside that um whilst doing badges etc and then over the coming years we've sort of me and mark met and we've obviously known each other a little bit um and then worked together and like mark said we we sort of had a a good working relationship and we find ourselves in this position and but again it's probably been uh working in academy for from and playing in academy for for most of my life personally so it's kind of the only thing i've ever known so it's been a good journey knowing each other from your playing days have you ever played against one another a couple of times yeah a couple of times late challenges anything like that any afters a few a few i love that i love the honesty um right let's move on to on the field matters you knew these kind of questions would be coming your way um let's start with nigin bingley and he asks are we ever going to see reman borrell and matty folds feature both have good pedigree from good academy structures mark obviously when uh when we signed reman and matty it was a kind of at the start of the january window um and we had a few injuries and a few different positions um obviously the back four including fin who um have been performing uh to a high level so it's been it's been difficult for for matty to break in obviously people come in uh at different kind of fitness levels um and you know it was up to matty to to build these fitness levels up the same reman you know getting used to the intensity of uh of league two football and and training um so you know it's it's been not as probably as smooth as they'd like uh but we've we've been able to get kind of um bounce games if you like to call them uh where we've we've played kind of 23 reserve teams and um to help with their minutes so if their their chance does come then and uh they're in a better place to go and take it when you talk about that introduction into the life at bradford city then and the limited game time that reman has had matty non yet so far is that because they've not quite reached the fitness levels that you demand of them to play at the intensity that you require i think to start with yes um and you know if you ask the players themselves they're probably getting used to that fitness levels um and you know probably wasn't used to them but playing in 23s football um but then now it's it's it's it's competition it's performance based we've always been that type of managers um it's all about performances and you know like you say there's there's been a consistency we've been there we've been there and they've got to keep on working hard and and show to us that they're ready for that for their chance and kona just on reman borrell further adam connelly asks what reason do we have for reman borrell not getting any game time i realize that mark has answered that but adam goes on to say he has pace up front and he offers something different i think a little bit like matt said there's there's a lot of competition for places and there's there's a lot of plays in that squad who have got experience at this level um so it's it's maybe you know there's different options in in different areas um reman is more suitably a number nine um so his competition is is high with obviously he's got um clayton you've got cookie and you've got daniel roe so um naturally that's his his best position um in a wide area you've got other options and and the way that we do play wingers is is potentially not the way that reman suits um he's probably maybe a more out and out wide man if he's going to play in that area because of his pace and his attributes so i think it's just been a high competition for places for him and he's got to keep working hard and improving and um you know with the bounce games that mark said he's got to conform to a high level and that's and that's what we're after we talk about loan players and this question comes in with no name but says are there any plans to re-loan players such as brice hazanna who have been very unlucky through injury this season could we see him next season at bradford city mark i'll let you answer that one um obviously the relationship that that ryan's created through through pro and and through obviously party there's link as well we've um we've got a good relationship with leeds so it's you know obviously we'd be looking for for the best loans we camp in the in the in the window in the summer so um you know if if it is someone like brice comes available but obviously that's out of our hands all we can do is is identify these players uh that we'd like to bring in and and then you know if they are in a position where they are clubs are going to let them go back out and loan and that's when we'll have to make them decisions ryan i'll bring you in on this one actually and just in regards to the the loney of brice hazanna and more generally the relationship with leeds united it's clear to see with jordan steven's acquisition and indeed portia o'connor as as mark mentions how good is that relationship and can we expect to see more players coming from leeds united it's as good as it's been there's no doubt about that um you know i spoke to victor uh victor alter in january very very helpful uh understanding of our position you know we took the two guys we took brice at the start of the season we took jordan in january uh for sure you know they've got some real talent um talent that can do the business at this level it's been tough on brice he's had a really uh bizarre injury where it's almost uh you know the rehab's been complete but then they've you know they've perhaps discovered that there's even more to the hamstringing problem um you know and and i believe he's either had surgery or he's about to have it um you know and he will you know lead between ourselves and leeds and leads of trusting him to look after us which is also a very big statement given the resources they might have over us in in the medical department but no no we'll be looking to strengthen our relationship with leeds we'll just do a barnsley just to say the least and we've got good relations with all three which is which i think is really positive for us you know at the end of the day as march took touched upon we'll we want to bring the best players we can to our football club and um you know that if you've got no relationships you you know you're on your own aren't you so um if you i think it's a foolish approach and it's not approach it's not an approach we will we will take yeah you've pretty much answered what was going to be my next question which is how key are those relationships with the clubs higher up in the tiered system in respect to your recruitment process now that you've got in place well i guess like obviously leads in the prem barnsley may be in the prem for us feel like they're going to be okay in the championship so yeah two potentially two premier league clubs and a and a and a championship club on our doorstep you know given where we are in the football pyramid pyramid at the moment is not exactly where we want to be but um you know i think they can they can certainly add to it and if mark and connor uh see someone or like we did in january we we had two or three options from huddersfield town um but we brought the players here that we wanted to bring but there were definitely players from other clubs those clubs mentioned in the in the mix which i guess is you know they're not bad options to have at all i think when you both mark and connor joined the fans forum this evening ryan and myself were discussing the contract situation of those players that are out of a deal this summer and this question comes in any thoughts on sitting down with those out of contract this summer how do you both and ryan sit down and plan to do this connor i think it's just communication constantly on what's next and and what we feel is right for the club and what's right for the players as well because they have a a say on on their futures as well as us and so i think it's that constant communication and and throughout the next few months we'll start to to get into the deeper deeper side of of who we feel is going to be you know in the building next season and our decision has got to be that anybody that does resign next year has got to be right for the club and it's got to be right for them as well so that's kind of the negotiations at the minute and you know we're still trying to perform on the pitch and get through this time and and you know we're constantly learning about the players um in every period you know through the ups and the downs so it's a it's a really important moment. One player i wanted to ask about mark if i may and i realise it's someone that we've not seen under your charge and he's had a really torrid time this season is that of zelly ishmael i mean what is his situation? uh zelly a little bit like what ryan explained about uh bryce he he was kind of doing his rehab and he found another kind of slight injury with his hamstring so that that's setting back um obviously from the time that myself and connor vinn at the club we know the strengths and that zelly's got is a different kind of type of player than the players we've got um currently you know kind of fit in the squad he's got he's got good attributes uh but that you know like like connor said you know the discussion with zelly will be um you know closer to the end of the season when we see the kind of progress on him and and like i say we've got to make decisions at the best of the club. Back to on the field matters and mark i'll stick with you on this one michael morrow gets in touch and says why was pordio connor replaced as captain by richidow donnell of course he returned for the olden game when he returned into the matchday squad obviously rich or donnell um is a club captain um you know so if the club captain was out of the squad then it's for us at that time to make a decision and that was that was pordio we thought we was a kind of big influence on the on the team at that moment in time um and he was happy to lead lead the team but you know when when rich comes back fit and you know he what people don't see is probably what we see and that's every day on the training field and in the building and you know rich rich is a good character um even when when he kind of was out of the squad and and Sam were performing and keeping out of squad he was still a kind of a positive influence around him you know that that shows that you know he's a good good club person um and that was the reason why when he returned that you know we brought rich back in as captain Connor were you always very clear on on that decision that rich or donnell when he returned to the starting 11 would retake the captaincy even though you'd seen how well pordio'd risen up to the occasion with the leadership role yeah i think uh as mark explained now you know our football you know clubs operate is is they have a club captain um and like say if you know we had lean over when when rich was out at first he was you know stepped in as captain and then he went on to party when when lee was unfortunately injured and and that's how the you know the world works and football works is that you know you have a club captain and when he's available again he he's selected as captain so that's the way um we saw it as well um we've got a question here from henry who's aged six so i'm pleased to say that henry is our youngest quiz of you both this evening um he asks how did you decide to swap the goalkeeper from sam hornby to richard o donnell how was that as a decision for you both is that to me or is it going mark i'll let you try you you've stepped up there i think i i think i mentioned it in the uh the post-match why why we brought richard at that time um as i mentioned both goalkeepers have got different strengths um to to the group and we thought this was a time that that we needed rich rich to come in uh to the team and show his kind of experience and mainly more from from the communications side um just being a a voice in the changing room when when you know it is tough when we are kind of i mean as much success as we had at the start and um you know he's a big character he's a club captain for a reason and that's why we decided to bring him back into the team um another question that we've got in respect to the team um this one has no name but it says the dipping form has coincided with callum cooks absence will be joined by callum on the virtual fans forum this evening in not too long time they say how much of a miss has callum been connor yeah you know you started to see callums um strengths with us in in that 10 role and and the way it maintains possession in tight areas and you know it was a real pivotal part of of being in that role um so you know when you take somebody out the team who's having a big effect who's you know assisting and scoring goals and you potentially lose that threat and our job is to try and find the solution you know ideally we when somebody's playing well you keep them in there but the at this moment in time it's it's not worked out that way so we've got to um find the right person to go in there we're we're going to try and be flexible to find different um different ways of operating in that in that area and um you know we're still looking to find the right one um but again i mentioned it the other day you know for players to step into that 10 role when it's maybe not their number one role it can take time so so we've still got to work with that player to to know the ins and outs of of what we want from him this next question mark comes from jim who says what are your long-term ambitions as joint managers of bradford city football club? obviously we've we've got the ambitions as as Ryan regards to we want this club to be moving up the leagues and where they should be um you know but obviously it's it's a rebuild and it's going to take time um but you know our job is to it's to at this moment in time small time time goal is to is to make sure that we're you know performing and looking to finish as strong as we can this season what about the prospects of this season i mean it's gone from relegation very very realistic prospect in mid-december to a sniff away from the playoffs to now mid-table i mean what should city fans hope for mark this season? obviously the you know it's been being great that how we've kind of moved away and went on a unbeaten run but i think you know we've just got to finish as well as we can this season and you know if that's towards the playoffs in the playoffs you know that you know obviously we want to finish as high as we can um the team wants to finish as high as we can there's been a lot of conversations this week and you know tomorrow we'll be talking a kind of about getting back on track and and and you know performing at the levels that that we've shown um you know like kind of said there there's been a few injuries you know key players at a moment in time kind of call them that you know now we've got to find different solutions and then players have got to start to step up and fill them their boots and ryan i'll bring you in on this question just more generally in terms of the ambitions of this season i mean it's fair to say that many watching this this broadcast now have probably got caught up in the story that the playoffs were a realistic probability at one point i mean it's tailed off in recent times but what's your take on this season and its ambitions i can i can really talk honestly from the day i took over so in november the 26th and we were staring down the barrel to say the least um and the position worsened you know we hit 23rd and i think the the darkest day was we we actually came out of the relegation zone because stevenage got smashed 5-0 which just was devastating really and very embarrassing um obviously we made the change steward left the club um i turned to mark and connor and um things have turned around we've come a long way you know and i i never i was never naive to think that a january transfer window would rebuild a football club it was designed to give us some impetus i said when i took the job that my aim was to get us away from the bottom too um quickly um resurrect our season strengthen the squad and that didn't just mean ins it means outs and that's very difficult um it's certainly in january and and set a clear set us on a clear path as to where we can get to how we're going to get there and what we're trying to achieve and you know cut the cut the narrative of because i've just been to be quite blunt about it serial losers you know the club has been beaten left right and centre for the last two or three seasons um and and it's um it's not something that's on my agenda for us to to be that club you know that i am irritated by us rolling the red carpet out for teams and you know i speak to us but to a chief executive this morning at another club who said they're dreading playing us in a few weeks time good good you know i hope they are and that's how it should be this is braffin city football club you know we're not we're not here to make up the numbers you know you don't but however in the same breath you don't just earn yourself a place in league one or even the championship because on paper you're a big club with a big fan base um and and i certainly don't look at us like that you know we've got to learn our spot we're here for a reason uh it wasn't my doing it wasn't even julian rhodes is doing but we've we've got to pull away from it you know and we've got to and we've got to put the past behind us and i think we're doing that you know we're setting the club up different there are changes coming to the football department that the club has never had before we've already made changes to the football department and the way things go down and and and equally we've made dramatic changes at the stadium and and and things and just generally our whole culture as an organization is in my opinion changing for the better um but you know work ethic precedes any buzzword you can put on the table and and that's where it starts and stops and you know this club's got some real grafters at it now um you know i will work too for nail and this is a hard working city and its football club needs to represent that and it will and that's my commitment to it and i will stop it nothing to ensure we get where we need to get to but we'll get there when we deserve to be there as well you know that's the key you don't buy it you don't nick it in a season it doesn't work like that you we will arrive at the point where we want to be exactly at the moment we deserve to be there and connor with that culture comes expectations and with that those expectations comes a great deal of pressure i'm sure you're aware of that as well so how much do you guys have to rise up to that pressure and and ride the wave somewhat yeah again we you know we have pressure because every manager does and so we're no different i think the the clear the clarity on where we want to be from from ryan and people at the club is is fantastic and you know we echo that we want the same for the club and you know we we'd say that we're hard working people that we're going to put everything into the cause to be as successful as we can and you know we've got to make sure that um you know we we give out the best account of ourselves and trying to be the best we can and you know the pressure is on but again we're we're confident that we can we can build something and you have to be in these positions you've got to go in you know thinking and you know you can build something and that's what we're trying to do as well i realize time is passing us by and we have to let you go very very shortly um but i wanted to end this part with you with a question from from paul in wakefield and he asks this to you both mark i'll start with you he says do either of you have anyone in the game who you might call a mentor someone who you can pick up the phone to to either seek advice or just get something off your chest um for me obviously there's a lot of kind of managers past managers and managers that played under that that i do speak to um you know i haven't really got just one mentor um or somebody that i can i can kind of bounce ideas or you know i think that me and kona do that well enough um in terms of kind of tactics etc but you know in terms of other other things and you know we do speak to two other managers and and kind of speak to them who's been probably through these kind of same situations that we're going through so yeah there's a couple but like i say it's it's more spread out for me i can't speak for kona which you obviously are speaking a minute but yeah i speak to a few and kona is it too easy to assume that your dad's scotch just a phone call away yeah i'll sports him today actually yeah no it's just um you know as you go through your coaching journey you know me and mark have met some some real real talented people in terms of fa tutors and people in the game and managers like he says and um you know you've got to you've got to speak to these people you've got to pick the brains and the one the obvious one for me would be a quick phone call and that's my old man who's got loads of experience who i can bounce off and you know you know me and mark have used him at times and not just myself so and where we're open we're honest you won't want to get better you know whatever's going to take us to the next level we're willing to do and i think you have to be that way as well well look mark kona it's been a pleasure having you on this virtual fans forum i'm sure it's been a great opportunity for you to hear what the fans have got to say and indeed the fans to hear from you as well because of course these weird and wonderful times that we're living through right now have been unable to to have that in person but i'm sure in the not too distant future you'll be able to walk out to a packed out valet parade crowd i know you're busy bees i know you'll be preparing for colchester away so for now go well thank you thank you very much cheers guys that is mark truman and kona sellers joint managers of bradford city football club of course we are on this virtual fans forum hosted by bbc radio leads we're still joined by chief executive officer ryan sparks and just like that taking his position in his chair there club captain richard o donnell that was timing to perfection skipper thank you so much for joining us on this virtual fans forum i know that a number of people are looking forward to hearing from you this evening via the city official youtube channel i'm going to hand this one over to louis reynolds who's with us from our west yorkshire sport team louis i'll take this one to you hi richard thanks again for joining us as jamie alluded to there really a captain's example in punctuality there so thanks for that and we'll start we'll start on a personal point of view just how satisfying is it for you to be back in the 11 following your your absence out of the team i think if you ask any player it's it's not nice to be out of the team whether that be through injury or through you know form or loss of form or whatever so as i spoke to jamie on saturday about it it's frustrating not being in the team for one being injured and watching from the stands no professional player likes to be injured and then you're lying if you you know you say it's not frustrating sat on the bench and watching the team but as i said to jamie on saturday had to be respectful of the team playing well some playing well and just wait for my opportunity to come i was training hard and just waiting and make sure i was ready for that chance when it came does it when you sat on the bench and the the team are in good form does it help you or does it hinder you are you are you thinking well the team are playing well so i'll watch from the side or are you thinking i wish i was part of that and out in the 11 yeah of course you're wishing you're part of it of course you are but you are part of it it's a scored game um obviously i played the previous 20 odd games and some played them them games and obviously i'll come back in now for the time being and hopefully i can keep my spot but i mean i'm sure jamie and andy can you know while i was on the bench can you know vouch that while i was on the bench i was screaming as much as i could onto the pitch and trying to help as much as i can while while i was doing that um it's not just a case sitting on the bench and waiting for the chance i'm still trying to do everything i could on matchdays and you know on on the training field and off the pitch as well and how are you feeling how's the thigh holding up you had a bit of time on the bench maybe help the healing process but do you feel fine after the last couple of games i do yeah i do um yeah i mean to be honest it i was back training probably after about six weeks and i was itching to get back in the squads and obviously there was a few delays with um with games being called off we had a period where a lot of games got called off but the thigh yeah i mean it probably helped in a way that we did have them few games called off just to let me get that extra couple of weeks training in to be fair but obviously since then i've had no issues luckily and fingers crossed it's fine but yeah at the time it was quite a significant injury to be fair so i'm glad i got back and the physios did a great job and ben and bony did a great job in getting me back as well and as we touched on richard you've come back into the 11 obviously we all know there's only there's only one goalkeeping position in that 11 and there's always talk about the goalkeepers union what positives do you sam and will share with each other despite two of you not being in that 11 it's the same at the club like i mean sam and will will be will be desperate to play like i was desperate to play so there's no hiding away from you know we're all fighting each other for what for one spot as you rightly said but there's never any animosity between anyone and i've never had that any club that i've been at to be fair is like you say it's sort of a union where it's very unique to any other position uh just in the fact that you know strikers for example can come on for 10 minutes and sort of share the workload but generally as a keeper you if you're in that spot you're in that spot until you even get injured or you lose you lose your form so all for you has worked really well together we're all pushing each other every day like so will's come in and done really well as well since he's come and he's pushing and making us work every day so it's like sam said a couple weeks ago it's a good group and it's like saying we keep it everyone keeps each other on the toes and what do you do you touch on a good group there you brad for city have gone through a good run of form as of late i know here at BBC radio leads we made a lot of it the last five games maybe haven't gone to plan as much as you would have hoped what what do you do as a group to keep those spirits up and and you know you've proved you can go out and get those good results yeah we have got a good group we've got a good group and you know we come in today for example and we're not moping around the place we know that you know we know we're a good team and we know we can beat anyone our day so you know the performance level the other night for example wasn't good enough from what what we expected ourselves we know that um but we know that we're capable of like say beating anyone so we've just got to believe in what we're doing uh believe in what the managers are doing and we all do so there's a lot of belief in this group that we can we can carry on to the end of season winning as many games as we possibly can and like i said on saturday to jamie that it's literally taking it one game at a time we want to win each and every game but there's no where we want to finish as we can in the league definitely and you alluded to what would have been my next question there is it simply do you have any goals for the rest of the season where you would like to finish or is it just one game at a time let's see if we can keep winning and see where it takes us no we have yeah of course we have we've got we've got aspirations where we want to be but as the managers sort of alluded to that's that's between us and what we want and uh you know we can only say that we want to we want to go out there take it a game at a time and win every game that we've got and uh and playing and we're more than capable of winning every game we're playing so that's our aim and obviously it's difficult at the minute with all the games that we've had to to rest and recover but and that's exactly why you have to literally take it one game at a time because the next game's only around the corner so you can only focus on one at a time and on a personal level for you contract expires at the end of next season one how settled do you feel at the club at the moment and two what are your ambitions personally you've got the armband back is is that yours to lose do you want to be keeping that for the rest of your time here well first of all yeah very happy where I am um aspirations like any any player to play as high as you possibly can uh and like I've just alluded to I'm I believe in this group that we can we can go on and and get better and better as a group and achieve good things um but personally yeah of course I want to I want to be captain in this club I mean I'll be stupid to say I don't it's a it's a massive honor for me to to be doing that uh and again I keep going back to mine and James's conversation on saturday but again as I said to one side there's a lot of things that go into being a captain rather than just just on the pitch there's a lot of things that people don't see like said being around the training ground and trying to keep standards high on and off the pitch making sure you know things are right off the pitch as much as on the pitch so there's a lot that goes into it but it's something that I really should I enjoy um I'll not hide that and like I said I'd love to be captain of this club as long as I'm here and talking about being the captain in the face of the club and ambassador of the club you do a lot of work in the community for the football club but obviously things have been a little bit different due to the pandemic how has that affected it and how have you kept up that work despite circumstances it's been very difficult actually yeah obviously we can't go out and and do the usual meet in Greece but I still think it's very important as a club we do that um obviously they have a week me and a few of the other lads had a coffee morning with the disabled team which is nice to do uh obviously by a zoom like we are now um but I mean I've had a lot of people this just messaging me I mean I had a guy message me the other week for example just asking about he was nervous about his COVID job and he was a Bradford fan and he was nervous about a job going back to college and sorry not a job at a test because he'd never had one and he was nervous about it so it's just having that bit of time and just saying this and we have it regularly you'll be fine it's nothing to worry about and it's just you know as much as you possibly can trying to try to be there for people it's you know it's a tough time that we're in at the minute so it's not just the case of doing stuff outside of football it's just trying to be there for other people it's not it's not a difficult thing to do for me to answer a message on Instagram or Twitter as much as I possibly can and you know me just doing that could make someone's day and like I said reassuring that everything's going to be okay and like I said there's a lot of things about mental health at the minute so just me doing that as much as I can I'm trying to do as much as I can possibly as much as I possibly can just doing stuff like that but yeah it has been more difficult because we can't go out and meet and greet people it's it's a big shame but hopefully sooner rather than later we can get back out and do that. Yeah absolutely fingers crossed you can get back out into the community you're touching it there Richard as well and I guess a lot of fans and even us in the media we sometimes perceive football as you know they're in this bubble and you're a different breed to the rest of us but you're clearly there just by answering say an Instagram message or something it's it's a responsibility that to me it seems you thrive on. Yeah I mean I sort of think it comes it don't just come with being a captain at a club but it comes with just being a trying to be a good person I think it's not just trying to be it's not just for show it's not trying to be you know you're captain so you've got to do this that and the other I think it's just trying to be there for other people like I said just just trying to be a nice person to other people because it goes a long way and like I said when people are at the games I try and give my old gloves to to kids as much as I can and things like that because I know it makes people's day like when I was a young lad I used to go to Sheffield Wednesday games and if someone did that to me I'd have been over the moon and obviously I've got kids myself and I know these little things that sort of people do that they might not think it's a big thing it's a big thing to other people so yeah I mean football is no different with with just human beings at the end of the end it's just again being being nice to people respecting people and we're no different so for me it's it's a good I'm sure I speak on behalf of everyone watching that they they really appreciate the work you and and the other players do do in the community I am a bit conscious of time so I will throw back to Jamie I know where Mr Cook is waiting patiently so I'll throw to Jamie in case he's got anything else to add Richard top stuff thanks for that Louie and yeah we'll bring Callum in just in a second time Richard I just want to ask finally actually I realized yeah two right actually I realized that you've got a lot of roles and responsibilities within the PFA as well and this season has been I'll say it again I said it again I said I wouldn't unprecedented but for you as a PFA rep I mean how important has that been for you that communication between the players in the union? Yeah it has been important particularly early on in the pandemic when I was on the phone to obviously at the time it was Julian and Ryan quite a lot just me feeding back what I hear from the PFA and the AFL and then obviously them relaying things back to me and then maybe like back to the players it was I spoke to you about it before it was a long long summer being on the phone a lot to like I said to the club and then to the PFA and then you know just just basically even the lads reassurance that you know there was about financial things which was important for the lads obviously and then obviously when we were going to try and get back into football and stuff like that so it is important obviously there's one PFA rep at every club and obviously Armours and it ties in quite well with being captain as well I suppose that it's sort of a natural thing for me to do yeah and going back to the point about you being so loud on the sidelines I think we should have an honoree mention for our Andy Kiwami I think you just about reached the levels of loudness that he achieved with the Bolton equaliser although my ears are still ringing on the left hand side from that and Callum I'll bring you in because I realise you've been waiting so so patiently thanks for joining us live as part of this virtual fans forum between Bradford City and BBC Radio Leeds Callum look the obvious place to start is the fact that you're not with the squad right now the injury I mean how are you first and foremost yeah obviously thanks for having me obviously it's part and parcel of the game injuries and yeah it's obviously frustrating because from a personal point of view I thought I was doing really well and obviously it is a team point of view as well and obviously it's yeah it is upsetting obviously saying the lads have a little bit of a dip in form but that's football things happen I mean I can't remember how many games it was off the top of my head where we went unbeaten and everything was rosy and orange that's one side of football and now we on the other end of it again and we've been through once before at the start of the season so it's not early into the lads and but I've got every confidence that will turn it around but obviously from my point of view obviously it's really frustrating not to be involved at the minute yeah talk me through those frustrations naturally you can't do anything about what's happening when you're seeing your teammates not maybe going the way you want it to yeah it's like I touched on there it's part and parcel of the game for me so obviously I'm on the sideline now for the best part of another three or four weeks if everything goes smoothly it's quite a complex one and well you shouldn't rush an injury anywhere but even more so with this one we've been not the normal one that football normally does in the hip it's a hip muscle which is a bit deeper in so it is a complex one and obviously it's one that I'm working hard to get back from but no obviously it's like I said it's frustrating but I've got every confidence in the boys to turn this little sticky patch around I fought on Tuesday obviously I watched the game on Tuesday I thought we were unlucky to not come away with anything from the game I know we might not have played the best but sometimes in football you don't play well and you do pick up even a point or even sometimes three the good thing was we had our chances still and on another night like I said we could have easily went on and if not drew even better won that game but like I said there that's football and obviously it didn't go away that night and you just got to put that behind us now because obviously you can't change that one now and obviously look forward to Colchester on Saturday and just on the injury I'm right in saying that you picked it up in the warm-up for the Newport game in Cardiff I mean did it come to you as a surprise or is it something that you felt coming into that one? No obviously trained on the Monday before we headed down to Cardiff and fell fine and then obviously just going into the game I'd done the wall with the lads before the game and then excuse me a minute and a half time and I've tried to do a sprint and I've just felt it straight away and as a footballer as any athlete will tell you you just know and yeah I couldn't move to be honest with you I really stole obviously I'd let the physio know yes sir because by all accounts I was going to be coming on at some point during the game but like I said obviously I'd come come and say the physio at half time as the lads are coming out obviously made him aware obviously really laid it back to the court and obviously yeah because like I say I think I was due to get some game time which is obviously nice but at the same time I couldn't move I couldn't I wouldn't have been helped to anybody going on injured and obviously it wasn't until I had the scan on Wednesday afternoon when we got back and I realised that the full extent of the injury and I'll be honest it was a bit of a surprise I thought I might just tweak something but it is a lot worse than than what I first played which is unfortunate but what we know I think it's just over two weeks in and yeah it is progressing and it is getting better but as I said it's not the normal one of football and normally does it it is a bit of a complex one so it can't be rushed back unfortunately but as I say I'm just taking it day by day and obviously with the help of Chris I would physio and deal the other physio I should be back in north time and naturally any injury is a frustration for a footballer but even more frustrating I imagine when it's come in a season where you've really released the shackles and you've shown and you've met the targets that you set of yourself I remember this same virtual fans forum that we had back in the summer of 2020 you challenged yourself to be more of an attacking threat I think I'm right in saying if I've got my numbers correct 11 goal inclusion three goals and eight assists yeah as I said when I come back that's beside the game I'm known for and that's what I want to come to Bradford City to prove a point like I said the the club have shown the shown the faith in me to bring me back and I'll always be thankful for that you know and like I said in previous interviews I need to show that faith back on the pitch and like you said there eight goalings sorry 11 goal inclusions this season so far and obviously hopefully I get back to it's hard to lack tally but yeah obviously it's frustrating because if I'm honest I wanted to add more goals to my game and obviously timescale wise with me injury it's probably looking like without putting pressure on myself to come back for a certain date but it's probably looking towards the middle to the end of April which is it is what it is like I said you can you just kind of rush them things and so obviously by the time I come back there's only going to be a handful of games left anyway which hopefully we're still and we still have something to play for I've got all the confidence in the lads that we will do and like I say hopefully I can add to lack tally when I come back but as you said obviously it's from a personal point of view getting injured when I was on such a good run it is it is disappointing because I have no doubt in my own ability that I would have added to them tally so it's just one of them things you just got to take it on the chin and obviously just keep working hard in your rehab. Richard I'll bring you in on this next question if I may actually and it's something that came out of the the pre-match press conference today ahead of Colchester. Anthony O'Connor spoke to us about how you've as a group had some conversations about the remainder of this season and I think the phrase from Anthony was to not let it fizzle out I mean it's easy to assume given your league position now that the remit has been achieved safety is being confirmed but there's still a lot to play for isn't there? Yeah again I spoke to you on Saturday about that that you know we don't want our season to fizzle out and there was a conversation after the game on Tuesday night about it and that obviously we'll keep keeping house but yeah certainly we as I said to you before we felt our performance on Tuesday night was under par so we want to make sure that doesn't happen very often if at all for the rest of the season because we want to finish as high as we possibly can. So yeah it's just about getting back to that consistent performances and like say finishing as high as we can. Louis I want to bring you in on this if I may just in terms of YouTube reaction and what's coming in on the comments here I mean I'm sure there's some of the fans watching this evening would like to put some questions or comments towards the two players that we've got with us Richard O'Donnell and Callum Cook. Yeah it's it's it's funny I go back to what Ryan said about the culture at the club and and how that's changed over the last season or two and it's resonating in the comments Richard what you were saying about your community work about things like just simply reply into an Instagram post we've had a lot of nice reaction from there in terms of it it simply sums up the culture at the club at the moment a lot of people Paul says keep up the good work you both seem like genuinely nice blokes we're getting a lot of that coming through and it it maybe goes back to the point we said originally about like you guys as footballers although although a lot of people look up to you you just normal guys wanting to wanting to play for Bradford City. Callum we've had a lot of messages of support coming in for you in regards to the injury. Cookie's been a big miss Ben says he's looking forward to having you back he says good luck with the rehabilitation and we've got mothers 96 who says it's good to see Richard back in the side and opening up about your community work there he says you're a real ambassador for the club going even more general there it is I've got a comment here I did Jamie out there it is he says yeah the culture it's the best it's been in almost a decade that's coming from Ryan that's coming from Mark and Connor and it's being shown with the guys on the call this evening as well so really positive the culture is really resonating with the fans and they're wishing you all the best for the rest of the season as well. And just to pick up on that point as well and Richard I'll go with this one to you actually because culture is such a big buzzword isn't it when we talk about football but I know that's something that Ryan has been absolutely keen to to really hone in on since he's come into the football club of course you've been at the club now for a period of time when there's been I'd say a variety of cultures I think would be a fair way of saying it how does this one then compare from what you've had previously? Well it's funny actually because while I was actually injured I obviously still spoke to the managers a fair bit and they obviously asked me quite a bit how the lads are you know how's everything going is anything we can do blah blah blah and when he asked me how the lads are I actually said to him it's the best it's been in a long well since I've been here and that's in terms of the group morale that's in terms of just the general feel around the place and that's on and off the pitch that's the feel from what you're getting from the fans as you rightly said there that and that's coming from everyone that's coming like say Ryan is doing a lot of work to to get the fans back on back on board from where it has been in previous years which we know was obviously not in a great place especially in my first season here it was you know there was a big disconnect with the with the fans and the players and the club so you know Ryan's done a great job in getting that back and I think that's obviously spread across the whole club and like I said to the managers that you know the feel around the place is the best it's been since I've been here. And Callum I imagine you echoed that sentiment as one of the players. Just taking myself off me a bit. Someone had to do it someone had to do it I'm glad it was you not me. Just as well I'm tuned in eh. Yeah obviously I'll echo Richard's words there. Obviously when I come last season obviously the the club has just been relegated and yeah it was we obviously had a good start but I don't know it just it seemed a little bit disconnected and full credit to the courters Ryan and even the lads we've all mucked in and we're all chipping in and moving in the right direction and not just on the field but off the field as well. You go back to the community work I think it's been absolutely unbelievable because obviously with lockdown and stuff and obviously with mental health issues being a big part of society today it's it's just a little five ten minute chat with somebody and it'll make the day you know. As Richard said there with the likes of the instagrams of the world and stuff it's it's a big part of society now and it does make a difference obviously when you interact in and yeah like I said there compared to last season it's chalk and cheese and the culture within the club obviously for the better reasons as well and so yeah obviously off the field stuff's great and hopefully we can just keep on on working well and hopefully give the fans something to shout about on the field as well. Well to you both thank you so much for joining us on this virtual fans forum we really do appreciate it. Callum the best of luck with the rehab and the recovery from the injury I know I speak for many Bradford City fans that are looking forward to seeing you put on the clarity number before the end of this season. For yourself Richard good luck this Saturday of course vying to get that winless run to an end and back to winning way so thank you for both joining us this evening. Thank you. Thank you. Ryan we'll keep you for a second or two if I may. We're going to just finish with a final few questions that have been emailed in and that I thought would be a way of finishing really because there are more general questions I think it's fair to say and this one comes in from Peter actually and he says in regards to a new kit can we have a fan vote on a range of designs or is it already decided on? It's already decided on for next season we're going to do something a bit different we're going to mark an occasion in our history and I think it'll be a real hit with the supporters it'll be a one-off potentially it's we've got another season with Abbeck and our talks are ongoing with them in terms of the future of our kit partnership and whatever comes of that you know of course may engage the supporters but I think what I would say on that is you know our kit launch uses you know we take a great deal of pride in their fantastic opportunities to connect and if you look at our home kit launch from last season I think we connected with around 50 people tonight that come together and it was real good and it was done in the middle of the in the height of the pandemic but obviously with Covid compliance at the heart of it so you know we I think it as much as often sorry as often as possible you know we try to do things as a collective there's no dictatorship approach or anything here but I think we've come up with some pretty good kits and I think next seasons are going to take us to another level the home kit will be very different but you know what I will say is we'll have Clara and Amber on the pitch all the time regardless of the game and that's the that's the plan for next season so I'll leave you with that that's my that's my tease but now they'll be good they're going to be good kits and we're excited about them and you know you know the club's heritage means a lot to me and it's been left in a cupboard somewhere for too long and I'm dealing with that and next season the heritage will be at the heart of what we do in terms of what we wear in this stadium you are really a tease with that one by the way I mean you can't give us any colour schemes at all are you going to keep that one to yourself like say we'll have Clara and Amber on the pitch at all times Jeremy I tried guys I tried this one comes in without a name on actually it says would the club look at doing an open day in pre-season so that the fans can meet the players and they say obviously if guidelines allow yeah we're looking to do that yeah we are we we are hoping fingers crossed to I believe England are playing a Euro's game on the 22nd of June and if Covid allows us to we want to have a bit of an open night in general which will have various people at it but yes in the future I don't think it'd be possible for this season coming I do think the regulations will be still quite tight but we want to have an open day I want to open ballet parade up this is not my football club it's not the players it's everybody's and we fully intend to make sure people feel that there's you know I don't do buzzwords I think we need to actually generally build rebuild the club but our supporters want to be a part of it and I want them to be so we that kind of stuff very high on the agenda we're working on a lot of things at the moment which are going to come out you know there's going to be an app launch soon we've launched a new newsletter we're trying to get closer and closer and let people have that open line of communication and you know the initial steps are very positive but like I say you know we are working hard the ticketing the ticketing system upgrade is something that most people would brush over but when they see it in action they will it makes a difference you know to customer experience and there will be dramatic changes to our retail operation in the future these are the things that you know to to some supporters don't mean a great deal but it's what an awful lot of others they do and you know I said I'd leave no stone unturned and I had to stand by that and there are a number of things we need to get through but you know piece by piece and all that. Thomas Swithinbank asks off the pitch Ryan what are three tangible things you want to achieve by the end of the year? The end of the year right. Not the season the year. Well I'd like us to recruit very well for the summer is that off field? I don't know off the pitch. Off the pitch yes. You know I want us to break our commercial turnover record which is a massive challenge to set the staff given the fact that we're in a pandemic but I think it's possible I want to have a nearly every area of the ground either improved redecorated or planned for and I want to continue to improve the culture and the morale among staff you know what we've got now is we've got all the arrows pointing in and that's the key we've achieved that we've got some first-class staff at the football club and we're all pulling in the right direction there's a general belief amongst us that we're going to achieve something in the future so for me it's maintaining that you know that's you know the management of the club and our togetherness will translate onto the grass and you know and whether it's a technical board talking about football recruitment or whether it's very simply a pre-match staff meeting going into a game you know we everybody's valued here and you know I'm very fortunate to have some extremely talented people around me you know recently brought you know David Lungo over from Featherston as our new commercial director his impact is already there for people inside the business to see and you know I knew he would bring a lot and he's going to bring even more in the future so exciting times off the field obviously I can see it a little bit more close and this fans can at the moment but we'll see it you know in time when you are here the changes and the some improvements some changes that are necessary some are not but all in all I think will help us move forward and that links in I guess maybe with this next question from Malcolm Robinson who says going forward and in the immediate future Ryan how will the club continue to support and work with charities such as the Peter Greenwood Memorial Trust that was created following the 85 fire tragedy tragedy well our charity works absolutely massive to us you know one thing we're going to do for the final game of the season which is traditionally our memorial game obviously there'll be no one here which is pretty second in to be honest but we're going to have a virtual ticket campaign you know learning from the way Marine did it in the FA Cup we want to raise as much money as we can for the Burns unit in Bradford we would usually on the day do all kinds of things that we're not going to be able to do so yeah a lot of work going on with that but from a charity perspective nothing changed you know I think Rich and Callum touched on it there we try to go the extra mile to help people and this is the most crucial time to do it you know we will have our charity partners in place and we change them every year but we always have of course the Derby MND Foundation is a charity we'll stand right next to us forever as far as I'm concerned and the Bradford Burns unit which from its launch all those difficult years ago has achieved incredible things and continues to help people right across the world. Finally Ryan I realised that fans have had the opportunity to ask you questions to speak to you so I'll give you the opportunity to speak to them what would you like to say to the fans? Oh not a great deal really you know I don't want to promise things I'm not going to deliver you know I think the last couple of games have been pretty disappointing if I'm honest Newport was unfortunate, Carl Isle was disappointing and there was some embarrassment if I'm honest on Tuesday night from our perspective and that's probably a sign of where we've come because if you'd have said to me in December we're going to get back to back defeats against Carl Isle and Scumfort but you're going to be relatively safe in terms of your survival in the division and you actually may be able to see the playoffs I probably wouldn't have believed you so without trying to say that that's me setting the standards it's not but we've come a long way you know I tweeted something after the game on Tuesday night or maybe yesterday and I stand by it you know I thought my focus hopefully is clear for people to see he's fixed mediocrity is not something I have ever understood in any role I've ever had certainly not this one you know I want to be very successful but I want our club to be successful and it will only be achieved if we've got a common goal and we're all in the same page if other people are not on the same page they will not be here it's as simple as that the club has done too many years of getting by ticking over don't get me wrong we need to get by financially but you don't need to get by in your efforts and our work ethic is improving and just generally that you know when I walk through the door in the morning and more and more I'm increasingly more confident of what this off-field operation can provide for our on-field efforts and you know I'd hope our supporters and my main aim is is very simple and you know what I'm glad about tonight we spoke talked a lot about football that in itself tells you how far we are progressing because the fans forum last summer wasn't really about football it was about the quite honest of the future viability of the football club which was putting some major doubt in December and I had major questions myself about that I don't want to ask them questions ever again and I guess that you know I would hope and this is my aim is for when we do have a couple of defeats a draw you know what appears to be a step back if you like it is nothing more than that you know it's a blip in the overall process which is ultimately to get out of this division and succeed as a football club and have sustained success which it had you know in the mid 2010s from around 2010 onwards really that that was achieved because there was an end goal all the time that never moved and you can take a lot from that but you know for me the key is to ensure the support that you know that we don't have to panic there's no meltdown there's no major drama and there is no one at the football club high-fiving anyone off the back of successive defeats in this division far from it you know we I was extremely disappointed by Tuesday night and I won't hide from that and I don't think Mark and Conor were too pleased either but you know we set high we set high standards and if you have high standards you're probably going to do better than you have if you have no standards or very little desire to have any so if that that is generally where I see it I don't I just want us to create you know have something that people combine to and I think if there is something that people can genuinely do with us it's not you know I've reached on something there about almost turning things around with the fans you shouldn't have to you know it should be very they should want to do it with you I don't I don't want to turn anyone around I want them to engage with us and see the end goal and and see how we're slowly but sure they're going to get there and this club's got lots wrong for too long but I'd like to say in the time I've been here I'm trying to demonstrate that you can actually prevent some of that you know you can stop some of that and you can certainly turn the ship in the other direction well we really appreciate your time on this virtual fans forum this evening Ryan I actually think it's been a poignant reminder your backdrop throughout actually as to what that place Valley Parade can achieve when it's got a full capacity ground inside it and we I think I speak for everyone cannot wait to see fans back inside football grounds because I think we can all agree football is about the fans and that's what it's all about really but yeah I mean from my point of view you know that that I have the picture on the wall because every single day it reminds me about what I'm responsible for and it also is a full stadium from the Liverpool game which shows me what the potential of the ground is and that's what drives you forward you know because yeah it is bizarre that we've not had a fan a fan in the ground all season and I stand by what I said for Mark and Connor it must be particularly frustrating that we still haven't had the reception they deserve but I'm sure they'll get it in time and therefore because at the moment we'll be getting us back on a similar track to what we we started moving along January February time well I think light is at the end of the tunnel I know it's a phrase that's been used very often in in recent times but that does conclude tonight's virtual fans forum with Bradford City and ourselves BBC radio leads my thanks go to everyone that got in touch with us on the emails West York to sport at bbc.co.uk your questions have been welcomed indeed my thank you to Ryan Sparks chief executive officer of Bradford City and joint managers Mark Truman and Connor Sellers alongside Richard O'Donnell and Callum Cook as well of course as Louis Reynolds who's been with us from our West York to Sport team here at BBC radio leads and indeed the production team behind the scenes here Johnny Bucking and Richard Biddle thank you for joining us this evening if you would like to listen to the rerun BBC radio leads next Tuesday evening between 6 and 7 pm is when you'll be able to listen to it or indeed I'm told it will be uploaded to the Bradford City YouTube channel afterwards thank you very much for joining us this evening