 Brought to you by DIS, keeping companies connected with cloud-based solutions. Come on, City! Stuart, good to chat with you again. Congratulations on the year extension to your contract as manager at the Football Club. It was a pretty significant day of news yesterday. What was your take on what significance it bears for the future of Bradford City now? I'd like to give things, it gives us a little bit of stability going forward. I think I said before, the club had a lot of managers in recent years and like at any football club, if you're chopping and changing, you know, managers enhance, you chop and change players regularly, etc, etc. End of the day we know football is a results-based industry and I supported Julian a few months back and obviously prior to the Covid when I came and took the job, it was on a with a long-term plan railing, a long-term ambition for the football club. It wasn't short-termism but likewise you can sign a five-year deal if you're not getting results and you won't be there long, so everyone understands that. But I think if you're going to be fair and reasonable and honest, which may mean not a lot about that when the results are great, but you know, we had a six-six game before the pandemic came. We still not sort of had a chance to assess all the squad but in pandemic comes, we, as I said before, we don't know if we're getting a salary cap, we don't know what it's going to be, we don't have players are coming in, we don't know what the budget's going to be, so we build the best squad that we can do at that time. And then, you know, there's no doubt about it, you know, the results haven't been what we were hoping for, making it in circumstances definitely, but it's not about the past now, it's about looking to the future and you know, that's what we're certainly doing as a group, as a team, as a football club and hopefully the fans will back into that as well. Now, the dust has somewhat settled on that news, what's your overriding emotion? One of the germination to change the fortunes of the club around and you know, having 18 months to do it and have a few winters to do it, we can look a little bit more long-term. Yeah, I understand in the short term we've got to pick up results and get away from the danger area, we've got 30 odd games to do that if everyone's panicking about that, but you know, we can't be negative in that way in any way, we've got to look forward, look forward to welcoming back and placing the squad, look forward to maybe bringing new additions in in January, certainly in the window in the summer and looking to improve the football club all around and building for the future, so that's the aim, that's the desire, that's the drive, that's the determination, well it definitely doesn't mean it's a success, it's going to be a success, no, but there's people at the club that have got the same ambition and hunger as myself, Ryan being certainly one of them, I listened to his interview on the way home last night on the radio, I actually switched it over from Talk Sport which is a first, but I listened to your interview and I thought Ryan spoke very well and yet there might be shock, amazement, stunness or whatever, but you know I believe it's a, obviously I'm going to say that, but I believe it's a right decision to give somebody an opportunity to bring, build the squad and build the culture and an environment in the club which we're trying to do and we've been trying to do in the last few months. Given the chop and change culture that football's perceived to have in the modern-day climate now, were you at all surprised at the club of, and Ryan that sign of faith? Sorry you just broke up, I'm surprised the club gave us that sign of faith. Yes, yes, sorry. No, because I've had open discussions with Julian and Ryan and I think they're both understanding and certainly Julian when he brought me to the football club, nobody could have foresaw what was going to happen in the summer and it's been difficult, listen management's tough at the best of the times, it's even tougher in what we're going through at the moment and then certainly tougher for us at the minute because of the results, but that's when you need a bit of character and a bit of, you know and I think the club have shown that, have they taken a gamble, who knows, but maybe they've looked at the fact that last time I left the football club I left with the highest win percentage in 37 years, maybe they looked at the fact that when I would have put Motherwell in four years I had there, I left with the most successful win rate of any Motherwell manager, so yeah we're going through tough times, but I think, you know, you look at the bigger picture, I've said this many times before, regarding for something like Paul Jewel, I think he was an absolutely outstanding manager for Bradford City and outstanding manager for Wigan, no doubt brilliant, the best, the best probably one of the best I've ever had, but at Sheffield Wednesday, and at Ipswich and Derby maybe didn't go as good, so there's no guarantees in anything, but I've backed myself to get things right, so that's what I have surprised, not because that's what I wanted to do, I wanted to be given an opportunity, it's easy to chop and change, it's been a bold decision by the club, yeah, but I think one that I'm being backed and for all the people that obviously get in touch with yourself through social media and that, I had three people come down the training ground this week prior to this news yesterday to wish me well, I had somebody drive up to Barrow before the game to wish as well and say there's a lot of good people behind me, I've had letters, texts, emails, everything, so I know there's a lot of people behind me and I've got trust and faith in me, the club have, I've got faith in myself and I'm determined to give it my best shot, now if it doesn't work out, I walk away and I give it a crack, I certainly don't go high under the covers and you stand up, you get through tough times, every club, every manager of tough times, not all of them come out the other side, I get that, but yeah, I'm happy in the fact that what's made me yesterday, not me signing my new deal, to see the likes of Novak, Cook, Hosanna go through back on the training field, that gives me optimism for the future, generally coming up, give us a long-term plan to build for what's coming, yeah, at the moment we know where we are, we're not where we want to be, we're not where the supporters want to be, there's certainly not where I want to be, but that's where we are at the minute and we can't change what's gone boss, what we can do is look to improve in the future and that's what we're determined to do. How nice is it then to be able to draw a line then under what's been a bit of a turbulent recent past for the football club and for you now you can fully focus on the job in hand? Well, just because I signed my new deal, the results are going to improve, you know, I've got, in my mind, which happens my focus because I can look a little bit more long-term, so it don't think from my, in my head, everything's rosy, you know, but I appreciate the faith the club has shown in me and I also, and as I said, I've got a belief and a desire that myself and Ken in, the staff in the group, can be a success at the club given opportunity. Now we've certainly been given an opportunity now and it's up to us to produce a good. Just finally on this, Stuart, just with the January window coming up and there's been a lot of impetus put from yourself already and speaking to Ryan yesterday as well. What message does that send out to the existing players in the group now? Well, I think it sends a message that, you know, if I want to be involved in here, I've got to make sure my performances are consistent when I get an opportunity because we are looking, you know, listen, we're always looking regardless of, you know, what happens. Everyone's looking and every player knows they're playing for it, if they're not playing for a contract here, they're playing for a contract in the livelihood elsewhere. Nobody goes out to perform poorly or whatever or being consistent. But what it does is, all right, listen, this is a manager. If I want to be here, I'm going to give everything I can. People might depart in January, you know, there'll be some incoming and obviously outgoing, but listen, it's up to the players and, you know, they'll crack on, get their heads down and be the best they can be. And listen, I've always said it, you know, as a manager, these two key roles, although they've been diluted in the last few years, is recruitment and getting the best out of what you've got. And that's what we've got to do. With recruitment being such a big factor then, would you be at all open to the possibility of having someone come into aid you in that recruitment in a separate role or would you like to have continuous full control of that? Well, when you say coming in help, I mean, obviously, directors are football for Premiership and Championship clubs, you know, you don't have them. What I have got, I've got close, a scouting balance of people, but I've also got one that a guy that's been helping us out, who I know he knows he's football, but the thing at the moment is, you can't go to games, scouts can't get into games. Now, you know, I know there's been things, stuff mute about a director of football, I mean, we ain't got 30, 40, 50 grand or upwards to spend on that. What we've got to do as a manager, you've got to get in touch with all your contacts, all the scouts, agents, should I say. Again, inundated with things at the moment, but also for us to set out where we want to be, what we're looking for, what players for archaic here that we're going forward, not only price wise, but character, position, what they're good at, what we want from them. And I think, you know, listen, I look at Solford, for example, have they got director, did they need a director of football to bring Henderson from Rochdale, from Clark, from Preston, for Lowe, from Blackburn, from the kid from Man United on loan, to get Wilson down from Aberdeen, who used to be at Man United. No, they didn't need the director of football, because at our level, them players that you're getting, you know, did Bolton need one for Sasevic, Crawford, Delfonso, Doyle, I knew all them, I would have been interested in all them. But the key of the matter is for me, is that I'll know majority players, right, in division, Championship one, two, that coming out of contract, that maybe will fit us. What we haven't got is somebody at the non-legal level, which we'll be looking into. What I have also got is somebody who lose the 23s, hence we got Bryce or Osana, because that's a key area as well. But you've got to use your contacts in the game. I've got a lot of contacts who manages the 23 sides, be it in the northeast, be it local, in the Yorkshire area, be it further afield. So it's about pooling all your resources that you possibly can to do that. Now, I don't need to bring in somebody that to the football club to do that, because I've got, I know people are doing it, actively doing it behind the scenes for me now. They know what position you're on. But as I said, at this moment in time, because of the pandemic, they can't get into C games. But what we've got to do is then, we're getting such a player's agent, maybe, or people are coming out of contact, and put the feelers out, and then get the information back, collect that, and look now, for now, it's a longer term project, then who is going to come in and help us long term? As I say, I'm looking at my board now. For next season, we've got seven players contacted for next year. It's a little bit different to this year when I came back with 15 or 16. Now we've got seven. Now that doesn't make us say that all the rest of the boys in the squad won't be getting new deals. If they want to go out and put performances, half of them might be next season as well, which I would love, because that would mean then we've gone an upward curve, and we started getting results. Presumably, it makes those potential contract talks easier, because there's greater clarity about the future of the football club in that timeframe. Yeah, but we won't be having them discussions for a long, long time yet, as in adding people to contracts. What we'll do, we're going to focus, which we have been doing recently, on January, and they might even be loan deals, but there might be loan deals from clubs, players that are already going to be out of contract in the summer. You get a chance to look at them, and there might be ones that you think, yeah, I think obviously we brought Elliot Watt in from Wolves, which I had at Concerts, I knew, I knew about Elliot. I think he's been a good signing for us, but we'd also look at other players that maybe there's a couple I've got behind at the moment, which other clubs want them as well, but that can come in now, but also with the future that when the contract finishes at the championship clubs, or whatever clubs there are, then we've got a good chance if we get them into the building and do well, and they do well for us, and they like what they see, then we've got a chance of keeping them. So we've got other, in recruitment-wise, we've got of a long-term strategy as well, as in not just look to, or we're in a bit of trouble at the minute, who can we get in, but who's going to really make us better in the coming seasons? You mentioned some existing players there, and amongst all that, are you able to welcome anyone back from your injury list? Yes, yeah, but just as we bring one back to go out, which just seems to be where we are at the moment, unfortunately, obviously Reece coming off the other night, he's had the scam this morning, we're still waiting on results of it, but as he's hamstring, so a few weeks at least, we've got another player that's got injured the other night, a muscle injury, and he isn't available for tomorrow, unfortunately, but we've got Bryce Ozzana back available, we've got Cookie back available, and obviously Evo is back available as well, but also the promising thing is, like I said, yesterday training, Curtis Guthrie's up to 80-85%, Lee Novak's busting a gutter back involved, Cookie's out, Bryce is out, it's just getting more bodies available, but as I said, we want to get more back available, but not keep losing, unfortunately, which we're doing as well. What's the picture with Lee, how close is he, do you reckon? No, it'll still be a couple of weeks, but the thing with him is he's a fit lad, he keeps himself fit, so what we've got to be wary about, he's been out longer than most players, so you can't just rush him back in, he needs a little bit more training, he's not joining me, he does as yet, he's joining me in the physios, he's doing ball work with the physios, he's doing a lot of running, so he's but he's looking, and when you ask him how he's feeling, he's not feeling good, he's feeling great, and that's what we want here, I don't want people being okay, or I feel alright, he's feeling great, he's desperate to get involved, Cook is desperate to get back involved, we need every open running, he needs to get games under his belt, we need Lee Vai to have a little bit more of a open running, get games under his belt, will be better for it, and that goes for a lot of the lads, but you know, the more competition we have, not just in the starting 11, but to come off the bench, the stronger we should be as a football club. How much are you looking forward to tomorrow's game, then Stuart FA cut back an opportunity to get into the third round? Yeah, you know, and that's talked straight away after the Orient game about this, and listen, I don't know if you've noticed recently, but the last home game they got beat home scumthorpe, so you think, struggling, they've now gone away, they lose their first goal down at exit and come back and win 2-1, they lose their first goal at Barrow and go win 4-3, so they've had two terrific away results, on their day they're a very good side, they've been a little bit of inconsistency in there, but we've got a focus on ourselves, but it's a game, I think, as I said with the exit game, it could be an open entertaining game because they certainly like to come out and play it. What we're emphasising to players and hoping for is a defensive performance that we gave at Orient, you know, very solid the other night, as I said, limited them to one attempt on goal, but also the attacking flair that we showed first half, but certainly in the last home game against Exeter, so we've got to get the balance, strong defensively, but not being sitting in being a defensive team, but also go forward and have threats, last two home league games we scored five goals, we've got to look to do, obviously not five, but we've got to look to, you know, create and take opportunities and hopefully as, yeah, we want to progress naturally. Does it present at all a welcome break from the league? I know it's only for a few days, but you can at least just focus your efforts and focus on something else, a different competition? Yeah, possibly. I'm just looking forward to the game, to be honest, and I get what you're saying, there's no pressure on getting points and looking at the league table straight after the game and who's done what. It's more of an excitement of can we get into the next round, can we be sat round on Sunday, Monday, whenever they do the thing and, you know, have a bit of excitement, which I think we all, we all enjoy. So that's naturally the aim, but we're going to have to be, you know, we need to start putting in, you know, really good, solid performances. I think we've been able to take this offer game away from it. The last few weeks has been a lot better and I keep going on, you know, once we get a few more players in, I would like to think there'll be a big improvement in performances. Best of luck for tomorrow, Stuart. Thank you. Cheers, thank you. You said there that several players need minutes and need to get that much fitness. Is that where five substitutes can help you in that you can maybe give them minutes that you wouldn't have given them if it was only three? Yeah, possibly. There's certain players go back in the squad now that could, you know, if we're being cautious, realistic, can probably maybe do 20 minutes off the bench at the minute. We saw the other night, it was going to be a plan to give Rhys and Clarke an hour, unfortunately Rhys got to 53 minutes and although at halftime he felt brilliant, he not felt a thing, he felt good, he wanted to do the full game. With Clarke it was always a decision to bring him off after an hour. So we just got to be a bit careful, but yeah, more substitutes we can make, we maybe can safeguard people who are, you know, fatiguing. Lads who have not had a lot of football recently who might start the game, we know they'll only get 45 minutes, 60 minutes if there's a first bit of football, first test of football for a little while. So again, we're led by the physios in that, but also by the players. Presumably sometimes you have to say to a player, no you are coming off, you might feel okay, but we don't think that you can last the full, or it might have an impact later on. Yeah, and they all understand the script, they all been backing you, you know, at halftime the other night, go give us another 15 minutes and he accepts that and understands that and knows it's best for his body. Nobody's ever happy to come off, but you know, yeah, there's no problem in that. And yeah, we'll just have to monitor it as we go along, but it'd be nicer to get, you know, we are getting bodies back slowly but surely, as I said, unfortunately at the minute, as we get to back, we're losing to and hopefully that can stop soon. Of course amongst all the good news, this week came the bad news that Bradford did the tier three, West Yorkshire's in tier three and won't be allowed any fans at sporting venues. Yeah, listen, I think I'm as a surprise, that's the only thing, you know, if you sat there thinking you might be in tier two, but it didn't come as a surprise, did I think? I always felt, you know, I live near Harigut, I thought Harigut would be tier two. And they'll get some supporters back in, yeah, it's just, it's unfortunate, but we've got to get over this, we've got to go over the next month, get over Christmas and, you know, hopefully in the future soon, you know, we can come down from a tier three, but yeah, I think we knew. But then you look at Liverpool, they've got down with tier two, Manchester tier three, some London tier two, so you just don't know, but it didn't come as a surprise, so it won't, a massive disappointment, although it is a disappointment, but it wasn't a massive shock, should we say. Brought to you by DIS, keeping companies connected with cloud-based solutions. Come on, City!