 Brought to you by DIS, keeping companies connected with cloud-based solutions. Come on, City! Mark, good to chat with you again. I'll start with a story that's been circulating on social media that seems to be gathering some traction. Rumours that Danny Rowe has left the football club and will be joining Chesterfield. What is your knowledge of that situation? My understanding that Danny is on his way to Chesterfield but no deal has been confirmed at this moment in time. What's the nature of said deal from your understanding? It's obviously going down for medical. We've had a number of conversations with Danny over the past couple of weeks. We had a positive conversation yesterday about him being in our plans but unfortunately Danny's shown a real intent to leave the football club. We're not going to stand in Danny's way. We want to thank him for his efforts but we've got to move on. We've identified some targets for the summer. Some are more attacking players which will allow us to play a more expansive type of football but it's all about getting the right players in the building to allow us to do that. With the nature of the positive conversation that you had with Danny recently and then his seeming intent to leave the football club from your understanding. Do you feel that down by Danny Rhoad? Like I said Danny's done well when he came in to the football club and got us out of a position where we were struggling and obviously the injury to Lee Novak at that time. If Danny's made that decision like I said we've had a few conversations with him. He was in our plans to go moving forward but if somebody doesn't want to be at Bradford City we're not going to stand in Danny's way with regards to that. Has there at all been a relationship breakdown mark between yourself and Danny in the football club? No, not at all. Danny's been a good professional while he's been in the building but obviously he's not right for him in his opinion. So that's his decision to obviously move on. You spoke about identifying targets in the summer. Was that communicated to Danny when you had those conversations? No, these are obviously targets that we've been monitoring and we looked at identifying and bringing to the club hopefully in a positive recruitment in the summer. Myself and Connor want to play in our expansive attractive football. We want to score more goals but to allow us to play in different shapes, systems etc. We need the right people to play in them systems. We were honest with Danny and wanted him to stay at the club and he was a part of our future. We wanted him to be but like I said if he doesn't want to be at this club then that's his decision and we're not going to stand in his way. Given his recent absence from the side is it a case then of his qualities as a footballer maybe not suiting the direction in which you want to take perhaps the city football club yourself and Connor? Like I said these conversations happened. Danny knows that we were in this position where we could play different systems etc. He was going to be a part of that but we've just got to move on now as a football club and for me and Connor and the club I feel it is going to be exciting times moving into the summer window and looking to bring fresh faces into the building that's going to improve this football club. Final question on Danny Roe's situation. Mark, when did you learn of Chesterfield's interest? Obviously for me today was where the conversation was held that Danny was interested in going there so all I can say is that today was when I found out about the information that Danny wanted to leave to go to Chesterfield. Rwy'n gwych chi'n meddwl yna, that surprised me somewhat that news. Yeah it did because obviously like I mentioned before we've been having positive conversations with him and it was a little bit of a surprise to us but like I said we want people at this club who want to play for Bathford City. Those targets then I'm sure one of those will be Andy Cook given his form this season. Of course he's not your player, only you're known until the end of this campaign. Does that now put more importance on trying to secure his future as a Bradford City player from Mansfield? As I said to you before Jamie that Andy Cook has been great for us since signing is causing problems to defence and is a great character within the group and obviously Andy is performing well so he obviously will be a target that we're looking to try and bring to the football club. It almost works in time wise with the potential return of Lino. I know you suggested that on Tuesday evening are you in a position to offer any clearer time scale on when he could be back fit and available for you? Yeah Lino Vaq could be in the squad this weekend. We'll see tomorrow how he is but he's had a good training this week so hopefully it gets passed off and it can be involved in the squad this weekend. Is he part of your long term plans Mark? I realise he's out of a deal this summer? Again Lee's been massive for us early on in the season before obviously he picked up his injury. Lee has done everything in his powers to get back earlier probably than expected and we've got to assess Lee over his next couple of games how he is but again he's a good character to have in the building and obviously offers a lot of qualities. I was going to ask you about that character so we're all aware of his qualities on the field but I know he was such a big character on that run that you had over the festive period. How valuable is that for you to have back amongst the squad if he's available? Yeah when you've got someone like Lee back in the changing rooms he is that voice especially for the younger players who they really look up to and he's a winner he wants to win football matches and like I said he's a good character within the building and he obviously shows his qualities when he's on the pitch. In terms of other team news how is Billy Clark do you know any more about his situation now? Billy's been for a scan today so we'll get the results probably this evening and then we'll be able to give you some further notice on Billy Clark. Does that rule him out for Saturday or is it still too early to say? Yeah because he's got his scan obviously he hasn't got his results back it's likely that he won't be involved in a squad this week. Anything else to report on that from any of the knocks on Nurgle's to come from Tuesday? No obviously Clark he was the only one which I spoke to you after the game and I'll obviously potentially lean over that to return. Going back to Tuesday night and the performance and the result of course there was a lot of disappointment naturally after the result to reflect on it. Mark what are your thoughts and feelings after the game? Yeah you know my reflection now from after watching the game we've probably haven't done enough to win that football match yes the comments I made after the game we did control the game we did have a lot of possession but possession without purpose don't win your football matches and I'm big enough to admit that we didn't create enough chances on goal I could see the frustration in the fans and obviously what you related back to me and it's up to us now to we know we're in a position where we can probably try different things and look to experiment a little bit with the squad to allow us to potentially create more chances and find different ways to win football matches. You've used the word that I have written down on my left hand side which is experiment now that you've got these games left remaining in the season is it an opportunity like you say for you to try to have consistent formations maybe even some of the younger players like George Secor or Connor Schrantz maybe? Yeah you know this is kind of a position we've found ourselves in people can look at it as a positive or negative you know these players those coaching staff we didn't just let them sleep get into the playoffs we've got ourselves in a position and we are more disappointed than any fan I guarantee that but we've got to now look to the future and if that's to experiment with the squad slightly to get to know the characteristics of these players and can they play in these different systems which may have been training that they're not sure that at times it does work but now we're in a position at this point in the season where we can be a little bit more creative in that and obviously I've mentioned it before to really in this conversation that me and Connor are coaches who want to play attractive football want to score goals but we identified earlier on in the season that we was leaking goals when we got into the job we made it as harder to beat and I think we did that and we were winning games playing that way now we're in a position where can we do both can we be more expansive by taking a little bit more risks at the back although it is still mathematically possible I think we're all under the understanding that it might not be the case in the playoffs this season with that in mind then do you have any regrets over the last few games or I think I think obviously we will reflect on the season and the games and could we have done different things potentially yes on the other side you know this kind of way of playing this kind of how we identified this group of players to play in a certain system which allowed us to win so many football matches you know or something that we did stick with we did try and change it slightly, tactically within games it might not look like that on a piece of paper when a team comes out 4-2-3-1 or another formation et cetera but we did try and try different systems and different ways of playing but you know sometimes it doesn't work for you within the game How much have you learnt about yourselves you and Conor over this period because it's come from the real highs to the lows to where we are now yeah we've learnt a lot we've learnt a lot about the players in the building we've learnt about the types of systems and what works and what doesn't and the key to that is having the right personnel to allow you to play in a certain way we've got Colin Cook back now who does allow you to play in different formations because of how versatile he is as a player and what strengths he adds to the team I think it has been said about Cookie and he's been a big miss I think any team in League 2 and above would miss Colin Cook with his qualities that he's got you saw last night that he can break lines of his passing, he can play forwards he's brave to play forwards we have missed Colin Cook we've tried different things to try and fill his position try different systems try different personnel but he is a key player for us at this moment in time what we've got to do in summer is to identify players that if we do lose a Colin Cook for whatever reason injuries etc that we've got other personnel who are similar to Cookie who can help us win football matches we spoke to Ryan before the game on Tuesday evening and he spoke a lot about that position, that number 10 and he spoke a lot about the hard work that is ahead for this summer ahead of next season how much work is going in then from your side of things both you and Connor in the preparations for that summer and indeed the recruitment drive there I'm sure awaits you I mentioned it in a January wind it's ongoing for us we are relentless in our work it's the recruitment side with Lee and Ryan we are identifying targets I think we want to be exciting footballers to the team can we get that balance next season of being hard to beat but also being more attacking more attractive and scoring more goals yes I think we are in a position where we want to bring them to the club I'm excited I know the coaching staff this season is not over it's great for us now to see these players that we've already got in the building and see them in different kind of systems and different positions as well which you'll probably see over the next four or five games away from the recruitment drive side of things Ryan did also talk about improving the footballing department off the field earning those extra percentage points earning those extra 20 points where do you see in the footballing department improvements need to be made given that you've been in the club now for a good period of time one thing that Ryan does is he looks at the club as a whole he looks at not just the stuff at the ground but he looks at the training ground he looks at maybe members of staff that he feels that could benefit us give us the best chance of succeeding next season that's what we want to do we want to succeed next year we want to be in a position where we've not left ourselves too much to do early on in the season we want to start bright we want to build something and there will be members of staff etc there will be changes to the training ground these are all things that others collectively as a team have identified and want to improve I'm sure for you that hard work starts on Saturday away at Port Vale as opponents what do you make to them because in contrast to Crawley and Harrogate and Tram here who are all coming in on winless runs these guys are beating in 8 Yeah another team who's probably hit format at a good time probably when we dipped off form it's been unfortunate for us but Port Vale are a good team they are scoring goals they look to get the ball into the box as much as possible and use the aerial threats and the bodies around high up the pitch they get a lot of bodies as quick as possible high up the pitch and around the box so we've got to be defensively strong talking about being more attractive and want to score more goals but teams obviously offer another threat Tram here offered us a threat and we thought we nullified that the other day but we didn't create enough chances going the other way and on reflection we needed to do more we needed more from certain individuals we needed more collectively as a team and we'll try and address that going into Port Vale Finally from me Mark just what's the mood amongst the camp being like over the last couple of days the mood has always been good the confident group obviously after the games we are disappointed as the players and the staff but you've got to pick yourself up and go again when we are on a positive run I don't think nothing has changed really in terms of the morale in the game I don't think nothing has changed really the morale in the camp we are a positive group we made a positive change when we came into the building and we tried to be positive as much as possible when standards drop we need to let the players know but we've got to compete and try and finish as strong as we can this season and yes we can experiment a little bit more and start to see different sides of these players and you know and see them in different systems etc so everything's obviously not over this season but we want to look positive and look to the future and look to start next season as bright as we can Best of luck for Saturday Mark Appreciate your time Thank you You mentioned Calum Cook there How did he come through today Will he be fit enough to start on Saturday? Potentially I think I said it after the game it was important that we didn't throw him into 90 minutes because you can lose your players that way but Calum's kept himself very fit he came on the other day and he got through that fine so we'd be definitely looking to extend Calum's minutes Probably good enough to start but maybe not ready to do the full value to you Potentially There is an option to start Looking at recruitment and situations like that Is it a case now that you can maybe bring forward discussions on the contracts of players that you already have? I think we've always looked to make these decisions at the end of the season that was discussions with the players so we'll stick by that and we'll look to obviously make them decisions in the next couple of weeks For the sounds of it you clearly have a plan of how you want the team to look next season We want to improve the squad that's key we've got some very good players in the building and we just want to add to that and add different types of players to the squad which is going to give us that kind of option to play in different ways OK, thanks very much Good luck on Saturday You were saying just there to Pete and Jamie about getting players in who can perhaps adapt to different systems Is it like frustration that people have pigeonholged you to? Is it like a pair that only want to play 4, 2, 3, 1 and that's perhaps all you can do That was a formation that we identified for this group of players and obviously it worked earlier on We are coaching staff team who want to play who have played attacking football we've played 4, 4, 2 we've played 4, 3, 3 a lot with the youth team etc and past clubs so I think it's wrong to nullify to obviously think that we're just 4, 2, 3, 1 Hopefully in the next couple of weeks you will see kind of us experimenting and seeing if these players can can do it in different formations and then we can really look at kind of how we can set up next season I was going to say so presumably this season almost been a horses for courses in the sense of getting the job done from where you were when you started which was all about, as you say, tightening things up and just doing what you can to get those points on the ball, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah, you know I said it to Jamie there that on reflection we didn't test Tramio enough they did really well but I'm frustrated more than anybody that we didn't create enough chances to have enough shots on goals but we need to win football matches and if that means we've got to try different systems next season but I'm a big believer that you need the right players to play different systems and you're probably going to lose more games than win if you don't have the right players in certain systems Does that in a way broaden the parameters a little bit for the summer recruitment because perhaps you're looking at certain players who can play this way or certain players can play that way or to what system you've been adopting so far? Yeah, exactly that I think obviously the nucleus of the team at the moment who are contracted for next season I've played 4-2-3-1 I'm sure that they can compete and they can win football matches in a 4-2-3-1 so we know that now is a formation that these players can play in but we need to have the right personnel in the building that is something different we can offer something different to us that allows us to probably add our spin of being more attacking and being more expansive and want to win football matches by going and putting 2-3 past teams Yes, we did it against Forest Green but that was a game where we had a game plan to counter on them we want to score more goals from playing through and playing over and playing attractive football And obviously going back to Lee Novak we've spoken several times about the importance he has around the place at this stage of the season where people are probably a bit disappointed that you're going to probably dip out in the playoffs it's a timely boost if you can get Lee back because you remember again as we've said what an impact he can have on the squad Lee is like I say he's a big character but he's also got a lot of qualities he can have good people and he's highly respected from the players around him from other staff he works so hard as a footballer every day in training and obviously when it comes to game day he's got a lot of qualities that he can bring to the squad Brought to you by DIS keeping companies connected with cloud based solutions Come on City