Bradford City have this morning appointed Michael Collins are their new head-coach. I had to go and double check his name because quite simply I’ve never heard of him. Simon Grayson, a man who would have rebuilt the club left, and Bradford have decided to try a Dave Hockaday impression.
When Bradford and Simon Grayson parted ways six weeks ago it wasn’t great news, the Yorkshireman is a proven way out of the abyss of League One and Bradford began looking for someone to take the club forward. Little could anyone predict that in six weeks they have come up with Collins, (hang on while I google him). So he’s from the under 18’s at Bradford and will have a couple of people with him, already stressing he’s part of “a team” which is worrying. That sort of statement indicates he’s trying to get the pressure off his shoulders already.
✍️ Bradford City are delighted to present Michael Collins, Greg Abbott and Martin Drury as our new coaching team.
Michael Collins will assume the role of Head Coach, with Greg and Martin both joining his staff as Assistant Coaches.
Read more 👉 https://t.co/ygPwwks72w pic.twitter.com/uJkKllT66j
— Bradford City AFC (@officialbantams) June 18, 2018
These appointments do work out occasionally so you can’t say 100% this isn’t going to work but with the fans reaction to this the chances are slim he will have the time to win everyone over because like the Hockaday situation at Leeds United, the fan power will always push the owner to remove the coach, a coach that probably shouldn’t have been appointed in the first place.
Like it or not Bradford are a big club in the football league. They aren’t on the same level as some of the Championship clubs but they have a decent fan base and they should be setting their sights high, ambition is what the fans want and that isn’t what they are getting from the foreign owners. This is now common practice in English football and more times than not foreign owners in the lower leagues don’t get off to the best of starts. This isn’t an appointment that Bradford fans wanted and it’s becoming very apparent that there is issues between the owners and the fans now, that can only go one way.
