Derek Adams on Bradford City

[Piethagoram]

https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportlatest/23898887.derek-adams-discusses-bradford-citys-lack-structure/

"

Adams discussed the financial implications that City face playing at a ground owned by former chairman Gordon Gibb’s family pension fund.

“To be fair to the CEO Ryan Sparks, he has spent the club’s money on getting new seats for the stadium,” he added.

“They have to spend £500,000 on rent each year just to start the season. They then have to do all the maintenance on that stadium as well and it’s not easy.

“The best advice I could give to a Bradford City supporter is support your manager through thick and thin and eventually you might get through that."

...

That's probably 2000 season ticket revenue just for the rent

[DangerousSausage]

That's a big chunk out of their playing budget right there. I don't think that kind of sum is unusual for clubs that rent their grounds either.

It makes you realise how well off we are. If I remember rightly (this is going back to the Trust days so don't quote me), the rent we pay to the Haydn Green estate depends on the league we're in and is about 10,000 for L2. The estate would only make a profit on it if we reach the Premier League (or maybe the Championship), otherwise it simply covers what the estate pays to the council. It's an unusual arrangement but it works well for us and keeps asset strippers away. 

[Piethagoram]

@DangerousSausageI seem to recall that under the lease from Trustees of Haydn Green, we could possibly have lost the ground if we had been relegated to Nat Lge North or South... The perceived peppercorn rent we pay, does give us a £ advantage over maybe other clubs

[DangerousSausage]

I think they never set a rate for below the Conference because they never envisaged us dropping that low @Piethagoram. With the council involved, turfing us out would be politically toxic in those circumstances (unless we'd actually gone into liquidation or something).

Either way, Bradford's experiences show that we're very lucky indeed! 

[Chris]

Seeing Mark Hughes manage a League Two team seemed weird, but on paper it looked good.

They need to bring in someone who is good at managing in difficult circumstances, whilst keeping a tight-knit squad. Bradford really should be doing better, as they do have a decent squad in my opinion. Hopefully, things will improve for them in time.

[liampie]

it explains why they are not doing as well, they might have used that money to bring in players under different circumstances. i wish them all the best, i think the efl and fa should make rules that make it harder forum bad owners or previous ones.