Bradford City's retained list offers encouraging signs of a settled squad for next season – but other departures may follow

01/05/2024 23:24

By Jason McKeown

As with all things about Bradford City right now, there are mixed readings to take from the annual retention list announcement that sees 11 players released, three out of contract members offered terms to stay at the club for next season, and four others having clauses activated that mean they will remain at Valley Parade.

On the positive side, we can certainly see evidence of lessons learned and smarter decisions over the more recent contract deals. Since 2022, there has been a regular approach of signing players on two-year contracts, with an option to extend it a further year (in the club's favour). It means that at times like this, City are in a very strong position to keep the players they want.

Compare this to two years ago, and the failed close season efforts to persuade the out of contract and very much wanted Paudie O'Connor, Elliot Watt and Charles Vernam to stay on, who all turned down offers and moved on elsewhere for free.

They were not easy to replace, with O'Connor moving on to become an important part of a progressive Lincoln City – he has been rumoured to be the subject of Championship interest for his performances at Sincil Bank – and Watt greatly impressing at Salford City, especially in 2022/23 (injuries disrupted him in 2023/24). Watt has decided to leave Salford this summer and seems destined to be playing in League One next season. Vernam's post-City career has been less successful, but you suspect that – had he stayed at Valley Parade – he’d have fared pretty well in Mark Hughes’ 2022/23 side.

Losing all three hurt City to varying degrees, and since that summer ‘with an option’ has become a common feature in the contracts of new players brought into the club. It means the Bantams are not only in greater control of who stays and who goes, they don't have to potentially face difficult negotiations and agree to hefty pay rises to retain their best players. And that already puts the club in a better position to plan for next season.

So what's the negative side of things? Well it's not really connected to the players out of contract this summer. It's about some of the ones tied up on longer deals, when they don't seem to be part of Graham Alexander's plans. As much as the City manager will be very happy he can definitely still call upon the services of Andy Cook, Tyler Smith, Sam Walker, Ciaran Kelly, Calum Kavanagh, Alex Gilliead, Alex Pattison, Clarke Oduor and Jake Young, he might be less enamoured by the fact a large portion of his overall playing budget is taken up by others he does not appear to want.

This includes Timi Odusina, back after a loan spell at Woking in the National League, with another 12 months on his City deal. Odusina has not kicked a competitive ball for the Bantams since December 2022. If Alexander was interested in using Odusina, you assume there would have been a recall option he could have exercised last January.

There's also Ash Taylor, brought in last summer on a three-year deal. Taylor has not figured since January's 2-0 defeat at Swindon and hasn't been mentioned of late. Has he been injured? Is he just not fancied? Given the largely excellent performances of the back three since February, Taylor – who will be 34 in September – faces a fairly uncertain future.

Other contracted players not exactly at the forefront of Alexander's plans are Kevin McDonald (he last featured in the 3-0 defeat at Harrogate in March), Adam Wilson (also last seen in the Harrogate game, with zero starts – league and cup – under Alexander), and Vadaine Oliver (loaned to Stevenage for the second half of the season, one start under Alexander before that, last appearing at Colchester in January).

That's five arguably unwanted players, when the manager is on record several times saying he doesn't want a large squad. Odusina, Taylor and Oliver all signed three year deals when they joined (as did Tyler Smith). They were perhaps more in demand at the time. Meaning that City weren’t able to successfully negotiate the two-year-with-an-option-to-extend type of deal they have typically favoured. And instead, in order to land their signatures, three-year deals were agreed.

Questionable signings happen at every club. There's no way everyone can work out. But at times over the last two years it has felt like City have taken some random punts with a high risk of failure. And in doing so they’ve tied people up on long-term deals that suit the player more than the manager and club.

It's fair to assume that some of the focus this summer is going to be on moving on some or all of these players. With the possible exception of Wilson, where you can maybe argue some mitigating circumstances that mean he shouldn't be written off, it's difficult to see any of these players having a positive future at the club next season. 

It all means that the departures of Liam Ridehalgh, Harry Chapman, Luke Hendrie and Finn Cousin-Dawson (plus a host of young players), following the retained list announcement, are unlikely to be the last player exits this summer.

The news Brad Halliday, Bobby Pointon, Richie Smallwood and Sam Stubbs are to stay is generally good news. I think most supporters would agree with these players having a big part to play next season, and there's not too much else to add at this stage. Richie Smallwood is a talking point for sure. From Alexander’s point of view though, he learned at the end of the season the importance of having a defensive midfielder to break up play and provide balance for his forward players to push up the pitch, and he discovered his captain could perform this role on his own very well. The struggles of the club to find such a player, post Jim O’Brien, would mean we should be cautious against believing good holding midfielders are easy to find. I can’t say I’m overjoyed we’re keeping Smallwood, but it’s not terrible news.

As for the Jamie Walker, Matty Platt and Colin Doyle, who have been offered new deals, we’ll no doubt talk about them in more detail before next season begins.

Of the departures, there won't be too many complaints either. Liam Ridehalgh brings to an end three years at Valley Parade that haven't been hugely successful for club or player. Ridehalgh was a good solid left back who never let anyone down, and his performances were generally more than acceptable. The big question, throughout his time, however, was whether a club with ambitions of reaching League One needed someone more specialist in this position.

This was especially evident this season, with the move to wing backs and a need for City to have players who could get up and down the pitch quickly, attacking and defending well in equal measure. Ridehalgh was a solid defender and a good crosser of the ball, but he struggled to provide the attacking thrust of taking people on and stretching opposition backlines. Compared to when Lewis Richards, Alex Gilliead and Tyreik Wright took this position, City's left side of attack was always more slow and limited when Ridehalgh played.

A decent signing for sure. His attitude was always good. But at 33-years-old, and with with 3-5-2 likely to be continued, Ridehalgh just isn’t the solution for what Alexander needs. Don’t be surprised to see him rock up somewhere like Halifax Town.

Matty Derbyshire's exit is also of no great shock. The 18-month deal he signed in January 2023 looked like another odd punt – six months would have made a lot more sense. Over the second half of 2022/23, Derbyshire did a good job off the bench in supporting the front players like Andy Cook, but he wasn't going to push the dial upwards too much. When he played this season, he looked slow and ineffective. Just 217 minutes of action in league and cup, to go with the 308 minutes the season before. His last outing was as an 89th minute sub against Crawley in January – the score 2-2 at the time, only for City to end up losing 4-2.

Luke Hendrie leaves the club too, after just 16 minutes of action for City this season. A good sensible pro who never lets anyone down, Hendrie's utility status meant he was always back up at best, and with a lot of defenders signed last summer he was well down the pecking order. After a season on loan at Hartlepool disrupted by injury, Hendrie should find a National League club no worries and hopefully play for many years to come. There is nothing to wish towards Hendrie other than the very best of luck.

Harry Chapman heads off after two years of showing real potential but never fully living up to it. He has been unlucky in many ways. Unlucky in his first season that an injury to Jamie Walker meant Chapman was asked to play number 10 for half of a season, which didn’t fully seem his best position. Unlucky to get injured at Swindon in last season’s run-in, where he was badly missed as City ultimately fell short. Unlucky to still be injured for the first half of this season, only returning after a change of manager to someone clearly not a big fan of wingers. Unlucky that he was never given a run in the team by Alexander, and so couldn’t get into his full rhythm.

On his day, a brilliant player for sure. So brave, bold and creative. Chapman is the sort of player you can see popping up at another League Two club, never getting injured and playing really well – leaving us all wondering what might have been. Hopefully he does just that. He seems like a really good bloke.

Also released is Finn Cousin-Dawson – who didn't even have a squad number this season, but who has done well in non-league circles and will surely find something. He is a player of potential and might very well one day make it back into the EFL. He needs regular football for sure, and it's hard to see how he gets that at City anytime soon.

And so, some of the pieces of the jigsaw for next season have become clearer. The waiting and seeing begins over whether players who have been offered new deals definitely sign up, and whether some of the contracted but unloved back up City players can fix themselves up elsewhere.

Whatever new faces are announced to be joining Bradford City this summer, keep a close eye for the fine print detail over whether the club continues to agree to insert the potentially useful “option to extend” into the deals it makes.