Issue Jackson quits as Bradford City boss

As told by Michael Wood

Peter told the board that in light of the poor start to the season, he felt that to resign now would give the club the best possible chance for the rest of the season – Club statement.

Bradford City are looking for a new manager for the third time in as many years after Peter Jackson resigned from the club five games into the season at a board meeting on Thursday afternoon. Jackson is the first manager to leave his post in the 2011/2012 season.

Early reports suggest that Jackson’s resignation is prompted by poor results but – with only four games gone – there seems to be little reason that the ebullient Jackson who has talked at great length about the team he has been building as being “his team” would feel that he could not improve results.

Jackson’s managed Bradford City some nineteen times winning four times, drawing four times and losing eleven. One can only speculate on the reasons why he would leave but that speculation would point to the decision not being planned. Up to the news that Jackson was leaving there was not even a hint that the manager would be exiting the club with both manager and chairmen appearing side by side in the decision making.

Jackson had gone back on his stated aim of building and using a squad with the announcement – from both Jackson and joint-chairman Mark Lawn – that the club were looking at signing loan players and one will wonder what the squad which Jackson assembled will make of their manager leaving after less than a month of the season. Certainly the reactions from the squad point to the departure being far from expected.

Player reactions, via Twitter naturally

Ross Hannah: Gutted about the news that Gaffers gone. He’s a Topman. Didn’t have a clue anything like this was gonna happen…
Nialle Rodney 19: Can’t believe gaffa has gone!!! :(
Ryan Harrison: Confusion is not even the wordd ? Were the fuck did that come from ??? #WTF
Liam Moore: Wow so shocked!! PJ great man gave me my break in pro football. #whathappensnext?
Jack Compton: OMG… WOW did not see that. Mite be back off the Falkirk! Hope not tho.
PaddyLacey17: Madness
Scott Brown: Majorly shocked
Dominic Rowe: Wtf is going on! :s
Ross Hannah: Wtf?????????????

The Bantams begin the process – once again – of looking for a new manager with Colin Cooper expected to take over for the game with Barnet on Saturday. Having had Stuart McCall in situ from July 2007 to February 2010 City have employed Peter Taylor for just over a year and Jackson for some six months from February 2011 to August and naturally questions will be asked about the joint chairman’s involvement in the former City captain’s exit which – at this stage – seems eagerly accepted given the early stage of the season.

Lawn and Julian Rhodes have a plan for improving the club – a plan which Archie Christie was hired to create – and that plan seemed in keeping with Jackson’s experience at Huddersfield Town building a young squad and taking it to promotion but friction between that planning and Jackson’s aims could have been the catalyst for today’s decision either to tender a resignation, or to accept that resignation, or both.

25 comments

Mark Davis says:

Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 17:35

Unbelievable!

All the talk of long-term planning, youth and hunger, seemingly out of the window after a mere four games. The response of the players on Twitter – as presented here by Michael – says it all. Truly, “wtf” is going on!?

One only hopes that there aren’t any health concerns for Jackson and either way I wish him well. He was not my choice to replace Taylor, and I retained reservations about his tactical nous, but the man was undoubtedly enthusiastic, had the club at heart and deserved to be given a proper run at the season.

And if that all sounds as if I think Jacko was sacked rather than tendering his resignation, then it’s because I struggle to believe that Jackson has simply walked away after 4 games, given how desperate he was for the job in the first place.

If there are no underlying health issues (and we should all be crossing fingers), then frankly “Peter Jackson resigns” is not a statement I view with any credibility.

Where now, Mr Lawn?
1. Paul Donnelly says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 17:57
  
  Don’t know if you read the T&A but Lawn stated the L**ds money was spent before the game, was he sticking two fingers up at Jacko, or taking part of his loan back?.
2. Michael Wood says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 18:04
  
  It was going to form a chunk of tomorrow’s preview but Lawn did not say the money had been spent, just that it had gone into the player budget and – for all we know – it is still in that budget. The £100,000 we bid for Vincelot was not spent on anyone else and the only real expense since that bid is the cost of keeping Michael Flynn and Robbie Threlfall who (the aim was) seemed to be on their way out of the club.
  
  Lawn’s not said anything about taking his loan back because – frankly – doing so is a threat to wind the club up and having spent a big chunk of cash buying the offices in the summer saying that he is going to do that is a hollow threat.
  
  As far as I can make out the new manager will have some funds in the player budget.
3. Duncan Kerr says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 21:53
  
  At the fans forum Dave Baldwin said that the £100k was spent bringing Ritchie Jones into the club on a 2 year deal.
4. Michael Wood says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 23:00
  
  On the day that Richie Jones signed City also made a bid for Vincelot from Dagenham and – assuming that that money could not be spent while that bid was on the table – I find it impossible to square a circle that says that the same £100,000 that saw the bid for Vincelot as a result of the Leeds game was spent on Jones.
5. Phil Taylor says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 18:08
  
  On the flip side if what has been reported is true and Jackson already feels that he cannot turn this season around then he himself does not deserve the job. Where is that passion and enthusiasm now?
Rich Copley says:

Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 18:09

I think this episode finally sums up that there is something really badly wrong at the very top at this club, and I can safely say now that our decline over the years to the blue sq bet club we are now is nothing to do with money or the managers, but those who are hiring and firing.

A one year contract for both taylor and jacko was never enough anyway, and in its self makes it hard to manage a club properly when everybody knows that in reality that gives the manager 8 months at the club. Now for somebody like Jacko to resign so early into the season, some heads really need smashing together and this club needs its entire culture changing.

Furious about this.
Paul Smith says:

Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 18:34

Absolutely shocking. Whether you believe the official announcement or not, it is frankly ridiculous and the only people to blame are the board.

If Peter offered his resignation then it was a daft thing to do, and the board should have knocked him round the head and told him he was only four games in and not to be ridiculous.

If there was more to it and he was pressured into it, then that is equally ridiculous for a board to apply such pressure to a manager after just four league games.

Whatever the reasons, my confidence in our ability to do anything other than fight relegation this season, or worse, disappear altogether, is non existent.
1. Phil Taylor says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 18:40
  
  I have a slight problem with this Paul.
  
  If Id have been on the board and my manager after 4 games had handed me my resignation I too would have accepted, call me a fool, call me an idiot. But quite frankly if after 4 games Peter has the attitude that he doesnt feel he can turn the season around to keep him on could adversely affect the teams confidence and morale, knowing that the manager who brought them to the club no longer has faith in them.
  
  It also screams of a lack of desire, motivation and determination, 3 qualities I rate as the most important for any person involved in sport.
2. Mark Davis says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 19:58
  
  This is the nub of the concern I have with the official version of events (and I concede we simply don’t yet know what the truth of the matter is).
  
  But, if your assessment is correct, it seems odd that Jacko’s “resignation” has been accepted because he lacks the three qualities you mention.
  
  One may pick and choose faults with Jackson, but surely the qualities that you do know you will get from him are desire, motivation and determination.
  
  Indeed, these seem to be the most evident talents he possesses, ever the optimist, brimming with enthusiasm and hoping to communicate that to his young squad(s). Jackson’s career has been thwarted in the past by those who felt ultimately that he lacked the tactical knowledge to compete at higher levels, not because he lacked desire.
  
  I’ve never met him in person, but Jacko has never struck me as a man who lacks self-belief!
3. Phil Taylor says:
  
  Friday 26th August, 2011 at 0:29
  
  I wasn’t trying to say that Jacko lacked these qualities on the whole just that his resignation, should the official events be true, would suggest to me that he is lacking those qualities at this time.
  
  Also to further clarify, I am as shocked and as disappointed as anyone, I am usually one of the last persons to criticise the man in the hot seat, just trying to give some reason as to why maybe they accepted the resignation.
4. Neil Myers says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 20:10
  
  There’s no way imo that Jackson would have gone into that meeting with the idea of resigning, for me there’s been a serious argument which lead to Jackson offering to resign, now if that senario has happened, the joint chairmen should have refused to except it. If on the other hand Jacko has just offered to resign ( which in my opinion is not credible) i’d have also excepted for the reasons Phil gives above. Totally gutted….CTID
5. Chris Newell says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 20:13
  
  Whatever anyones reaction to receiving his resignation might or might not have been, how plausible is it that he actually did resign?
  
  The 3 qualities you speak of are ones that I would say Jacko has bags of. I don’t believe for a second that he’s quit after 4 games “for the greater good”.
  
  I have no evidence but from the outside looking in this has got Mark Lawn written all over it, we can debate to death whether he’s a good or bad thing for the club but one thing you can’t deny is that he rubs people up the wrong way. Just reading him in the T&A today I felt like he was arguing and being argessive with me, I can’t begin to imagine what he’s like in person…
6. Michael Wood says:
  
  Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 21:29
  
  It should be noted that both McCall and Taylor resigned but, in the case of McCall certainly, Lawn made it clear that it was a go before being pushed.
George Savu says:

Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 19:19

Ha Ha April Fool! Oh… hang on it’s August.

I was shocked when I heard this today because I don’t think that Jacko should have gone. I bought in to the ‘this year as a development year’ and what I have seen on the pitch reflects that i.e. not brilliant, but not awful. It’s not like we are being massively outplayed and getting battered – the margins have been single goals. If (a big word) we had won on Saturday and Town lost we would have had more points than them in our respective leagues after their unbeaten start to the season.

The word that struck me on hearing the news was ‘stupid’. This is just a stupid way to carry on. I won’t criticise Mark Lawn as he has certainly put more money into City than I ever will but it will be intersting to get the statements on Friday.

Was PT given a year contract on a rolling monthly basis? If i was him I would’ve made them sack me and pay the contract up as I think that this is a pretty shoddy way to treat him.

And we are now back on the merry-go-round. It’s a novelty once in a while but if you’re on it all the time it makes youy feel sick and you want to get off!
john wade says:

Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 20:09

There is an old saying–” a fish rots from the head”. Never has it been more true than with City. I have supported and followed since 1949, but this is the lwest ebb, the last straw.
Maurice Malpas says:

Thursday 25th August, 2011 at 22:00

Lets get Mark Robins in A.S.A.P
1. Jacob Billingsley says:
  
  Friday 26th August, 2011 at 0:35
  
  Let’s get Maurice Malpas in: http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSqTPk_NQkbjBpSN-zlPIUZuWLvrL9uGs2lTxge0jRfGRn-QRPm
2. Neil Myers says:
  
  Friday 26th August, 2011 at 1:18
  
  This might sound like madness but i’ve been studying Bradford through the 19th century recently … the town and city of Bradford were built by the indigenous English, German Jewish migrants and Irish migrants, keeping this in mind.. why not try a German manager. Personally i think it’s time to be thinking outside the box, BCFC have got such massive potential, maybe try something completely different in regards to our next managerial appointment. CTID
3. allan nicholson says:
  
  Friday 26th August, 2011 at 10:24
  
  You have a valid point there, well done.
4. Michael Wood says:
  
  Friday 26th August, 2011 at 10:30
  
  Berti Voghts – the German World Cup winning manager – applied for the City job when Chris Hutchings got it.
5. Neil Myers says:
  
  Friday 26th August, 2011 at 12:45
  
  Another good debate on BFB Michael, …just heard Mark Lawn on Radio Leeds, what he said in regards to the meeting isn’t credible , it seems that out of the blue and under no duress, Jacko offered his resignation, for me that just doesn’t add up. There has got to have been a serious argument which culiminated in Jackson offering his resignation.
  
  In regards to Bradford’s German Jewish connection, i would be seriously looking at getting someone into the club either at boardroom level or coaching with that background. CTID
Phil Taylor says:

Friday 26th August, 2011 at 0:33

Also I just want to add that if the official word is true then in order to stick by the thinking and structure the club have put in place this year Colin Cooper should be appointed, as to minimise the upheaval caused by the arrival of a new manager.
Howard Ratcliffe says:

Friday 26th August, 2011 at 0:43

If you would support a fans takeover of Bradford City Football Club, please sign the following petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/bradfordcity/
1. Michael Wood says:
  
  Friday 26th August, 2011 at 9:25
  
  I’m very much in favour of supporter ownership but I’m not sure how things would have panned out differently had the fans been in charge of City yesterday.
  
  If – reading between the lines – it is the case that the club have set a policy for the future which Jackson cannot live with then would supporters have scrapped their plans because the manager they want wants things differently?