Reviewing Bradford City's transfer window – part two, what still needs to happen
Yesterday at 03:00 AM
By Jake Verity
In part one Jake assesses the January ins and outs so far.
So what’s next?
If the window was to finish now, I think most fans would be broadly positive. It's definitely been one of our better ones in some time, and the club has acted quickly to bring players in. But, it feels like if we can just make that extra couple of steps, we'll be able to nail down a promotion spot. That's a chance we simply can't let go – the next two weeks really matter.
The big question going into this window was whether we'd see the investment that has been promised for some time. I think you can say on balance, that's happened.
We've bought two players to reinforce the midfield. With Pattison and Sarcevic being our two best players, it makes complete sense we've focused on recruiting players who can deputise for them. Signing Mellon won't have been an easy deal to pull off with plenty of other clubs interested. He probably wasn't cheap either. So, all good on that front. It's more just a case of recruiting in key areas now to make sure that we can finally achieve the promotion we so badly crave.
So I'll outline the three key positions I think we need to recruit for, and offer a sensible idea as to the type of player we should look to recruit. These are based largely on who could be a good fit, rather than any actual speculation. It's useful I think to really consider where the gaps are in this squad, and how we can fill them best.
Goalkeeper
I think many of us would like to see a back-up keeper to challenge Sam Walker. To my earlier point, our attacking options are not just elevated by the players we've brought in – but the competition they create bringing the best out of the players we already have. Which is why I'd like to see us try and bring somebody in to challenge Sam Walker, and hopefully improve him in the process.
Walker is 16th out of all the goalkeepers in League Two in terms of clean-sheets, keeping just five of them in 25 games – a statistic that recently improved following the win against Carlisle. The shot-stopper was arguably one of our best signings last January, going on an incredible run of form and making some really big saves. But, he has struggled at times this season. Take the goal conceded against Carlisle at home this season.
I think neither Colin Doyle, or Zac Hadi are the immediate answer for what we need right now in a promotion race. But also, if we fail to recruit a goalkeeper in the next fortnight, it's hard to know whether it might be the difference between us making it into League One, or not. It feels like Walker is probably fine, and has a good relationship with a fairly settled defence, but the stats would imply a better goalkeeper might actually make the difference.
So, if we are to bring in a keeper, we should make it a short-term loan until the end of the season. It would need to be somebody who can have instant impact, with experience at this level and truly challenge Walker. The trouble is, it's very difficult to do this – because any goalkeeper coming in will want minutes.
We'd need to think this through, because we might need to make any potential incoming between the sticks a permanent deal to attract them here. It's a risky move changing keeper mid-season too.
One option could be Corey Addai. We've not been linked to him as far as I'm aware, but he's the very definition of a sensible signing. He was Crawley's promotion winning goalkeeper last season, and joined Stockport in the summer – with the view seemingly being that he'd take over as their number one. He started every game in League One for Stockport until November, before Ben Hinchliffe, who steered Stockport to promotion the previous season (and won the League Two Golden Glove) reclaimed his place in the starting eleven. He hasn't been dropped since, and Addai has since been stuck on the bench.
Addai came 7th in League Two for clean sheets last season, keeping 10 in 42 games. He's only 27-years-old which is reasonably young for a goalkeeper, and has lots of potential. It's unlikely that Stockport would let him go permanently, as he's probably a ready made replacement for Hinchliffe – though they are competing for Championship football and perhaps he might not be ready for that level.
We could do worse than enquiring for him to join on-loan until the end of the season. If we really want to take a chance, he'd be a smart signing for some money, but I imagine he wouldn't come easily, or cheap. We must have some sort of a relationship with Stockport after signing both Neill Byrne and Sarcevic in the summer, so maybe it’s worth asking whether a deal might be possible.
Centre-back / Defensive midfielder
I think we should only sign a defender if they have obvious qualities that we're lacking, or are a real level above the players we currently have. The sooner than expected return of Callum Johnson (who has plenty of experience at a higher level) strengthens our defence, and actually leaves us in a good position.
Having him back is as good as bringing in a new signing in some ways. If you look across the defence – and their preferred positions, you end up with the following:
RWB: Halliday / Benn
RCB: Baldwin / Johnson
CB: Byrne / Huntington
LCB: Kelly / Shepherd
LWB Richards / Wright
If you look at our trickiest phase in the season, it was when we had four of those players injured (Baldwin, Byrne, Kelly). It's quite rare that you end up with four centre-backs out injured when you play three of the back. Couple that with Sarcevic and Pattison's absence – and it's little surprise we struggled between October and December. I think a reason why we've kept less clean sheets than we should have is probably down to the lack of a full-strength defence.
Our strongest defence is probably the one that started against Carlisle. For me, the best bit of business we could do long-term, would be to try and bring Jack Shepherd in permanently. At just 23-years-old, he'd be a brilliant signing and you'd imagine, ready-made for League One if we can get there. Losing both Romoney Crichlow and Jon Tomkinson the last two seasons has been tough, and I don't think we're quite ready for another great defender to go at the end of the campaign.
But to draw a line under the debate around central defence, I think more competition in the goalkeeping department, coupled with our strongest defenders all being fit would lead to more clean sheets.
If we can bring in a player clearly many levels above, such as Stephen Negru who we had been linked with, we obviously should (and perhaps address the shortage of pace in defence), but otherwise, I wouldn't be too worried. I also think we'd probably need to let Paul Huntington go to bring in a defender – and he's actually been quite good for us. His experience is welcome.
So when it comes to who we should really be looking for, I think we should pay far greater attention to cover for Richie Smallwood. Like Andy Cook, Smallwood is one of few ever-present players over the past few seasons. He's rarely been unavailable, and long may that continue.
I think we'd quickly notice Smallwood's absence should he get injured. He is integral to the highly performing midfield that I mentioned earlier, he is our captain, and over two seasons he has led us to top-ten finishes. For a player who gets a lot of criticism, I'd argue that's not too bad.
It's very hard to find a player like him, who will break up the play and screen the defence. He's now in a role which it's taken far too long for us to fully operationalise him in. It's no coincidence he's played this role in higher divisions. For too long, he partnered a makeshift central-midfielder in Alex Gilliead and we expected too much of him. He's not a ball-playing midfielder. Since changing his role, he showed his quality in the latter part of last season and has continued to do so this year. He has some of the highest ratings in the division this year.
The player we really should have tried to bring in to replace him, would have been Ryan Croasdale who left Stockport for Port Vale. But then again, I think Sarcevic was a better signing for what we needed to add to our midfield in the summer, given we already have Smallwood.
A smart signing here would be Ben Woods from Accrington. At 22-years-old, he's still developing, he has four goals and two assists from 19 games, and ranks highly for the most interceptions in the league. He also takes free-kicks for Accrington, and scored one recently too.
Invest the money, and you might have a long-term replacement for our captain. Given Accrington are struggling, there's a good chance he might want to come to us.
Striker
Our options up-front now are Kavanagh, Mellon and Oliver. So it's fair to say we need to bring in a new striker. Alexander has recently made it clear that he thinks we're well stocked in this department, but I wonder whether he's doing that so that clubs don't over-inflate prices for any strikers now we have Mellon. Very smart, if so.
I think we need a different kind of striker to Mellon and Kavanagh. Somebody who offers a different option, and enables us to operate in a different formation – be it through more direct football, or can make an impact off the bench. I've talked tirelessly about Michael Cheek who is the obvious one, so I won't do that anymore.
A few goals could be the difference between another year in this division, or finally reaching the division above. So, this is where the investment really matters.
Smart signings aside from Cheek would be:
- Danilo Orsi at Burton Albion. They look all but likely to come down anyway, he has several goals in League One this campaign and scored 19 in League Two last year. Offer him the opportunity to go straight back to League One with us, a decent deal for Burton and it's possible.
- Harry Smith at Swindon. He has 10 goals in 20 league games for the struggling side this season, offers something different at 6ft 5in, and got 11 in 37 for Sutton the year before. He wouldn't be a starter ahead of Kavanagh or Mellon, but when we're chasing a game, he might be useful.
- Danny Johnson at Walsall. He's surplus to requirements there and doesn't play very often. He scored 12 in 22 on loan at Walsall a couple of years ago, and again offers something different. I should also say that the last player we signed who had played for Tranmere, Mansfield and Walsall in his early thirties worked out quite well for us.
To close
I think the club has done a good job in this window so far. We just need to take that extra step, to make sure that this truly is a fantastic season. What we can be sure of, is that there's been a real improvement in how we have approached this transfer window. There's proactiveness, and a clear focus on the type of players we want to sign.
I hope we can use the positive mood around the club to keep strengthening the relationship between fans and the club off the pitch too. Although it is good that the club are starting to communicate more frequently with supporters, it was a shame to see the recently announced fans forum wouldn't take place in-person. I hope this can be reconsidered. I'm sure many fans would agree that they'd like to praise the club when things are going well, as equally as we want to challenge them, when it isn't.
Because good results help us to rebuild the relationship between the club and fans (which has been strained at times in recent years). But they shouldn't be seen as a panacea. There were reasonable frustrations being leveled at the club before Christmas. A strong transfer window and good run is certainly helping to ameliorate those, but meaningful communication by the club to fans could really elevate this from being a good time to be a Bradford City fan, into a becoming great one. Enough on that for now.
We all want to see this football club get out of this division, and we have a great opportunity to do so. We are in a strong position in the league, with a good squad and manager. This has been a good transfer window so far, and there's every chance it could be an even better one with a few extra additions.
So, let's see what the next couple of weeks bring. A match against top of the league Walsall at Valley Parade is the best opportunity that we could ask for to show we really are serious contenders for promotion. We have won eight games at home this season, they have won seven away – it's hopefully going to be a fantastic advert for the division, and one where we'll come out with a huge three points.
But promotion won't be won, or lost this weekend. It will be as a result of decisions we make in the next two weeks. So let's hope they are good ones.
