Marked for Nick Powell
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Sep 2027
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bradford City lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match15 Sep 2027
Blackpool go through and Bradford City go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market20 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bradford City can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bradford City may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match18 Sep 2027
3 matches without a goal for Bradford City
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market20 Sep 2027
Will Swan is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bradford City has been clear about where Will Swan stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Jacob Stewart to a room that had heard them before.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jul 2027
Nick Powell hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bradford City can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Bradford City asked and Sunderland said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad12 Jul 2027
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Max Power
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Bradford City will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
A loan enquiry to Lecce: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market12 Jul 2027
Ibou Touray is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bradford City has been clear about where Ibou Touray stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Bradford City are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 2026
Tyreik Wright hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bradford City can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Bradford City close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
No thanks: Anísio Cabral rejects the move
Bradford City had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Bradford City ran out of time with Rotherham United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Bradford City asked and KV Kortrijk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bradford City, another week without a signature from Jayden Wareham.
Squad7 Sep 2026
10 new faces, and Bradford City are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josh Andrews, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Nick Powell is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Nick Powell has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stoke City have kept their man, and Bradford City go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Aug 2026
The name of Joe Hilton has come up in conversations Bradford City were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad10 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Bradford City know which stage they are at.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Josh Neufville and Bradford City agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Bradford City are still strangers to each other
8 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan move for Jeremía Recoba is in the works
Bradford City have made the call to Las Palmas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Porto: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market10 Aug 2026
Andy Cook told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Andy Cook has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Bradford City.