Jacko Resigns

The Bradford City manager wins the sack race and I’m presumably not the only one who’s shocked by this news?

After just 1 point in the opening 4 league games the Bantams had hardly had the most auspicious start to the season but Peter Jackson has today tended his resignation as manager of the club where he started his career as a player.

After a board meeting this morning he leaves the club citing the poor start to the season.

What a strange story.

Having come in on an interim basis after Peter Taylor left the club threatened by relegation Jacko kept us in the football league and was rewarded with the full-time job after he just about got Taylor’s squad over the line.

Amid swirling rumours and uncertainty about the future he saw the club through the close season and started to build a team. A team that many of us hoped would improve on last season’s record of played 14, won 4, drew 3, lost 7.

Over the summer he brought in a lot of new faces and the perennial rebuilding started. As a result the squad haven’t looked much like a team but a collection of individuals as we’ve only added a single point to Jackson’s record in the Valley Parade hotseat.

Whilst some have seen the poor start as a moment to slate the club and attack those new signings the majority have taken the more pragmatic approach that says they need time to gel. That the manager has built a squad and he needs to be given the chance to get things right.

After five games in charge of his own squad it seems Jackson has had enough.

But what else is going on behind the scenes?

Whispers that you might dismiss as being mischievous suddenly start to sound a bit more plausible. That Jacko wasn’t actually picking the side but was under pressure to play certain players.

Or that he had fallen out with some of the clubs key players or, more likely, was not enjoying his working relationship with Mark Lawn.

And what about Archie Christie? If someone is in charge of signing players where does that leave the manager if he can’t get them to play in a way that gets results?

Will he now be the leading candidate to replace Jackson or will we once again spend weeks and weeks and weeks trying to find an alternative.

The season is not even into its second month and already we’re back at square one. Sometimes, actually, most of the time, I’m not sure why I support this beloved club of mine!

Stability? Consistency? Long-term planning? Words that don’t appear to exist in Manningham.

Crikey.