Next Bradford City Manager Odds

Former Arsenal and England international Sol Campbell is the favourite for the Bradford City managerial role at the odds of 15/8.

The 46-year-old hasn’t had a job since leaving Southend United following their relegation to League Two last season. Campbell won just four of his 23 matches in charge of Southend but was unable to sign players In the January transfer window as the club had a transfer embargo, which significantly hampered the progress of the side. The Shrimpers also sold many of their key players during this period.

Campbell’s best managerial spell came at Macclesfield Town in the 2018/19 season, as they were one of the favourites to be relegated from League Two. When the former Portsmouth man took over at the Moss Rose based side in late November, they were five points adrift of safety in the league. Campbell oversaw his side winning eight games, as well as drawing 12 in 30 matches. Macclesfield drew 1-1 away at Cambridge United on the last day of the season, which was good enough to keep the club in League Two. Just before the start of the following campaign, Campbell left the club via mutual consent as the club was in financial turmoil.

This move is highly likely to happen, as Campbell has managed around this level before and shown what it takes to succeed, he has previously managed two financially unstable clubs so the former England international is yet to be able to show his full potential as a manager.

Jonathan Woodgate has only had one senior managerial role, which came at his boyhood club Middlesbrough.

The former Real Madrid defender took over from Tony Pulis at the Riverside for the start of the 2019/20 season deeming that he was going to bring more attacking and expansive football to the club. This didn’t go well, as Woodgate was sacked after 38 matches in charge of Boro, winning just 22% of his games in charge, with nine wins in 41 games.

A move to Bradford City wouldn’t be much of a step down due to Woodgate’s managerial reputation taking a serious dent following his spell back at Boro, hence why he is priced at 5/1 to get the job at Valley Parade.

Paul Hurst is next on the list of candidates to take charge at Bradford, with the former Ipswich Town manager having vast amounts of experience in and around the football league at Grimsby and Shrewsbury Town.

Hurst has been without a job since being sacked by Scunthorpe United last January, following just 12 wins in 38 matches at the club. The former Rotherham left-back has got a lot of good experience in the football league pyramid, as he got Grimsby Town promoted into League Two in 2016, following a National League play-off final win against Forest Green Rovers, before consolidating Grimsby as a League Two side.

The successes at Blundell Park then prompted Hurst to take the vacant managers role at Shrewsbury Town following Micky Mellon’s departure from Meadow Lane to takeover at boyhood club Tranmere Rovers. Hurst took over Shrewsbury with the club sat at bottom of the League One table in October 2016 before guiding them to an 18th placed finish at the end of his first campaign. The following season, despite Shrewsbury being predicted as one of the favourites to be relegated, saw the club defy all odds, reaching the EFL Trophy final and League One play-off final, agonizingly losing both. Hurst gained a lot of recognition for this, as well as the fact he has a good eye for young emerging talent, having had Dean Henderson, Daniel James, Max Lowe and Ben Godfrey on loan in his time at New Meadow.

All of these achievements as listed above should’ve led to Hurst having a really good reputation in the football league, but upon getting his chance at managing in the Championship at Ipswich Town, his reputation did take a serious hit after winning just once in 15 games, with the shortest managerial spell in Ipswich’s history, followed by his sacking at Scunthorpe. A move to Bradford would not be out of the question, as Hurst is a talented manager that needs another chance to put his name back on the map, and is priced at 6/1 to become the Bantams’ new manager.

Former Huddersfield Town and Lincoln City manager Danny Cowley is next on the list at 8/1 to succeed Stuart McCall.

Cowley is best known for his incredible time managing Lincoln City, where following a six-year absence from the football league, he managed to earn promotion with the Imps in his first season, winning the National League title with two games to spare. On top of this, Lincoln became the first conference side to reach the FA Cup quarter-finals in over a century, beating the likes of Brighton, Ipswich Town and Premier League outfit Burnley along the way.

The following season saw Lincoln consolidate their status in League Two, winning the EFL Trophy along the way with a 1-0 win against League One side Shrewsbury Town in the final, which was the Imp’s first-ever appearance at Wembley. Cowley then managed to top this by leading Lincoln to the third tier of English football for the first time since 1999 as City won League Two in 2018/19 with an impressive tally of 85 points, six points ahead of second-placed Bury.

Having had an impressive managerial stint at Lincoln, Cowley was highly touted by a lot of clubs and it was Huddersfield Town who came calling, with the recently relegated Premier League side struggling at the bottom of the Championship in September 2019. The Terriers had lost several key players from their time in the top flight which was a huge factor for the club’s struggle. During his time at the John Smith’s Stadium, the former Braintree manager did win EFL Championship Manager of the Month in October having gone six games unbeaten. Cowley did what was expected of him, which was to keep the club in the Championship, surprisingly following a 2-1 win against promotion-chasing West Brom, Cowley was sacked and has remained without a job since this happened last July.

It would be quite a shock to see Cowley go to Bradford City, as he is highly thought of, due to having never failed in his managerial career, so ideally, he would be more suited to a move to a League One club or perhaps be given another opportunity in the Championship, hence why he is priced at 8/1 to go to Valley Parade.

Graham Alexander is a highly thought of manager in the Football League. The former Scotland international was sacked at Salford at the start of the season in early October, despite being fifth place in League Two, having gone unbeaten in the opening five league fixtures of the season.

The 49-year-old former Preston North End right-back had earned Salford promotion to League Two having won the National League play-offs in 2018/19. This was the second time he had been sacked having been fifth-placed, as Scunthorpe did the same in March 2018, with the club set to be in the play-offs as they looked to earn promotion from League One. `Prior to Alexander’s role at Glanford Park, he also gained promotion from League Two with Fleetwood Town in 2014/15 leading the Cod Army to League One for the first time in their history.

Former Burnley midfielder, Alexander is priced at 8/1 to become City’s new manager, which isn’t out of the question as he has spent most of his managerial career in and around League Two, so could have a decent outside chance of succeeding McCall.