Bradford City Association Football Club's first manager was Robert Campbell,[1] who was given the role upon the club's election into the league in 1903 although the club was administered by a 13-man sub-committee.[2] He left by mutual consent in 1905 to be succeeded by the club's most successful manager Peter O'Rourke in the first of two periods in charge of the club.[2] O'Rourke's first spell as manager lasted 16 years, during which time he oversaw the club's first title and promotion in 1907–08 and the FA Cup success of 1911. David Menzies took over in 1921, but the club were relegated the following year. The club continued to struggle and Menzies' successor Colin Veitch oversaw a second relegation in 1926–27 before O'Rourke returned to the club. During his second spell he brought the Division Three (North) title in 1928–29 when the club set a number of records which remain today.[3] O'Rourke resigned in 1930 to be succeeded by first Jack Peart then Dick Ray but the club were again relegated in 1936–37.

Roy McFarland launched the club's revival during the 1980s.

For half-a-century, City remained in the bottom two divisions of the Football League under a succession of managers until the 1980s brought an upturn in the club's fortunes. Former England international Roy McFarland was appointed player-manager in 1981, bringing instant success with promotion from Division Four in 1981–82. But he left in controversial circumstances to Derby County,[2] to be replaced by another England international Trevor Cherry as player-manager from rivals Leeds United. Cherry oversaw a turbulent period at the club, which included City going into liquidation in 1983, the Division Three title in 1984–85 and the tragic fire on 11 May 1985. He was only the third City manager to win a trophy.

Cherry was sacked just one month after the club returned to Valley Parade in a move which shocked the Bradford public.[2] His successor was first team coach Terry Dolan, who had played for the club for five years making nearly 200 league appearances. With the fans still singing Cherry's name, Dolan quickly won over the fans with a 5–1 FA Cup victory over Oldham Athletic in his first game,[2] before guiding the club away from relegation and a 10th-place finish in 1986–87. The following season a final day defeat to Ipswich Town then failure in the play-offs against Middlesbrough prevented Dolan from taking the club into top flight for the first time in 66 years. He was unable to replace star players Stuart McCall and John Hendrie, who left during the summer,[4] and was sacked to be replaced by Welsh manager Terry Yorath but relegation followed in 1989–90.

John Docherty had taken over two months before relegation was confirmed. During the 1990 close season he signed Sean McCarthy, to solve the club's goal-scoring problem, and a number of his former players from Millwall but he could not help City bounce back.[5] He was replaced by Frank Stapleton, who also failed to deliver promotion before new chairman Geoffrey Richmond bought the club. Richmond's first appointment was experienced manager Lennie Lawrence, who had made a solid start to the 1995–96 season before he was enticed away to Luton Town. Richmond appointed assistant Chris Kamara, who took City to promotion via the play-offs following a run of results at the end of the season, taking 28 points from a possible 39 to edge Chesterfield out of the play-off places by just one point. A 2–0 victory in the final against Notts County meant City and Luton Town swapped divisions.

Stuart McCall, who was caretaker manager in the Premier League and later served as full-time manager from 2007 to 2010

Kamara was also succeeded by his own assistant Paul Jewell originally on a temporary basis before the striker, who had been at the club since 1988, was given the job permanently in the summer of 1998. Richmond gave Jewell the biggest transfer budget in the club's history. Jewell signed the club's first three £1million players to mastermind Bradford's return to the top flight in his first full season. He then defied the critics by keeping the club in the Premiership with a 1–0 victory over the club where he had begun his career Liverpool.[6][7] Jewell made a shock exit from the club after a disagreement with Richmond,[8] who made his third successive appointment from within the club by elevating Chris Hutchings to the manager's seat. Hutchings was given unprecedented money for a Bradford manager to spend on a series of talented players including record signing David Hopkin, Benito Carbone and Dan Petrescu but he was sacked after 137 days and just one win from 12 league games.[9][10]

The money Hutchings was given, combined with the collapse of ITV Digital continued to have repercussions on the club's league position and finances long after he had left.[11] Three relegations have followed with a succession of respected managers, including Jim Jefferies, former England captain Bryan Robson and Colin Todd unable to stop the club from dropping through the league. Having stated in his autobiography he would one day "love to manage Bradford",[12] Stuart McCall, who had two playing spells at the club, came from Sheffield United on 22 May 2007 to become the club's 38th full-time manager.[1] McCall was given a two-year contract and promised to deliver promotion in his first season. He later changed his judgement and aimed at promotion in his second season; when he again failed he offered to resign, but stayed on for a third campaign. He left in February 2010, and was replaced by Peter Taylor. Taylor's reign lasted only a year before he resigned after criticism from fans, to be replaced by Peter Jackson. Jackson staved off relegation to the Football Conference, which was looking a possibility when Taylor resigned, but his reign proved to be even shorter-lived and he resigned after just six months in charge, with the lowest win percentage of any permanent manager in the club's history. Phil Parkinson succeeded Jackson and won another relegation battle, before bringing about a major revival in the club's fortunes the following year, taking the side to the final of the League Cup before winning promotion back to League One via the play-offs.

Managers

As of 24 February 2022
Only professional, competitive matches are counted.
Name Nationality From To P W D L Win %[a] Honours Notes
Robert Campbell  Scotland 20 June 1903 31 October 1905 79 29 18 32 036.71 [13]
Peter O'Rourke  Scotland 1 November 1905 30 June 1921 497 204 121 172 041.05 Division Two champions 1907–08
FA Cup winners 1911 		[14]
David Menzies  Scotland 1 July 1921 1 June 1926 222 63 64 95 028.38 [15]
Colin Veitch  England 1 August 1926 14 January 1928 65 14 17 34 021.54 [16]
Jack Foster  England 14 January 1928 5 May 1928 19 10 4 5 052.63 [b][17]
Peter O'Rourke  Scotland 6 May 1928 1 May 1930 92 43 22 27 046.74 Division Three (North) champions 1928–29 [14]
Jack Peart  England 1 July 1930 1 March 1935 208 79 52 77 037.98 [18]
Dick Ray  England 1 April 1935 28 February 1937 86 27 23 36 031.40 [19]
Fred Westgarth  England 1 March 1938 1 July 1943 56 26 14 16 046.43 Third Division North Cup champions 1938–39 [20]
Bob Sharp  England 1 July 1943 1 May 1946 2 0 1 1 000.00 [21]
Jack Barker  England 1 May 1946 1 January 1947 23 10 6 7 043.48 [22]
Jack Milburn  England 1 January 1947 1 July 1948 64 26 14 24 040.63 [23]
David Steele  Scotland 1 July 1948 1 February 1952 167 57 34 76 034.13 [24]
Albert Harris  England 1 February 1952 1 May 1952 17 5 4 8 029.41 [25]
Ivor Powell  Wales 1 May 1952 1 February 1955 129 46 38 45 035.66 [26]
Peter Jackson  England 1 February 1955 1 March 1961 305 118 80 107 038.69 [27]
Bob Brocklebank  England 1 May 1961 1 October 1964 157 62 30 65 039.49 [28]
Bill Harris  Wales 1 March 1965 31 March 1966 45 15 9 21 033.33 [29]
Willie Watson  England 1 April 1966 1 January 1967 128 51 37 40 039.84 [30]
Grenville Hair  England 1 January 1967 7 March 1968 55 27 10 18 049.09 [31]
Jim McAnearney
Tom Hallett 		 England 7 March 1968 31 May 1968 12 5 5 2 041.67 [c][32]
Jimmy Wheeler  England 1 June 1968 7 September 1971 144 49 46 49 034.03 [33]
Ray Wilson  England 1 September 1971 1 November 1971 10 5 2 3 050.00 [b][34]
Bryan Edwards  England 1 November 1971 17 January 1975 154 51 38 65 033.12 [35]
Bobby Kennedy  Scotland 1 January 1975 31 January 1978 138 46 46 46 033.33 [36]
John Napier  Northern Ireland 1 February 1978 31 October 1978 34 11 5 18 032.35 [37]
George Mulhall  Scotland 1 November 1978 1 March 1981 115 48 33 34 041.74 [38]
Roy McFarland  England 1 May 1981 22 November 1982 64 35 16 13 054.69 [39]
Trevor Cherry  England 1 December 1982 5 January 1987 201 83 44 74 041.29 Division Three champions 1984–85 [40]
Terry Dolan  England 5 January 1987 30 January 1989 112 51 30 31 045.54 [41]
Terry Yorath  Wales 2 February 1989 7 March 1990 57 13 20 24 022.81 [42]
John Docherty  Scotland 20 March 1990 11 November 1991 83 29 22 32 034.94 [43]
Frank Stapleton  Republic of Ireland 9 December 1991 2 May 1994 129 47 43 39 036.43 [44]
Lennie Lawrence  England 25 May 1994 27 November 1995 77 29 20 28 037.66 [45]
Chris Kamara  England 27 November 1995 6 January 1998 112 40 26 46 035.71 Second Division play-off winners: 1995–96 [46]
Paul Jewell  England 6 January 1998 18 June 2000 117 46 26 45 039.32 [47]
Chris Hutchings  England 18 June 2000 6 November 2000 21 7 4 10 033.33 [48]
Stuart McCall  Scotland 6 November 2000 20 November 2000 2 0 0 2 000.00 [b][49]
Jim Jefferies  Scotland 20 November 2000 24 December 2001 53 15 12 26 028.30 [50]
Steve Smith  England 24 December 2001 31 December 2001 2 0 0 2 000.00 [b][51]
Nicky Law  England 1 January 2002 9 November 2003 87 23 21 43 026.44 [52]
Senior players  England 9 November 2003 23 November 2003 1 0 0 1 000.00 [d][53]
Bryan Robson  England 24 November 2003 17 June 2004 28 7 1 20 025.00 [54]
Colin Todd  England 18 June 2004 12 February 2007 139 44 46 49 031.65 [55]
David Wetherall  England 12 February 2007 22 May 2007 14 2 4 8 014.29 [b][56]
Stuart McCall  Scotland 22 May 2007 8 February 2010 133 46 35 52 034.59 [49]
Wayne Jacobs  England 8 February 2010 16 February 2010 1 0 1 0 000.00 [b][57]
Peter Taylor  England 17 February 2010 26 February 2011 25 10 5 10 040.00 [58]
Peter Jackson  England 27 February 2011 25 August 2011 19 4 4 11 021.05 [59]
Colin Cooper  England 25 August 2011 29 August 2011 2 1 1 0 050.00 [b][60]
Phil Parkinson  England 29 August 2011 10 June 2016 274 101 86 87 036.86 League Two play-off winners: 2012–13 [61]
Stuart McCall  Scotland 20 June 2016 5 February 2018 96 44 24 28 045.83
Greg Abbott  England 5 February 2018 11 February 2018 1 0 1 0 000.00
Simon Grayson  England 11 February 2018 8 May 2018 14 3 5 6 021.43
Michael Collins  Republic of Ireland 18 June 2018 3 September 2018 7 2 1 4 028.57 [62]
David Hopkin  Scotland 4 September 2018 25 February 2019 35 7 11 17 020.00 [63]
Martin Drury  England 25 February 2019 4 March 2019 1 0 1 0 000.00
Gary Bowyer  England 4 March 2019 3 February 2020 48 14 15 19 029.17
Stuart McCall  Scotland 4 February 2020 13 December 2020 28 7 7 14 025.00
Mark Trueman
Conor Sellars 		 England 13 December 2020 10 May 2021 31 14 7 10 045.16
Derek Adams  Scotland 4 June 2021 15 February 2022 37 9 15 13 024.32
Mark Trueman  England 15 February 2022 24 February 2022 2 0 0 2 000.00
Mark Hughes  Wales 24 February 2022 4 October 2023 82 31 26 25 037.80 [64]

Notes

  1. ^ Winning percentage is correct to two decimal places.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Caretaker manager
  3. ^ Joint caretaker managers
  4. ^ Senior players Peter Atherton, Wayne Jacobs, David Wetherall and Dean Windass took temporary charge.

References

  1. ^ a b "Manager History". Bradford City Official Website. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  2. ^ a b c d e Frost, Terry (1988). Bradford City A Complete Record 1903-1988. Breedon Books Sport. pp. 65–82. ISBN 0-907969-38-0.
  3. ^ "History". Bradford City Official Website. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  4. ^ Markham, David (2007). The legends of Bradford City. Breedon Books Sport. pp. 81, 115. ISBN 978-1-85983-572-2.
  5. ^ Markham. The legends of Bradford City. p. 117.
  6. ^ "Paul Jewell: the Scouse Special One". Independent Online. 21 October 2005. Retrieved 4 December 2007.[dead link]
  7. ^ Markham. The legends of Bradford City. p. 99.
  8. ^ Markham. The legends of Bradford City. pp. 99, 207.
  9. ^ "Bradford sack Hutchings". BBC Sport. 6 November 2000. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  10. ^ "Hutchings shown the door". BBC Sport. 6 November 2000. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  11. ^ "Lawn Pitches In As City Investor". Telegraph & Argus. 7 June 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
  12. ^ McCall, Stuart (1998). The Real McCall. Mainstream Publishing. p. 184. ISBN 1-84018-078-1.
  13. ^ Robert Campbell management career statistics at Soccerbase
  14. ^ a b Peter O'Rourke management career statistics at Soccerbase
  15. ^ David Menzies management career statistics at Soccerbase
  16. ^ Colin Veitch management career statistics at Soccerbase
  17. ^ Frost. Bradford City A Complete Record 1903-1988. pp. 67, 210.
  18. ^ Jack Peart management career statistics at Soccerbase
  19. ^ Dick Ray management career statistics at Soccerbase
  20. ^ Fred Westgarth management career statistics at Soccerbase
  21. ^ Bob Sharp management career statistics at Soccerbase
  22. ^ Jack Barber management career statistics at Soccerbase
  23. ^ Jack Milburn management career statistics at Soccerbase
  24. ^ David Steele management career statistics at Soccerbase
  25. ^ Albert Harris management career statistics at Soccerbase
  26. ^ Ivor Powell management career statistics at Soccerbase
  27. ^ Peter Jackson management career statistics at Soccerbase
  28. ^ Bob Brocklebank management career statistics at Soccerbase
  29. ^ Bill Harris management career statistics at Soccerbase
  30. ^ Willie Watson management career statistics at Soccerbase
  31. ^ Grenville Hair management career statistics at Soccerbase
  32. ^ Frost. Bradford City A Complete Record 1903-1988. pp. 76, 226.
  33. ^ Jimmy Wheeler management career statistics at Soccerbase
  34. ^ Ray Wilson management career statistics at Soccerbase
  35. ^ Bryan Edwards management career statistics at Soccerbase
  36. ^ Bobby Kennedy management career statistics at Soccerbase
  37. ^ John Napier management career statistics at Soccerbase
  38. ^ George Mulhall management career statistics at Soccerbase
  39. ^ Roy McFarland management career statistics at Soccerbase
  40. ^ Trevor Cherry management career statistics at Soccerbase
  41. ^ Terry Dolan management career statistics at Soccerbase
  42. ^ Terry Yorath management career statistics at Soccerbase
  43. ^ John Docherty management career statistics at Soccerbase
  44. ^ Frank Stapleton management career statistics at Soccerbase
  45. ^ Lennie Lawrence management career statistics at Soccerbase
  46. ^ Chris Kamara management career statistics at Soccerbase
  47. ^ Paul Jewell management career statistics at Soccerbase
  48. ^ Chris Hutchings management career statistics at Soccerbase
  49. ^ a b Stuart McCall management career statistics at Soccerbase
  50. ^ Jim Jefferies management career statistics at Soccerbase
  51. ^ Steve Smith management career statistics at Soccerbase
  52. ^ Nicky Law management career statistics at Soccerbase
  53. ^ Windass, Dean (2007). From Gipsyville to the Premiership. Great Northern. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-905080-29-8.
  54. ^ Bryan Robson management career statistics at Soccerbase
  55. ^ Colin Todd management career statistics at Soccerbase
  56. ^ David Wetherall management career statistics at Soccerbase
  57. ^ Wayne Jacobs management career statistics at Soccerbase
  58. ^ Peter Taylor management career statistics at Soccerbase
  59. ^ Peter Jackson management career statistics at Soccerbase
  60. ^ Colin Cooper management career statistics at Soccerbase
  61. ^ Phil Parkinson management career statistics at Soccerbase
  62. ^ "Michael Collins: Bradford City appoint former under-18s boss as head coach". BBC Sport. 18 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2018.
  63. ^ "David Hopkin: Bradford City appoint ex-Livingston boss as new head coach". BBC Sport. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  64. ^ "Managers: Mark Hughes". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
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