Former Leeds United assistant manager Karl Robinson has reportedly turned down the chance to speak to Bradford City.
After Mark Hughes was fired, Bradford City is looking for a new manager.
Following the 2-1 loss at Tranmere Rovers, which dropped the team to 18th in the standings, Hughes was fired earlier this month. Last season, Hughes guided the Bantams to the League Two play-offs, where they lost to Carlisle United in the semi-finals.
What has changed in the managerial search for Bradford City?
After Hughes resigned, midfielder Kevin McDonald was named temporary manager. In his four games in charge, the 34-year-old has led his team up to 11th place, only three points outside the play-off spots.
The Scotsman has remained coy on whether he is keen on the permanent job, but he did admit that he would like to move into management one day.
“I think in a longer term it has always been maybe a potential plan to be going into coaching,” McDonald told Keep Up.
“Maybe now I have been involved in it, I don’t know if it has confirmed (I want to do it).
“Obviously I want to be a manager going forward in time to come, but that was kind of always on the radar for the longer term.
“I was thinking somewhere along the line of coaching and managing
“I didn’t know how I would take to it; I didn’t know how I would do; I didn’t know how well I’d take to it, but I’d say I’ve taken to it all right, at times.”
Danny Cowley and Dean Holden are both said to be interested in the vacancy, while journalist Pete O’Rourke claims that former Leeds United assistant Karl Robinson has turned down the opportunity to speak to Bradford.
Robinson led MK Dons to promotion to the Championship in 2015 and reached the League One play-offs with Oxford United on two occasions during his spell at the Kassam Stadium before assisting Sam Allardyce at Leeds for the final four games of the Premier League season last term.
The 43-year-old departed Elland Road in the summer following the Whites’ relegation from the top flight, and it does not seem he is keen to drop down to League Two with the Bantams.
Are Bradford City still an attractive proposition for potential managers?
There is no doubt that Robinson’s rejection is a blow for Bradford, and it does suggest that belief in the club’s project could be declining in their fifth year in League Two.
It was a huge coup for the Bantams to convince Hughes to join the club in February 2022, with the Welshman having spent much of his career managing in the Premier League with the likes of Manchester City, Fulham, Stoke City and Southampton.
While not on the same level as Hughes, it was also a statement from Bradford to appoint Derek Adams as manager in June 2021, just days after Adams had led Morecambe to promotion to League One via the play-offs.
Hughes, Adams, Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars, Stuart McCall and Gary Bowyer have all tried and failed to get the Bantams out of League Two since their relegation in 2019, and it is increasingly seeming like an impossible job, while the frequent turnover of managers could also prove to be a deterrent.
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