Manager makes ‘banish’ promise to West Brom loanee..

The door at Bradford City is not closed to Rayhaan Tulloch despite his ongoing absence from the first team, manager Graham Alexander has insisted. West Bromwich Albion loanee Tulloch was sent to League Two Bradford on transfer deadline day and, at the time of writing, has made 10 first-team appearances in all competitions for the Bantams.

Tulloch has only made two league starts, though, and hasn’t appeared at all since Halloween, in an EFL Trophy win over Manchester City under-21s. In the time since, Mark Hughes has been replaced by Alexander in charge at Valley Parade, but Tulloch hasn’t seen any first-team game time.

The forward did score his own goal in a Bradford shirt in a 4-1 win at Newport County at the end of September but, with the January transfer window on the horizon and Albion having the option to end the loan spell if they deem it to be the best decision for the player, Alexander has addressed the game time and future of Tulloch and fellow loanee Chisom Afoka.

“It’s down to the players,” Alexander told the Yorkshire Post. “I had a chat with them 10 days to two weeks ago. I know it hasn’t gone how they hoped or planned. The change of formation might make it difficult for players in those positions to break through, but the opportunity is there. I say every day is an opportunity for players.

“Sometimes when players in general say they haven’t been given the opportunity, they train every single day. You’re training your manager against your teammates. That’s an opportunity to go. ‘I can be on this team and help you win’.

“It’s the same with them. While players are signed with us, training fully fit, they always have that opportunity for me. I never banish players off to different teams or anything like that. I want to keep everyone together as much as we can. The team has been in a good little run of form, so the challenge is there.”