It was a bruising start to the week for Bradford City when news filtered through to the players that Graham Alexander had stepped down as manager. They were top of the League One table and his departure was a sudden and unexpected blow for a side that had started to let imaginations run wild about a return to the second tier for the first time in 23 years. Coaches Mark Trueman and Colin Doyle took interim charge and called a meeting with the squad on Monday.
It shows the mentality of the team. This could quite easily derail them, but they’ve continued to do the right things.” If any caretaker can keep Bradford on track, it is Trueman, who has now stepped in temporarily five times since joining the club as an Under-18 coach six years ago. This time, though, is different.
Previously his job was to raise the team during low periods. Now the task is to maintain the upward trajectory that began the moment Alexander arrived in 2023. Bradford were stuck in the bottom tier of the EFL and sitting in 16th when Alexander took over.
They finished ninth in his first season, then third in his second to earn automatic promotion, followed by a stunning fourth-place finish back in League One, losing in the playoff semi-finals last May. It has been a thrilling ride rarely enjoyed by Bradford fans. They twice reached the EFL Trophy semi-finals in successive seasons.
At one stage, they won 10 consecutive home games, breaking a club record set in 1953. Last year [2025] they had the best home record of any side in Europe’s top five leagues. Alexander won 79 times in 158 games – the best win rate of any Bradford manager in charge for at least 65 games.
Chief executive Ryan Sparks said Alexander and assistant manager Chris Lucketti, who has followed him to Preston, delivered “some of the most incredible moments in our recent history”. They looked set to deliver more, with Bradford top of League One when the Preston opportunity came out of the blue. Alexander told the club he had ambitions to manage in the Championship, but you wonder if he might have achieved that with Bradford had he stayed.
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