Bradford City’s core strength gives Parkinson platform to build on (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Bradford City’s core strength gives Phil Parkinson platform to build on

7:40am Thursday 17th May 2012 in Bantams By Ross Heppenstall , Bradford Bulls Reporter

Phil Parkinson believes a profitable recruitment drive can make City a force to be reckoned with next season.

The Bantams boss will preside over a major overhaul during the summer as he looks to transform his side from strugglers into serious contenders.

After a disappointing campaign which saw City finish 18th in League Two, Parkinson has shown the door to a handful of players and told several others they can go. He wants to build his own squad and admitted his interest in former Manchester City and Portsmouth winger Kelvin Etuhu earlier this week.

Parkinson said: “We’ve got a decent core of players – I’ve just got to improve that now.

“That obviously means retaining the players we want to retain and improving the squad in other areas.

“The chairmen and I have got a lot of work to do in the summer to build this squad up because we don’t want to find ourselves in the position we were last year.

“The only way of avoiding that is by building a good squad and a good team obviously. That’s what we aim to do.”

At times last season, City underlined their potential with notable victories against Torquay (twice), Southend (twice), Shrewsbury and Crewe.

“But the league table shows that we’re a long way adrift of where we need to be to make this team successful,” added Parkinson.

“There’s got to be an improvement – we cannot stand still.

“There has to be an improvement in all aspects of the club, with player recruitment obviously being the biggest one.”