NO-ONE thinks that Derek Adams or John Kear have it easy.

The former has his hands full tackling issues at City, with the latest result in a poor run seeing them crumble to a dreadful 3-1 home defeat against newly-promoted Hartlepool.

Summer signings, tactics and post-match interviews have all come into question, with the highly-fancied Bantams slipping down into mid-table in League Two after their bright start.

As for the latter, Bulls pretty much achieved their goal of reaching the play-offs in the Championship in 2021.

But that was not enough for some people, with Kear accused of being “past it” and “having his favourites”.

Promotion will surely be the goal for 2022, with no indication that the veteran head coach won’t be at the helm, though it won’t be easy, going up against the likes of Featherstone, Leigh, Halifax, Widnes and London Broncos.

But at least Adams and Kear can put their sole focus into those jobs, being the full-time bosses that they are.

So I think it’s high time we use today’s column to celebrate those unsung heroes in the non-league and grassroots game.

The obvious place to start is Bradford (Park Avenue) boss Mark Bower.

A solid professional career, largely spent at hometown club City, saw him retire at 33, but he knew he would need something else to sustain him while he managed in non-league.

But he was already thinking ahead, and in 2010, three years before his playing days were over, he opened Hamilton Bower, a Yorkshire estate agents, alongside good friend James Hamilton.

Bower is a director of the company, but he is hands on with the day to day stuff too, so our weekly phone calls sometimes have to wait. If a property needs selling, viewing or inspecting, that comes first.

Balancing that, alongside twice-weekly training, the odd midweek game, and away trips to the likes of Gloucester City and Brackley Town (yes, both for some reason play in the National League North) cannot be easy.

But Bower is not on his own here. Most of the managers and head coaches my colleague and I speak to have a wide range of jobs.

There are plenty of teachers among our semi-pro, amateur and grassroots clubs, whether that be in football or rugby.

But there are also small business owners, construction workers, managing directors and more.

Steeton manager Roy Mason, always great value for a quote or two in the Telegraph & Argus or Keighley News, lives and breathes that football club, and has done for the last 15 years.

But he is a senior figure in the footwear industry and often travels around the world for his job.

How Mason finds the time to commit to Steeton as much as he does, I do not know, and even he admitted last month that things had been getting on top of him.

He told the Keighley News: “It had been a tough, frustrating start to the season.

“We’d let a few points slip late on, and off the field, people don’t realise the sacrifices you have to make as a manager at this level.

“It’s a seven day week, and you don’t always feel like you’re getting a lot back, which is challenging to deal with.

“I’ve said to my players, for my own well-being, I need to try not to be so high when we win, and low if we lose, but when you’re passionate about winning and the team you’re managing it’s hard.”

At that level of sport too, there are unique challenges to deal with. Both Thackley’s Pat McGuire and Silsden’s Danny Forrest have told me in the past that players often up sticks and leave the club without warning, or renege on deals at the last minute.

Player turnover at that level is frightening, and makes it hard to stick to a routine with a settled group.

Usually, when a boss like Adams or Kear departs his post, it is due to poor performances from the team, signings that haven’t worked out, or disagreements with the board.

And though most of these managers and head coaches at semi-pro, amateur and grassroots level are somehow able to balance their other commitments with their sporting role, even that is not always possible.

Kear’s counterpart with the Bulls Women, Mark Seal, left his post in August, with the club statement citing “off-field commitments” as the reason for his departure.

Though it was never specified what those commitments were, I know from past experience that it was very difficult to pin Seal down for a chat, due to the long hours he faced at work, with owning his own construction business.

So to Seal, Bower, Mason and the rest, we salute you, because sport at lower levels would fall apart without people like you.