Lawn: Bradford City would have gone up to the Championship

Just over four years since he sold up with Julian Rhodes at City, Lawn considers himself well out of it with all that’s going on.

“I think I owe Julian a very expensive bottle of whisky!” he joked, referring to how he was persuaded to sell by his co-owner.

“I’m so glad I don’t own the club now. If it was me, I'd be really worried that we’d go into administration.”

But that feeling of what might have been still lingers. What if they hadn’t done the deal with Stefan Rupp and Edin Rahic in 2016?

“I think that I’ve unfinished business at Bradford. Unfortunately, I haven’t got the unfinished money to be able to do it.

“I’ll be quite honest, if we hadn’t sold it to Stefan and Edin, I believe without any interference that year we’d have gone into the Championship.

“We’d have stuck with that team and probably added a couple. I don’t think it needed a lot.

“The money that Bradford City could sustain while we were in charge was about Championship level, maybe for trying to hold our own and stay up.

“If you wanted to compete in that Championship and go towards the top, you’d obviously need other outside investment.

“I’ll be quite honest, if we hadn’t sold it to Stefan and Edin, I believe without any interference that year we’d have gone into the Championship.

“But that’s my real regret that we didn’t do that. I can understand why we didn’t at that stage.

“If you think of who went in that summer, even with the 10 we managed to keep we did very well.

“We’d have kept Phil (Parkinson) and all his backroom staff. I honestly believe that year we would have gone up.”

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but Lawn is convinced that Parkinson would have gone one step further if he had stayed after their first play-off heartbreak at Millwall’s hands.

“Phil couldn’t work with Edin,” he added. “I’m not surprised because I don’t think anyone could.

“As soon as I heard that Edin was putting in an office down at the training ground, I knew it wouldn’t work with Phil.

“But I’ll always believe that he would have taken us up.”

Mark Lawn, left, and Julian Rhodes sold Bradford City in 2016

Instead, the year-on-year upward trajectory leading to Stuart McCall’s Wembley defeat in 2017 was replaced by a plummet back into familiar territory in League Two.

A rebuilding programme is once more required – something Lawn expects to happen far quicker than before with Rupp’s financial backing.

He said: “I understand how hard it was to turn it round in the first place. It took us a long time but we didn’t have the monies that Stefan’s got to be able to push it forward.

“We had to do it basically by cup runs and selling players that we’d got – something you won’t be allowed to do if the salary cap comes in.

“We made £1 million out of selling the offices and put it straight into the budget for Phil that year.

I don’t think it’s right criticising Stefan for what’s happened. He was talked into it by Edin without a doubt.

“That’s what Julian and I used to do all the time. If we made any money on cup runs or anything, it went into the playing squad.

“People moaned about speakers not working and things like that. But I think they’d rather have gone on that FA Cup run than hearing which number is going on the pitch and who he’s replaced.

“I don’t think it’s right criticising Stefan for what’s happened. He was talked into it by Edin without a doubt, that’s my honest opinion.

“Stefan could have walked away at any time but he’s stood by the club and had to put in millions. The sale of Oli McBurnie won’t have even made him break even.

“It always got me when fans would ask what happened to the Nahki Wells money. But you’ve got to look at the total income and outgoings and they don’t want to do that.

“Think yourselves lucky because when you’re a fan and running a football club, it’s not as enjoyable as just being a fan.

“When someone gets injured, you’re sat there thinking, ‘he’s on four grand a week and could be out for six months’.

“It got me some great times that I would never swap. But there were also nights when I’d be drinking wine into the early hours and then ringing Julian at 6am to see if he was still up – and he was!

“But then you think of 2013 and that was just amazing.”

Memories of Parkinson’s “history makers” will never fade for Lawn – even if he feels that City don’t get the credit nationally for reaching the League Cup final from the fourth tier.

“We’re not a sexy club but the achievement of that side and the backroom staff was amazing. That's why I told them not to swap the shirts. They should be proud to this day of what they did for this club.”