In the first of a three-part interview, City chief executive Ryan Sparks discusses the club’s position on and off the field after his first year in the role.

“DEREK Adams didn’t come to Bradford to finish 12th – and I am not in this job to finish 12th.”

The League Two table – as “irrelevant” as it may be in the manager’s eyes at this stage – does not make appealing reading for City.

Too many draws and just two wins since August sees them currently stuck in mid-table six points behind the play-offs.

Far from a terminal situation with the campaign still four games off halfway but not one the club and the fans would have anticipated when it began with a bang.

Chief executive Ryan Sparks, who last week marked a year in his post, shares the frustrations of everyone in the Valley Parade stands.

His pre-season talk of promotion may look empty bluster right now. But Sparks has not lost any of that conviction that City’s season can still come good.

“We’ve let slip far too many points,” he said. “If we had been battered in those games or been lucky to draw, I would probably feel differently about the progression and position.

“People will look at the stats and see we’ve taken 14 points from 15 games. But this time last season we’d suffered significant losses in a row and we were in danger of being relegated from the Football League.

“We couldn’t score and goals were flying in the net week in, week out. I don’t think that’s quite the case at the moment.

“We’ve got our issues and there are some things that we need to address and we’ve been rather unfortunate with specific injuries to specific players.

“For me, the signs are not that concerning but our expectations are far higher this season.

“Before it was about survival - and finishing one place above the bottom two becomes your Wembley.

“Our Wembley this year is very much Wembley itself at the very least.

“The current position isn’t a bad one and somewhere we can strike from. But that will come down to hard work and a bit of refinement.

“It is not the rebuild that was required last season with six out and nine in.

“We have some deficiencies and they will need to be addressed.”

Adams has become increasingly public in his criticism of a team whose last win was on October 23. Next month’s transfer window cannot come soon enough for him – and the board have made it clear that he will be well backed.

Sparks added: “The club is in the best position it’s been in financially for almost five years and that is allowing us to work in the window.

Our Wembley this year is very much Wembley itself at the very least.

“It was similar last season and people who have worked here before deserve a lot of credit in helping us get to this point.

“With all due respect, we didn’t disappoint last January when we needed to act.

“You recruit for different things but there are players here now who were signed in that window – Charles Vernam, our captain and our leading goal scorer.

“It’s how you want to perceive a situation. My mindset is on how we are going to achieve our goals and I don’t see any boundaries.

“The supporters may feel down and disappointed but you’re never going to get that from me.

“It’s my responsibility to push us back from the ropes.

“We are nowhere near the canvas, like last season, and are well and truly in the fight with plenty of rounds to go.”

Ollie Crankshaw’s recent sale to Stockport – and his explosive starts in the National League has just added to the general angst – helps boost a window budget already built up by the club’s commercial progress.

“The player being sold adds to what we can work with but we are in a decent position,” said Sparks.

“The backing of the supporters this season has been fantastic, our walk-up gates are dramatically higher than we budgeted for and we’ve met all our budgets in other areas – and superseded them in the likes of the commercial and retail departments.

“We’ve got better as a football club. Our business is bigger and our turnover will be higher because we are operating at a better level off the field.

“You do that and you increase your revenue – and that will be pumped straight back in.

“We’re in a position in January when some clubs will be banking additional TV money that we’ve received and thanking God they’ve got it to pay the wages. We are not one of them.”

Having bagged 10 points from their first four games, City have added just 14 from a possible 45 since.

The combination of missing chance after chance and a failure to keep a clean sheet – with only two since the opening day – have created a teeth-gnashing narrative.

“Nobody is sat here being arrogant about the fact we’re going to achieve our goals regardless,” said Sparks.

“We understand that to achieve those aims we set out this season then we are going to have to improve.

“Supporters want success like I want it, like the manager and the players want it.

“Derek Adams didn’t come to Bradford to finish 12th – and I am not in this job to finish 12th.

“You have to stand shoulder to shoulder when the tough times come.

“It’s nowhere near over and, in that regard, I’m relaxed about our position – but I will never accept where we are either.

“We’ve had some unacceptable results in the sense we have dropped points from winning positions.

Some clubs will be banking additional TV money and thanking God they’ve got it to pay the wages

“I thought Leyton Orient dealt with us and Hartlepool got the better of us at home, which was very hard to take.

“But we’ve more than matched the three or four best teams in the division and should have won those games.

“The frustrating ones were Crawley, Leyton Orient, Salford and Tranmere was probably the worst defeat of the season because we had the game in the palm of our hands.

“We controlled the match for more than 45 minutes and then we tossed it down the drainpipe.

“That comes down to mentality and individual errors. Players must understand that when you play for Bradford City Football Club, just like when you run the club, a certain level of focus, desire and commitment is required.

“I always talk about the word ‘culture’ and it’s not just at administrative level. It’s everywhere and we’re not quite where we need to be on it.

“We’re looking for a winning culture where we don’t understand or accept anything other than victories.”