CITY chief executive Ryan Sparks sat down with the T&A for an exclusive question-and-answer session on a range of topics. In the final part, he talks about owner Stefan Rupp, interest in the club and the criticism.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU SPEAK TO STEFAN?

“We catch up every few days. If we have a more pressing matter, it can be daily. We’ve always had that kind of relationship and it’s never really changed.”

IS HE HAPPY FOR YOU TO RUN THE SHIP?

“I never make decisions in isolation. When it comes to anything which could be regarded as remotely significant, it is discussed at board level.”

STEFAN WAS OVER HERE LAST SEASON FOR THE GILLINGHAM AND ORIENT HOME GAMES AND BOTH PLAY-OFF TIES. WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE HIM?

“The Middlesbrough friendly at the start of the season. He is planning on coming back over again soon for a game.”

HAS THERE BEEN ANY SERIOUS INTEREST IN BUYING THE CLUB?

“There have been interested parties. I can’t say a great deal because I’m bound by non-disclosure agreements, but things haven’t progressed thus far.

“For what it’s worth, in my time at the club, there have been around half a dozen – in my time in charge, probably half of that.”

IS THE ASKING PRICE OFF-PUTTING?

“It’s not really for me to comment on what I think the club’s worth, though I see various different alleged figures banded around.

“I have an opinion on it and there are many factors as to why I would have that opinion. I am sure other people would think differently, but these are matters for the owner, and not the chief executive."

HOW DO YOU REACT TO CRITICISM ABOUT THE OWNERSHIP AND CLUB IN GENERAL?

“I can understand it because ultimately when the club was purchased by the current ownership, Championship and Premier League football was discussed.

“I’ve tried to put life back into the club as a chief executive, give it further purpose and raise expectations – perhaps higher than I should have done at times. But I’ve done that in an attempt to give us a football club to be proud of.

“We’ve had some good days and nights. But we need to have way more.

“I’ve tried my best to take away that assumption that we should be beating everybody in League Two. No matter how big or small their cities or towns are compared to ours, we’re in the same league.

“But, equally, I want us to have that pride where we feel we should be able to beat anyone we come up against.

“Bradford City has got a really good home record in League One, but in League Two it’s not really had that.

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“Graham (Alexander) pointed that out in his interview for the job. It has not been great, at home, in League Two, and our win percentage has been much higher in League One.

“That tells you how it can be difficult being the ‘overdog’, if that’s the right phrase.

“When we played Derby the other week, it was a return to the days when we perhaps weren’t supposed to win those games.

“There are 15 teams better than us in League Two at the moment, and I would be disappointed if people thought that was acceptable. The fact the criticism is there is a good thing.

“I’m not going to sugar-coat it. This season has not been good enough so far, and myself and everyone at the club are desperate to deliver success.”

DO YOU FEEL LET DOWN BY MANAGERS?

“It would be unfair to push blame onto other people. I’ve been a part of it, everyone has.

“You win and lose together. Once you start saying you’re going to sit on a different page when it’s going in the wrong direction, it shows weakness and self-preservation.

“I think we’ve given a couple of managers some great opportunities to have success here. Some have taken it, to a point, and some haven’t.

“Some people may have come to the club with wrong ideas and then realised just how difficult it is.

“Mark Hughes and his players’ achievement of reaching the play-offs last season brought us our highest finish in the fourth tier for decades, with a respectable points tally.

“Sadly, it didn’t end how we had hoped it would, and will always be defined as the season that we failed to get promoted.

“I’ve pushed the envelope on what we can spend. We’ve been quite ambitious in the market with some of the players we’ve signed, beating teams when in the past we might have rolled over and let them go elsewhere.

“I’ve done my best to give this club a real fighting chance, and we’ll keep fighting.”