DEREK Adams has stressed that the “problems” he has talked about facing at City are nothing major.

Some fans took his comments after the Hartlepool home loss to mean deep-rooted issues within Valley Parade.

But Adams moved to play down the conspiracy theorists.

“It’s just about how we have to sort small things at the football club," he said. "Small things add up to big things in my book and we just slowly change them.

“There’s a whole host of things that a manager comes into that he has to slightly change as he goes along.

“I don’t know where (these stories) come from.

“But I do know nowadays that social media is a big part of it and if somebody says something, they grasp on to it.

“Listen, I’m going to sign Messi in the transfer window in January. Let’s see how that one spins!”

The Bantams chief is expected to recall fit-again skipper Niall Canavan for tomorrow’s tough test at Swindon.

His team have won only once in the six league games that Canavan has missed with a hamstring injury.

The big defender said: “I trained all last week with no problems. It’s good to be back involved and I’m looking to get back on the pitch as soon as possible.

“Frustration is the overriding feeling regarding our form but it’s down to us to change that.

“Tuesday night was probably as low as I’ve seen the lads this season but in general the mood has been very good.

“You’re one result away from starting your next run and that’s the way you’ve got to look at it.”

Adams wants his team to learn how to “win ugly” to improve a record that has seen them claim five points from six games on the road.

He added: “We need to do better away from home and start picking up these wins.

“Win a bit uglier. We’ve played in an expansive way at home that you can’t do away.

“It’s not easy going away from home these days. You sometimes have to play in a different way.

“The home team usually has a lot more of the opportunities and we just have to find a way of getting there.

“You could talk about the Mansfield game when we stuck at it and won. That’s the type of performance we will need.

“At home you have to be on top of the game and take it to the opposition.

“Away from home you can play in a slightly different way that allows you then to pick off the opposition when they are attacking. It’s something we’ll try and do.”

Swindon recruited heavily after manager Ben Garner was appointed in July and currently sit third. The likes of former Bantams loanee Jack Payne and Jonny Williams have been influential in their impressive run.

Adams said: “To get both of those players into their squad has been important for them. Jonny Williams has recently been a Welsh international – that tells you the way they have gone about their recruitment.

“We all hear about how well teams have started and rightly so. But we’re five points off second place.

“It’s an extremely tight league – we only had to have two games swing in our favour and we would be in a much better position. Walsall and Bristol Rovers are four (more) points we really should have had.”