Alex Gilliead backs Jake Young to boost struggling Bantams

Young’s second-half appearance was the only bright spot of Saturday’s dreadful defeat at Swindon – which saw the Bantams drop another two places to 18th in League Two.

It stretched the current slump to seven games since the last league win and tempers are fraying among supporters.

But Gilliead believes the reappearance of Young can offer something to cling to during this rut.

“Whatever has gone in, he’s an honest lad who works hard,” said the City midfielder.

“He showed a few glimpses of what he can do.

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“He obviously scored a lot of goals in this league so we know he’s a good player and we’re happy to have him back in the team. I think he’s something different to what we’ve got.

“He’s a goal threat. He scored a few goals before he left last season and was doing well.

“We know what he’s about and hopefully he can kick on and get another 10 goals or so.

“With what Cooky (Andy Cook) did last year, we put a lot of emphasis on him scoring goals.

“But it’s got to come from all over and bringing Youngy back, he’s already got 16 and there’s nothing stopping him getting plenty more.

“It’s the same with Cooky, he was the Golden Boot winner last year but sometimes we don’t get the service into him.”

Graham Alexander doesn’t hold Swindon responsible for the hold-up to Young’s City comeback.

Young only trained fully again last week after playing the final games of his loan spell with an injury.

But Alexander said: “You’re going to play a lot of time with niggles and injuries during your career. I don’t held them accountable.

“Every player will give information to managers and physios and say I can get through this. But sometimes it gets to the point where they can’t and they have to hold up their hand.

“There are loads of players playing week in, week out with issues.

“Players have to have resilience and a pain threshold and that’s not to the detriment where they can risk further injury.

“There are times when you can get through things. It’s difficult but this is when young players especially have to learn about their bodies and build themselves up.

“It’s how you train and how you give yourself the best chance to be able to play 50 games a season. There’s no blame attached to Swindon on that aspect.”

Graham Alexander barks instructions during City's loss at Swindon (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Alexander maintains he has kept a relaxed stance about Young’s situation during the window as City knocked back three bids.

“I didn’t really look that far ahead,” added the City boss. “Like I’ve been saying all along, we’ve got to be ready to adapt right through January.

“I knew what I wanted at the end but I was fully prepared for any other thing that could come up along the way.

“I’ve been really pleased with what we’ve done in managing to keep hold of Jake under pressure to sell him from other clubs.

“I spoke with Jake on Friday about being involved and he was up for it.

“He looked sharp and showed good movement. I thought his left-foot shot from the edge of the box was in and it was a great save from the keeper.

“I think he will bring what he’s got to us but we need to get him up to speed. He’s only trained last week and Thursday was his first full proper day.

“We knew we could only use him from the bench.

“It’s about us learning about an individual and what brings out the best in him as well. We’ll see how we go.”