"It's not easy" - Bradford City chief provides honest transfer claim | OneFootball

The Bantams may need a strong winter window in order to secure one of the top seven spots.

Bradford City's head of football operations, David Sharpe, has said there will be "investment" made by the club in the January window.

Despite nearly finishing in the play-offs last season, Bradford's owner, Stefan Rupp, penned an open letter of apology to the supporters in March, accepting responsibility for the down campaign that they had experienced just one season after making it to the play-off semi-final.

Fans had shown their anger towards the owner and the chief executive, Ryan Sparks, after another frustrating defeat against Harrogate Town.

Rupp further stated that he'd been made aware of the concerns over the club's budget and how it compared to their competitors within the league, and pledged that the Bantams would be able to compete in the upcoming summer transfer window.

The league table would certainly suggest that they did a bit better this summer than in the previous one. Bradford are currently ninth in the league, and just five points off the automatic promotion spots, after 16 matches.

An opportunity to get promoted is potentially there, but Graham Alexander's squad may need to be improved in the January window for that to happen.

David Sharpe addresses Bradford City, January window spending concerns

The club's head of football operations has said that Bradford won't need to sell players in order to fund moves in January, and that funds from above will be available.

Speaking to BBC Sport West Yorkshire, Sharpe said: "There'll be investment, yeah. We've had those conversations. We're in a good place in terms of what I've been told, what I believe we can do and how we can shape the squad in the window, so that gives me a lot of faith, and hopefully we can get those deals done.

"But, like I said, it's not easy. We'll face challenges, and there will be players that do leave because I, and the manager, feel that they're the right ones to leave, not just to make room for budget.

"They might be the wrong character, they might be the wrong type of player - there'll be reasons for that which we'll keep to ourselves. It's easier to move players on in the summer, mainly because they're out of contract, but I want to put in place a squad that can be built for the long-term, not just sign players for the next four or five months.

"Like I said, a loan player or two, that's what you do in the short-term. We have to sign players that we can build a future around, not just stick two-and-a-half years or three-and-a-half years into players that we're not 100% sure on, and give long-term deals to.

"There are players in the squad that have been given good contracts recently, in the last few years, and haven't worked out or haven't gone to plan, so we want to try and avoid that. Ultimately, recruitment is difficult - some just don't work out, some do work out. So the plan is to get more right than wrong, obviously."

Bradford have to be measured with their January spending

The winter window can be a dangerous time for clubs. Those who have a smell of desperation about them may go all out at this time of year with the hope of changing their fortunes, only for all the money they spent to be ultimately ineffective.

There's often a slight premium put on players in January, and Bradford need to be careful of that when the first month of the year rolls around. They know they don't have the biggest budget in the league, and, as much as they may sense a promotion opportunity, it is not such a clear one that it's worth blowing the bank account on.