No reason for concern over contract talks

Bradford City's joint chairman Julian Rhodes.

Talks have been on-going for some time but a number of hold-ups mean the Bantams could go into next week’s League Two play-off final with Parkinson being tied to the club for no more than another month.

With speculation having already linked the City manager with Sheffield United, and other vacancies having become available in recent days, supporters have become increasingly concerned over the apparent lack of progress.

However, Rhodes has moved to reassure those fans that everything remains on track following dialogue with the League Managers’ Association – who are representing Parkinson, due to his agent having been seriously ill – over the past week.

The Bantams’ joint chairman said: “We spoke to the LMA last week and the guy I was dealing with will get something back to us some time this week.

“He didn’t want to bother Phil with anything while the two semi-finals were going on against Burton, which is understandable.

“But I think they have now spoken and we are waiting to see what comes back.”

One of the hold-ups has been Rhodes, who deals with the club’s contract talks, being in the process of selling his private company. That sale went through last Thursday.

Rhodes added: “We are relaxed about the situation. I went through various things with Phil a while ago and we agreed on those. Hopefully, at some point this week progress will have been made. However, if it carries over into next week then maybe it should be left until after the final as we don’t want any distractions.”

City have been handed an allocation of 39,000 tickets for the Wembley clash with Northampton.

Sales shot through the 12,000 barrier yesterday and Rhodes is hoping as many fans as possible will be heading to the capital on May 18.

He added: “Our supporters have been brilliant all season.

“I had a mate at last Thursday’s first leg against Burton who couldn’t believe the atmosphere. He is a Leeds fan so is used to all the big nights they have had. It was the same down there on Sunday. Now, we just hope they can do it one last time.”