Bradford boss defends assistant

McCall is in his second season in charge at Valley Parade

Bradford City boss Stuart McCall has come to the defence of his assistant manager Wayne Jacobs.

Some fans felt McCall should have brought a more experienced coach in when their promotion push fell away.

But McCall told the Telegraph & Argus: "Jakes has been an absolute rock of support and nobody could ask for a better assistant.

"He is a very, very good coach who knows and understands the game and he's certainly not a 'yes man' in any way."

After occupying the automatic promotion places in League Two for the early part of the season, Bradford have slumped to 11th in the table.

606: DEBATE

This is exactly what you would expect McCall to be doing in the light of recent fan grumblings

BBC Sport's Peter Scrivener

City have not won in nine games and their chances of making the play-offs are extremely unlikely.

But McCall said that the relative youth of the managerial team at Valley Parade was not to blame for their lack of success this season

"There are many different reasons why we haven't succeeded this season but that's definitely not one of them," he said.

"It's the easiest thing in the world to point fingers. That's the blame culture we live in.

"Roy McFarland and Mick Jones were here when I started, then Trevor Cherry and Terry Yorath.

"Chris Kamara was in charge with Martin Hunter and Paul Jewell had Chris Hutchings. None of those managers had the experience behind them that people are talking about.

His dedication to the job has been over and beyond what I could expect

Stuart McCall about Wayne Jacobs

"Certain things haven't gone to plan like a couple of players I've brought in haven't paid off but there are far bigger factors than having no experienced older man alongside me.

"Jakes and Wethers [David Wetherall] have been outstanding in their commitment.

"Wayne has sure done far more for me than I did for Neil Warnock at Sheffield United.

"His dedication to the job has been over and beyond what I could expect and I just wish all my other signings had worked as well."