Bradford City midfielder Hope Akpan has been told he has to fight for his first-team place after being dropped against Northampton Town, as reported by the Telegraph and Argus.
The 28-year-old has had a miserable start to the season at Valley Parade, looking very much a passenger waiting to get off the ride, rather than a player pushing them on towards their destination.
The former Blackburn and Reading man joined the Bantams from Burton Albion, but didn’t kick on after being given the captaincy by Gary Bowyer at the end of last season. James Vaughan took over from the former Nigerian international and now Akpan isn’t even in the first team squad.
Bowyer believes the competition is healthy for his team; “The competition that we have is healthy. I want players not being happy because they’re not in the team or the squad.
“But they’ve got to be patient and understand it’s a squad game. When the opportunity comes, they’ve got to grab it.
“Hope was one to be left out the squad along with Tyler French, Jackson Longridge and Omari and that just shows you the competition we have at the club.”
Whilst the manager says the right words to encourage, supporters are not quite so understanding. Bantams fans have seen enough of the underperforming Akpan to know they don’t fancy him in the first team squad at all.
They’ve lashed out on social media, confirming that in their eyes, his time is already up at Valley Parade.
https://twitter.com/GrJones18/status/1172069473886621696
https://twitter.com/Gil_91_Corbey/status/1172027266286727169
https://twitter.com/topppcat/status/1172028076554903552
https://twitter.com/bantam_74/status/1172026533621510144
https://twitter.com/Bababiffo/status/1172077858690359302
https://twitter.com/doppelganger888/status/1172040949377187842
https://twitter.com/DunwellJohn/status/1172043118167937024
https://twitter.com/John98789413/status/1172034859004506114
