Parky admits Wells exit has rocked City

Bradford City manager Phil Parkinson admitted there is a ‘degree of negativity’ around the club after the sale of Nahki Wells.

Wells left the club on Friday to join Championship side Huddersfield Town in a club-record move for the Terriers thought to around £1.5 million plus add-ons.

The Bermudian scored 53 goals for the Bantams and, along with striker partner James Hanson, was a lethal goal threat who had coped with the step up to League One with ease, netting 15 times already this season.

And after the weekend 1-1 draw with Bristol City, Parkinson said losing such a fans’ favourite was always going to be hard.

He said: “With Nahki going, there was always going to be a degree of negativity around the ground because of the popularity of the player — you can’t hide away from that.

“I spoke to the players about this and told them what could be expected in and around the ground. In fairness though, I felt our supporters were great and they really got behind the team.”

He added: “We’ve having a tough times with injuries at the moment.

“We've been relatively lucky with injuries since my time here — we have worked hard to prevent such problems — but unfortunately at the moment we've picked up a lot.

“It seems like we have picked up another couple, which is obviously a shame.

“But we have to stick together and show the commitment we have shown again in this match.”