Smith: 'Bradford are a victim of their dreams'

It is in weeks such as these that Charlton Athletic must wonder what all the fuss is about. They may play their football in the Premiership, but like many First Division clubs they are a small, family-orientated concern, who rely heavily on television money and on home-grown players. However, the Addicks are in sound financial order. It comes down to good husbandry and lack of greed.

Bradford City are the latest in a long line of clubs – Sheffield Wednesday and Queen's Park Rangers are others – who have spent beyond their means and are now facing the consequences of their unwise actions.

So far as the respected players' agent, Phil Smith, is concerned, these clubs are simply paying the price of over-ambition. "I think it's fair to say that many chairmen have had ideas above their stations," he said. "In effect, they have been the victims of their dreams."

The main losers of the Bradford débâcle – the club have been put into administration and are desperately seeking a sugar daddy – could be the players, who face having their contracts terminated by the administrators. The chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association, Gordon Taylor, will hold talks with the players tomorrow, but there may not be much he can do. "In football law, there is no way the club can refuse to pay the players the money they are due," Smith explained, "but under these unique circumstances, who knows? Bradford are going to be the litmus test."

Bradford's story is all too familiar: larger-than-life chairman brings in young and ambitious manager, who moulds team into solid First Division unit. Club gain promotion to Premiership for the first time, and spend big to remain there. Club eventually drop out of top flight, money dries up, and highly-paid stars cannot be sold on, leading to bankruptcy.

"Put like that, it sounds so obvious," Smith said, "and you might wonder why the Bradford chairman did not see the trouble coming? But hindsight is a wonderful thing."

That chairman, Geoffrey Richmond, said that no one could have predicted the collapse of ITV Digital, and the subsequent freezing of payments to clubs, but he admitted that he precipitated the Bantams' journey into administration by spending vast amounts in the summer of 2000. "I will never, ever, forgive myself for spending the money we did," he said. "Looking back now, it was six weeks of madness and I hold my hands up." That madness included fees for Ashley Ward (£1.5m), Dan Petrescu (£1m), and David Hopkin (£2.5m), as well as huge weekly salaries for the likes of Benito Carbone (£40,000), Peter Atherton (£14,000), and Stan Collymore (£25,000).

Richmond will argue that, faced with £13m debts, he had no choice but to pull the plug. Smith believes that Richmond has been little more than naïve. But, in effect, all Richmond has done is pass on the tricky problem of player contracts to someone else. "That's true to a certain degree," Smith says, "because the administrators have the power to do what the club could not, namely tear up players' contracts. But I don't think Geoffrey wanted this. I know his pride is deeply hurt."

That may be so, but the fact remains that, with high earners struck off the wage bill, the club would be a much more attractive proposition for a wannabe buyer. Curiously, once Bradford have been put back up for sale, that buyer could be Richmond himself.