GARY Bowyer believes the Chris Taylor fiasco has raised concerns over player welfare.

The City boss insists the FA and the EFL need to look at their procedures to prevent a repeat of the situation which blocked Taylor from joining the club.

The Bantams were unable to complete a deal for the free agent because of the threat of a future punishment for fielding a player who may not be eligible.

They faced the prospect of being docked points after the authorities failed to decide whether Taylor’s trial appearance with Barrow meant he was barred from signing elsewhere.

After a week of trying, City could not get a firm answer and were forced to pull the plug.

The midfielder still trained with City yesterday before saying his goodbyes and wishing them luck for the game at Macclesfield.

Bowyer said: “Here was a lad out of work, all he was doing by playing in the game was keeping himself fit.

“There wasn’t a potential to sign for Barrow at that time but he’s getting penalised for it.

“I still feel he’s got a hell of a lot to give, otherwise I wouldn’t have signed him.

“You look at the player welfare, especially nowadays when there’s so much made of mental health, political correctness and everything.

“Then, when it actually does cry out for something like this we seem to have penalised the poor boy. That’s my main concern with it.”

Taylor, who played in two pre-season friendlies with City, returned to the club and penned a short-term deal last week. It was only afterwards that doubts were raised by the governing bodies because of an appearance while training at Barrow.

Bowyer added: “He didn’t receive any money for playing in it, he wasn’t under a contract or anything.

“There needs to be a review on it. There needs to be better clarity.

“I think it’s one for the FA and the EFL to look at.

“In my personal opinion, and I don’t think I can get into trouble for saying this, but they should have a better process in place.

“The length of time it took to get to this decision as well was not, in my opinion, of a professional standard.

“If I go and play for my mate’s team on a Sunday morning and don’t sign a form, the team sheet gets put in and it gets flagged up straight away.

“Why hasn’t it been flagged straight away then if he hadn’t signed a form or wasn’t registered?

“It’s a very disappointing conclusion to the situation. But you would certainly hope that lessons have been learnt and we never have to have this sort of conversation again.”