Bradford City media manager Lewis Redmond says club farewell

The narrow confines of the Harrogate media seats – where it’s impossible not to get up close and very personal with your colleagues – provide the stage for media manager Lewis Redmond to say farewell.

After five years in the role, Redmond is set to take up a prize job at a Premier League club.

It is a fantastic opportunity for the boyhood Bantams fan from Thackley – and quite a rise from when he began writing City under-18s match reports during his second year at Huddersfield University.

He would go on to succeed Ryan Sparks as media manager and credits City’s CEO for helping him along the way.

“I’m so thankful to Ryan and owe a lot to him,” said Redmond. “He’s shown a lot of trust in me and given me a lot of autonomy.

“He’s exposed me to situations that at the time were intense. But without letting me fall on my face a couple of times and learn how to pick myself up and adapt, I’d never be in this position now.

“I’ve worked a lot of hours, put a lot of effort in and tried to leave no stone unturned every day.

“I’ve learned so much from Ryan. He was media PR manager when I started doing the under-18s and became director of comms when I began my placement year.

“But everybody could tell Ryan would go on to bigger and better and end up running the show just because of how he conducts himself and how he got the best out of others.”

Redmond started watching City as a season-ticket holder in the Midland Road stand in 2006/2007 and was at Wembley for both games in 2013 and Chelsea two years on.

He covered his first match for the club in January 2019 – a 2-0 win over Rotherham’s under-18s at Woodhouse Grove.

Travelling on the coach to away games, he got to know coaches Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars. It felt like they had all gone full circle when he worked with the pair as City’s joint-managers two seasons later.

After working alongside Gary Bowyer and Stuart McCall, that year played behind closed doors was Redmond’s first in the full-time media position.

Lewis Redmond has enjoyed working with City boss Graham Alexander and chief executive Ryan Sparks (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Sparks had given him the heads-up during lockdown that the role would be his once football could return.

Redmond said: “It put my mind at ease and it was also very exciting. I had my university degree to finish and then I was going into this great job straight away.

“I remember coming back in that pre-season. We signed Elliot Watt and Levi Sutton on the same day and being back at the club after such a long time being locked down felt crazy.

“It was weird but once you got into the season, it became the new normal to the point where it almost felt stranger to me the year after when fans were back.

“The restrictions were lifted to the point where you could get pretty much everyone into the stadium from the start of that 2021/22 season.

“It was packed for the homecoming game against Oldham when Lee Angol got the late winner.

“That, to me, was strange because I’d got used to the season of not having everyone in the crowd and being able to hear everything that’s said on the pitch and in the dug-out.

“And in the press box when Andy Kiwomya goes off on one – as he did when Danny Rowe stuck one in late against Bolton!

“Since then, it’s just been a great journey and I’ve worked with some great people both in the football department and behind the scenes.

“I’ve made a lot of friends, some at the club and others who have moved on, who I will keep in touch with.

“That’s one of the most rewarding parts – you get all these experiences of working with different people and characters and take a lot from it.”

Danny Rowe's equaliser against Bolton at an empty Valley Parade caused a stir in the press box during the behind-closed-door season (Image: Thomas Gadd)

Redmond will never forget the fanfare that greeted the unveiling of Mark Hughes and the opportunity of working so closely with such a football icon.

“That was a unique experience and something I’m so glad happened to say that I worked with somebody like that.

“It was clear from the way he conducted himself, very polished, very classy that he was a Premier League manager.”

But current boss Graham Alexander has struck the biggest chord with Redmond for the way he has involved everyone at the club.

“Graham is the perfect manager in terms of the way he is with people. He treats everybody the same with a lot of respect.

“There’s a siege mentality with Graham where it’s us against the world. Everybody who is on our side against those who are not.

“He’s made me and my team and everyone behind the scenes feel part of that.

“He’s very genuine and personable and you can’t help but feel that you want him to succeed. I've loved working with Graham and Chris Lucketti.

“I think Graham and Bradford City work hand in hand. He’s so passionate and driven about what he does.

“With the job that I’ve got, there does come times when you’ve got to tell managers things they don’t necessarily want to hear and what’s the right thing to say and what’s not.

Lewis Redmond with the City walkers who took part in the March of the Day for Stephen Darby's MND foundation earlier this year (Image: X)

“But those conversations with Graham are very few and far between and always done very diplomatically. We see eye-to-eye on a lot of things.

“When you’ve got people like that you’ve got to cherish the time working alongside them and I really have.

“The squad we’ve got, the management, coaching staff and off-field set-up is as strong as it’s been since I’ve been at the club.

“It’s in the right hands on and off the pitch and it’s just a case of hopefully harnessing that opportunity.”

Redmond will also be keeping his fingers firmly crossed for mentor Sparks.

“He’s put so much into it in the past five years.

“I know people have their opinions on him and will question certain decisions and that’s fine.

“But nobody sees what he's like day-to-day and how much he dedicates his life to try and make Bradford City a successful club.

"There's nothing more I'd like to see at the end of the season than this team, the manager and backroom staff and, more than anyone else, Ryan Sparks succeeding.

"Nobody can take away from Ryan how determined he is and how hard he works.

"You've got a manager and a chief executive and so many staff behind the scenes dedicating a lot of their time - some people their entire lives - to help the club be successful in whatever way that might be.

"All those people, whether they are management or whoever, deserve to taste success. I hope that happens for them and obviously the supporters."