Bradford City slammed for "stupid decision" as Richie Smallwood announces Bantams exit | OneFootball

Not long after being named City's Player of the Year, Smallwood will move on to pastures new this summer

Bradford City will return to League One for the 2025-26 season after six years in the fourth tier of English football - but Player of the Year Richie Smallwood won't be joining them on the journey.

Graham Alexander finally led the Bantams back to a higher level after a number of years in the wilderness, and an eyecatching first signing of the summer was made recently in the form of ex-Wigan Athletic and Sunderland midfielder Max Power.

A combative, no-nonsense player, Power provides plenty of experience for City ahead of next season, and he now looks to be a replacement for Smallwood, who has surprisingly announced his departure from Valley Parade.

Richie Smallwood contract revelation leads to Bradford City supporter backlash

In mid-May, Bradford revealed as part of their retained list that the club were in talks with Smallwood over a new contract, with the 34-year-old club captain seeing his current deal expire at the end of June.

Many would have seen Smallwood staying at Valley Parade as a no-brainer and something that was a matter of if, not when, given his importance to Alexander's engine room, appearing 43 times in League Two this past season.

However, in somewhat of a curveball, Smallwood revealed in a statement on Monday that he would be departing Bradford, and he also claimed that the club decided not to offer him a new contract - even though their own retained list suggested talks were ongoing.

Smallwood's revelation has led to a shocked response from the Bantams fanbase, with one supporter claiming that the Bradford hierarchy have made a "stupid decision".

Another fan believes that Bradford not offering Smallwood a new deal is a "ridiculous" decision for a player that was pretty much an ever-present in their promotion-winning campaign.

This Bradford fan called the Smallwood decision a "strange" one - echoing the majority verdict from the terraces of Valley Parade.

This supporter meanwhile "cannot fathom" the decision for Smallwood to leave the club given all he has done in the past three years.

A final supporter believes that Smallwood exiting the club makes no sense, in what appears to be a shared view by many.

One of Bradford City's rivals could take advantage and make Bantams regret Richie Smallwood decision

Given the job he did at the base of Bradford's midfield this past season, Smallwood departing Valley Parade is a surprise to most people - although Max Power arriving takes the pressure off the club somewhat.

Despite being 34 years of age, it's clear that Smallwood can still operate at a competitive level, as showed by his Player of the Year award, and that will interest some of Bradford's new League One rivals for the upcoming season.

If Smallwood doesn't want to move too far, then there are plenty of Yorkshire clubs in the third tier for next season, with Barnsley, Rotherham United and Doncaster Rovers all potentially having vacancies in the midfield area, although if he stays in League Two, the likes of Oldham Athletic and Salford City are just over the Pennines.