Bradford City boss shocked by jailed new signing

Bradford City’s new signing has incurred the wrath of his manager after failing to inform him of a court case which led to 12-week prison sentence, making him unavailable for the start of the season.

Bantams manager, one time England boss Peter Taylor, was shocked to discover that Jake Speight, £25,000 signing from Mansfield just two weeks ago, has been jailed for assault.

He is likely to be released after just half of his 12-week sentence however, and Bradford will not be paying the 24-year-old during his time behind bars.

The incident occurred in February and Speight and his agent failed to inform either Bradford or Mansfield of the impending court case.

But despite his evident shock of losing Speight so soon into his Bradford career, Taylor showed some sympathy towards his forward.

“I’m very disappointed, obviously, because we were totally unaware this was happening,” said the former Leicester City manager.

“They should have warned me but, to be fair to Jake, his desire to play for Bradford was so strong that he felt he might mess his chances up.

“He thought he would get a warning and the outcome has been a nightmare for him.

“I should have been told but I do understand a little bit why I wasn’t.”