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Maintain Radio Silence

By Philip Jackson

I began this season in a familiar and comfortable football rut. I refer to the general world of football consumption, the things I listened to, the things I watched and the people and outlets I got it all from.

Flicking on BB 5Live, Sky Sports News, Talksport, football podcasts on the iPod, whichever. The recognisable voices always there: different pundits depending on what match it was, but all the same none the less.

Now without realising the fact, I wasn’t really listening, and to be honest I didn’t actually care, I had been coming to this conclusion for some time. You are boring me, and by listening to it all the time it was probably annoying the hell out of people around me.

I had finally woken up to the reality that the ‘hot soccer chat’ delivered with the inspiration and verve of a long punt up-field was as dull as six years in League Two.

The conversations and analysis were all the same. Try and spice it up all you want, but when the topics of conversation always centre around 4, 5, 6, maybe 7 Premier League teams, you’ll just fill endless hours of airtime with more or less the same material:

Arsenal: Not winning a trophy in ages, Wenger not developing players to replace ‘The Invincibles’.
Manchester United: Fergie, Rooney
Manchester City: What has gone wrong all that money, Mancini.
Liverpool: Not won a title since 1990, Suarez, is Rodgers any good?
Everton: Beating Liverpool.
Chelsea: Benitez, Is Mourinho coming back? Terry and Lampard.
Spurs: Gareth Bale.

Now, call me weird but I’ve heard enough about this lot, you are boring me. Dull programmes listened to by dull people, I guess I’m dull then. I don’t want to be dull.

Then there are the commentaries; no matter which way you spin it, there is nothing special or unique about a match between any combination of the teams above when they play each other over and over again. No match is ever the final match; there will be more games, more competitions and more seasons.

But they cannot help but overuse the superlative: this is the greatest team ever, this is the biggest game ever, this the worst thing ever to happen. You know it probably isn’t, it is just the easy way to try and generate interest.

Some of the worst culprits are the ‘general conversation’ programmes. There isn’t any action on, so we have the same pundits or journalists and we go over and over games just gone or games coming up, and invariably end up with the same problems or subjects every time. You cannot say anything new or insightful about the subject, move on to something else.

Then of course we have the ‘phone-ins’. Who’s idea was that? I suppose it is public-service broadcasting. I did listen to ‘606’ on the way up to Leeds after the play off final. We got about two City calls in, but still Jason Roberts was more keen on saying how badly we’d been beaten by Swansea and that Phil Parkinson was probably going to leave, he clearly hadn’t watched the play off final and had done little research on Parkinson’s contract situation. I am not wasting my time listening to that stuff any more.

Change the channel, turn off the radio, go and have a chat with someone.

Being a Bradford City supporter, what does get to me is the constant attention on the Premier League, the Champions League (it never used to be that big a deal, there is now far more attention given over to teams abroad than those in this country), a bit on the Championship and that is about your lot. They never go beyond these borders really and it hadn’t really struck me as to why, until this season.

This season was our season, we got coverage and this was where it showed – glaringly how bland the media coverage is. The experts knew very little about us, and as such their lack of research and concern for life in the lower leagues shone through. The people who are paid very well to inform and educate about football have little depth to their knowledge. Most stories told about City during the cup round featured the same few facts or assumptions about the club, with little attempt to scratch below the surface.

I lost count of how many times I was told that the squad was assembled for only £7,500 or that James Hanson used to work in a shop (big deal, young man works in shop, most of us at some time or other have worked stacking shelves, or in a bar or waiting tables). I wanted these people to tell the nation interesting things about our club (we have got a few stories to tell) but they never really came.

More often than not the focus of the cup match reports was on the defeated ‘big’ team. How bad they were, and then some more about how bad they were. Bradford City were forgotten. We get non-stop talk throughout the season about these Premier League teams anyway; instead of focusing on us, the attention is still kept on the fallen Premier League side.

I found this true in the newspapers I bought after our cup exploits, articles were focussed on the losers and how badly they played, without much detailed breakdown of what we did and how we played.

Radio commentators expressed great surprise at how we played; revealing how little they know about lower league football. The Guardian’s football weekly podcast’s general analysis of our performances were basically that Bradford were surprisingly good but will get thrashed in the next round, (a 10 year old could tell me that). Now let’s talk about the other team, before we can move on to talk at length about Chelsea.

I don’t think our cause was helped by Bradford being in the North, most of the media outlets and journalists are London based and therefore London centric. We are in the unenviable position of being in a lower division and residing nowhere near London – so almost invisible in media terms.

I turned off 5Live around the turn of the years and unsubscribed from the podcasts; with the opinion that they know less than me about much of football, so I am not going to waste my time listening to you anymore.

I haven’t actually paid attention to the Premier League. Who’s doing what, it doesn’t interest me anymore. What has gone on within my club is far more real and means far more. I’ve listened back to cup commentaries and watched highlights on the iPlayer,(I even complained to the BBC about putting the highlights of our victory against Wigan on last on the cup highlights show, and received the expected bland response) and consumed what I want rather than just accepting everything they offer.

After our terrific season, and all that the team has done, they have done well in fielding the same questions over and over again with a smile right up to the end. On the pitch after the play off final the first words to James Hanson from ‘voice of the Football League’ Mark Clemmitt were that it’s a long way from working at the Co-op. Really Mark, I never knew that he used to work there!

Tags: James Hanson, Media, Wembley

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Categories Opinion

Sit back and enjoy the summer

6 Jun

By Matt Briggs

With the biggest deal of the summer already in the bag at Valley Parade, we can look forward to a relaxing couple of months.

Phil Parkinson’s new three-year contract was up and away the most crucial piece of business this summer and now we can sit back and watch his close-season recruitment, which is likely to be focused on quality rather than quantity.

It was a policy which paid dividends in 2012/13 and one which Julian Rhodes and Mark Lawn have already indicated they will roll out again next term. And it’s hard to disagree with that, despite the club’s bulging bank balance after the League Cup run.

The widely held opinion is that the squad is strong enough to hold its own in the league above and, with two or three shrewd signings, I genuinely think we could be challenging for the play offs again.

The club will be desperate to snap up Andrew Davies, who was the ‘real’ man-of-the-match at Wembley, and Nathan Doyle on new contracts, and after Parkinson, those two deals could be the most important of the summer.

It’s safe to say there will be no revolution, despite moving up a division, and why should there be after marching to promotion from the bottom tier after a mammoth 64-game season?

All of last season’s promoted teams managed survival in League One. Swindon finished 6^th, Crawley 10^th, Crewe 13^th and Shrewsbury 16^th. Without another unprecedented cup run – and I’m sure City would have been promoted automatically without our run to the Wembley cup final – the Bantams could easily be troubling the top 10 again.

Keeping hold of striking duo James Hanson and Nakhi Wells is obviously crucial, but I am already curious as to how the pair will do in England’s third tier. The duo finished the season strongly and, if they can get close to their 41-goal haul again, City will be there or thereabouts.

But despite the apparent strength of City’s first-choice forward line, Parky does need to strengthen it and he’s likely to make another striker his number one priority.

Alan Connell might well be suited to League One football. Swindon didn’t fancy him, but there again Paolo Di Canio was the man at the helm, but it would be no surprise to see Andy Gray’s contract severed this summer. Gray’s arrival has been the only blot on Parkinson’s transfer business and the 18-month deal he penned in January might well be consigned to the rubbish bin in the next month or so.

If that proves to be the case then the club will definitely be in the market for another frontman. Add to that a goalscoring midfielder and a stronger goalkeeper and Parky’s recruitment drive might well be over.

Matt Briggs writes for www.TEAMtalk.com, you can follow Matt on Twitter @MattPBriggs

Tags: Alan Connell, Andrew Davies, Andy Gray, James Hanson, Nahki Wells, Nathan Doyle, Phil Parkinson

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Categories Opinion

2012/13 season review: The Power of Both

4 Jun

By Alex Scott

The strategy employed by Phil Parkinson during the past year has undoubtedly been a triumph. We can’t avoid analysing it through the lens of the outcome, as fantastic as that has been. I could write with some attempted rational objectivity here, divorcing the end from the means, picking apart at every thread of luck and happenstance, but there’s no point really. Nor would it be any fun as an exercise. Objectivity is overrated anyway.

The aim was to get out of the division. City finished 18^th last season and had a lot of hold-overs under contract. After five years in the doldrums, there was a limited budget available, and Parkinson somehow had to transform one of the worst sides in the country for the last few years into something successful. Whilst the plaudits have come from far and wide for the City manager, we really shouldn’t lose sight of how bad the team were, and how bad the team has been for a prolonged period. To go from where they were to where they are now is really in the realm of miracle work.

Last summer, after the tortuous relegation fight was concluded, Parkinson attempted to tear up the script. Forty players featured for City last year. Four-zero. No more. This year he was going to build up a core of about 16 players who would feature throughout the season, and then support them with a host of cheaper, younger players who could fill in where necessary, and propagate the enthusiastic, determined culture he was attempting to develop. Gary Jones has and is the obvious beacon for the club, the tone-setter. But as much as the impact has been top-down, the recruitment of young players like Carl McHugh, Will Atkinson and Blair Turgott as complementary players has helped drive forward the momentum from beneath.

It has been picked up elsewhere many times, but it bears emphasising, the raising of the bar in terms of performance on the field was only a small part of what was needed for this season to be a success. The more important component in need of change was the culture. There needed to be a wholesale shift in mind-set, and not just in the players. We have seen this attempted year after year after year. Each new manager has stressed its importance, and all have failed and become old managers. We were a losing team. Before and after. We underwhelmed and we lost. That was our identity.

It wasn’t just a matter of changing the players. The club has done that countless times. The experienced old heads were recruited; the next year brought a youth movement. The loanees were the answer; they then were anathema. We’ve had the rah-rah leaders, the leaders by example, the highly paid and the highly sought after; none have managed to alleviate the clouds encircling the Valley. Each successive saviour increased the velocity of the spiral. But the gyroscope didn’t spin forever.

It wasn’t just about the players. Of course their talent helped, and having a 26-goal a season striker makes a lot of ills disappear. The players made the team a force to be reckoned with, but that force was 12 points off the play offs in the middle of March. Good players couldn’t make this team great, for that they needed great men, and that is exactly what Parkinson unearthed.

Only a truly special collection of men could have bridged that gap. Forget all the rest for a second, and just look back at that gap. 12 points and on the back of a 4-1 doing at the hands of the team they were chasing. They were dead. They had absolutely no business making the play offs. None. The mentality of the squad is what made them great. They never, ever know when they are beaten.

It has been a running theme all season long. The collective determination and enthusiasm wouldn’t let them fall. The adversity the squad had to power through this season would have defeated lesser men, but this group would not be denied. Exeter’s implosion played a role, of course it did. But the surging City outfit undoubtedly contributed to the Grecian panic, and you feel if it wasn’t Exeter it would have been someone else. The collective will of the squad made the outcome feel like a fait accompli.

Each year has seen a change in philosophy, this year was no exception. Last year’s mindless hoarding was this year’s feng shui. There was consideration, actual thought (!) into strategy, into how the squad was built. The unending vacillations between the ends of the spectrum paints a picture of a strategic arm which didn’t know the correct answer, and of course, another failure this year would have led to another torn script on the floor, and a new cast up on stage. Perhaps they have learnt their lessons, or perhaps now is one of those times in the day that they are right, who knows? I can want to believe the former. But the majority of the evidence and my critical mind lean toward the alternative.

As this year has shown, in the same way each new manager has proclaimed in the past, there was a club and a fan base within desperate for anything to cling on to. Parkinson’s strategy of a smaller, more settled squad of enthusiastic, determined players has given fans that body to live through.

Financially, they overspent. By, like… a lot. Estimates place it around a 50% overspend on wage budget, £600,000 over their allotted £1.2m. For comparison here, Yeovil Town were promoted into the Championship with an annual wage budget under £1m. So it’s not like the club were impoverished, or shy. Nor should they be with a fan base (revenue base) as strong as ours. Obviously this was a gamble worth making. Look at the outcome, how could I even present an argument that it wasn’t? The idea of ‘worth’ isn’t the same as ‘morally acceptable’ (those in uproar over Crawley’s overspend last year lost their moral high ground – only in that aspect, mind), but who made any of us the arbiter anyway? And, fundamentally, it isn’t our money anyhow.

But even at the time, from Phil Parkinson’s perspective, the gamble was absolutely worth taking. If he could get the team out of the gates quickly, in and about the promotion places come the winter and then few players amongst the small squad went down, what were the board going to do, refuse him funds for a loan player? With promotion on the line? They were so desperate for success, everyone was. He knew it, everyone knew it. He backed himself to pull it off, and we are lucky that he is even better than he thinks he is.

The question which dominated the season, (but is irrelevant now), was “where would they be without the cup run?” Not to waste too much time on navel-gazing whatiffery, but imagine if Yoann Arquin scored that open goal eighty nine minutes into the season, knocking the boys out of the League Cup in the process? City would have gone up automatically is the common, and the happy, response. It does however ignore the necessity of those cup-raised funds to the solvency of the club in January, and the impact that money’s absence would have had on the status of the club’s 26-goal centre forward upon whom they were utterly dependent.

If there is anything in football which can be classed as a panacea, an unfathomably pacey goal scorer up top is it. And that wasn’t news to the City manager who built his history making squad around a strong defensive unit that was insulated by their midfield, and a forward line that could create goals out of not much.

Having a player like Nahki Wells in the side afforded the squad to be more withdrawn in structure, knowing the goals would come anyway. The fact they restricted their opposition to by far the fewest chances shouldn’t come as a surprise. Without Wells the side would (and did) crumble. Either the goals would dry up, or Parkinson would have had to build a squad that would inherently carry more goals in it than this version.

Nahki Wells was the primary reason why this squad was good, but what’s more he embodied everything that made them great. It was less what he was, and more who he was.

The moment, the decision which has averted the spiral and turned this team from good to great has been the acknowledgement that you need more than talent and theory. For all his admirable pragmatism and consideration and jumpers, Phil Parkinson’s acknowledgement of the intangible is what has made him special. We needed more than great players to become great again.

You can’t attempt to break every decision down to the financial bottom line or cold-hearted logic. Before, and especially after, the central defence went down I thought (and said) that the squad was probably too small, they had invested too much in too few, and despite a great starting eleven able to get themselves up for one-off games, they could not keep it together for the entire season.

It’s (yet another) example of how little we… I… know from the outside, and how any objective attempts at second guessing must always be accompanied by a disclaimer: they know more than we do.

The spirit has been almost the most important thing about this season. Sure they’ve played well; there are a lot of good players in this squad, but the thing which has carried them through this arduous, glorious season is the spirit. As a chronic over-thinker, I’m always drawn to things that make me completely rethink my stance on a topic. As a result of my flawed mind, I always take safety in the idea that you can distil a lot of life down into an understandable logic stream. Looking at things rationally always makes things clearer. I enjoy looking through data and statistics; the ‘Moneyball’ revolution in American sports probably plays a huge part in why I like them so much.

But this team, this year, has changed how I think, and it essentially boils down to one decision. Phil Parkinson appears a very considered man with a great mind (and fashion sense), and a lot of that innovative thought and preparation is apparent in how this squad was built. As much as that work, that thought, laid the foundations of this season, what pushed them over the top was something else, something less tangible, something less safe for people like me.

The spirit of the team, the culture, the “type” of people involved has turned a good team into a great team, and this has been defined by Gary Jones. I was a vocal and adamant critic of the decision to (essentially) let Dave Syers go and replace him with a 35-year old midfielder whose own team was willing to let him go. I’m not sure in my life I have been as wrong, and proved as wrong as fast as I have been in this case. I can (and may) pipe back in a couple of years when (if?) Jones retires, and Syers is entering his peak in the Championship somewhere, but it will be, and will appear, half-hearted. Jones is what lifted this team from competence to greatness, and even if he never plays another game, he will go down as a club hero.

It doesn’t follow the cold-hearted logic, but sometimes you need to make a leap of faith. Being objective may be overrated. I could say that going into next season in League One that I’d like another keeper, or that the team needs a different type of centre forward instead of James Hanson to maximise their chances of success. But those things would make me sad, and even though they may objectively make the team better, I don’t care about objectivity.

I want these guys back. I want them all back. I don’t care if it makes us slightly less effective because this team has something else, something beyond reason. They are truly special, and the thing that makes them special isn’t what they are, it’s who they are.

This spirit to which I keep referring has been nurtured by not just the nature of the members of the squad, but the size of it. Breaking away from years of overindulgence, Parkinson went for quality over quantity, and not only increasing the talent level of the starting eleven, but engendering a spirit not seen among larger, more disparate groups. Never being a footballer of any consequence, this is an aspect of the decision making I completely oversaw in my attempted analysis throughout the year.

The fact the squad is smaller, with a lot of the “right type” of people in it meant that it was a lot easier to build up the “all-in-this-together” culture which has embodied the squad. I noted that the mounting injury list and subsequent drop off in form was merely a function of this quality over quantity strategy. Which it was. But despite the short term struggles which were alleviated by loan players and squad members, it was the reason everything worked out later on.

There was a versatility to the squad in body and mind, a sacrificial nature to the play which represented all the squads we wanted to support, and all the teams we wanted to be a part of. When we play, we want to play in a squad like this. They all fought for each other. However they got where they needed to get, they would not be denied. From the first day to the last they barely stopped running. Each celebration was met by a giddy hoard of claret and amber.

Our reductive stereotype shorthands dictate that for a player like James Hanson, a hard-grafting local lad, this isn’t a surprising characteristic. But the same can’t be said for a player like Nahki Wells. He did not have to care as much as he did. Work as hard as he did. Run down as many dead chases to the corner flag. But he cared. Something about him and about the squad in general, made them all care in a way none of their recent ancestors have been able to, or at least convey.

Alan Connell is another who has every right to be frustrated, but has never once showed it. It’s amazing.

What Parkinson got out of these players is just an embodiment of everything he has achieved this year. Not only a potential-fulfilling level of competence, but something more, something outside of that, something beyond that. For the first time since maybe the late eighties, there is something happening. There is a something there which means something beyond the fact they are quite good at football. They are greater than the sum of their parts, which is a novelty for a City team in itself, but they do it in a way to make you want them to succeed. Not the team, that’s a given, but them, these specific people. Those views over City Park the other week weren’t just a community getting behind a winning team. There was so much more involved.

Beyond than getting better on the field next season, they need to keep this going. Whatever this is. They need to keep the momentum going. I’m not even sure how much the footballing talents matter at this point or on this scale, this group have never looked like they will be denied.

I’ve fought all the way through this piece against a metaphor with science and religion. Not because it isn’t good, but because this situation is more than just two ends of spectrum. The pragmatism, the thought is still there in the design of the club, the design of the squad, the strategy employed. But Parkinson managed to develop something beyond that, something special, something that harnessed the power of both. This strategy was as dependent on belief as any. It is hard to question him. It is hard not to have faith in him.

For the first time in almost 15 years, the club has momentum, we have momentum. We have something to build upon. We have something to build upon, and we have the perfect man drawing the blueprints. Optimism abounds. More of the same.

Tags: 2012/13, Alan Connell, Gary Jones, James Hanson, League Two, Nahki Wells, Phil Parkinson

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Categories 2012/13 season review

2012/13 season review: The best trip, I’ve ever been on

28 May

By Jason McKeown

It was the year of walking onto the field to the supporter-created song ‘claret and amber’. Of hooped home shirts. Of Flexi-cards. A year where Valley Parade was filled to capacity for the first time in over a decade. Where we were looking up the league rather than down. Of over-achieving in the cups. Of selling out numerous away games. Of Gary Jones.

Right from the start, you suspected this could be a special one. League One Notts County away in the League Cup kicked off the season. We travelled to Nottingham on a baking hot day merely in the hope of a good performance, accomplishing not only that but a credible 1-0 win. The BBC called it a “giant killing”. This was just the warm up.

The league began with a bang too. After an opening day loss, back-to-back home wins over Fleetwood and Wimbledon set the tone for a sustainable promotion push. The Dons were swept aside in stunning first-half fashion – 5-1 at the interval – and it was hard to avoid feeling wildly optimistic. “Champions by Christmas” one of group of friends quipped. “No”, responded someone else. “Champions by August Bank Holiday”.

Rotherham was a reality check. The first of many City away sell outs, we rocked up to the wonderful New York Stadium in expectation, but went 1-0 down within 75 seconds and would go on to lose 4-0. Accrington a week after not much better, despite a 1-1 draw. Perhaps it won’t be so easy: Champions by Easter?

But we soon got into our stride. Barnet were woeful, Morecambe swept aside in thrilling fashion – Jones’ first City goal met with a pump-fist celebration in front of the Kop. He and Nathan Doyle were forming a great partnership, James Hanson and Nahki Wells could not stop scoring. The summer warmth lingered long enough for a t-shirt day at Oxford in late September, with a 2-0 win taking us joint second.

A fourth win on the trot was achieved in the cup against Burton. What a night that was. Even at 2-0 down at half time, confidence was high that we could win it. Kyel Reid came off the bench and destroyed the Brewers, and fellow sub Wells netted two late goals. The celebrations for his last minute equaliser up there with any moment we’ve experienced this season. Stephen Darby’s extra time winner was academic.

Bumps on the road to promotion followed. Port Vale ending City’s 100% home record – undeservedly so – 10-men Rochdale could not be beaten on their own patch, and then at Dagenham the Bantams managed to go 4-1 down with a late two-goal fightback in vein. A trip up the A1 to Hartlepool in the JPT was memorable only for another City penalty shootout victory and a nightmare drive home due to roadworks.

We needed a big win, and defeating a fellow promotion rival – Cheltenham – provided that. 3-1 having fallen behind. Mark Yates correctly moaning about being denied a penalty when his side was 1-0 up. Wells was the hero. Not a great performance, but a great win. Wells netted again three days later at Northampton. Now we’re cooking.

The League Cup run was getting really exciting. We went to Premier League Wigan in Round Four – initially a disappointing prospect, but following news of a 5,000 City away end sell-out, excitement for a good night. Losing at Burton three days earlier – with the added nightmare of injuries robbing us of Luke Oliver for the rest of the season and Andrew Davies until February – meant we went to the DW Stadium with little hope. A stunning performance ensued, capped off by a penalty shootout win. Duuukkkkkeeeee!

That set up a quarter final home tie with Arsenal. How to concentrate for the six weeks in-between? Progress in the FA Cup occurred with a memorable 3-3 replay – and yes, another shootout success – over Northampton. City’s lowest home crowd of the season, but one of the best games. In the league, form was mixed, but a trip to Bristol Rovers stands out as one of the season’s highlights. It was wet – very wet – and the away terrace offered no protection. But we skidded in the rain in celebration of City coming from behind three times to earn a point. Fantastic character.

But it was all about waiting for Arsenal. Tick the games off. Port Vale in the JPT, good fun. Brentford on a Friday night in the FA Cup, notable for how drunk one of our group was (“It is pay day drinks!”) and City temporarily getting kicked out the competition for fielding loanee Curtis Good. Three days before the Gunners came to town, an important 1-0 home win over Torquay was sealed by a superb Alan Connell strike. He was fast cementing his status as super sub. Will Atkinson, James Meredith and Rory McArdle were also in excellent form.

So now we can enjoy the Arsenal game. It was bitterly cold, and Manningham Lane an hour before kick off was packed out in a way I’ve not seen for years. Long queues to get inside the Kop; and just as we made our way to our seats, the Arsenal team was announced. Blimey, they are taking it seriously.

Garry Thompson’s opening goal is one that we will treasure for years to come. We’re beating Arsenal! Just 70 minutes to go! Incredibly, we almost held out. A late Gunners equaliser would surely cost us, but we held on through extra time with the noise levels from a packed out Valley Parade never relenting. Penalties. Say no more.

The next night, a group of us got together to watch the semi final draw. Please be Villa, at home first, was my wish. That is what we got. Another scramble for tickets, but both legs sorted out with only a couple of sleepness nights. Now back to the League…oh dear. After scrambling to victory over Accrington on Boxing Day (Connell again!), form fell off a cliff. Rochdale embarrassed us; at Morecambe we rued that miss by Hanson; Barnet thumped us 2-0 three days before Villa. At least the likes of Stephen Darby and Zavon Hines were impressing.

Oh what a night we had, in the home leg against Villa. I’ll always remember a friend in the pub beforehand predicting “3-1…and I begrudge Villa that 1!” and thinking he was mad. But he could not have been more right. Rory McArdle’s header that made it 2-0 saw Valley Parade rock like it hasn’t since Gordon Watson netted a brace in front of the same Kop end in September 1998. I lost the plot celebrating. The wonderfully promising Carl McHugh’s goal for 3-1 was special too. If you could dismiss the Wigan and Arsenal wins as being on penalties, there was no talking down of this one. League Two Bradford City had beaten Premier League Aston Villa over 90 minutes.

Other games happened in-between the two legs, but attention was only on Villa Park. A 4-1 thumping to Crewe in the JPT was painless in the circumstances, save for how ridiculously cold it was. No one minded that Saturday’s trip to Vale was called off, let’s just hope this heavy snow doesn’t make it impossible to travel to Birmingham.

I took a car-load to this game. As a group some of us barely knew each other, but by the time we met up on the street outside Villa Park at full time, we were on hugging terms. The first half was horrible as Villa came flying out the blocks; but then Gary Jones swung a corner onto Hanson’s head, 10 minutes into the second half, and we were gleefully celebrating an improbable equaliser. I will always remember my good friend and fellow Width of a Post writer Gareth Walker needing a sit down next to me, as he was so overcome with emotion. A late Villa winner added anxiety, but we did it. What a night. Perhaps the best moment of my time supporting Bradford City.

We were in the League Cup Final at Wembley. Even writing this article months after, I can’t help but smile at the absurdity of that statement. I never thought it would happen in my lifetime.

Reality bit back at Fleetwood a week later, with a 2-2 draw on the North-West coast not what we needed to close the gap to the play offs. A 1-0 defeat at home to leaders Gillingham – our only home game in-between Villa and Wembley – was played out with an air of obvious distraction on and off the field. At least we beat Wycombe away in midweek, but a 2-1 loss to bottom of the table Wimbledon eight days before Wembley was not ideal.

What more can you say about Wembley One? The build up was phenomenal. The world’s media camped out at Bradford, covering every angle possible. Revel in all the TV and newspaper coverage, enjoy the players being treated like rock stars. “Now live to the Cedar Hotel in Bradford, where the players are about to board the coach to Wembley” Sky Sports News told us. The challenges of producing this website were increased by numerous media requests. I loved it.

As I loved Wembley. It was a special feeling alighting from the train nearby and walking down the streets with hundreds of City fans. The pubs were packed out, the nerves were growing. A walk up and down Wembley Way was more wonderful than I could ever imagine. The first look inside Wembley was an awesome moment. 33,000 Bradford City fans making an almighty racket. I shed a tear before a kick off. An incredible day out.

Shame about the football.

The hangover from Wembley was not insignificant. With so much ground to make up on the play offs, every game felt win or bust. A good 2-0 victory at York aside, it was a tale of dropped points and anger. “Does Phil Parkinson deserve his new contract?” some asked. A couple of miserable buggers even plummeted to the depths of writing off the cup run as “lucky”.

The nadir moment, for me, was a 0-0 draw at Plymouth on a Tuesday night in March. I travelled down with two friends, booked into a Travelodge, and the tame performance convinced me that faint play off hopes were over. That we couldn’t get on a run of wins. That it was time to start planning for next season. A 4-1 loss at Exeter the following Saturday only added to that conviction.

But how wrong I was. The surge began with a low key 1-0 win over Wycombe. A 2-2 draw with Southend felt like two dropped points, but then three wins in a row over Torquay, Northampton and Bristol Rovers improbably put us in the top seven. Even automatic hopes weren’t over! Thompson was in great form, Davies a rock in the centre of defence and Reid had rediscovered his swagger. The decision to pick Ricky Ravenhill over a fading Doyle had also helped. RR’s sitting in front of the back four bringing the best out of Gary Jones.

The stall came with a 2-2 draw at Chesterfield in what was a superb atmosphere, followed by a 2-0 loss to Rotherham in front of a packed out Valley Parade. Still, seventh spot was sealed with a 1-0 win over Burton. A trip to Cheltenham on the last day meaningless, but we had a good time nonetheless.

Bring on the play offs! Burton had the best home record in the Football League, so taking a lead to the Perelli Stadium for the second leg seemed vital. Alas, we endured a dreadful first 45 at Valley Parade to go in at half time 3-1 down – and they might have had more. We’ve frozen, blown it, folded. Burton could have finished us, but a save from Jon McLaughlin, at 2-0 Burton, was vital. Thompson’s stunner gave us hope for the second leg. Burton had let us off the hook.

At Burton, the players more than made amends. Determined, bullish, confident. Wells made it 1-0 to level the tie, and we never looked back. Hanson’s stunner early in the second half sparked delirium. Wells made it 3-1 and we were in dreamland. Blow your whistle ref…six minutes injury time, eh?…blow your whistle ref!

The final whistle brought relief and ecstatic celebrations on and off the pitch. What a wonderful sight to see the players going crazy in front of us. What an uplifting moment to see Parkinson punching the air.

Back to Wembley!

More serious this time, the consequences of losing would be. We’re not massive underdogs on this occasion, the expectation level was much higher. Less time spent taking photos down Wembley Way, leave that to the Northampton fans. We’ve got work to do.

What a time to produce your best performance of the season! We never gave the Cobblers a sniff. Three goals in 13 minutes. All pile on top of each other. Disbelief at how easy it was. No relaxing until the closing stages. See out the job. The atmosphere was so special.

When Gary Jones and Ricky Ravenhill lifted the trophy, the outpouring of joy topped anything we’d seen all season. And there had been plenty of other outpourings of joy. Promotion a fitting reward for an incredible campaign. 64 games. I personally saw 52 of them. I don’t want to think about how much that cost me, but it was worth every single penny.

The 2012/13 season – one of the greatest in the club’s history. And undoubtedly the most fun I’ve ever had.

Tags: Phil Parkinson, Nahki Wells, James Hanson, Andrew Davies, League Two, Kyel Reid, Jon McLaughlin, Supporting, Will Atkinson, Matt Duke, Gary Jones, League Cup, Garry Thompson, Alan Connell, Wigan Athletic, Zavon Hines, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Wembley, Swansea City, Play offs

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Categories 2012/13 season review

The 2012/13 Width of a Post Player of the Season

24 May

By Jason McKeown

The Width of a Post writers were asked to vote for their top five players of the 2012/13 season, which saw 10 different players receive votes.

In fifth place…Rory McArdle

No one was a greater representative of City’s admirable endurance than Marathon Man Rory McArdle. Sure, he may not possess the classiness of Andrew Davies, the timing of Luke Oliver or the decision-making of Carl McHugh, but for all round solidness and reliability, McArdle has impressed greatly.

McArdle can be labelled ‘no nonsense’ with his boot-the-ball-upfield-ask-questions-later approach – exactly what is required in League Two. For the large part McArdle was wonderfully consistent, and his carbon copy headers against Aston Villa and Northampton will go down in folklore.

A superb first season at Valley Parade included being called up to the senior Northern Ireland squad – when was the last time City had a British player who achieved that? – McArdle featured time and time again for City, forming a key part of the back four. His 56 appearances saw City produce 20 clean sheets. Simply outstanding.

In fourth place…Nahki Wells

Nahki’s second proper season as a professional footballer saw the emergence of a swagger that was backed up with numerous goals. No City player has scored more in a season than Nahki’s 26 since Dean Windass in 2004/05.

The Bermudian went into the season with transfer rumours that never went away; although signing a new contract early doors meant there was less doubt that he would leave. Wells scored all manner of goals and remained at the top of the League Two scoring charts throughout. Despite a dip in form, which led to a goal drought between February and April, he came back strongly. His greater fitness, compared to last season, evident throughout.

It was fitting that Wells finally got his moment of glory at Wembley. After disappointment at missing out of Carlisle’s squad for their JPT Final in 2011 and getting hauled off early in City’s League Cup Final appearance in February, it was very much third time lucky when he fired home Garry Thompson’s flick on to make it 3-0. How richly deserved it was, after Wells produced his best game for City at Burton in the play off second leg, which did so much to get us back to the national stadium.

In third place…Stephen Darby

The player’s player of the year achieved a feat in his first season that was beyond many of his predecessors – becoming a popular right back. We City fans have long had reservations about our full backs, and the early impressions of the lightweight-looking Darby suggested he could face a difficult time winning people over.

But win people over he did. The direct benefit of Luke Oliver’s season-ending injury in October (forcing Rory McArdle from right back to centre half), Darby has been a revelation. Strong, tenacious, tough in the tackle and excellent going forward. He and Garry Thompson’s partnership on the right flank proved increasingly effective as the season wore on.

His poor performance against Burton Albion in the play off semi final first leg was a shock for how out of character it was: Darby having a bad game? The consistent 24-year-old doesn’t do them. No surprises he bounced back in the second leg so strongly.

Having previously experienced numerous loan moves, Darby has quickly got over any disappointment at not making it at Liverpool to settle in superbly in West Yorkshire. There is no reason why he can’t occupy our right back slot for many years to come.

Just a shame about the chant!

In second place…James Hanson

This was the year in James Hanson really came of age. The year in which even some of his fiercest critics in the stands admitted defeat and began to appreciate what he offers. 15 goals represents a season’s best for James Hanson the professional footballer; a handful of which especially will never be forgotten.

For if Hanson will never exactly become a great goalscorer, he is certainly a scorer of big goals. At Villa Park in January, the tie-clincher that took City to the cup final; securing a momentum-building point late on against Southend on Good Friday; sealing City’s place in the play offs with the winner against Burton in April; that wonderful strike at Burton in the play off second leg and, of course, his looping header at Wembley.

Phil Parkinson has really taken Hanson’s development forwards, after it stuttered under Peter Taylor and Peter Jackson. James began the season in superb goalscoring form and, despite a dip midway through the campaign, was still a key player. City just never look the same side when he isn’t in it. A strong run of late form reflected that of his team, and the local boy’s rise from shelf stacker to Wembley hero was complete. A true fairytale.

The accolades don’t come Hanson’s way often enough, but he is clearly highly rated by his manager, team mates, opposition and majority of City fans. That includes Width of a Post; we have all the time in the world for this hard-working and talented striker.

And so the Width of a Post 2012/13 Player of the Season is…Gary Jones

It’s amazing to recall now the mixed response that Gary Jones’ arrival last summer triggered. Having just turned 35 and being let go by Rochdale, many people feared that we’d signed a player over the hill and unlikely to prove effective.

To say that Jones has smashed all expectations is an understatement. Not since Stuart McCall’s return to Valley Parade in 1998 has one player had such a colossal impact on performances, team mates and supporters. Jones is hero-worshipped to a level that puts him on a par with McCall, Peter Beagrie, Darren Moore and Chris Waddle. At every game – before, during and after – his name is sung loudly and proudly.

Jones embodies everything that we supporters crave in our players. A never-say-die attitude, a tremendous level of work rate and a drive that brings out the best of others. You can visibly see Jones lifting the performances of those around him. The glue holding everything together; the catalyst behind the evidently strong team spirit.

Despite his advancing years, Jones has shown great energy in the role of box-to-box midfielder, equally adept at winning possession as he is setting up attacks. He doesn’t get into the opposition area as often as he did at Rochdale, but routinely plays a role in the build up to goals. Most notably, his set piece expertise was a regular feature of the cup run and Jones played a big part in all five goals netted against Arsenal and the two Villa matches.

City have been a team of heroes this season, but no one more so than Jones. The courage and character he has demonstrated time and time again has been the inspiration behind this incredible season.

Gary Jones, take a huge bow. Width of a Post’s player of the season by some distance. Captain Fantastic, leading City to a first promotion in 14 years.

Not bad for a 35-year-old. Not bad at all.

_________________________________________________

Special mention to James Meredith who received a lot of votes and narrowly missed the top five. The Width of a Post 2012/13 Player of the Season was voted for by: Gareth Walker, David Pendleton, Ian Hemmens, Mark Danylczuk, James Storrie, Phil Abbott, Jason McKeown, Mark Scully, Alex Scott, Joe Cockburn, Damien Wilkinson, David Lawrence, Rob Craven, Ian Sheard, Mahesh Johal, Tim Roche and Luke Lockwood.

Tags: 2012/13, Gary Jones, James Hanson, James Meredith, Nahki Wells, Rory McArdle, Stephen Darby

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Categories 2012/13 season review

One fine day, one fine season

21 May

Written by Jason McKeown

(Images by Mike Holdsworth)

This time around, the walk down Wembley Way failed to carry the same sense of aura. From being blown away, last February, by the size of the stadium and feeling giddy with excitement about stepping inside, the prestige was lost and the wow factor gone.

Been there, done it and literally bought the t-shirt. It would surely be impossible to ever feel blasé about a trip to Wembley, but this time around it felt all the more serious. Just another day at the office, albeit a very important one at that.

That such sentiment was reflected in spectacular style by the players was the story behind Bradford City’s play off final success. Whatever the motivation was – righting the Swansea wrongs, or simply ensuring a 64-game season wasn’t ultimately deemed futile – the single-minded focus and determination to win the game was incredible.

Just as not many teams could have lived with Swansea last February, Northampton stood no chance of stopping us on Saturday. For sure, they were awful and froze on the big occasion in the same manner we did in the League Cup Final. But let’s not downplay the achievements of our players. It looked easy because we made it so easy.

Every City player was on their game. The defence, led in typically impressive manner by Andrew Davies, stood up to the Northampton physicality with relish. Aidy Boothroyd has attempted to counter City’s tactic, used in the April league match, of Davies attacking every ball launched into the Bantams’ box by deploying a player specifically to block him. It caused a few jittery moments, but Davies still by and large won everything. Alongside him, it was great to see Rory McArdle back at his best.

The only question over team selection had been whether Nathan Doyle would retain his place over Ricky Ravenhill. Doyle more than justified the nod, with a composed display in the engine room alongside Gary Jones. Kyel Reid had his best game for weeks and Garry Thompson maintained his outstanding form from the second half to the season. James Hanson and Nahki Wells were unplayable, with Northampton defender Clarke Carlisle admitting that Hanson “owned” him.

If the three-goal burst wasn’t stunning enough, the manner in which the players continued to drive on impressed greatly too. Each goal was celebrated wildly of course; but led by Jones, you could see everyone quickly telling each other that the focus had to be retained and there should be no let up. The high standards at 0-0, which led to us scoring three goals, were just as prevalent at 3-0. Even in the closing stages.

For us supporters, it meant the afternoon went by remarkably stress-free. The tension at kick off was huge – again, a contrast to our visit to play Swansea City, where we were on such a high just to be there and it all went downhill from kick off. When Hanson scored, bedlam. Same with McArdle’s Aston Villa-esqe header. After Wells had netted and we’d gone crazy once more, the tension no longer weighed heavily on our shoulders. No one was relaxing – football has produced stranger things than a Northampton comeback – but we were at least able to enjoy it.

When Gary Jones and Ricky Ravenhill jointly lifted the trophy, I was surprised by how emotional the moment proved to be. A release of joy, of relief in some respects. Ultimate confirmation that we had done it. That we had achieved a promotion – which for so much of our six-year stay in League Two has appeared to be an impossible task.

All we have wanted to do, since relegation from League One was confirmed at Saltergate in April 2007, was get out of the basement division. That single ambition has sparked so much pain and anguish, in response to generally making such a poor fist of it. It led to a club legend departing Valley Parade in a manner unbefitting of such a great man. Four managers, a huge turnover of players. Barry Conlon, Scott Dobbie, Lewis Hunt, Paul McLaren.

This makes up for the dark times of the past six seasons. For losing to Morecambe; routinely getting humbled by Accrington; Notts County 5 Bradford City 0; Barnet 4 Bradford City 1; Southend 4 Bradford City 0; Bradford City 1 Crewe 5. We now swap trips to Fleetwood, Dagenham and Torquay with visits to Wolves, Sheffield United, Preston, Coventry and Tranmere.

Next year looks very exciting, but it will have to go a long, long way to top the drama of this season. Last summer, Width of a Post ran a survey with readers to vote for their favourite Bradford City matches of all time. Whether you have supported the club for four years or 40, it’s surely the case that your top five or top 10 now needs rewriting. The occasions like Wigan, Arsenal, Aston Villa (twice!), Burton and Northampton will take a prominent place in the history of this club. 110-years-old, and there has never been a campaign quite like this.

That the season got its finale of promotion via Wembley, in game 64, is as fitting as it is joyous and exhilarating. This feeling will last long into the summer. A summer that we will spend looking to the future with relish, whilst re-living the colourful memories of 2012/13 again and again. Look back, look forward, smile. This is a fantastic time to be a Bradford City supporter.

And for that we have to thank this group of players, and Phil Parkinson and his management team. No one should dismiss how difficult it is to manage or play for this club. Our expectations often outstrip the abilities of those we can afford to employ. Performing in such a pressure environment is not easy and has got the better of many good people.

These players are a mirror of ourselves and what we demand. They give everything they have, they take pride in wearing the claret and amber colours. They want to succeed just as badly as we want to see them succeed. That might sound like a simple statement. But when you’ve had years and years of the opposite being true, it makes it all the more meaningful to see the basic principles in place and working so stunningly.

Thank you Phil Parkinson. Thank you to every player in that squad. We thought days like Saturday were doomed never to occur again, yet you have provided us with a season full of them. Whatever happens in the summer and over the next few years, the names of this squad will never be forgotten.

Just as that feeling, when the trophy was lifted, will stay with us forever.

Tags: Andrew Davies, Gary Jones, James Hanson, Nahki Wells, Northampton Town, Phil Parkinson, Supporting

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Categories Opinion, The 2012/13 play offs, Wembley

Team Claret and Amber finish the job

20 May

Written by Mahesh Johal

(Images by Mike Holdsworth)

“The team ethic stands out; this is an XI greater than the sum of its parts.” Notts County 0, Bradford City 1 – the first game of the 2012/13 season.

I had the responsibility of producing the player ratings after the League Cup Final and I stand by my decision to give every player a 10 out of 10. My maximum rating was given not because of their performance on that day, but instead for their contributions along the journey.

As so poignantly summed up by Alex Scott, our previous visit to Wembley was an event. Just getting to the national stadium to face Swansea was a success, and regardless of the result we were the real winners. To return to Wembley just three months later is another unbelievable feat. Like that cup journey, ever single player has contributed to our success in the play offs.

Yes, some will get more praise and attention than others, but fundamentally, those stand out names would be nowhere without their team-mates. Saturday’s result epitomised the definition of a team performance. Furthermore, I think it was a club performance, in which every person in claret and amber contributed to the victory. Once again tasked with rating these players, again they all receive the maximum mark. Saturday’s result was truly special and the performance of each player to achieve the team goal was remarkable.

The two upfront were simply too good for their opponents and they deserve all the praise they get. Clarke Carlisle tweeted after the game that James Hanson ‘owned him’ and he really did. Hanson won every header and dominated the tall Northampton back four. We constantly hear that Hanson is the under-rated player in this team, but he is certainly not. Opponents fear him and Saturday proved why.

I was there to see Hanson score at the Horsfall Stadium during his trial with club, and so to see a local lad ignite the wild celebrations at Wembley is an image both he and I will never forget. Together with his partner in crime, Nahki Wells, they were simply unstoppable.

Wells’ goal and all round display was there for all to see, but if there is one defining moment of his game, for me, it was him losing the ball in the first half. Silly you may think, but seeing Wells then bust a gut to retrieve it highlighted how hard this team was willing to work for each other.

Both goal scorers will grab the headlines, but they were aided by the team’s wide men. The two wingers had a hand in all three goals, with Kyel Reid producing one of his best performances of this season. After missing out on an appearance in the League Cup Final, Reid appeared to really enjoy his moment. I remember specifically, at one point, hearing the roar of those fans on the half way line. I was initially unsure what generated this sudden noise, only to see Reid geeing up the crowd. It’s these little moments that really stand out in my mind.

Like Reid, Gary Thompson had the better of his marker all game. I’ve always rated his footballing ability, but on Saturday it was his awareness in the penalty area that was most impressive. Both goals he played a part in were situations that could have caused a player to panic, but Thompson was coolness personified to pick out both strikers.

Nathan Doyle also got in on the act as a provider, setting up the second goal. It was deft ball to find Rory McArdle and it highlighted the all-round class which he has. Northampton are a physical team and we needed someone to match them. I felt Doyle was that man. At times he was robust, chomping at opponents feet. On other occasions, he was spreading the ball effortlessly around midfield.

Doyle justified his selection and I thought his work in tandem with Gary Jones overawed the Cobblers. Jones was again simply awesome in all aspects of the game. To see him salute and bow down the crowd really emphasised the strong relationship that has formed between the skipper and the fans. Previous generations of City fans talk about the idol, Stuart McCall. For this generation, we now have Gary Jones.

Talking of leaders, the centre halves were again first class. Firstly, McArdle’s goal is potentially as iconic as his header again Villa. If anything it was nearly an exact replica. I have talked in depth before about my feelings when he scored that goal and it was a surreal experience to have the exact same emotions this time round. Going 2-0 up changed the mood from possibility to a reality.

McArdle again was on hand to battle Clive Platt and, later, Adebayo Akinfenwa with Andrew Davies. The pair were fantastic foils for each other, with Davies his usual classy self. His positioning, reading of the game and ability to win balls that he shouldn’t were all on show on Saturday. Davies’ strengths are well documented and when the team needed him the most he was at his best.

The defensive quartet had so much balance and this largely due to the full backs. Stephen Darby’s cult status among the fans is growing and his performance on Saturday showed why. I felt Northampton’s tricky winger, Ishmel Demontagnac, was a potential match winner; but Darby completely nullified him. First and foremost he is a defender, but Darby offers so much energy in attack. This is such an advantage and, at times, Northampton didn’t know how to handle our forward surges from both right and left flank.

Like Darby, James Meredith, was brilliant. I should probably describe his role in the build up for the first goal, but it’s not the first thing I think of from Meredith’s appearance on Saturday. Midway through the second half, he won the ball in a crunching tackle. Able to quickly get back to his feet, he bombed forward in his menacing style and, in tandem with Reid, was able to win us a corner.

It’s amazing how important Darby and Meredith are in both attack and defence. Full backs don’t grab the attention that, say, a striker does; but these two offer so much to the team and both set the tone.

Wembley is a wonderful venue and the fans have fabulous views from which ever seat they sit in. However, there was one person with the best view of all – goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin. That’s not meant to be disrespectful to Jon, but his team-mates in front of him made it so difficult for Northampton to get near City’s keeper. McLaughlin played a whole game relatively untested. When they did, most notably with the long throw in, he was up to the task, confidently taking through the barrages.

If there is an image of Jon on Saturday that I will remember, it is the one of him and Matt Duke side by side, trophy in hands, celebrating promotion together. Being a goalkeeper must be a lonely and sometimes selfish position. Our two keepers have battled against each other all season, but there is obviously a kinship between the pair.

It is here where my main point of this article lies. All these players have driven each other on to bigger and better things. Yes we have our stars, but our achievement on Saturday was down to the squad. Ricky Ravenhill deserved his run out. Whilst he may not have started the showpiece event, he has contributed massively in getting there. The same can be said of Alan Connell, Zavon Hines, Will Atkinson, Carl McHugh and Michael Nelson.

This team ethos runs through to the management as well. Phil Parkinson is our leader and rightly deserves all the praise he received. But can you find an assistant as liked by us fans than Steve Parkin, or a fitness coach like Nick Allamby? The fact that Parkinson wants the contracts of his backroom staff sorted out at the same time as his own sums up the unity both on and off the pitch.

Saturday was unreal and I am so proud of this team. Alex summed it perfectly when he wrote, “The thing about this team which makes all of this so perfect is that the entire squad, each one of them, are so likeable. They give everything they have in every moment, they never know when they are beaten, and the morale, the atmosphere is fantastic.”

Well done, Team Claret and Amber.

Tags: Alan Connell, Andrew Davies, Carl McHugh, Garry Thompson, Gary Jones, James Hanson, James Meredith, Jon McLaughlin, Kyel Reid, Michael Nelson, Nahki Wells, Nathan Doyle, Nick Allanby, Phil Parkinson, Ricky Ravenhill, Rory McArdle, Stephen Darby, Steve Parkin, Zavon Hines

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Categories Opinion, The 2012/13 play offs, Wembley

Present perfect

18 May

Bradford City 3

Hanson 15, McArdle 19, Wells 28

Northampton Town 0

(Bradford City promoted to League One)

Saturday 18 May, 2013

Written by Alex Scott

(Images by Jason McKeown)

They have done it. After six years of toiling away in the bottom tier, Bradford City have done it.

Saving their best performance for the most important moment, Phil Parkinson’s men were dominant upon the same Wembley turf which they were humbled not three months ago. I haven’t really bought into the redemption narrative (that never felt like the point of this journey), but for those that did, any demons haunting their dreams have been well and truly exorcised.

This season has played out like a novel. The story seemed predestined. The tracks were laid. It was meant to be this way. It wasn’t that “you couldn’t write it”, because you could. This is exactly how you’d write it. The weird thing is that it actually happened. To talk of fate diminishes the sensational reality these players have delivered, but how can you not think about it? Everything that happened today felt like a callback to a seed laid months before.

In their 64th and final game, City reached a level of performance they only ever hinted at amongst the first 63. I can’t remember a Bradford City team look that assured, that dominant. To a man, they were flawless.

Picking up where they left off against Burton, City rendered Northampton helpless. Bradford looked like a team that could have beaten Aidy Boothroyd’s men in any number of ways; Northampton’s cupboard was bare from the beginning.

It is difficult to separate the two moments which have defined this year, despite the fact they were almost polar opposites. Whereas the Swansea encounter felt like more of an ‘event’, today was a football game. This was a day for real football fans, the real reason we do all this, and it was a real football game. And what a game it was.

From minute one City were on top, and by the time anyone had time to breathe, the game was over as a contest. The 90 minutes of football from half time at the Pirelli, to half time at Wembley may have been the best in 15 years. A combined 5-1 against two of the stingiest defences, and best teams, in the division. Especially in the manner it was done, with it always looking like there was more to come.

The opening quarter of an hour saw City begin to bang on the door; the second saw it irrecoverably blown off its hinges.

James Hanson opened the scoring with a wonderful looping header back across Lee Nicholls after the reputably dominant Northampton back line again failed to reorganise, leaving Garry Thompson uncovered at the back post before he picked out the big number nine with a delicate lob across the six yard box. The Cobblers demise felt inescapable already.

The big man was unstoppable today. From beginning to end he won everything in the air, and did so against the most aerially dominantly League Two side in years. Today James Hanson fulfilled his destiny, achieving the goal he could never reach, leading us out of League Two. We can no longer underestimate his value. He led. He dominated. He put in the best performance of his career.

City’s lead was quickly doubled as Nathan Doyle wonderfully picked out Rory McArdle who reprised, almost exactly, his goal against Aston Villa with a bullet header at the near post after losing his man. Boothroyd’s men were reeling, and City dropped the hammer not long later, with a typically predatory Nahki Wells finish. The game was over before the half hour mark. These players hit their ceiling, their apex. They could have won the game by as many as they wanted to. It will never get better than that.

The defence were magnificent in the face of constant aerial pressure. The past two games have seen Andrew Davies highlight exactly why he is so important to this team, in both games laying the foundation for the attackers to flourish. McArdle alongside him was as good as he has ever been, and in Stephen Darby (baby) and James Meredith, City may have the best young full back pairing outside of the Championship.

Gary Jones was majestic, again. He and Nathan Doyle controlled the middle of the field from beginning to end. Jones is the heart of the team, and in only a season has ensured his bust in the Bradford City Hall of Fame. Parkinson spoke about his attempts to install a new culture at the club last summer, and no one has been more important in that than Gary Jones. He is irreplaceable. He is magic.

The thing about this team which makes all of this so perfect is that the entire squad, each one of them, are so likeable. They give everything they have in every moment, they never know when they are beaten, and the morale, the atmosphere is fantastic. To see a man like Alan Connell, who has every right to be frustrated, be this happy is just a delight, and sums everything great about this squad up, These men have rewritten the destiny of Bradford City Football Club.

Not many have played a more important role than Wells, who in perhaps his final act in claret and amber demonstrated everything that makes him so special, a phenomenal display, sealing another man of the match award. He finishes this marathon season with eight goals in the final eight games, and it speaks volumes for the heights he may be able to grace that he has come through so wonderfully when it mattered most. A fact true for the whole team, actually.

If this side were going to make the leap from good to great, it was always going to be on the shoulders of the Bermudian, and again he didn’t disappoint. Clarke Carlisle and Nathan Cameron were left tangled in his wake.

The outmanned central defensive pairing for the Cobblers epitomised their team’s performance. Never at any point did they threaten. Save a handful of impressive punches and catches from Northampton long throws, Jon McLaughlin was untested.

Boothroyd’s men were abject from start to finish and as a group of fans who know all too well about being outclassed on the biggest stage, there is sympathy with the Northampton fans, who really can’t have enjoyed that. Their team were set up in a way that (in hindsight) appears naive, and their players froze.

I’m not sure how much difference it would have made had their players shown up, as rampant as their opponents were.

There isn’t anything I can say about Phil Parkinson’s job this year that would do him justice. He has been vindicated in every decision he has made. He has been the catalyst that brought this club from the bottom of the Football League, to these magical heights in a matter of 18 months. Today will go down on the short list of our club’s greatest days, a short list within which he is already a frequent character.

As time passes and we look back, these players will go down in history amongst our pantheon of our greatest. To a man, they’ve all made a critical contribution at one point or another. But that isn’t really relevant today. What is relevant is that the club is now in place to keep its core, its young core, together and this wonderful story, this wonderful ending, may only be a beginning. The present is perfect; the future could be anything.

They have done it. They have really done it. And they have really done it in the best possible manner. They have earned it; they have deserved it. The gulf in class between the two sides on display at The Home Of Football was inescapable.

And in the end, the truth came through to the fore: it was a League Two team playing a League One team.

City: McLaughlin, Darby, McArdle, Davies, Meredith, Thompson, Jones, Doyle (Ravenhill 87), Reid (Atkinson 78), Hanson, Wells (Connell 85)

Not use: Duke, McHugh, Nelson, Hines

Tags: 2012/13, Andrew Davies, Gary Jones, James Hanson, James Meredith, League Two, Nahki Wells, Phil Parkinson, Play offs, Rory McArdle, Stephen Darby

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Categories Match Reports, The 2012/13 play offs, Wembley

Back to Wembley: The last promotion

15 May

By Gareth Walker

When the Bantams take to the field at Wembley on Saturday, Phil Parkinson and his men will be aiming to become the first City side since 1999 to win promotion.

Having followed the club since 1991, I am fortunate enough to remember the side that won promotion to the top flight 14 years ago and the previous promotion-winning team some three years before them, in 1996.Whilst it would be wrong to try to compare the respective abilities of the individual players in these teams to those of today’s players, there are elements within the make up of the sides that are similar.

I am sure that I’m not the only one who would say that the 1998/99 team are my favourite City side from my time watching the club. They are certainly amongst the best players to have worn the City shirt in the modern era, and they were also possibly the most loveable.

The affinity that the team of 14 years ago shared with the fans is still evident today as people talk fondly of most members of that squad. Wayne Jacobs, Jamie Lawrence and Gordon Watson are key examples of this, as they interact with the fans regularly via Twitter and are often seen in attendance at City games. A couple of months ago, I was also fortunate enough to meet John ‘Tumble’ Dreyer and his affection for Bradford City shone through clearly, as we had a long chat about all things Bantams.

Meanwhile, the time and respect that this season’s players have for the fans was also evident at last week’s player of the year awards as they mingled and chatted freely and openly with supporters. James Meredith and Garry Thompson were even willing to help us out by playing a prank on fellow Width of a Post Writer, Mark Scully, that worked perfectly.

Although today’s team are yet to reach the same legend status as their 1999 peers, the League Cup run puts them well on the road to achieving that goal. And if they were to seal promotion at Wembley, it would be very plausible to imagine them being talked about in the same vein as the team of 1999, and that we will be still be looking back on their achievements 14 years from now.

The middle of the park is often described as the engine room of a football team and it is in that area that we find the captain of both the 1999 and 2013 sides. It is impossible to say any more about Stuart McCall that hasn’t already been said. The man is arguably the biggest Bradford City legend of the all, and the 1999 team were one that clearly played in his spirit.

And the same can be said about today’s players and Gary Jones. The man who we like to call magic is the closest thing that we have had to McGod since the man himself. Jones’ energy levels and spirit evidently inspires his team mates, as witnessed during countless games this season. It was hardly a surprise that Jones completed a clean sweep at last week’s awards ceremony.

On Tuesday night, Parkinson revealed that, in the summer when he spoke to Steve Parkin about signing Jones, he was told that the Magic Man is only ever happy at 5pm on a Saturday when his team have won. This has been clear in the way that he has celebrated every goal and every point this season, with his clenched fist pump and applause of the supporters. Even in pre-season this was evidently rubbing off on his team mates. I can recall Stephen Darby enthusiastically celebrating the friendly victory at Guiseley.

Speaking of Darby, he is someone who a couple of months ago was being described as an unsung hero of the team. The fact that City’s right back was voted into second place in the POTY awards – and that he won the Player’s Player of the Year – shows how we came to recognise his importance to the side. All successful sides seem to have an unsung hero in their midst and our last promotion winning team was no different, with Gareth Whalley often described by people as the player who allowed McCall to go and imprint his influence on games. His range of passing too was immense. Similar, some might say, to the role that Nathan Doyle plays in this season’s team.

Other than central midfield, the other area of the two teams that it is easy to draw comparisons between is the strike force. City’s lack of success in recent years has been at least partly put due to the failure of various managers to find two strikers who can play together and complement each other in such a way that allows both of them to play to their full potential. All too often have we relied on the goals of just one key man throughout a campaign; whether that be Dean Windass or Peter Thorne. This has led to supporters often sitting around wishfully reminiscing about the halcyon days of Lee Mills and Robbie Blake.

For the first time since those two stars adorned the claret and amber shirt, we now seem to have found a pairing in James Hanson and Nahki Wells who we can compare to them.

Wells’ pace and unpredictability have worked well alongside Hanson’s height and awkwardness to play against. They have been vital to the success that we have achieved so far this season. And Wells’ claim. after the play off victory over Burton, that both have ambitions to play at a higher level left me wondering if they will stick around to hopefully achieve this aim at City.

One key figure who I haven’t mentioned yet is the manager. It is hardly surprising that in our most successful season for 14 years, we have possibly our most popular manager in that time, barring of course the aforementioned Legend McCall.

Many supporters talk about Paul Jewell being their favourite City manager of all time and why wouldn’t he be? For the first time since his tenure, however, Jagger has a challenger for this title, as fans are desperate to see Parkinson put pen to paper and commit himself to the club for the next season at least.

The biggest thing to remember about any promotion-winning side is that they perform on the big occasion when it really matters. Jewell’s men did it at Molineux in 1999. Let’s pray that Parkinson’s class of 2013 can do it at Wembley, in order to cement their own place in City Folklore.

Photo courtesy Wendy Michallat

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Play off final: Width of a Post build-up

Exorcising the Swansea City demons by Jason McKeown
Song one – Wembley Twice, it’s Alright by Martin Keighley
Since our last visit…by Mahesh Johal
Song two – Please Mr Parkinson by Mark Heslop
The Northampton perspective by Jason McKeown
Divided family loyalties by Jeremy Casey

Tags: 1998/99, 2012/13, Gareth Whalley, Gary Jones, James Hanson, Lee Mills, Nahki Wells, Nathan Doyle, Paul Jewell, Phil Parkinson, Robbiel Blake, Stephen Darby, Stuart McCall

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Categories Match Previews, The 2012/13 play offs, Wembley

A rollercoaster week for Bradford City

8 May

By Phil Abbott

There are fanatics the world over who travel inordinate distances, splashing exorbitant cash, to enjoy the exhilaration of the world’s fastest, longest and most white-knuckle generating rollercoasters imaginable. These apparently eccentric, irrational and somewhat maverick thrill seekers often give their right arm for dream trips across the globe to experience the best of the best, ultimately ending in a feeling of utter satisfaction and a ‘I survived the ……..rollercoaster’ car sticker as a material souvenir.

When you think about it, many parallels can be drawn between these high-octane sybarites and many thousands of pleasure seeking football fans. This week has been a perfect time to draw such a comparison.

Like the libertine coaster-holics, Bradford City fans have been dragged through the most incredible gut churning feelings in the two play-off semi-final legs with Burton Albion. The four-day ride has given Bantams fans many incredible ups and downs, some that we saw coming, others that came out of nowhere.

At times, you’d be forgiven for thinking the wheels had come off, or the brakes had failed, and at other times, you’d be shouting in ecstasy on top of the world. For many, the contemplation of a ride cut short in its prime was too much to contemplate after such a magnificent season, but following the monumental efforts on Sunday, the coaster-cars have driven straight through the station in anticipation of one more gripping sortie on the incredible journey this season has taken us on.

In the run up to the first leg at Valley Parade, there was huge optimism and even greater anticipation of another extraordinary push for Wembley glory. In truth, and I still believe it, I was sure that City were the best team left once Rotherham sealed their well-deserved promotion via the automatic route. The previous week, I was unimpressed by a promotion chasing Cheltenham side who had offered a stuttering, low energy performance against a City side who had already secured a play off berth. Having had the better of Burton and Northampton during the season, I was quietly confident that this year would be ‘our year’.

As seems to have become a habit, my trip from Nottinghamshire to evening fixtures at Valley Parade was only punctuated by a quick stop off for a pre-match bite, before dropping down into Bradford for the opening gambits of the League Two play offs. The guy who served me asked of my thoughts for the game, and flippantly I explained that I thought we’d win through in the end, but such is the wont of the celestial script-writers, we would do it the hard way. He looked at me strangely! But, how right such prophecy was!

A big City crowd waited patiently, with audible excitement for the Bantams to emerge from the dressing rooms at Valley Parade in the first leg, but unlike the rollercoaster aficionados waiting for their ride, City’s course had still to be plotted and nobody had a clue what was going to happen next. The teams paraded onto the pitch to a triumphant chorus, the home crowd in unison, rhythmically accompanying ‘Take me home’, much akin to the sounds of a rollercoaster climbing its first slow ascent.

The whistle blew, the screams hurled and we were off, racing down the track at 100mph. The opening salvos were a blur, with excitement and nerves getting the better of City in particular. The Bantams were dealt an early blow as Calvin Zola outleapt the bamboozled defence to bury a powerful header, and the tie was alive.

City needed a shake up, and if that sudden baulk wasn’t enough to rattle them into action, a 2^nd goal for Burton left Valley Parade in almost silence, apart from the 600 or so Burton fans who could hardly believe their eyes.

When Burton defender McCrory went down like Gordon Banks to block Garry Thompson’s powerful drive, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that City were deserving of a penalty and had been thrown a huge lifeline in the fixture. For this moment, there was real hope that City could get back into the game, and indeed Nahki Wells coolly slotted the ball home to draw the Bantams to within one goal.

Was the comeback on? We all hoped so. But no sooner had the City faithful enjoyed an upturn in fortune, than they were picking themselves up again when Robbie Weir plunged in a low cross to restore Burton’s two goal advantage and stun the Kop once again as half time arrived. I was shaken, I have to admit. It was like I’d been dragged through the loop the loop with my hands tied behind my back.

The City fans needed some extra impetus from somewhere. This was not a ride that anyone sporting the claret and amber colours was enjoying. It was clear that a two goal deficit was, even by Bradford standards, a seemingly insurmountable task. With City’s backline leaking like a dismembered brake pipe, there was a danger that the rollercoaster ride would stop halfway through, the passengers disembarking, not to return to the queue for the next pass. Then, halfway through the second half, a moment of brilliance from Garry Thompson immediately restored the waning faith and City’s bandwagon was back on track.

The final minutes, despite constant City pressure, yielded no extra goals, and so, feeling like we’d in some way escaped a catastrophe, off trudged city fans to contemplate the game and mull over our strategies for acquiring the golden Burton away tickets.

Anecdotally, the highs and lows in emotion for those beating the harshly cold and uncomfortable overnight queues are remarkable in their own right. It was only when the holder of ticket number ‘three hundred and something’ was ushered onto the Sunwin stand concourse and the doors slammed shut behind him, just under two hours before tickets went on sale, that the level of support this club enjoys was truly quantifiable. One would be forgiven for thinking that this was some sort of holding pen at Sangatte!

The tableau of impeccable patronage was strewn across the concourse, deckchairs, sleeping bags, empty food containers and cold, tired bodies littering the well-ordered waiting lines. It was all in search of a golden ticket – the ticket that would see the City charges plot and execute a tremendous ‘job’ on Burton and begin the trek onto Wembley for a second time. No big dipper the world over could come close to matching the thrills of the unprecedented chapter still to be told.

After exchanging equal blows in the opening stanza, there was little to separate the two teams, and even less to suggest to the fans of either side that their team was in the ascendancy. The tension was high and it was no surprise that it was a mistake that allowed the next phase of this epic tie to take another course. With Nahki Wells stealing in on an increasingly familiar defensive slip up, the City fans went delirious, suddenly daring to believe that they could be visiting Wembley for the 2^nd time this season.

There would be many City fans who would have broken the heart rate or blood pressure monitor had they have been plugged in at the stage when James Hanson fired in a delightfully crisp half volley to put City two up, and, for the first time, ahead in the tie. However, with the way things had gone in the first leg, many around me were still cautious, if not a little more optimistic. They knew that, like the most temperamental pleasure park ride, the well-oiled machine could, at any time, come grinding to a halt.

Indeed, there was to be a temporary fault that had the potential to put the City machine out of service. When Stephen Darby missed a tackle on the wing and the outstanding Jacque Maghoma was allowed to run towards the penalty area, a tenacious Garry Thompson came haring back in defence, only to bring him down, for a penalty. The undulations in this epic trip were beginning to come too quick and my stomach was feeling physically churned. The successful strike brought the game back to evens and did nothing but add to the torture the City fans were going through.

With tension at an all-time high in the away stands, so soon after the team had been victims of their own tenacious tracking back, Wells eased some of that tension with his second goal of the game and at that stage, it seemed that finally, the Burton challenge had been thwarted. Whist there was far from a relaxed attitude amongst the City faithful, it was clear that the goal, so soon after their penalty lifeline, knocked the stuffing out of a quickly tiring Brewers team. With time running out, the pendulum had, perhaps, for the first time swung well and truly in City’s favour.

Unable to see the clock count down behind the goals, the majority of away fans were supplied with regular time updates by a very accommodating steward. Time seemed to stand still, and even though City were well in control, the thought that there were yet more twists in this crazy season to manifest themselves before the clock ran out tempered nobody’s heart rate.

After the shrill blast of the final whistle, delirious celebration erupted both in the stands and on the field. Voltage Cherry shirts were launched into the crowd, proud chests displayed by the Bantams hero’s sapping every moment of adulation from their terrific fans. It was to be the first time I had seen a team respond to an encore call and only a full 30 minutes after the final whistle did we leave the ground to begin to rack our brains as to where we had left the car in our pre-match haze of excitement.

On getting back to the car, physically exhausted, I had the white knuckle feeling. Prizing my tightly bound fingers away from my palms, I reattached them around the steering wheel and gently – ever so gently – hit the road for home. Dazed.

No sooner had we arrived home, news broke of the ticketing arrangements for Wembley, and, with many still suffering the blur of a hangover, fans embarked on the conundrum of gaining tickets online with a distribution system that could teach even the best timewasting goalkeeper a thing or two about time management!

Tags: 2012/13, Burton Albion, James Hanson, League Two, Nahki Wells, Supporting

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Categories The 2012/13 play offs

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Sit back and enjoy the summer

2012/13 season review: The Power of Both

2012/13 season review: The best trip, I’ve ever been on

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In fifth place…Rory McArdle

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In third place…Stephen Darby

In second place…James Hanson

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Team Claret and Amber finish the job

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Back to Wembley: The last promotion

A rollercoaster week for Bradford City

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