By Dhriti Ahir (aged 17)
It has been hard being a City fan this season so far, the losses are uncountable and the managers have come and gone. I’m not going to talk about the negatives but I believe we as City fans need to reflect on the games we have played so far.
Yes, I agree that we should be playing better but we as fans have got to remember that we have a new squad and none of those players were playing in the game against Chelsea in the FA Cup in 2015 and only one in the play off final against Millwall. We have brought in so many new players with different strengths and weaknesses that the club can build on.
The manager at Valley Parade, David Hopkin has had an unusual start at Bradford City. The fans thought he would bring in more wins but so far that’s not the case. I think hopefully in due course the team will understand David’s style of play and his plan depending on the opposition. He has a record of doing well with teams that need some support like what he did at Livingston. Although we haven’t seen many wins, he is someone who can hopefully get Bradford City to where it needs to be in the Championship.
Being a young City supporter means I haven’t seen what we were like in the Premier league, I believe that the club need to do something so that the future fans of the club can look back at the history and say that their club was successful in the league or in a particular competition. I think that the young fans play a role in the club, as they are the future fans of the club when their relatives are no longer here or aren’t able to go to matches. The players inspire the young fans to be whatever they want – and that might be a footballer and maybe they will be the next player to walk out at Valley Parade and make history.
The fans are the heart of the club and recently the attendance has been dropping. We have been in some tough positions in the past, but the fans are the ones who back their team through thick and thin. They are the ones who live the high moments that can only happen every so often, like playing Chelsea in the FA Cup and beating them.
David Hopkin in recent weeks have talked about how the fans make a difference and if there are more of us fans going to the games home and away then the team will feel a sense of supportive energy coming from their fans – especially when it is an away game. Being a Bradford City fan means dealing with many problems under the sun, but we as fans should stick together and by backing our club and helping our club as much as possible.
This has been the worst start to a season in 53 years at the club. The players are the ones who go out on the pitch home or away week in week out and perform for the fans, the manager and also the backroom staff and the chairmen. If they don’t put in a decent performance they will be fired with complaints from the fans.
I believe that the reason for the lack of team togetherness is the fact that the chairmen and the managers have brought in a bunch of talented players but haven’t realised they need time to gel and learn everyone’s strengths and weaknesses on the pitch, they have to have connections and links to make the passes work in order to score goals and win games.
Also with the amount of injuries that we have, it is hard for David Hopkin to pick a starting 11 that the fans will be happy with and that will put a performance in that everyone associated with the club would be proud of. Our Bradford City squad is a very young and inexperienced squad with a few players having a lot of experience that can help the younger ones. Some of these players have a lot of potential, but they need to get used to the other players around them to be able to make those successful passes or those free-kicks that get a chance at goal.
There have been developments in bringing new players and it is suggested that we have a player training with us by the name of Paul Caddis. He can play in centre / right midfield and also at right back.
He is a Scottish international footballer as he has played for both the Under 19s and the Under 21s. He is 30 years old and also started his career at Celtic. He signed for Swindon Town in August 2010, he became a key player for Swindon especially when they got promotion to League One back in 2012. He had a successful time at Birmingham, he was there on loan but a deal was made permanent after a year. He also scored the goal that kept Birmingham in the Championship on the final day in the 2013/14 season. Caddis was also part of the Rovers team who got promoted last season.
On Monday the fans and everyone associated with the club found out that one of our past chairmen is back at the club: Julian Rhodes.
These are tough times, but we as fans need to get behind the lads and support them. We chose to support Bradford City when we bought our season tickets so we must stand by our club. Some of us have been supporting since we were young.
I believe that we as a club can bounce back and get out of the relegation battle – and improve before May when the season is over.
Categories: Opinion
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Nice one young lady and well put and very true
Always good to see new young writers contributing to the excellent WOAP. Good work Dhriti, I look forward to your next article.
Well said Dhriti. It is good to see younger fans expressing their point of view. All too often those of us with donkey’s years or more of making the pilgrimage to VP ignore our younger fans’ opinion. Then we wonder why they do not express themselves. If you are a regular at Bantam games let your feelings be known. Not from the terraces. Booing will not really help. The pen IS mightier than the sword. Do not suffer in silence or just join the irreverent, but nevertheless vital blogs where sometimes it seems to be a case of who swears the most wins.We can see Rahic off or at least make him irrelevant if we show him what we think of him by using calm, considered argument. I sense a change for the better behind the scenes. It might take a while on the field though. All fans, all age groups get typing. I am sure Jason McKeown at WOAP or Mike Harrison at CITY GENT will welcome your comments. After all it is OUR club.. These German money men will be here today gone tomorrow. (I HOPE!). Fans are forever.
Well done a good positive article while acknowledging the obvious issues. And unlike the old guard on here you didn’t mention the ‘R’ word once….hats off.
Well written but I no longer give much thought to the new squad mantra. Peterborough also got a new manager and 17 new players and they are flying high. Its down to the leadership of the leadership of the club. L2 or worse here we come !!