The new Width of a Post podcast is now available!
As Bradford City’s difficult season approaches its finale, Jason McKeown, Tim Penfold and Alex Scott reflect on recent performances and look ahead to another big summer for the club.
Also in this episode:
– Which of the 12 out of contract Bradford City players deserve a new deal and who needs to move on? (See below for the results of the poll)
– What’s the biggest thing that needs to change next season if City are to be successful?
– And we go through listener questions, from why recruitment has been so poor these last four years to is this the worst Bradford City team we’ve ever seen (the stats suggest it might be!).
You can listen below on Soundcloud and it is also on iTunes:
Listen to Episode #43 – We want to keep HOW MANY? by The Width of a Post on #SoundCloud
https://soundcloud.app.goo.gl/cZtDt
WOAP reader poll results – which out of contract players should Bradford City keep?
Prior to the podcast recording we asked readers which of the 12 players out of contract should be offered a new deal and who should be released. We had a fantastic response, and here are the results as of Tuesday evening.
Categories: Opinion
widthofapost.com 
Thus, according to our own votes, we want to see more of the same! These players have shown for a whole season, if not more, that they are not capable of mounting a sustained challenge for promotion. Either as individuals or as a collective they are not going to deliver. I do hope Mark Hughes and Co., have a more hard-headed approach to recruitment and retention.
Kenneth Brown
As I mentioned in response to the initial survey (and hindsight is a wonderful thing) many people may be responding on the basis that they’d keep some as back up players eg Foulds, Hendrie and Sutton. The difficulty for Mark Hughes is he has a budget and that does need to incorporate players who will fill in when we have suspensions and injuries. Had this poll been something along the lines of “If each of these players was going to play over 40 games in the first team next season how many would you keep” then I believe we’d have a different response around the fringe players. Unfortunately the majority of these players are used to losing rather than being winners. Something needs to change. Answering my own question and even including those under contract I’d be pleased to see Ridehalgh, Watt, Vernam and Angol in the team with O’Connor being 50/50 (my only concern there is he’s a red card waiting to happen).
New owner is the only change we need to see. Until then nothing will change.
Lethargy at the top spreads through every manager we get to the players and performances. Even the great MH will be infected by this eventually.
Wish I was wrong but it’s blindingly obvious guys.
Exactly context is everything and we can’t bring in 24 players. Foulds, Hendrie, Angol I would assume none would be expecting much in terms of salary.
Probably more concerning is many of these players might be kept if you could shift some under contract players.
Would you move on Threlkeld/FCD/Scales/Kelleher/Cook/Eisa/Gilliead if you had chance.
First XI for me we only have Ridehalgh/Watt/Vernam (Walker if you can keep him) and realistically Watt isn’t likely to stay.
As squad players I would be happy with POC/Hendrie/Foulds/Songoo/Cooke/Angol/Eisa/Hornby/Gilliead/Staunton. Even if you kept all of these you’d still need a turnover of ~10 players and realistically some will be too expensive to keep as squad players or wouldn’t stick around for that role.
This is why patience in a manager is key if he turns it round in one window that will be something special. Not every player we bring in will be a success and we need to be mindful of this.
Soundcloud link not working?
Apologies, should be working now
Thank you – have listened now, an informative and entertaining podcast as usual, well done to all…
What is wrong with people ..We’ve a squad that at best could just about tread water at this level, and yet many fans want more of the same !
Offer a contract to Vernam, let the rest go…And whilst we’re at it, see if we can afford to pay some of the garbage off contracted until 2023, although Ridehalgh is a decent full-back
Thanks for the debate on my Qu reflecting on the last 4 years recruitment & whether beyond the marketing rhetoric, we do actually have a promotion credible player budget.
Agree with comments re tactically confused squad mix; & that Rahic’s imprint for the 2018/19 season was a good example. I remember drafting a pen portrait for my son of that new squad, which on paper looked great. I remember my dismay in those initial home games seeing them playing like a disjointed bunch of strangers. A key crack in our success was a failure to retain our best players after the 2017 Wembley play off loss to Millwall. This points to an inability to sustain & develop year on year a strengthening squad.
I think you’re right that the managerial merry go round is a key reason for this. Presumably a big part of the challenge is also the competition for key roles from other clubs- especially for the all important goal scorers. Which brings us to the need for continuity of thinking on team planning (less managerial churn, a recruitment director with an influence on long term planning, not just someone given the shopping list) and a top end budget.
I still wonder, when I see the compromises on incoming players (older players coming in in their declining years, questionable fitness, patchy career histories), on whether the top 2-3 budget is really true. If so, it’s been wastefully squandered.
A question I’d liked t have asked and would be keen for a view on is how long do we think we will realistically retain Mark Hughes? I was surprised to read in this week I News interview with him that he didn’t get interviews last year with championship or League one clubs, that he applied for.
I think that as he gets his feet under the table with us, in my more anxious moments, I worry that a mid to bottom end championship club will come in for him, in the coming weeks. I have my fingers crossed that he doesn’t have a bail out clause this summer.
If Stefan Rupp really did think about long term strategic thinking, I’d hope he has already, for example, offered Hughes an ownership stake in the club, say 10% for a discounted price, or even for nothing as part of his deal, to tie him in. Surely that would be smart thinking, on the basis that Rupp retaining 90% of a club in a higher league is better than 100% of a club languishing in the basement league.