| Notts County 4 |
| Halliday (OG) 4, Langstaff 36+42, Crowley 45+2 |
| Bradford City 2 |
| Brindley (OG) 57, Walker 75 |
By Jason McKeown
The blemishes of this first half humiliation will take some time to scrub off, but the fact Bradford City would ultimately depart Meadow Lane believing they might have snatched a draw suggests that hope is not completely lost after all.
For a while though, this was bad as it gets. City were embarrassing, pathetic, clueless and shameful. Pick your own adjective, and it will barely scratch the surface in describing just how appalling the situation became for the Bantams. 4-0 down at the break. A new low point, in a season that has so far proven largely miserable. The already bleak mood was getting even darker.
To an extent, pride was restored after the break. City picked themselves up off the canvas. The rejigging of the team worked well, and they scored two goals that threatened the most unlikely of come backs. Time ran out, and a fourth straight league defeat was confirmed. Yet the overall sense of disappointment had at least been tempered by the second half improvement. There were positives to take back to West Yorkshire.
Sort of.
I mean, let’s not get carried with giving out too many pats on the back. When you get yourself into a position of being 4-0 down before the half time whistle, you’re not exactly setting up a platform to be successful. The game was basically lost long before City truly turned up. Notts County probably took their foot off the gas in the second half, and that will have helped City to get more of a foothold.
The game was won and lost in that first half, which for City was an absolute horror show. As abject defending time and time again let Notts County in, I wanted to check I was definitely tuning into the right channel. Was this Sky Sports Main Event, or Comedy Central? Either way, no one of a claret and amber persuasion was laughing.
It really was woeful. Graham Alexander has been manager of this football club for less than a fortnight, so it’s certainly too soon to make any fair judgements over his ability to revive the Bantams. But even allowing for the many mitigating circumstances that he has inherited, it is worrying just how unimpressive he has been tactically in his first two games at the helm.
Here, as he did in his first game at home to Barrow last week, Alexander lined City up in a 4-4-2 without natural wingers. There has been much talk from him about getting the team to be more front foot, attack-minded and to start having much more attempts on goal. All of which are very laudable priorities. But if you set the team up this badly when it’s out of possession, you completely undermine your good intentions.
And just like against Barrow, that is again what happened here. Notts County’s 3-4-3 approach enabled the home side to match up City’s middle four, but with County’s wide players Aaron Nemane and Will Randall linking up with wide forwards Daniel Crowley and David McGoldrick, the Bantams’ full backs were doubled up on and lacked proper support from the supposed widemen of Jamie Walker and Bobby Pointon.
City just did not have a plan for when they gave the ball away. Decent moments of claret and amber passing interchange in the middle were futile when – as soon as they lost possession – County steamrolled forward with purpose and methodical intent. There were huge gaps between City’s midfield and their back four, and vast space in-between the centre backs and full backs.
County’s opening goal was a great example of this. Nemane – who had an unsuccessful trial at Bradford City during the infamous Edin Rahic/Michael Collins summer of 2018 – was played in behind Lewis Richards, enabling him to get into the box and send a low cross towards McGoldrick. As Brad Halliday tried to get there first, the City right back appeared to have the last touch in sending it past Harry Lewis.
It is the fourth game in a row that City have gone a goal down inside the first five minutes. You just cannot routinely start games this badly. Watch back this goal, and then go back and watch Barrow’s opener last week. The similarities are stark. We’re not learning our lessons.
For a time City looked very lost and County had good chances to go further ahead. Richards – making a first league start since September – was struggling badly and was caught out again by Nemane, who set up Langstaff for a shot that crept just wide. But as the half progressed, City did start to get better. The shoot on sight ethos of Alexander began to become visible, with Andy Cook having three presentable opportunities created for him. As City got more into their rhythm, they looked decent on the ball.
Yet the defensive problems caused by the 4-4-2 approach were soon their undoing. As players pushed forward, no one outside the back four had any interest in defending and maintaining shape. When Notts County won turnovers, they ran through City with ease. They just had to sit back when their opponents had the ball, wait for a chance to nick it and then pile forward. With some very good technical players, County’s ability to play the right pass proved devastating.
In the final 10 minutes of the first half, County scored three times. They made it 2-0 from a counter attack which saw the excellent Crowley play in McGoldrick, who capitalised on some awful defending from Sam Stubbs. Lewis parried McGoldrick’s shot from an angle, but no one picked up John Bostock, who had time to run and shoot towards goal, with his effort hitting Langstaff and bouncing into the net.
After winning another turnover six minutes later, Jim O’Brien – the former City midfielder, who in 2018/19 left Valley Parade for Meadow Lane after only being offered a six-month contract (County offered him 18 months) – produced a superb pass to Crowley, who played Langstaff through on goal to finish past Lewis. Just before the interval Crowley got the goal his performance deserved with a great turn and shot. He was totally unmarked.
It was a defensive shambles from City. Ash Taylor was once again picked ahead of Matty Platt and offered nothing to justify the faith Alexander has shown him in. And what of Stubbs? So fantastic when signed midway through last season, his performances are getting worse and worse.
During the week, Stubbs was interviewed by BBC Radio Leeds and made a not-so-subtle dig at Mark Hughes in trying to praise Alexander. “The biggest thing I’ve noticed, and obviously I’ve had a lot of managers in the past, is the clarity and information that he’s [Alexander] giving you is really crisp, really clear.” I’m sorry Sam, but you look half the player you did under Hughes. It’s time to take more responsibility for your own displays. That said, in his and Taylor’s defence, when you play in a way that leaves the back four so exposed, they’re never going to have it easy.
I make it that it’s 22 years since Bradford City last went in at half time four goals behind. That was at Elland Road, May 2001, where an already relegated and injury-ravaged Bradford City reached the break 5-1 down to Leeds United. It was also the afternoon where Stuart McCall and Andy Myers had a punch up on the pitch. There have been worse first half performances from City since – and this first half display at Notts County is certainly not amongst them. But still, to be 4-0 down before the interval was nothing short of disgraceful. The away fans made their feelings known, with loud booing and chants against owner Stefan Rupp.
Players are underperforming, but were set up to fail with this formation. You don’t go to arguably the best team in League Two and not have any sort of a plan to contain them. You don’t just turn up and attack without thinking about how you stop them doing the same. 4-4-2 is a relic of a formation that just doesn’t seem to have any future. Not unless you’re Pep Guardiola and can buy all the best players in the world.
Alexander must have finally realised this and swapped it around at the break. Off went Taylor and Pointon (who had performed fairly well, but doesn’t suit a 4-4-2). On came Platt and Ciaran Kelly. And – in a massive stroke of irony, given the soundtrack under Hughes at the start of the season – City went to a 3-5-2.
And it worked much, much better. City looked a totally different team. Much more comfortable in their own skin. Much more balanced. Halliday had a storming second half where he got up and down the pitch so well. Jamie Walker and Alex Gilliead were vastly improved and influential. Richards was much more assured.
Let’s look at the stats. In the first 45 minutes, Notts County 74% possession and recorded 10 shots on goal to City’s six. Notts County had a further five attempts after the break – but City had 18. (Eighteen!) In total over the 90 minutes, City produced 24 shots – they’ve averaged 12.2 a game all season.
There were some signs of a partnership between Cook and Tyler Smith, with a deep Halliday cross to City’s top scorer seeing him nod on for Smith, who fired over the bar. Shortly after, City got on the scoresheet after yet more great work from Halliday saw him seize on a loose pass and drive forward. The ball was worked to Gilliead, who’s low drive at goal deflected into the back of the net off County’s Richard Brindley. Gilliead doesn’t score many and unfortunately for him he’s not getting this one either, as it has been credited as an own goal.
McGoldrick did have three good chances to restore County’s four-goal cushion, but the chances were mainly coming at the other end. Cook would ultimately have 11 of City’s 24 shots on goal, but just couldn’t take any of the opportunities that came his way. Still, he did look lively – which is an improvement on recent performances.
It was Walker who got City’s second after he pressed and won a turnover high up the pitch, before linking with – inevitably – Halliday, who played him in on goal to finish well. At that point there was still 15 minutes to play and another City goal would have made things extremely interesting. They tried to reduce the arrears further with Cook having opportunities. But as the minutes ran out, County belatedly assumed some level of control again to see it out.
Alexander reflected after, “It was a game of two halves. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb. I asked the players at half time to show what they are as characters and men, and not to let the supporters down. I wanted us to show a bit of pride in ourselves – we certainly did that.
“I have to take my share of the blame for the first half. We were too passive in allowing Notts County to play their football. In the second half, we pressed them all over the pitch. We had some unbelievable chances that we didn’t score from.”
It’s fair assessment that doesn’t shirk responsibility. It continues Alexander’s early theme of speaking very well. You can only hope that he applies the lessons he must surely have learned from this – namely ditching the 4-4-2. The positives of the second half give City something to build on, as they go into next Saturday’s home game with Accrington hoping to avoid a fifth straight league defeat.
Still, there’s no escaping the fact this was a disappointing afternoon where the scale of just how much City have been overtaken by others was laid bare. Notts County were a division below City last season but now look light years ahead of them. By 5pm, and after everyone else had played (and after Jake Young had scored again), the Bantams had dropped to 19th in League Two. A whopping nine points off the play offs, and only six points above the relegation zone.
It’s seems increasingly evident that the club has made a mess of things this season. That all the positives and progress made last year in reaching the play offs have been thrown away. And although there have been plenty of attempts to blame this on Mark Hughes, time has predictably proven that the failings stretch well beyond the dugout. Sacking Hughes has not improved the club. Yet at least.
Prior to the game, Alexander told Sky Sports of the objectives this season. “There’s no end target for me, it’s just about changing the momentum.” These are the kind of words you might expect from a manager taking over a football club in March, when promotion hopes are long since extinguished. They are not the sort of comments you would hope to hear in November.
Alexander is not wrong to lower expectations. And the already high improbability of City getting promoted this season is certainly not his fault. But can Bradford City really afford to spend the rest of the season just tredding water? It feels like there’s a lot of people who hold accountability for this decline who have yet to publicly take any of the blame. Those people must now focus on doing everything they can to help Alexander succeed. A “welcome to Bradford City/what can I do to support you?” call from Rupp to Alexander would be a start.
Sky Sports’ Gary Weaver claimed midway through the game that City have the fourth highest budget in League Two this season. In other words, they have the resources to do so much better than this. It’s a massive underachievement so far. And from the outside it looks like the club has been too passive in allowing this situation to unfold.
From Stefan Rupp to Ryan Sparks to Stephen Gent to Alexander and to every single player, if Bradford City don’t improve this situation quickly, they will all feel the full force of anger from a supporter base that is fast running out of patience.
Categories: Match Reviews
widthofapost.com 
‘If Bradford City don’t improve this situation quickly, they will all feel the full force of anger’
I actually don’t think you’ll see anger manifest into protests, displays and what not. Something about our fanbase doesn’t have that kind of take-action mentality.
More likely is when season ticket renewal time comes around more people don’t renew.
It’s not just the results, instability and lack of strategic direction at a higher level.
I think a lot of fans are fed up of seeing their money get squandered on terrible signings year after year and paying off managers while the owner, who hasn’t invested a pound in at least 3 years – is happy for his CEO to waste our money as long as he’s not wasting any of his.
These are my thoughts: I take no consolation whatsoever from the second half improvement – this was a heavy defeat. Going 4-4-2 was incredibly naive. The recruitment in the summer was abysmal. Whoever scouted and recommended these players should not be involved with further signings. We are now in a relegation scrap. Lewis made another fumble but fortunately the goal was ruled out for offside. With so many duff players on the books and so many long-term contracts, the task of overhauling the squad is enormous – and is going to be mighty expensive.
The head of recruitment Steven Gent is still employed by the club and I do not know why?
If GA’s preferred formation is 442 why didn’t Ryan Sparks do his due diligence before appointing him manager? Because it is obvious to everyone we do not have the players to play the system. 6 poor slow CB’s, Smallwood who cannot get around the pitch, 2 nr 10’a who cannot play out wide and apart from Wilson no real wingers.
I can see City having the 4 th biggest budget and we have spent it on a squad of nearly 30 players where only a handful of those are good enough to play at this level. What a nightmare position to be in , especially when there has been no new manager bounce to speak of.
442 can work just think back to Parky’s Wembley team. Where none of the current crop of players would get into that team.
I know Jason you have to be positive for the website but I don’t know how you can based upon this latest predicament we find ourselves in. This has to be one of the worst City teams/squads we have ever had. I know the Doc’s Taylor and Stapleton’s teams were bad but were they as bad as this?
Did anyone hear what the Bradford fan shouted at cook at the end?
It certainly made him livelier than he looked missing all his chances
The head of recruitment Steven Gent is still employed by the club and I do not know why?
If GA’s preferred formation is 442 why didn’t Ryan Sparks do his due diligence before appointing him manager? Because it is obvious to everyone we do not have the players to play the system. 6 poor slow CB’s, Smallwood who cannot get around the pitch, 2 nr 10’a who cannot play out wide and apart from Wilson no real wingers.
I can see City having the 4 th biggest budget and we have spent it on a squad of nearly 30 players where only a handful of those are good enough to play at this level. What a nightmare position to be in , especially when there has been no new manager bounce to speak of.
442 can work just think back to Parky’s Wembley team. Where none of the current crop of players would get into that team.
I know Jason you have to be positive for the website but I don’t know how you can based upon this latest predicament we find ourselves in. This has to be one of the worst City teams/squads we have ever had. I know the Doc’s Taylor and Stapleton’s teams were bad but were they as bad as this?
“But even allowing for the many mitigating circumstances that he has inherited, it is worrying just how unimpressive he has been tactically in his first two games at the helm”
Spot on Jason!!
For once, this optimistic fan was deeply depressed when I saw the tactical set up.
What manager plays a traditional wide 4-4-2, meaning that our central midfield duo were constantly swamped by literally seven ‘ball playing’ defenders and midfielders – who simply love to, guess what, play through midfield!!
I mean who plays 4-4-2 anymore??. Particularly as this team is more geared up for 4-3-3. For goodness sake simply play Cook and then Walker and Pointon just behind them – with them interchanging with whoever is the third man in the midfield three, i.e. Wilson or Chapman.
It can’t any worse. And significantly, he at least did a hybrid version of 4-4-2 at the start of the second half – which worked better.
Let’s hope this tactical naivety is just down to him not understanding the players yet!!
One thing I’ve learnt about my time following City is that it most definitely can get worse!
Us having the fourth highest budget, sounds correct as we have fourth highest valued squad (don’t laugh folks!!).
Stockport’s is the highest valued
I heard that “4th highest budget” claim but was that just idle throw away speculation without any foundation or had the commentator secret access to the budgets of all other clubs? Looking at the quality of Notts County players I find it hard to credit that they are “in the top 10 budgets” which suggests lower than our spend. However as you point out, we’ve frittered it away on a large squad of mediocrity. Hasn’t taken long to start the “tactically naive” narrative.
Six weeks to get a manager In and we get one that goes for populism and 4-4-2 . A system that was fine when everyone else played it but now you just get overwhelmed in midfield. As you say in your report Jason it will hopefully be the last we see of it. Our best player is Jamie Walker and we have to play to a system that gets the best out of him which is certainly not sticking him on the left wing. Improved in the 2nd half with ironically 3 at the back that Hughes played but Notts county fortunately declared at half time. The club is in a mess,the supporters are furious with the situation but I have doubts new owners are queuing up to make a purchase. Sparks needs to make a statement to supporters to explain what the future plans of the club are. Rupp needs to at the very least contact the new manager, which is deplorable that he hasn’t done already and then either through Sparks or himself declare his intent for the immediate future.
A fourth highest budget squandered on a bloated, unbalanced squad of mainly mediocre players is bad enough but, to be lumbered with those players comfortably sitting on two/three year contracts, negates any hope of a quick fix to try and halt the slide.
The focus is now firmly on Ryan Sparks, who as CEO, must have approved those deals. Similarly, Stephen Gent, who unearthed these duds, must be held accountable. How is he still at the club?
I can’t remember the last lower league season, I was contemplating a relegation fight, as early as November, and probably never, when we had the luxury of a fourth highest budget.
We’re paying the price for an absentee owner, who has little interest in football, and, seemingly, even less interest in how the club is being run.
Hmm…I think these articles, where a year or two ago, fans would would have come to read intelligent, deeper and more thoughtful analysis, need to take a step back from, dare I say, becoming inciteful.
From their second attack i thought Notts County had the potential to rip us to shreds. So it proved. Can any conclusions be drawn about a manager who might have had 5 training sessions if he’s lucky…of course not. Just an unfortunate slap from the fixture gods.
Moving on, patience, patience, patience. We wont know until Feb/March whether Graham Alexander has the potential to get us promoted in May-25. But this cylce of recrimination must stop.
To be fair I don’t think Alexander has come in for critism.
We were patient with Adams, we were patient with Hughes we were patient during the 6 weeks it took to find another manager. We’ve been patiently renewing our season tickets and patiently travelling to away fixtures and turning up at home.
We’ve looked on patiently listening to to brave statements about not tolerating mediocrity, about building on a strong base, on heads of recruitment.
How more patient do we have to be?
I guess my point is that being patient with a failing system is folly. It just prolongs the failing system…
He deserves criticism for playing a basic 4-4-2 system against a team who have been the pass masters of the lower divisions with their 4-3-3.
It could only be succesful, if the front two delivered at least 7 out of 10 performances and they barely got that between them.
I’m very patient and somewhat (irritatingly!!) pragmatic – for instance we forget that Hughes delivered good results against promotion rivals in 2022. But this was a tactical set up error – nothing to do with knowing the players.
We are sleepwalking into non league and what’s more we won’t exist if that happens. The hierarchy at this football club need to have a long hard look at themselves for getting us in this position. Its been mismanaged for years and it’s time for Rupp to accept defeat and sell. He ain’t getting us back to League 1. The best thing he can do for himself, the club and the city is to cut his losses and put the club up for sale. We need a clean slate.
I hear, from a supposedly informed source that Rupp wants £10m. But for what? There are no tangible assets to buy and so what is actually on offer? Nothing more than a (thus far) loyal fan base. Pie in the sky methinks at that price.
Yeah it’s not worth £10m but he can ask for whatever he wants. £10m suggests he doesn’t want to sell but maybe someone offers £5m and then pays extra in instalments if we ever get out of this league.
Assuming no change in Ownership or CEO requires a Director of Football be hired. If Rupp decides at some point to go this route he should ensure that Sparks is not involved in the recruitment and hiring process.
Will it ever happen? Likely not, it costs money and egos have to be protected.
I don’t blame Rupp for not being interested in football or for not pumping monet in.
I do blame him for (apparently) not putting high calibre management in place to drive the business forward.
If we’re saying we’ve had competitive playing budgets in recent years the only conclusion you can draw is that the management of the club has been substandard
That said I’m reluctant to join the Rupp out chorus simply because I dont have an alternative
Totally agree.
I fear a worldwide financial slump in 2024. If I’m right, we might be glad to have the backing of a wealthy owner like Rupp. At least his money is sound unlike that of some of the potential buyers.
MD, a government research report assessing the financial sustainability of football based on 2021/22 club statements ranks City 10th in L2 for Current Ratio and Equity measurements.
Not exactly the Big Club that many fans portray City to be. At least not in financial terms.
Uh-oh. It only took two games until the old ‘tactically naive’ critique got wheeled out again. Two games!
‘You don’t go to arguably the best team in League Two and not have any sort of a plan to contain them. You don’t just turn up and attack without thinking about how you stop them doing the same.’
I am no fan of 442, but I reckon Mr Alexander probably knows the pros and cons of the system better than I do, and had his reasons for employing it today. Which as he admitted readily, were wide of the mark and failed woefully!
He switched things up at half time, which worked very well, and shows tactical nous, in game, under pressure, and with a new group of players. This is a man who has played over 1000 professional football games, and managed almost 500 more. I reckon he might have a decent clue what he’s doing. (Unlike our football club it would seem)
Fair point but for me any manager that plays Taylor is nicking a living as a manager. Surely he has seen enough of this lad in the previous videos and last game ? My goodness it’s not rocket science!
I’m very tolerant and supportive of managers. For instance I maintain that the likes of WOAP were way too critical and intolerant of Adams, but you do not line up with a wide 4-4-2 system, when you’re playing a team that loves having the ball in midfield.
It’s nothing to do with just been two games in. Any amateur could see that this was the wrong system and when he tweaked it at half time, we could see the difference.
Like me you’re no fan of 442 simply because it no longer works, for teams wanting to win 50% of their matches.
Actually I don’t like 442 more for aesthetic reasons. It tends to create static, predictable patterns of play, as well as low possession, kick and run football. I feel like I’ve seen the movie 100 times before. And it wasn’t even that great a movie.
Tactically, yes I’m all for jampacking the midfield and dominating the game through short passing. But there’s more than one way to win a football game.
I imagine our Graham wanted to allow County to have the ball, soak up the pressure with our inpenetrable two banks of four, and hit them on the counter with our two wide men and two forwards. I also wonder if he wanted to use a simple, familiar system that could be coached in a few days. It didn’t work did it… So he changed it to something that did work.
The idea that he and his coaching team hadn’t heard of the downsides of 442 is frankly very silly.
Forget promotion, we will be lucky to stay up at this rate. Thank you Edin, thank you Stefan you bought a football club, our club and screwed it up. Do us all a favour put the For Sale sign up on Monday, take the best offer & just go.
Be careful for what you wish for Rupp kept the club afloat during COVID and although he takes out his dividend every year I don’t see anybody else wanting to buy the club with no big list of investors. Being realistic who wants to buy a club with no assets. Adam’s in his analogy is right.
I just can’t understand how fans can lay very poor performances on our absent owner he has never picked the team. If it’s correct we have the forth highest budget it’s surely down to the woeful recruitment. Plus how can a team that missed out in the playoffs last season suddenly start playing so poorly. Attitude, Confidence both seem shattered in this team and I dread to think where it’s going to take us. From a very disappointed fan.
You can blame players in the short term, I.e. a decision in a match, the match itself. Players come and go, most of this lot won’t be starting in 12 months time.
Over the course of nearly 6 years since McCall left the only constants have been Rupp and Sparks (the latter for 3 years as CEO).
And how are they playing so poorly? We hardly played well last season, we overrelied on Cook and Lewis and they’re not performing this season. That aside recruitment was poor and the decision to change the setup backfired massively.
Alexander said he wanted a couple of games to judge the players, makes sense to use a vanilla formation for that evaluation.
Season starts next week
I’m hoping that’s his reason for his tactics for this match.
I believe Alexander said 3 or possibly 4 games required to assess the squad. What’s the rush? Heck, it took Sparks 5 weeks to do his so called due dillegence.
All three of the ‘early’ goals in the last three league defeats have come down the right flank, exposing the inadequacies of our left sided defence. We learn nothing from one game to the next. And in terms of personnel in this position Foulds was a better footballer than either Ridehalgh or Richards. Why did we let him go ? Ditto O’Brien, Ditto Young etc etc. We are suffering a double whammy of poor recruitment AND poor retention.
Yes we need a Director of Football but can’t see it happening any time soon.
You forget that we were strong down the left last season, for that period where Foulds was LB, because we had Tyrek Wright who not only was great creatively, but also was great defensively. Any average LB could play behind him.
I keep seeing the “Team of the Week” being published and Foulds is a regular. Never seen Ridehalge feature. Big mistake to let him go.
People often used to blame Jacobs because they didn’t have the heart to blame Stuart (though, caveat, I think Stuart was treated poorly on his his second and third stints when we actually played lovely foot ). Trueman has recently been an easy target (perhaps rightly so). But the issues are deep rooted and go to the core of the club. We do need a new owner (though it has to be the right one). But, that does not look forthcoming. That brings us to Sparks. Is he the root cause of the issues? No. But he’s the highest up/most central figure who can realistically be changed and who’s removal has the potential to have a material impact; we might get better decisions out of someone with more nous and football knowledge.
I don’t for one second believe that you can blame Sparks for the minutiae of on-field performances and such, but in a period where no manager has truly been backed and afforded time, Sparks has. He’s essentially the day-to-day chair of the club and under his stewardship we have got worse. His key decisions have all been wrong. The managers under him have paid the price for getting their key decisions wrong. Whilst I don’t believe sacking Sparks offers a panacea, I can’t see how his continued employment can be justified. Sacking him won’t solve everything of course, but it’s the decision that needs to be taken. If we can’t change ownership, we must change the operational management structure
Great article Jason…but.
Too early to criticise Alexander. I suspect he is testing what tunes he can get out of this group of players. Its all very frustrating and I hate having to even consider “are we too good to go down?”. The answer is of course, No!
In any other commercial business, the CEO would have been relieved of his duties by now. Set aside his apalling communication (almost non existant at the crucial times). He just has no experience in football matters and it shows so clearly. If Rupp is a serious owner, he will remove him and put in place an experienced Football man. IN the absence of that we are left with a Digital Salesman/Commercial Manager who has done an ok job in the former (though no concept of meeting the Fans real requirements, and a very good job at driving commercial income to be fair). But that is not enough. It needs to be balanced with a proper degree of football nous.
To quote Churchill; ” In the name of God go, for all the good you have done in this house”
This is our club, whoever has their name above the door. We can make it or break it. Respect the supporters and if you are not up to it Rupp, sell it and can manage it like a proper football club Sparks, then move on.
Enough is enough.
Bring on non-league if that is how it must be; it has to be better than this annual embarassment.
All three of the ‘early’ goals in the last three league defeats have come down the right flank, exposing the inadequacies of our left sided defence. We learn nothing from one game to the next. And in terms of personnel in this position Foulds was a better footballer than either Ridehalgh or Richards. Why did we let him go ? Ditto O’Brien, Ditto Young etc etc. We are suffering a double whammy of poor recruitment AND poor retention.
Yes we need a Director of Football but can’t see it happening any time soon.
Isn’t it time that we brought Stuart McCall back?
What would be the preferred formation for our present team? 4231 seems to
have been used the most since March followed by 4312.
433
Traditionally, 45pts is enough to stay in the league, we have 20 & it’s mid November. Never thought I’d be seriously thinking on these lines, but the reality of our present situation is starting to hit home. We’re currently in 23rd place in the Current Form League (above Swindon on GD). Right now, another 25pts seems a bigger task with every passing game.
Just thinking out loud.
I thought our season was over when we sacked Hughes. No i think we are sleep walking in to a relegation fight. We had a squad under Todd/Wetherall that when from 2nd to relegation because they never thought about being relegated until it was too late. I hope Alexander does a good job but that squad is poor
4th highest budget with worse spent in terms of value for money. Gent is still here. Was he involved with any of these journey men signings or young maybes? We have spent the budget on average and poor signings. Most on 2 to 3 year contracts. I despair! The greatest supported team in divisions 1 and 2. We are rewarded with dross football. You can not make a silk purse from a pigs ear. Saturday we play Accrington at home. I saw them against Wrexham. They totally out played the Hollywood kings and thoroughly deserved the result. We play the Accis next week. I don’t see anyway we will win. Totally dissolutioned with the team and with management of the club. We have no future. We sack mark Hughes with no alternative in mind to replace him. No disrespect to Alexander, but we did not have a replacement in mind. He was second choice that was clear. It’s not his fault we are in this predicament. Down to lack of forward planning. A owner with no interest in the club and a CEO with no football experience. A lousy combination. As long as this exist, this club will not progress.
In fairness, we were better against Wrexham.
There’s a decent 11 in there, it’s finding that team – made far harder when you’ve got around 50 players!!
Agree. There is enough quality to replicate last season if properly harnessed. Harry if he gets his head right and we get someone in to push him in January. In defence Halliday outstanding,Platt and Stubbs steady enough. Hopefully Richards can step up. Smallwood, Gilly, Walker, Pattison, Pointon and Chapman all good footballers if they can produce consistently. There is East to potentially return who is more than capable. McDonald has quality in spades if he can stay fit.
Upfront get Cook firing and Oliver back who is a weapon if played to his strengths. Young back in January unless we get a silly offer.
Yes there appear to have been too many misses this summer but it is just going to make it that bit harder to halt the slide if we all panic now
The thing that worries me more than formations etc. is the players attitudes. We have proven under KM that we can at the very least fight to win games through nothing else but sheer effort. You’d expect this to surface again with a new manager but we’ve started both games under GA lethargically with players looking uninterested and not up for it.
Is the confidence so low they’ve given up? If so this reflects badly on the character of the entire team, how does GA turn this around. Personally I haven’t got a clue. I don’t think changing formation will make any long term difference if we continue to turn up with no fight in our team.
The lack of leaders in this team is hurting us. The players need to have a meeting and ask themselves if they think individually and collectively this is good enough. Sadly I doubt this will happen with this group.
Sad times.
Great article Jason…but.
Too early to criticise Alexander. I suspect he is testing what tunes he can get out of this group of players. Its all very frustrating and I hate having to even consider “are we too good to go down?”. The answer is of course, No!
In any other commercial business, the CEO would have been relieved of his duties by now. Set aside his apalling communication (almost non existant at the crucial times). He just has no experience in football matters and it shows so clearly. If Rupp is a serious owner, he will remove him and put in place an experienced Football man. IN the absence of that we are left with a Digital Salesman/Commercial Manager who has done an ok job in the former (though no concept of meeting the Fans real requirements, and a very good job at driving commercial income to be fair). But that is not enough. It needs to be balanced with a proper degree of football nous.
To quote Churchill; ” In the name of God go, for all the good you have done in this house”
This is our club, whoever has their name above the door. We can make it or break it. Respect the supporters and if you are not up to it Rupp, sell it and if you cannot manage it like a proper football club Mr CEO, then move on.
Enough is enough.
Bring on non-league if that is how it must be; it has to be better than this annual embarassment.
Cromwell, not Churchill.
Thank you Dubois😀
I was thinking the same…at the moment I’m more interested in the English Civil War than the goings on at VP
OK so we have an owner who was persuaded or perhaps “conned” into buying the club. Clearly, he has no interest in football and doesn’t attend matches (probably as many as the respective owners of Man City or Liverpool do!) Yet, unlike the Glazers at Man U he hasn’t taken his money out, he rejected the offer to sell to the cryto/hedge fund/asset stripper who took over Crawley and seemingly he doesn’t interfere in football matters like many owners do eg Chelsea. So, in my view an absentee owner is not the problem and could be a bonus.
It is those who have executive authority who are responsible for the mess that is Bradford City currently – the CEO plus the assorted managers that he has appointed and then by failing to give them time, with the possible exception of Hughes, sacked. It is to be hoped that the CEO has learned the lesson from Bowyer, Adams etc and will give Alexander time. As others on here have noted, patience is needed at this time.
‘Tactically naïve’ is the oldest trope in the book. I suspect his first few games will be a bit more cautious, especially when going away to one of the best teams in the division. But he’ll have learned an awful lot from that second half response, and I think we’re overplaying the idea that they put the cue on the rack, because for 5 or 10 minutes there, they were worried.
Wow, that was a short honeymoon period for GA, even by City fans standards. I think he should be entitled to longer, surely? He probably made selection errors, tactical errors, but it happens, yes? It does seem that he is aware of his crimes and tried to put it right at half time.
Agreed, he has a big task on his hands, but come on, give him a chance. A lot of mistakes have been made in the past and GA has to live with them. One glaring mistake from the past was playing for the opposition, Jim O’Brien, he should have been given a longer contract, our loss was Notts’ gain. Another loss was Canavan, self inflicted.
Come January we can recall our loanees, clean start for all. It is not doom and gloom yet. Just be aware “a new start in non-league” is not an option, non-league will lead to extinction 🦤🦣. Believe me.
Who gives the players their contracts? Can you imagine the conversation between the guy who gives out the contracts and Matt Derbyshire Ash Taylor. “Right boys can you run?” Derbyshire and Taylor “Yes”. “Can you run any faster than that? Because this league is full of young fit athletes who can run fast”! Derbyshire and Taylor. No but we only want £4,000 a week. Oh that’s ok then sign here. FFS Derbyshire 18 months £312,000 Taylor 36 months £624,000. Couldn’t this money have been spent better?