By Alan Higgins
Amongst the bitterness and falling out of Bradford City fans on Twitter, I find myself torn. Whilst it seems to be you are either Stefan Rupp in or Rupp out, I find myself somewhere between the two.
Is the club in apparent disarray? Yes and no. Commercially, from my limited knowledge, it appears to be doing well with good sponsorship deals with local firms and partnerships that all appear to be very profitable for the club. However, we all know the most important part is on field and to say it’s getting worse every year is quite correct.
Each year, I seem to say to friends or fellow City fans “They can all go for me I wouldn’t keep any” – and each year, it seems to get worse despite promising starts and or promising signings.
Manager-wise the club has appeared to try everything. The club legend (Stuart McCall) x3, the young youth coach no one had heard of (Michael Collins), the ex-player that seems to be doing well as a manager somewhere else (David Hopkin), the joint managers that did well as caretakers (Mark Trueman and Connor Sellars), the experienced winners (Derek Adams and Gary Bowyer), the big name in the game (Mark Hughes) and now Graham Alexander, who I believe just happened to be available.
None have worked which points fingers elsewhere. The Alexander appointment sums the club up. To claim to fans Alexander was first choice, when we know Danny Cowley turned it down, and Graham was still in a job when Hughes was sacked, was a lie. It was clear Hughes was going to be sacked, yet the club sat on its hands, saw Kevin McDonald doing okay and rode the wave almost arrogantly till McDonald clearly said he’d had enough now. Then a rushed Alexander appointment came in.
Recruitment this year has been appalling. A squad loaded with centre backs, but we only play two (subject to current changes). A load of number tens/attacking midfielders, but we don’t play with any. Barely any wingers yet we try 442 and it’s an absolute mess. No one gets held to task for this – Stephen Gent is silent, as is Ryan Sparks. Following Adams comments about the structure of the club, Sparks’ just smirked and dismissed all of the Scot’s points. No acknowledgement of mistakes, just a shrug and a “well he failed” comment.
I was told recently that Paul Jewell had offered to help the club on the football side part time, as it’s such a mess – and no one got back to him. Now I don’t know how true it is – but, if it is, why not? Is it arrogance? Or are people scared of letting others see just how much of a mess they have made?
A Jewell or someone similar needs to be installed as a Director of Football (DoF).This would help as the DoF could speak to the press on Rupp and Sparks’ behalf, and give a bit more communication with regards the direction of the club. As it stands, we don’t know what’s going on. Does Rupp hate owning the club and not care? Does he actually care, but can’t get any money in to it for whatever reason? We don’t know, and that’s what breeds frustration.
A statement won’t solve the problems – but actions will. For Rupp, appoint some football help, acknowledge mistakes and say I’ll sell once someone comes on or even say I’m not selling.
Just let us supporters know what is going on. And then maybe, just maybe, we can concentrate on matters on the pitch again.
Categories: Opinion
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widthofapost.com 
This sums up the situation well! Instead of some of the rose tinted glasses articles we’ve seen, that portrays Rupp, Sparks and Gent as individuals giving their all so can’t be blamed. Get someone in with football knowledge to help the manager and CEO make long term football decisions.
I’ve said before that bringing in Jagger to advise Sparks on the football side of the club would be a good move, even on a temp or part time basis. If he has offered his services and been ignored then that is very poor indeed from both Rupp and Sparks. Neither of them are footballing people and to ignore an offer of help from a respected club legend is plain ignorant from them both.
It is important to remember that when Cowley was offered/turned down the job Graham Alexander was NOT available. It is wrong to say he was second choice. He simply wasn’t a choice at all.
Suddenly Alexander was surprisingly sacked and became a very good option.
Personally I’d take Alexander over Cowley any day. Early signs for me are optimistic.
I don’t believe this is correct Ian. My understanding is Cowley turned it down after the Sutton game, which was well after Alexander was sacked.
I would rather have a manager who wants to be at City for sure. Although the whole situation of interviewing applicants for weeks and the supporters being told it’s because we are doing our diligence and then doing a complete 360 degree turn and appointing GA who contacted the club is questionable at the very least. I just hope we win today as the result against Barnsley’s youth and reserves just papers over the cracks. Where is GA’s new manager bounce? January transfer activity will be very telling of where the club is heading….
Neat summary. I’m in a similar place myself; love the club to pieces but also hate its inability to help itself.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the one period in the last 17 years that we’ve actually progressed over a reasonable period of time is when everything worked in-sync from top to bottom of the club. With imperfections, of course, but broadly well.
Between 2012 and 2016 we saw:
– attendances grow with better football
– a strong backroom set-up
– players recruited on identity & ability
– strong comms to supporters
– good campaigns & initiatives
That makes success. Look at Stockport, Notts County and Wrexham. All three might have a decent amount of cash (as we supposedly do), but they have got everything right off the pitch and they are seeing a good product on it.
It’s that simple & in fairness the club weren’t miles off last season on some of this. We’ve just lost our way a bit & it’s time to get back on track.
We also have some talented players in a bloated squad. I’m sure GA knows what needs to be done. There’s no reason why we can’t turn this season around and move up the league if we make some small changes, there is plenty of time left.
This isn’t about looking back to what we were doing ten years ago either; it’s about looking forward to how the club can do the right things on and off the pitch.
My suggestions off the pitch would be:
1) Bring in somebody like Nick Allamby who can focus on fitness & recovery (I’m sure we already have sports scientists in this area, but wouldn’t hurt us to bring more in)
2) Recruit a director of football to support RS, GA & backroom staff – this could bolster player recruitment & retention and also help those doing a good job to continue focus on being commercially successful
3) Actually bring the fans into the club in a meaningful way to gauge opinion & work constructively with them
4) Get some comms from SR out about his intentions for the club. I think if everybody knows where he stands, that helps things
My suggestions on the pitch are:
1) Give Pointon a new contract to lift the fans & because we can’t lose such a talent
2) Send many of our loanees who aren’t getting game time back to their parent clubs & make sure we go into Jan with no more than one or two in mind who can improve areas where we are weaker
3) Send some of our senior players who only get ad-hoc game time out on loan.
4) With savings on wages, focus on bringing someone of real quality in at centre-back who has pace & has played in L2 before. We’re getting caught out too many times with a slower defence
5) Bring East & Young back and hold talks with them now about re-integrating into the squad. Both are talented & it might be a hard sell to them, but would improve our squad significantly
Whatever your position or feeling on the club at the minute, it feels like there’s a world where this season can turn around and all our moods can lift – even if at points over the past few weeks I’ve felt a long way from us getting there.
All we want is a Bradford City that we can be proud of; let’s hope today’s game against Accrington can be the first step back in the right direction.
Absolutely, this 👍🏼
Difficult to disagree with the vast majority of your observations.
I think fans on both sides of the fence (and in middle) would agree with a lot of that.
One thing, football aside, losing Pointon would be a PR disaster, the kind of thing the club absolutely don’t need. Not as important, but Halliday needs ting down also – he’s been the other stand out and consistently decent player so far.
Agree with both of these player points. Whilst not claiming he is our best player, Brad Halladay is my favourite player of the current squad…he puts in a shift every week, rarely has a poor game, and is to some degree a playmaker.
I’ll third that on Halliday. Need to keep him at all costs, he’s the type of player successful teams have. Never less than a 7/10 and very often more. He also seems to me to be a very Bradford City player. Honest, hardworking and a bit clever at times. He’s becoming more of an attacking threat too, he’s popped up in the middle of the area once or twice, maybe he’s been watching John Stones and TAA.
Another well written and thoughtful piece graces a forum which is evidently replete with talent. I personally agree with many of the points raised. For all Rupp’s perceived shortcomings, it is surely not prudent to call for his demise unless or until a superior alternative is known to exist. Football is littered with chancers hoping to make a name for themselves and a fortune to boot with leveraged buyouts. I gave my views yesterday, for what they are worth, on the pros and cons of the Director of Football. The correspondent who had initiated the discussion agreed they are not a ‘silver bullet’. Sparks’s claim that Alexander was first choice, disingenuous though it may have been, was presumably a pardonable attempt to boost morale. I imagine he’s not the first to make such a claim of a new manager. Anyway, it seems to have flushed out Cowley who broke the unwritten law that neither do clubs reveal the applicants nor do these last discuss the outcome. For this alone we are well rid of a self-aggrandiser who thinks he’s out of our league. Alexander so far comes across as the very reverse, an entirely grounded individual who says a lot of intelligent things in simple, accessible terms. He reminds me of Parkinson in this regard. Today might be the start of a major revival. There’s little point setting out for the match if you don’t believe that’s possible. Let’s give it a go!
Personally I just want Rupp gone.
If we are fearful of what comes next maybe we should start a campaign to raise money to buy the club
I reckon it’s worth about £1million
?
Rupp is the only saviour City have as I have said before both on here and the T&A website “Be careful what you wish for” There is no long list of potential investors wanting to put money into City as you are not buying any assets. There is nothing on the field, no ground and you are only buying the will of the supporters to continue to buy cheap season tickets. Currently we are in a spiral where if we do not improve the squad, results will not improve and next year’s ticket sales will drop so the playing budget will fall etc etc. So my message to supporters is stay of Rupp’s back because if he stops bank rolling the club we are in trouble.
Careful what you wish for….Rupp doesn’t fund anything so hoe can it get worse not as if any new owner can strip assets we don’t have
And there lies the problem Rupp wanting an outrageous £10m a £6m profit for a club he has added nothing to and are now in a league below where he bought us
What happened to being able to fund us at championship level? He can’t or won’t even fund us in League 2
Sparks said on Radio Leeds he hasn’t invested a thing in the time he’s been CEO, that was a few months ago so it’s 3 years from this weekend.
Either he was lying or Rupp genuinely hasn’t invested a penny in since December 2020.
Which do you think it is?
Besides, if there were potential new owners or investors enquiring everything would be subject to NDA so we’d never hear about it. Wagmi was the exception as they broke the agreement at their end. I do believe IMO there have been enquires, but a mix of being put off by the asking price or just being chancers means we’ll truly know.
It’s quite amusing my post got downvoted with no response.
The first part was based on fact – from the horses’ mouth as they say – and second part was my own thought with an understanding of how high level discussions take place. Basically, in private.
“Amongst the bitterness and falling out of Bradford City fans on Twitter, I find myself torn. Whilst it seems to be you are either Stefan Rupp in or Rupp out, I find myself somewhere between the two.”
This opening paragraph probably explains how I feel about the situation too about both Sparks and Rupp, I know we could end up with much worse if they left but also feel the club deserve much better.
Sparks attitude in that Adams interview stunk in my opinion, to get away with being that arrogant I think you’ve got me be doing a great job yourself and the club is in no better position football wise now from when he walked through the door. If he had been judged how he as judged our managers he would have sacked himself a long time ago. I also think his communication as been very very poor recently, when the going gets tough he seems to just hide away. The tough times are usually when decent leaders shine rather than hiding.
As for Rupp I just don’t understand how he thinks he can had value to his business with out investing in it a bit whether that be finding a solution to get the ground back or getting up the league’s. Bradford city at this level owning their own stadium would a much more attractive asset to buy, or Bradford city in the championship again would be a much more attractive asset to buy.
I definitely think that we need change at the club, whether that be a change in owner and CEO or a change and reset on how they run the club with them having a long term plan, being much more better at communication with the fans and the club being much more ambitious. We don’t want another 5 years stuck in this division.
Lastly I hope the fans can unite around the team and Alexander even though we all seem pretty divided at the minute. If fans want to protest it’s fair enough in my eyes, if other fans don’t want o protest again that’s fair enough in my eyes but let’s also back this manager and team, we all want the club to do well even if we have different ideas on the best way to achieve that.
Talk about throwing in the towel! There are problems no doubt. Sparks is commercial manager at best. Football management is a different beast. It’s horse’s for courses. Investing in a director of football, I agree would be a sensible approach. Sparks sticks at selling the club to investors and leave the football side to someone who has a track record. A blind man can see that this club is on a downward slide. No club no matter how big can avoid relegation. If it was to happen, Bradford as a City of more than a population of 500K+ without a professional football league side in the top divisions. That would be a scandal and it is avoidable but we must act and refuse to accept mediocracy and get someone in to drive this club forward.
People complain that this site paints the picture as being rosy, I would argue differently, it puts things into context
I do find myself torn too but I think Jake sums it all up well too.
The trouble with most comment is that it is based on assumption and rumour. We have had some facts about our recent history but some people dismiss fact because it doesn’t suit the narrative.
My take is that Rupp is what he is. He is a reluctant owner who has kept an assetless club in the black. It’s OK saying Rupp out, but where is the alternative? Comments like let’s get together and buy the club sum up the alternative – non-existent! Am I happy with him? Well yes and no. Yes for the fact there is still a City but no in that he isn’t what we’d like him to be. Will I protest against him – absolutely not.
On Sparks, again, I don’t think he’s done a lot wrong. He’s appointed good managers with good records and they’ve failed – I don’t think you can knock him for that. You can criticise him for making early declarations that haven’t materialised but anyone who says – he promised we’d go up and we haven’t – seriously?! What I would criticise him for is that I believe he flip flops between managers. In my opinion he shouldn’t have sacked Hughes without a replacement, and then I think he thought MacDonald could do the job until we lost a couple. But as I said this is based on assumption. I don’t the know the facts – had Hughes fallen out with the club as early as August, was MacDonald ever seriously considered?
On Gent I’m more sure of where I stand. He has made good signings on the whole and we have a decent squad. If Tulloch can’t get in the squad we have depth! It’s not his fault that we had a manager who signed wingers but wouldn’t pick them. We need a manager that picks the team to suit the formation and not picks the formation and wedges the same 11 in and that’s my main gripe. In my opinion, we have the players. I don’t think that Walker, Pointon, Smallwood and Gilliead can all play if it means Walker and Pointon are pushed wide. Pick the wide players to play wide – Chapman, Tulloch, Wilson.
This season has been demoralising but we have a new beginning so let’s get behind the team and club.
Listen to The Price of Football podcast where a sports lawyer is taking about people buying football clubs and the reasons why. Very interesting and informative.
Super Bantams- your £200 season ticket must go along way to financing City. Don’t forget Rupp bank rolled the club through Covid when there were no supporters in the ground and for that reason Rupps value for the club is £8-£10 million. To claw back every pound or should I say Euro he has put into the club. This added to the £5million he gave for the club which had no assets and still does not have any. This Is the reason for his estimation for the valuation of the club. I agree it’s not worth a lot and due to his none allegiance to the club he wants his full investment back if Rupp is to sell the club. Just think about it.
With all this negativity and talk of disruption to the match who on earth would want to buy the club and isnt it going to be more difficult to get in the right players and more importantly another manager. To me it all seems so counter-productive. Better the devil you know. At least Rupp is trying to make amends for the mess his friend got him into by keeping us afloat. I’m sure he’d love to walk away. I hope today GA will be given a warm welcome.
Chatting a couple of weeks ago with the wife of a former Bantam striker who is a good friend of Paul Jewell, I told her the club should bring him in as a Director of Football.
THIS IS GONNA BE LONG… IT CONTAINS PLENTY OF WAFFLE & CONTROVERSIAL OPINIONS, SO IF YOU’RE IN A RUSH OR DON’T WANT TO BE LED ASTRAY, THEN MOVE ALONG, THERE’S NOTHING TO SEE HERE.
Alright, don’t kill me for saying this, and I’m definitely NOT trying to wind anyone up here, but I think the problem has been blown out of proportion due to our league position and the ‘Meadow Lane experience’.
I too feel we could have a more involved owner and his ‘hands-completely-off’ approach does give us (the outsiders – of our own club) the sense that he doesn’t care too much about the football side of things.
This article does an excellent job of suggesting why he may be putting his ‘investment’ first, so I won’t go there as it’s already been covered elegantly.
Indeed, I look around and see a host of wannabe, football club owners, who are either currently seeking a good investment opportunity, as well as those who’ve already bought/invested in clubs.
And I can’t tell you how envious I am of Wrexham. Don’t get me wrong, they’re a great little club with so much tradition, but objectively, and trying to take off my rose-tinted glasses for a second…
If I were an investor and I saw one club with 4-5k gates, struggling in non-league football with a capacity of 10k in a remote area of the UK, not necessarily known as a hotbed for producing football talent (though a quick search shows me Robbie Savage, Harry Wilson, & Neco Williams come from that neck of the woods, but I’m referring more about quantity anyway) …
Then on the other hand, you have the highest attended club in a league higher, who average more than double gates of the 2nd best supported team with 16k-17k in only the 4th tier (so, it’s not a stretch to imagine further up the pyramid, they’d potentially attract more people through the gates and could be at maximum capacity by the time they reach the 2nd tier!).
I’d be very excited at potential growth of both the fanbase, and possible stadium expansion further down the line (if bitter ex-owner can be persuaded to sell up), with the ultimate goal of becoming a ‘best of the rest’ PL team, with 30k-35k supporters coming to watch… basically putting us in a similar bracket to Brighton, Wolves, Forest, Sheff Utd, Leicester and Southampton.
But how awesome would that be right now… if not PL, then one of the favourites for promotion? At the very least, expecting to fight at the top end of the Champ. What I wouldn’t give!
However, whether people in Shipley, Baildon, Bingley, Skipton, Keighley etc. want to be considered ‘Bradfordians’ is an entirely different topic, though from a BCFC perspective, they’re definitely potential supporters, so when you include surrounding areas that don’t have an LS post code, then there are tens of thousands of potential fans, so it’s not a stretch to imagine such a scenario.
As an investor (or even as a seller listing out the benefits), you’re allowed to speculate and you can certainly see the potential of what we ‘could be’ at our club. Surely, one of the first things you’re looking for, unless you’re Gary Neville, is good support and potential for growth, which we’ve got in spades!
Regarding potential future talent… when you compare our catchment area to Wrexham (okay it may be more saturated in Bradford/Yorkshire), you still feel we have more chance of attracting better prospects, especially the higher up we climb. Though we haven’t done so bad at finding gems anyway, it’s just we’re allowing them to be cherry picked from us to generate revenue… that would happen less in the Champ/Prem.
Therefore, when you compare Wrexham and Bradford in footballing terms, there’s one clear winner. Huge fanbase, scope for growth, large talent pool, and passionate fans – although that one’s a little contentious (and subjective) since every club and set of supporters say the same, not to mention I’m biased, so I’ll officially take it back.
Before someone jumps in to point out that ‘Wrexham have a catchment area of 900k’, and ‘Bradford only 65k’, which is what newspapers claimed rather ambitiously while estimating the potential effect of having Hollywood owners and guessing the potential progress they might make in the near future, while the Bradford estimate came from City’s website 8-years ago…
Whether the City estimation counted only boys registered for playing football in W.Yorks (as opposed to counting every child who would qualify by age)… or whether the clickbait articles were predicting every child in the whole of Wales (and beyond including girls) are potential prospects.. I can’t say for certain, but either way, it’s an impossible one to answer.
However, Swansea and Cardiff don’t even attract the best players in Wales, and indeed I remember in the World Cup, an article joked that we were facing an England ‘B’ side since 9 of the Wales squad are English, or at least born in England, including Brennan Johnson (Nottingham), Dan James (Beverley), Ethan Ampadu (Exeter), and Keiffer Moore (Torquay).
David Brooks is from Warrington too and played for England youth teams before opting for Wales… so logic tells you the Wrexham talent pool is much smaller than those ambitious figures would suggest.
Wales’ GOAT (Bale) comes from Cardiff, but despite having a decent club on his doorstep – his hometown team, he chose to sign for Southampton as a kid, which means even elite Welsh players, the ones ‘not born’ in England, rarely choose to play for Welsh-based clubs anyway.
The population of Wales is 3m while only 500k are UNDER 15 yrs, so unless they’re hoping to signup pensioners, babies, and rugby players, I guess they’re planning on snatching prospects away from Liverpool, Everton, Man Utd. & Man City. With only 3-4 recognisable players from that area the past 30 or so years, it’s a little hard to imagine drastic change or potential influx.
Contrary, when you consider players who started at Bradford or those who are from the area… dare I even say the name Mason Greenwood? (stellar talent, if not a stellar human – allegedly), then there’s no comparison. In the last 2-3 years alone we’ve let a lot of promising kids go to higher league clubs, many of whom could be playing in our first team right now to choruses of ‘one of our own’ (including an Eng U18 youth) however, they’re now part of academies in Leeds, Brighton, Wolves, and such places.
Recent notable successes from our academy include Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverley, and Oli McBurnie etc. I could go on, but you get the point and can probably suggest more names.
So, knowing there are billionaires looking to invest in English FL clubs, and many of them are looking for excellent potential in the lower leagues, then why we’re not at the top of everyone’s list, especially once they do their research and see games at VP with a near full house and a wall of noise roaring from the terraces… absolutely baffles me! Even if I wasn’t a supporter, the hairs on the back of my neck would stand up as I experienced the atmosphere.
When comparing us to the prospect of buying Wrexham, you have to remember at the time Deadpool was looking for potential clubs, they were significantly less supported (and popular) than they are today. Since then, they’ve grown both their fanbase and revenue exponentially, from the worldwide attention they’re receiving thanks in part to their big hit TV show, famous owners, and US tour alongside big clubs like Chelsea and Man U.
That could have been us! Trips to L.A… mammoth budgets, top players desperate to play for us… sell out crowds even in L2 as more people flock to watch… TV gold with City at the heart of the action… promotion favourites, and maybe even a cheeky autograph from Ryan Reynolds!
Fair play to them, but I’m so green every time I think of what could have been. With a bit of luck, next year (or whenever it’ll be) when they show the Red Dragons at VP… our gaff will impress a lot of rich onlookers and help generate a lot of interest – we’re allowed to dream!
So, why do I feel this current situation has been blown out of proportion?
1. Just 6-months ago we were battling for promotion in the play-offs… not very hard admittedly, but we were loitering/trespassing in the green zone for much of the season!
2. Managerial appointments have looked good on paper.
3. Managers have been supported with large budgets.
4. We’ve only just appointed a new manager, who personally I think is a great choice and I fancy his chances of doing another PP… :-0 – YOU DIDN’T JUST SAY THAT!!!
5. I’m not sure what either Rupp or Sparks could have done better football wise (not in terms of communication).
Jason’s suggestion of a director of football in another article sounds like an intelligent one and if you get right, then it could pay dividends as he pointed out has semi-worked at Peterborough… but it could also be a potential poisoned chalice as now not only does Sparks have to make two good managerial appointments, he needs to make sure (or hope), both managers agree on everything and that it doesn’t cause more problems than it solves.
I don’t think it’s an insult to say Sparks isn’t a football man, and therefore probably makes his decisions based on statistics, which is why Adams and Hughes sounded like brilliant appointments at the time, but I doubt he fully understands/appreciates the tactical side of the game or knows how to judge a good player.
Therefore he’s got to back his manager and trust his judgement. He’s very good at what he does, running a business effectively and profitably. The future of the club is as stable as it’s been in a long time and there are more investors, sponsors, and commercial opportunities to bring in additional revenue than I’ve ever known, which ironically is being pumped into the playing budget to theoretically increase our chances of doing well on the pitch… if only the money was spent wisely!
Another thing Jason said which is a view I also share, is that I don’t think ANY blame can fall at the feet of Gent. Time will tell of course, especially over the next couple of windows with an attack-minded manager who wants to put a team together that can dominate football matches and score a bagful of goals.
But generally, I think the signings have been good, at least the ones I suspect came from Gent.
What we don’t know is WHY we signed Taylor, Platt, Kelly, Tulloch, Afoka, McDonald, Smith, and Derbyshire etc. Although to be fair, on the rare occasion I’ve seen Derbyshire play, I thought he looked alright and oozed quality, while Smith has looked a different player since Alexander came in.
You’d expect the chief scout to present a list of recommendations, but ultimately the manager has the last say. It’s just as likely Gent recommended players which Hughes rejected and instead demanded mature 30+ options which were not on Gents’ top 100 list, yet because his boss told him otherwise, he’s been forced to present a completely different type of player to what he (Gent) considers to be ‘good’.
It’s also possible Hughes/Hodges had their own agenda and players in mind when it came to transfers… heck it’s possible (and probably more likely than Gent being a bad apple), that Hughes flipped a coin to choose signings.
Obviously, we can’t say for sure so it’s complete speculation, but there are some clues that suggest it was Hughes, not Gent that made the bad choices…
For instance Young and East both had potential… they’d done well for higher league teams… they’re forward thinking players that create chances and goals, both too are at a great age with potential to improve while adding zeroes to their value (good for club and player) …
BUT… Hughes refused to play them. I was always impressed whenever I saw East and I actually thought he made the team better, but then I wanted the team to get forward and attack more and he seemed to be the only player making forward passes. It’s not a stretch to now wonder whether that disappointed MH as he wanted slow and safe first and foremost.
This summary seems to fit perfectly for Young too. While he could disappear in games at times, which was probably more due to tactics and lack of forward support than inability… however, when he was on it, he looked a real prospect… and by all accounts Swindon will tell you he’s the player Gent thought he’d be, just not for us!
Unfortunately, neither seemed to fit into Hughes’ plans. Is that petulance… a subtle message to his subordinate scout… or even a show of power?
You can say the same to a lesser extent about Odusina. It’s not like he came from non league or the youth team. He played well and looked good in our league the season prior, but with hindsight he doesn’t seem to have MHs’ attributes… big, imposing, experienced, ‘row Z’ defenders.
This one’s hard to sell because admittedly, he didn’t look good in a City shirt, but was that because of the formation and the gaffers’ instructions? He’s quick, apparently good on the ball (though we didn’t get to see much of that), and if you’re intending to attack and push bodies forward while moving the defence up to halfway, then you need fast covering defenders.
For all we know, those are his strengths and if they are, then we need them right now. Pacey defenders who can pass the ball without gifting a glut of chances to the opposition every game would make us contenders again… or at least a different proposition for opponents.
Look, I’m not saying Odusina was the answer, or that he’s any good… that’s still to be decided, but he fits into a similar box as Young and East where they’d done well previously, suited an attacking style, yet couldn’t force their way in to a defensive set up.
With that in mind, are those likely to be MH signings who liked his team to defend, or would you guess they came from Gent? I’m not necessarily defending Gent either, how can I as I don’t know the guy or see what he does behind the scenes.
Again, more speculation might lead you to wildly guess that Gent felt/looked like a failure within the walls of the club at his performance review as his new signings were quickly looking for new clubs, or maybe they just hated each other… so often manages resent ‘inteference’ or outside influence… they’re the boss and they make all the decisions… perhaps that’s upset Gent and as retaliation, he’s purposely made MH to look a fool with a host of mediocre suggestions (or by giving his assurances that Taylor and co. would be real assets).
I’m obviously guessing at random possible scenarios which are more improbable than likely, but it does at least make you think twice about blaming Gent, who seems to recommend a different profile of player to what MH’s preferred.
Gent seems to have outstanding knowledge on youth and/or younger players which makes sense as everyone sung his praises at Boro while he worked with the under age groups. You think Tyreik Wright and Scott Banks were outstanding young players, as too were East, Young, and (possibly Odusina) …
Which is in stark contrast to this seasons’ loan/youthful signings. Of course, you have to allow for a degree of failure when signing unproven talent, as not every standout player at youth level can make the jump up to the mans’ game. Prospects don’t always pan out.
Like I say, I think we’ll get a better idea of his talents once the new gaffer makes some signings. Hopefully, he’ll bring Young and East back in January, clear the decks of the deadwood which could be a squad in itself, and then add a sprinkle of quality with some more Tyreik inspired signings.
Ironically, had we not lost Wright to go warm the Plymouth bench in January, there’s a chance MH’s could have promoted us last year! Wright was outstanding for us and a game changer which we desperately missed the moment he walked out the door. Fine margins and all that!
We looked better today, especially going forward. But it highlighted the need for improvements in defence. Too many unforced errors gifted Stanley a host of chances that they should have scored from at least one. Both Platt and Taylor looked like fishes out of water in this attacking formation.
It’s a physical league, so it’s not wise to replace all the ‘two left footers’ from central defence as we need some muscle in there too. But Tomkinson is a decent size while ticking the attacking attributes, maybe Odusina as the other with a Lynchpin in the middle. For me Kelly looked good today, very committed and quick to snuff out danger on multiple occasions… so I’d have him as the lynchpin authority. By all accounts, he was a top defender in Ireland and known for his composure on the ball. I can’t see that being a worse choice than the current 3, who are shattering my nerves (as well as our chances of winning games).
I’ve got a lot of confidence in this manager. He’s mostly done well wherever he’s been. Can you remember Scunthorpe leading L1 for most the season thanks in part to one of our outcasts (Morris), who as far as I know, Alexander’s the only manager who managed to get a consistent tune out of him.
I really like his style. It was clear that today would be a different proposition to Barnsley’s boys midweek, but had it not been for our own sloppy play in defence, then the game would have been more comfortable.
The transition will take time until it’s peaking, especially since most of the team were bought with staying solid and keeping clean sheets as the first priority… and obviously not all of them will be cut out for the new attacking formation. Interestingly, I heard a comment from one of the players’ that training has been more intense and heavily focused on running… which tells it’s own story.
They didn’t look fit if truth be told, and I was sceptical of our lack of pre-season games. I can now confidently assume that Hughes didn’t value fitness in the way PP did, and now it would seem GA values strong fitness levels also. How many late goals did we concede last season? And despite false promises that we’d attack teams and pressure them from first until last minute, they never looked fit enough to maintain a press for more than the occasional burst… which is one of the things that let us down… even in the first half at Notts Co. They sat back, waited, and invited trouble.
Since that half-time teamtalk, or more likely rollicking… you can see an attitude change. Whether the running was punishment or not, I can’t say, but given he wants the team to press high up and get in the opposition faces, it’s more likely that he’s building their fitness up so they can sustain it for a full 90-minutes, while hopefully helping to reduce the concession of late goals.
It’s not gonna be an overnight miracle but at least now, it’s more entertaining and they creating more chances to keep things exciting. Gonna be a rollercoaster for sure, but I think we’ll soon be heading in the right direction which should have been evident to most supporters
I didn’t realise I would be writing a novel here, but I guess the suppressed frustration of the past few weeks, coupled with a relief that we’ve made a good appointment and the fact my Saturday/weekend wasn’t ruined for the first time in ages (premature excitement I know, but I sense this will be the case for most weeks from now on – let me at least enjoy tonight!).
Pretty obvious the reason sparks wouldn’t want Jewell in situ, it would take him out of the limelight, any success would not be sparks’ it would be seen as Jewell’s, and that would make 99% of the job less appealing to a man who thrives off attention, good or bad.
You put a kid in charge of the sweet factory and you’ll be left with empty wrappers. He should never have been given the role in the first place in my view. It was always a vanity role to Sparks. When he was telling anyone who would listen how he’d improved the infrastructure I smelled a rat. When he told anyone who would listen how the communication would improve between supporters and the club I thought how naive.
The issue in both cases suggests a self publicist and anyone who feels the need to get ahead with fans by telling you how he is different to previous CEO’s, usually isn’t.
And so it was proved when the only visible infrastructure improvement was to install new dugout chairs and the communication with fans lasted as long as the fickle fans base started to get on his back and he swiftly left Twitter, it showed him for what he is. Like any club CEO who allows the fanbase the time of day, they inevitably realise they can please some of the fans some of the time, but not all the fans most of the time.
For the club the move forward Ryan Sparks either needs to change or leave. I hear David Baldwin is unemployed again…….
I think when Sparks goes if we get an half decent CEO in as a replacement people will quickly realise how poor he’s been for us. He’s well out of his depth and got a feeling he knows it hence the reason he’s hiding away now
It’s easy to face the media when things are going well, but the best leaders never hide away when the poo hit’s the fan, instead they lead from the front instead of allowing everyone else to take the stick on their behalf.