By Jason McKeown
I think it’s just me. And for that, I truly am sorry. The last thing the Bradford City community needs is another negative voice, yet as 2023 comes to a close I’m still finding it hard to not feel jaded, weary and cynical about the events that have led to the Bantams ending the calendar year in mid-table.
This is not a criticism of Graham Alexander who – after a slightly worrying first one and a half games at the helm – has done remarkably well. There is a lot to like about the way Alexander has found a way for this squad to function effectively and start climbing back up the league table, restoring hope when it was in short supply. Alexander also speaks really well, with a statesman-like delivery that echoes the inspirational way Phil Parkinson led this club for five years. There are reasons to be optimistic about the future.
I’m just not yet feeling that full excitement.
Attending the Stockport game – my first live match since the edgy 1-0 victory over Accrington in late November – I enjoyed the atmosphere and the battle, but felt a little underwhelmed by the lack of quality and limited ambition. Others have felt much more positive about the game, much more encouraged by the way City matched up to the league leaders. And I totally understand that, but this is pretty much the same Stockport side we were competing with for automatic promotion at the end of the 2022/23 season. I remember going to Edgley Park last January and feeling disappointed with only drawing 0-0. To now be happy to not be losing at home to them seems like a bit of a climbdown in expectations.
Again, that’s not having a go at anyone. The logical part of my brain absolutely gets it. We have had a tricky time, we’re still recovering, and our ambitions have naturally had to be lowered. I want to join in with feeling satisfied with such a night’s work. To be bullish about City’s promotion prospects for the second half of this season. Feeling detached and downbeat towards the club isn’t nice. I want my naivety and sense of wonderment back. I want to believe.
It’s just I’m not over the mental scars picked up from last May’s play off heartaches, and this autumn’s managerial saga. Had someone told us – as we drove home from Brunton Park with City defeated – that City would end 2023 mid-table and having changed manager I don’t think any of us would have been at all surprised. But the grim predictability of it all has still been hard to take.
The tipping point for me was probably the press conference to unveil Alexander as Mark Hughes’ successor, where Ryan Sparks was asked about recent comments Derek Adams had aired about the structure of Bradford City. Adams is certainly no hero in this story and avoided talking about his own failings when he was questioned about his tenure at Valley Parade, but he also made several pertinent points about the overall set-up of the club – he highlighted long-term issues that are not even the fault of Sparks and Stefan Rupp.
But when asked for a response to Adams’ views, Sparks’ less-than-convincing poker face led to a dismissing of the Scot’s findings. Instead, we got a cheap retort of how Adams failed at Valley Parade. As though that means his opinions are invalid.
This all came at a point where, in the wake of Hughes’ dismissal, much criticism and scorn was heaped on the departing manager. I’m not here to argue that Hughes shouldn’t have been sacked and there is no question he got a lot of things wrong this season, but a narrative was quickly forming that all of the club’s issues were the fault of Hughes, with everyone else who contributes to City’s success or failure seemingly getting off Scot-free. The local media were not shy about joining in. Off-the-record briefings seemed to be taking place. It was all a bit convenient to blame everything on the guy who just left the building.
At the time and still now, there has been little comment on the fact that last summer’s recruitment wasn’t great. And how evident it seems there was a disparity in views and approach between Stephen Gent’s recruitment department and what Hughes wanted. When a 33-day wait for a new manager to be appointed ensued, and rumours of other managers applying and then ruling themselves out of the running swirled, there was no accountability offered that the club perhaps hadn’t planned nearly well enough. Alexander was ultimately appointed manager when he was in another job when the whole recruitment process had begun. Yet Sparks claimed Alexander was first choice. He also overlooked the fact it was already starting to come out that he had offered the position to Danny Cowley, who turned it down.
With all of this going on, to respond to valid, constructive points from Derek Adams about Bradford City’s difficulties with a jibe that he ‘failed’ just felt tone deaf. Supporter concerns about the direction of the club were not addressed in a way that could offer reassurance. We blame it all on Adams, and now we’re blaming it all on Hughes. Go back further and it was all Trueman and Sellars’ fault. Stuart McCall’s. Gary Bowyer’s. Etc etc. Every manager fails – never the club, it seems.
I guess this is why I find myself slightly resistant in heaping the praise on Alexander. How long will it be before we’re sacking Alexander and piling the blame for all club failings on his shoulders? As a fan, I want to know what we’ve learned from the Adams and Hughes tenures that mean we’re going to give Alexander an even better chance of succeeding. I want to see humility from the club. Because of course they made mistakes – and they shouldn’t be afraid to admit they have. Everyone makes mistakes in life, what defines you is how you learn from them – and at City I’m struggling right now to see evidence we are learning and getting stronger for these tough experiences.
Which brings us to the January transfer window.
In many ways, this is a weird one because it’s going to be more about outs and ins. At this time of year, as supporters we’re normally loudly calling for certain positions to be strengthened, but it’s not abundantly obvious what we need to improve on right now. It’s more undoing some of the recruitment mistakes from the last two transfer windows.
But I think it is a big moment for Sparks and Gent. The summer recruitment was not a success – and attempts to blame that on Hughes will only really look credible if they deliver on what Alexander needs this time around. Does Gent have an eye for good signings at this level? Can recruitment and manager tactical objectives become more closely aligned? If City get to January 31st once again scrambling for a young loanee from a Premier League club, it would suggest lessons haven’t really been learned. But if we can build methodically and effectively, then personally I’ll be able to recover some of my missing faith in the overall competency of the club.
So what is likely to happen? The outs are probably the biggest factor. I make it we have 33 players on the books who have a squad number (34 if you include Finn Cousin-Dawson, currently on loan at Blyth Spartans and apparently performing well, but who doesn’t have a squad number at City this season). With Alexander unhappy with the quantity of his squad, departures are inevitable.
It’s fair to say we have seen the last of loanees Chisom Afoka and Rayaan Tulloch (neither have figured since the Man City Under 21s cup win in October), who will surely return to their parent clubs.
Beyond that, there must be question marks against senior players Sam Stubbs, Harry Chapman, Matty Derbyshire and Kevin McDonald – as they’re just not getting game time. Stubbs’ fall from grace is curious, and it is rumoured he is keen to leave given how far down the pecking order he has fallen. Chapman has had injury problems but looks well out of Alexander’s thoughts, and may favour at least a loan move out of the club with his contract due to expire in the summer. Derbyshire’s deal also runs out then. He has been on the bench of late but not brought on once. An early exit might be for the best.
If Stubbs leaves there is a question mark about centre back cover, given Alexander’s preference for three at the back. This could mean signing a replacement as back up, or more likely recalling one of his own out-on-loan defenders. Timi Odusina is not getting gametime at Woking, Lee Hendrie has been playing well for Hartlepool but has been injured recently. Cousin-Dawson may also be a useful option to give that cover if it’s needed.
The other player out on loan of course is Jake Young. Expect his return next week, and then the decision over whether to sell or cash in. If he is not quickly sold in the next few days, the team news for City’s Saturday home game with Crawley will be very interesting in signalling the club’s intent. If he plays for City, he cannot play for another club this season beyond the Bantams and Swindon.
If Young and Derbyshire exit, City are lighter of options up front and may go into the market flush with the windfall generated from a Young sale. Tyler Smith has done very well of late but there are still some question marks over whether he is good enough over the long-term. With Alexander’s desire to play two up top, he might want to find competition for Smith and a potentially better partner for Andy Cook.
The centre of midfield looks decent for options, assuming McDonald doesn’t depart. Although the current struggles to find an able deputy for the injured Jamie Walker might be preying on Alexander’s mind. Does he bring in another option here, with Alex Pattison out injured, or get by with what he has knowing he has two excellent number 10s when they’re both fit? Emmanuel Osadebe might be feeling slightly anxious over his own future, and could be a player sacrificed if there is January interest.
Elsewhere in midfield, it will be interesting to see what – if anything – Alexander does with Bobby Pointon and Adam Wilson. Neither are fully suited to the 3-5-2 – especially Wilson – and are finding opportunities difficult to come by. You would imagine Alexander would see a future for Pointon at least. Does he give the youngster those opportunities in the second half of the season, or send him on loan for game time? (Speculation Pointon has been left out due to a deal being agreed to sell him to a higher league club were somewhat dampened by the midfielder making the bench on Friday, but who knows?) Wilson is certainly a candidate for a loan move and he is someone who could play a big part next season, if the formation was to change.
It is at wing backs where incomings might be needed. Brad Halliday is unquestionably the player of the season so far, but what on earth would we do if he got injured? With back-up Daniel Oyegoke suffering a long-term injury – but apparently still in Alexander’s plans for the rest of the season – City might need some cover here just in case (another reason to recall Hendrie perhaps?) Left wing back is a more pressing issue for strengthening. Lewis Richards looks a decent player but doesn’t create enough chances. Liam Ridehalgh can do a job, but he is a left back rather than a wing back. A left wing back of the calibre of Halliday could really lift the bar on what City are capable of.
If Alexander can move on enough players that aren’t part of his plans, there is opportunity to strengthen. He deserves the tools and support from the club. Recent form has been excellent without a doubt, but the nagging feeling there is a certain ceiling limit with what he can achieve with this group remains.
It feels like there is a wider gap between the top and the bottom clubs in League Two this season. Stockport, Mansfield, Wrexham, Barrow and Notts County are threatening to pull clear of the rest, with MK Dons – four wins in a row now – very much in the slip stream. That potentially leaves only one remaining play off place to fight for, and the chasing pack is very congested. There is only a five-point difference between seventh-place AFC Wimbledon and Harrogate Town in 15th. City are in the middle of a crowded bunch – ahead of a month where they won’t be the only club looking to strengthen. January could really make or break City’s season.
It all means there’s a lot of work to do this window in terms of trimming and improving a squad where – on Friday night against Stockport – eight of the starting XI have been at the club since at least 2022. Last January, and in the summer, City made plenty of new signings, but it’s been two transfer windows in a row now where the club has failed to truly shift the dial upwards.
Hopefully, this time it will be different. That City are about to wow us. That they will prove themselves as competent in the transfer market as Alexander is proving to be on a matchday.
This miserable, boring, weary old cynic certainly hopes so.
Categories: Opinion
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Spot on Jason.
If you’re honest and realistic the dull accusation is that you’re being negative. This is a lazy accusation. When you’ve seen it all as many times as we have we are right to be cautious.
8 games unbeaten with 6 wins is great and credit to Alexander. However, I struggle to celebrate being 11th in division 4. We’re only 4 points clear of 18th !!
As a fan base we flip flop between extremes. Between Brazil and Brighouse. Short term form can mask the real issues. For me, sadly many of our real issue remain.
As a club we now need to mould on this short term on field mini up turn. To have a vision, a plan. I’m still not sure what this is as overall leadership and communication is a combination of non existent and unclear.
January gives us an opportunity to start with the rebuilding blocks but realistically we have a long way to go and I for one see only a promotion as the first meaningful step.
Fully agree.
It feels like we’ve almost given up the vision thing and communication thing as a club. It wasn’t long ago the club were trying to rebrand the club crest and frankly they misread the situation by engaging fans with too little too late and ultimately it failed. For what it’s worth I was very supportive of the new crest proposed. I understand the need to be more relevant in a digital world and personally didn’t care that I wasn’t consulted. But I was clearly in the minority. I wonder if that experience along with missing out on promotion has almost made sparks and Co retreat from trying anything new. Maybe they also have hit a bit of a wall and have some fatigue at where we are. Must take a lot of effort running this club.
Anyways just a thought.
Just to clarify, Sparks didn’t say he was first choice, he said he was the ‘No. 1 candidate’ and qualified it with something like ‘all things considered’ – it was a nuanced statement that has gone completely over the heads of most of the fanbase
Moving players out can be harder than bringing new ones in and equally expensive. I don’t imagine there will be too many takers for older players such as Derbyshire and McDonald. Personally I see no gain in bringing back any of those loaned out other than Young. At the very least we need a back-up keeper. I have faith In Alexander to get it right. He knows what he’s doing! We must let him get on with it.
I think that’s a very realistic, rather than negative article. I don’t think we can understate how poor the recruitment has been. Not just in personnel but in contracts given out. We have the likes of Taylor, Oliver and McDonald who can’t get in the side, all the wrong side of 30 and all with a minimum of 18 months left to run.
In contrast, our best performers since reverting to 3-5-2, Halliday, Platt and Walker are all out of contract in summer and these need to be resolved as a matter of urgency. Our best asset, Pointon, is also out of contract. I hope we’ve learnt our lessons from the Meredith/McArdle and Watt/O’Connor debacles.
Personally I think that the sheer number of clubs vying for one, maybe two, play off spots will see us miss out. Therefore, I’d be approaching the January window with an eye on next year. Get rid of the deadwood, although I can’t see many lining up to sign the likes of Osadebe and Derbyshire. Left wing back and attacking midfield cover is a must. A new striker if we cash in on Young.
I think the profile of player brought in will be the biggest indicator of how far the club has shifted. Younger players, with scope for development has to be the way we go, rather than two year deals for 33 year olds would be nice to see.
Will the CEO take on board that the lack of communication between him and the fans leaves a lot to be desired? And that the summer recruitment was poor . You make an excellent point Jason when you said it can’t always be the managers fault there has been too much blame on them without any explanation from the powers that be . Yes we fans all want promotion sooner rather than later but some clarity from the club regarding how this can be achieved would be appreciated. Let’s hope we can move forward as a club I have faith in Graham Alexander to get the job done with the right support
Was the summer recruitment really so awful? Tomkinson looks to me to be a real baller. Pattinson clearly a good addition. Smith is decent. Taylor has deputised well when needed.Wilson looks to have potential that can be developed.The late addition loan players were speculative signings and as with many loan signings they have not worked out. Competently managed the group has looked competitive with those at the top end of the table.
It’s also funny how “Deluded Derek” is now an authoritative voice on all things City. It’s not as if he has a giant sized axe to grind is it?! There are areas to improve but the club is not a basket case and the suggestion that its backroom operation is not comparable with the rest of League Two is risible. As a business there a solid foundations upon which the football side can thrive.
It looks like we have made an astute managerial appointment which at this level is absolutely key. I am looking forward to what the rest of the season brings
PS I would add that Richards also looks well suited to the wing back role.
That, Paul, is an excellent comment….
Completely agree Paul. On the whole, the summer recruitment was good IMO. Yes, mistakes were made, but good luck finding a club who didn’t sign one or two duds. The biggest mistakes were the in the last few days of the window when we panic bought.
It’s sometimes the lazy route to lay everything at the managers door, but I think it’s quite clear that on this occasion it was Hughes holding back some very decent footballers. Some shuffling the pack is needed in a couple of areas in January, but nothing more than that.
I think the recruitment was bad, yeah. Alexander has been getting more from the players these last few weeks – he’s improved Smith and Tomkinson – but you’re mainly looking at Platt, Halliday, Smallwood, Gilliead, Walker, Cook and they were here in 2022/23.
In general, the players brought in are not at the required quality to get us promoted. Taylor, Pattison, Oduor, Smith, Oyegoke, McDonald, Tomkinson, Richards, Wilson, Tulloch, Afoka.
Being generous, you’d say Pattison, Oduor, Smith, McDonald, Tomkinson, Richards and Wilson have been positive additions. Being miserly, there are doubts over most of them.
Pattison is obviously good, but no use if he’s always injured. Same could be said for McDonald, but we haven’t seen enough of him to know whether he’s still got it or not.
I don’t think Oduor and Smith are good enough (that’s my view). They’re not bad players, but they’re squad players at best. Taylor isn’t good enough (we’re starting three players in his position and he isn’t one of them).
Wilson and Richards will develop I’m sure, but Richards was brought in to be our starting left wing back and we’re already talking about needing to bring in someone ahead of him.
And taken as a whole, we brought in a lot of players with little experience and who didn’t appear to fit the approach of the manager. (Oyegoke starting in midfield under Hughes was a low point).
As it stands, the best signings of the summer were resigning Cook and Gilliead. Given the chance, the fans would undo most of those signings to give Alexander the funds for January.
That’s the point though we didn’t need to bring in much. Many of the players were brought in as squad / development players.
Oduor clearly has something but patience required to work with him and get the best out of him. Richards looks a good LWB who is going to get better and an upgrade on the options we had in that position. Tomkinson looks as good as Critchlow and has been seen as good enough to keep our best CB of last season on the bench.
Pattison played 36 times in the league last year and 41 the year before. He and therefore we have been unlucky injuries flared up this year. Halliday and Stubbs both had poor injury records before they signed here. It’s not a recruitment issue.
We failed bringing in quality wingers on loan to the level of Banks. But then we weren’t supposed to be signing wingers…
Thank you Jason; a perceptive and thoughtful analysis at year end. I share many of your concerns and would only add this. Under Alexander we have the look of a strong and robust side. But, an ongoing weakness In City is their lack of creative ability. Put simply ‘to beat a man’ and exploit the opening that this provides. Where are teams most dangerous ? Surely it is getting to the byline and pulling the ball back. This happens rarely in City’s attacks. Even the lauded Brad Halliday very rarely tries and succeeds in such a move. So, key players in City’s squad that have this, for me anyway, are Pointon, Chapman and Odour. Possibly Walker, though not in the quite the same way. I would be extremely disappointed if we let Pointon and/or Chapman go. My argument would be that they have that little bit extra bit of ball control and trickery to contribute and make a difference in whatever system is played.
Happy new year to all fellow Width of the Posters !
Top post. I’d certainly keep Pointon and Chapman. It’ll be interesting to see what we do with Young . Put him in the side, or cash in ? 16 goals tells it’s own story, but a Cook/Young ticket would need the other players giving them the high level of support they would need to bring out the very best.
If we’re keeping the same formation, retaining five players, many of which are on good money for this division, tha can pretty much only play in one position doesn’t seem like a wise use of transfer budget.
Walker is the starter in the position behind the strikers and rightly so, Pattison is a starting level player too, perhaps he can also play a little in Gilly’s position too at a push. We probably ned one more player for this spot ideally a youngster so for me the battle is between Odour and Pointon for that spot, if you want to keep both because of injury-proneness cover I would buy that argument, but not an argument for keeping Chapman, especially given his rumoured high salary.
That said I agree we need more creativity in the final third – to me that should be addressed through the wing backs. As Jason himself suggests, an upgraded, more attack minded left back with Richards as backup and LR moved on seems like the obvious move with Brad in such good form. We could also potentially move Stubss on and bring in a more ball playing / dynamic left sided center back in the same mold as Tomkinson that would give us more creativity and movement from the back.
Happy New Year to you and all! Up the Bantams!
Jason as you allude to the elephant in the room is Sparks. In my working career I’ve met people who flatter to deceive, Ryan is someone I put in to this category. A change in that role with someone with more experience which doesn’t have to be sports related ie someone with a proven business background like James Mason.
Until that is resolved the sense of deja vu will persist.
If you look at Bradford City in isolation then yes, an argument can be made for saying the CEO’s lack of experience is the root cause of the struggles the Club is experiencing, regarding progress on the pitch on the pitch that is.
To me, Sparks has been picking good, proven, experienced managers and provided a budget that, with their abilities, should, given enough time have got us out of League 2.
There have been calls for a Director of Football (DoF) to be brought in to make up for Sparks’ “lack of football knowledge”. However, if we divert our attention away from focusing solely on BCAFC’s struggles and look at teams such as Doncaster, Salford, Colchester, Forest Green and Sutton, who all sit below us but have DoFs to take up the slack in football knowledge of their CEOs. It would be interesting to find out which species of Elephant is the cause of the problems in their rooms. Just a brief scan of the turnover in managers at some of those Clubs suggests that having a knowledgable DoF, with a “long-term plan” is neither a guarantee of continuous improvement on the field or of consistancy and stability in the area of providing the long-term employement of Managers/Head Coaches. Managers at those Clubs appear to operate under the same environment of insecurity as does a Manager at VP.
There is a common factor, as I see it, at Bradford City which has paraded (pun intended) itself in the main room down at VP, on numerous occasions, which often leads to a lot of damage and the constant need for a “repair man” to come in and fix the problem for the short term. The Elephant in this room is those fans who have little patience and little knowledge of what it takes to achieve promotion. Fans calling for their own Managers to be “sacked in the morning”, chanting that their Manager’s “football is Shit” booing regularly at half-time, during the game and cheering when their own players are being subbed, not only massively helps our opponents but impacts negatively on a proven, previously succesful Manager’s “long-term strategy”. Add to this the calls for protests at the Ground and during matches along with a demand for a change in owner and it is not surprising that a CEO will succombe to tantrums of a relatively small but potentially very distructive “Elephant”.
Now, I have no idea whether or not the supporters of the Clubs, above named, sacked their Managers due to pressure from supporters or whether it was the CEOs who had simply lost patience. Either way, that would only suggest that Sparks is performing HIS hiring and firing role in a comparable way to other CEOs who have the added assistance of a “knowledgable” DoF at their football club. The much vaunted MK Dons, with their Sporting Director and Performance Director, would have a job convincing me that their recent high turnover of managers and a relegation into League 2 is a great advert for the benefits of having people employed in those positions.
Corrective action takes time. Root cause problems should be analysed and measured objectively, rather than judged subjectively. My opinion is that OUR Club’s “Continuous Improvement” would be best achieved and maintained through planned and sustainable incremental improvements rather than expecting or looking for the “big breakthrough” that yet another different Manager might bring.
I know I am not going to be popular in putting a significant amount of blame on where I have -the customer is always right eh?- well, when I say significant I guess it would fit with Pareto’s 80/20 rule. But, thats the “Elephant in the room” that I feel needs discussing if we are ever going to be able to break out of the cycle of having to employ people for the purpose of short-term fixes.
That reminds me, I intended to watch Ground Hog Day, AGAIN, last night but forgot. So it’s tonight then.
You make some good points Lonnie but I can’t agree that the supporters are the principle cause of the decline and stagnation of the club.
Year on year we buy season tickets in numbers and whilst the attractive pricing might contribute to that it doesn’t explain the large following we take to away grounds across the country. The supporters have turned up when the team often hasn’t.
You can’t blame the supporters for Radhic, poor recruitment, team selection, match day tatics, contract negotiations etc although I do accept that it takes a special type of league 2 player to play for City. It’s one thing playing in front of crowds of 3k, quite another in front of 15k.
I don’t agree with negative chanting or protests but if the club aren’t going to engage or communicate how are supporters meant to express their frustration or dissatisfaction. How are we meant to drive positive change?
Once again the suggestion from some is that we should be patient- that we should start building for next year. How many times have we heard that in recent seasons?
I think you’re re-writing history. James Mason was a sports journalist before joining BCFC according to LinkedIn. Not a proven business background
Last I heard he was chief exec of Yorkshire Tourist Board which ended in ….. Well I’ll let you look it up.
Did well at City but not quite the business genius you claim.
Realistically we are preparing for next season
Play offs are an unlikely bonus
Everyone who doesn’t fit the game plan should be moved on if we get the chance
That includes platt and ridehalgh and smith
Good analysis & fair points….though you do seem a bit fed up atm
Jason, thank you for another excellent assessment. You’ve hit the nail squarely on the head. Welcome to the Cynics Club. Hopefully, your membership is brief.
Jason you continue to mention last Mays game and disappointment on alot of your write ups, we have to move on!! I feel more positive than I have for a while. If we don’t believe what do we have?? Let’s try and be a little more up beat in our writing please 🙏
Entirely with you on long term success of the club nothing changes, slightly disagree on recruitment but the fault doesn’t necessarily lie with Hughes. A combination of Sparks, Hughes and lack of a footballing expert more senior to Hughes lies the fault.
In the short term we have momentum and we do have a good squad, recruited for this formation.
We have very much stumbled across tgat recipe and the fact Alexander took time to use this formation backs up the point about the lack of plan. That’s not a criticism of Alexander, he’s adapted and dropped his footballing ideology for success.
The structure of the club still needs to change in my opinion for longer term success.
However, we do have an outside chance of success this year. don’t forget the lack of long term plan but put it aside on match day. If we are sat in a seat at Wembley in May don’t be thinking ‘but where will we be in 3 years’. Enjoy the day.
Thank you Jason for a well written piece. I agree with most of what you’ve written except I’d have to push more on the obvious Sparks issues. We need someone more experienced with footballing knowledge and as long as he stays in his position, Bradford will continue to fail.
Great piece, I feel a similar lack of real enthusiasm, admittedly from afar, while at the same time enjoying the recent results. I think maybe I just can’t stomach the brand of football on show. Alexander seems very competent and deserves huge credit for making some big calls when things were starting to look bleak. Perhaps he is indeed the ‘number one candidate’ after all. But the football is so industrial, so nineteenth century, it’s a really tough watch. At times it’s almost as bad as watching a game of rugby union. It seems unfortunate that so many were so upset at the so-called ‘turgid’ football of Hughes, only for it to be replaced with this. Maybe that’s the thing. In any case, it will be interesting to watch how the style develops over the course of Alexander’s reign. Perhaps we’ll start seeing clearer hints of his footballing vision after the transfer window, and a more optimistic outlook!
I don’t know how much of the football under Hughes you watched this season. But, trust me, the majority of City fans are far happier with the ‘industrial’ football we’re seeing under Alexander. This is League 2. Trying to get L2 defenders to pass their way around a high press was both ineffective and far more boring to watch than what we are now seeing. We are now getting the ball into the oppositions final third so much more often, creating far more chances, getting more players into the box to convert those chances and, therefore, scoring more goals and winning more games. As a bonus, we’ve also tightened up massively at the back. The players look fitter and all look like they understand their role and are happy playing it, unlike under Hughes.
The games are harder to watch on the TV. Being at the game and close up to the action one can greater appreciate the physicality, athleticism and skill that is required to play in the way GA wants the players to play. I much prefer our approach now than under MH. We have a “12th man” who can become engaged in the competition through chanting and encouraging the effort of the players and the action taking place in and around our opponents’ 18 yd box. And the anxiety of watching our players try to keep possession with dodgy passing around our 18-yard box and the inevitable booing when we lose possession is much reduced.
Entertainment is subjective but the results of GA’s approach are objectively measurable. Of course fans believe there is a balance to be struck, especially when you are watching a team struggle. But, I am enjoying not having to put up with other teams’ fans and players taking the P and taunting us on such a regular basis.
Football is all about opinions so it’s interesting hearing a comment from someone who enjoyed the football under Mark Hughes, I know one of the biggest complaints about Mark Hughes was the boring football more so than the results, even last season when we was doing well I know when talking to people in the bar at half time, the pubs after the game or in the cars or train on way home a lot of people myself included found the football dire and boring. The comments were often along the lines of “i’ll take it if it gets us out of this league but it’s boring to watch” and that was from people who have been going home and away 40 years plus in some cases.
All fair points. Think I watched almost all the Mark Hughes games this season, on telly that is. And yes it was frustrating at times and the players struggled to adapt and perhaps even downed tools a bit towards the end. But it felt like there was something higher being aimed at and, just maybe, an exciting future for our club which has been stuck playing lower league football for a fair while now as we all know! In contrast it now all feels a bit ‘needs must’, hence I think the lack of real excitement. It’s back to basics, keep it simple, etc. Just lump it into the channels to turn around their fullbacks and cause them problems. It’s working and getting results so I shouldn’t knock it.
There’s a lot of talk about recruitment being so abysmal, yet the main headaches we seem to have at the minute is having too many quality players to play in certain positions, the main one being the return of Young and what to do with him , which says it all really.
Then you can look at the likes of tulloch of an afoka, and claim they’re not good enough. Well one thing is that we’ve not actually seen enough of them to make a proper judgement, there’s been some indifferent performances off the bench, but i also remember tulloch starting at newport and had a fantastic game. And secondly, who cares? They’re not getting near the team anyway so on field results aren’t being affected by having them, so we send them back in January to free up some wages, no problem. I think the recruitment ‘issues’ are being dramatised beyond belief, and now the January window is now do or die for sparks and gent. Really?
I think some fans are also very dismissive of the role of the manager nowadays just out of convenience for their own agenda. The failures of Hughes seem to be pinned directly to sparks, but now that alexander is succeeding with the same group of players its nothing to do with sparks, its a total fluke and and the wheels will fall off eventually because of… reasons. I’m not saying sparks is perfect, no one is, but a lot of these arguments being made are paper thin.
I think we can all agree Hughes failed because of his own decision making, we were well on our way towards the autos last season and i can say with some confidence the wheels fell off because of Hughes, not Sparks. We’ve seen a dramatic turnaround in form this season due to the same players being managed in a different way by a new manager. He seems to be criticised for getting the ‘footballing side’ of it wrong, but the CEO doesn’t do the footballing side, he never has done and he never should do!
Rupp and Sparks are responsible for creating the infrastructures for the club to succeed. 7 years of decline says they’ve failed.
Alexander has created a short term up turn. Great, he’s done well. However, he has achieved this despite the blatant failures of Rupp and Sparks. We are 11th in division 4. Despite the recent mini up turn we’re only 4 points above 18th !! There are still many wrongs that need to be righted and we’re still a long way from doing that.
The recruitment has been poor. Evidenced by the fact we are weaker than last year. We have limited options from the bench too.
I struggle to celebrate being 11th and the journey to where we should be still has a long way to go.
Your post has aged as well as rancid milk. “Too many quality players” is one of the most comical quotes I’ve read on here. Deary Deary me
It seemed clear with Gent that there was a direction in our transfer dealings, a focus on younger players with skills and a potential for growth, Lewis, Chapman, Young, Odusina, East plus a helping of Prem academy kids on loan.
(I’m pretty happy with that as a basis for a league 2 club that has to operate within a tight financial setup. I am also happy we do operate as a self sustainable club)
Then Hughes decided he didn’t want to develop younger players, that he needed old heads capable of delivering him a promotion for his CV at the expense of any longer term plan for the club. I think that change along with sudden formation flip flop late in the window last summer has left in a bit of a mess.
I don’t blame MH or Gent for that, the issue lies only in the club not being able to get behind a single vision. Are we a club developing players over a longer period and perhaps profiting from a few transfers fees that we can put back in the squad or are we chasing quick wins?
Great article Jason and hits the nail on the head. I thought it was just me that felt totally jaded with all things BCAFC. Couldn’t muster any enthusiasm to go to the Stockport game & stopped going to away games for similar reasons months ago.
While I like Alexander’s approach so far, there is a worrying sense of Deja Vu. We have seen it all before, new manager, new hope, no real change from those above & a lack of respect and honesty to admit that mistakes have been made. Now Ryan Sparks have gone into full Julian Rhodes playbook of ‘media blackout’ mode we are still no clearer on what the overall plan is at Valley Parade. Stefan Rupp continues to be an invisible owner so we as a fanbase are in still in the dark.
To add to the familiar feelings, we have a ‘Big January Window Ahead’. Expect more outgoings than incomings, will Jake Young be seen in a City shirt or cashed in on to fund the pay offs of those we need to move on? Same could be asked on Bobby Pointon’s future. If Ryan Sparks & Stefan Rupp are serious about repairing the damage between then January & the full backing the current manager give them an ideal starting point.
The main problem continues to be they BOTH need to speak up and be held to account and start to at least look like they want to repair the bridge between them and the fanbase. Hiding & saying nothing helps no one.
Any road… Happy New Year to all Bantams, let’s hope 2024 is FINALLY the year that the club starts to progress.