By Ron Beaumont
Many, many years ago as a naïve student of English Literature, I was asked by a good teacher, “What is your view of the humour in Jane Austen’s novels?”
Fuelled by the arrogance and bluntness of teenage rebellion I replied, “I don’t think they’re funny!” (Cue low grade!)
Since then I know I am (much) older, I like to think I am somewhat wiser and, as far as Jane Austen novels go, I can appreciate their humour. I can understand that “humour” is not the same as “funny”. And there lies the basic premise for this piece.
In the past I have submitted several pieces of “gallows humour” which WOAP and its predecessor have kindly published. (My anti-Steve Evans piece was perhaps a step too far in its humour but was privately appreciated by the editors… but that’s another story.)
Watching Bradford City should be fun. At times it can be funny. And experience has enabled me to find some elements of humour even in the most difficult seasons without resorting to insults aimed at those playing for and running the club. But I really struggled to find these elements on Tuesday. It wasn’t fun. It wasn’t clever. It wasn’t entertaining. And it wasn’t funny .
Most of our regular group in the Midland Road stand turned up for the Salford game. We are among a significant group of supporters that the club can rely on. We can weather the storms! But are we taken for granted? We stay till the end of every match. We do not Boo. We applaud whatever effort there has been. But we do, at times, despair – Tuesday night was the most recent of these increasingly frequent times. And we care!
If, as seems the case, any manager arriving at Bradford City faces the same fate – a long period of confusion followed by a premature dismissal – we have no control over the situation. Quite frankly I don’t care who it is (as long as it’s not Steve Evans but that’s another story). What I do care about is the way the club seems to be losing its identity and, on a regular basis, fails to offer its supporters any hope to cling to.
Popular players are sold, loaned, benched or completely ignored when situations are crying out for them to be played. I fail to see the point of singing “He’s one of our own” whilst the player it is recognising is ploughing a furrow up and down the touchline but not actually on the pitch.
I struggle to understand why a player who was a much-loved character that fans could identify with one season becomes a caricature of themselves the next.
How come we have long since lost a manager who we called by his first name and then tried so many more whose chanted surnames are soon followed with “Out”. We have a long-standing disconnect .
I am not advocating a Second (Third/ Fourth / Fifth?) Coming of a “saviour” nor seeking to change our current manager. All I would like to see from the club is a plan. Not Plan A or B or C. Just A plan that we can all relate to and that will begin to restore some of the Pride missing from our club.
I accept that the club has to be run as a business which has always meant that favourites will go and hopefully be replaced by new favourites. How the CEO works with others at the club IS their business. The owner has made sure the club can function in difficult times and resisted crazy offers for it whilst allowing employees to do their jobs. We need to let them get on with their business.
So, what about the prejudice?
Well I like to think I am a fair-minded, tolerant person of mature years but – as I hinted at earlier – Steve Evans has often raised the negative attitude in me which has led in the past to a creative piece that, although unpublished, remains one of my personal favourites – not least for its acerbic humour (but that’s another story). I apologise to all those who may see him as a way forward, a way out of this division, and I wish him all the success he deserves(?) but not at any club I support.
OK. What next? Well, putting any possible EFL success aside, there is still Pride to play for and I expect us to fight for every point in every game. The manager has to take a lead in this and, whichever winter storm finally blows the transfer window shut, he has to put out the best team available in the best set-up possible in every game. Things may not work out but doing something new is better than sticking with dull safety and repeating failures and whoever we are left with come February needs to believe in and understand pride.
So, whilst I await the prospect of another shot from Jamie Walker, I’ll settle for another shot from Johnnie Walker. Please drink responsibly.
Categories: Opinion
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I understand why you don’t like Steve Evan’s for his past misdemeanours but it’s ancient history. Evan’s has wanted the City job on more than one occasion since “The battle of Valley Parade” and I only wish we had appointed him as manager as he would have gotten City promoted. Let bygones be bygones. Let’s be honest GA doesn’t look the right fit based upon both results and the style of football played and we are currently going backwards with Sparks latest managerial appointment. It’s time for Sparks to go as he is yet to get one of them right.
There’s little to celebrate at the moment and personally I don’t look to football for amusement. Pride and passion are two key ingredients but actually a degree of prejudice can have its place. We like to have a downer on certain referees, opposition players and managers and remember ancient grudges and miscarriages of justice. It adds spice to the occasion providing it does not become abusive or, these days, vitriolic. Needless to say, I totally abhor, any name-calling of our own players. I go to a match hoping to cheer on my team whilst it plays good football and wins. It is Hope and Expectation that has sustained my interest, often irrationally, over a long period. Currently I’m hoping for 3 top class signings but in reality expecting a couple of hit and miss loanees.
I sit in Midland Road as well, I think we have a massive amount of gallows humour compared to the Main Stand and the Kop…
I wish it was Swindon at home this Saturday. They still remember “Is it a Man or a Woman?” from John McGinley’s debut at their place..
How bad was John McGinley £650k down the drain. Worked with a lad from Bolton at the time and he said John was out having a few pints on a Friday night before he was playing at VP on the Saturday. He has to be one of the worst strikers we ever signed with McClean.
You need the right manager and the right squad
Our squad has varied between promotion prospects and awful since we came down
It is currently awful
Only bowyer and hughes have let us down
The rest didn’t have a chance
Give GA time
Unless Klopp fancies it!
Yes, asking for a plan, any plan, doesn’t seem unreasonable. We don’t even ask for a ‘vision’, just an outline of a vague hint of a plan please
Lifted off the T&A from a Swindon Town fan.
We will be fortunate to avoid relegation. The perils of a series of dubious owners that have leeched everything out of our club and left it penniless with a skeleton squad. Bantams fans moan about Sparks? Swap you. Gunning might be young but most fans are pleased with his appointment, Flynn was hopeless, even within the constraints of no budget. I’d be amazed if you didn’t win at our place, most teams do and quite honestly, it isn’t hard. There still seems to be a lot of hype re Jake Young. He’s a good lad but not convinced he will live up to all the nonsense being spoken about him. Dan Kemp is the real deal, a superb player at this level, and it was him that kept setting Jake up. Without him I think Jake will struggle for all his huffing and puffing. Time will tell.
I disagree totally with the criticism of Gent. I think that the vast majority of his signings have been good. The fact we don’t use them well enough is down to the managers. (Assumption – on which I think are his signings).
Sparks – again I don’t think he can be faulted on the choice of Adams and Hughes. What he can be criticised for is his lack of patience. Sacking Hughes so early was absolutely ridiculous and so the current position is largely down to him.
Hughes – I think he’d lost his way by signing too many players and we were in a slump. But he had to be given the chance to get us out of it.
Alexander – too early to tell but I maintain that we have plenty of quality and depth but if we are going to play the style we played on Tuesday, particularly when we showed against Derby that we are more effective not doing that, then any talk of signings or the use of Jake Young is irrelevant. We just need players who can head it and launch it.
Parkinson plays a direct style of football. This isn’t comparable, this is hoofball, kick and rush, whatever you want to call it. It is territory based, let’s kick it as quickly as possible into their corners and try to win it back and play from there. It is basically saying that our players aren’t good enough to pass the ball around – and I disagree with that – they simply are, as they have shown in the past.
I think the problem with a lot of football managers is there lack of people skills and inability to adapt to situation they find themselves in. I don’t know enough about football management but I found it really frustrating when Hughes persisted with a system (endlessly passing it around at the back) that clearly wasn’t working. Surely he was at fault for this?
Yes we were talking about that earlier, namely the inflexibility of approach. However what I will say is Hughes had scrapped that weeks before he got sacked.
Yes, and the problem is they bring players in to suit how they want the team to play. Lets face it in the good old days of Parky etc, when the game wasn’t going out way it was awful to watch…..what he did do though is bring players in with a good attitude with grit and determination…… Very few if any in current squad. I may be naive but I’m sure attitude and effort can make up for a lack of ability ( to a certain level ) in this league. It’s poor, very poor. New someone who doesn’t want to re invent the wheel and build togetherness and grit
How can you say the recruitment under Gent are good they are very poor where he signed over the hill players on long contracts. Eg Smallwood who’s Gent’s brother in law on a 3 year contract. Poor GA is trying to reduce the squad size and he cannot shift these players on as there are no takers. Gent has to be sacked as the recruitment of 30 players has cost the club a fortune.
Sparks’s early sacking of Hughes was ridiculous but was it really all down to him? From my recollection it was the City fans who forced his hand.
Please name these majority “good signings” please from what is reality a great many in only 2 seasons signings approximately?
Thus seasons squad is poorer imo than tge one before, which is quite hard to acheive whith so many incoming.
Do you think that Smith is “good” and deserves a 3 year contract (at 24)?. Or Odour, Taylor? 7 players currently on loan, still been paid by the club to differing degrees. Others not in the match day squad on 3 year deals e.g. Wilson. Really?
We sit 18th in division 4 as now and you think we made “great” signings from a 30 plus player squad?
Not picking on you. But anyone who thinks this way is incorrect imo. Even 2 different managers, playing 2 different styles cannot get a top half of the table side.
We only had to recruit better quality and add, like Stockport did, not this mess. Get a couple, money over quantity players in say midfield creativity and attack imo.
He t, and those who sanctioned this are indeed culpable imo.
Remember a good while back , Claudio Ranieri was a laughing stock at Chelsea ! . Cue a few years forward and he’s guided totally unfancied Leicester to the Premiership title . My point being man management has a lot to do with it , because lets face it , were Leicester the best team on paper that season ? No way on gods earth . ( just my honest opinion )
Midfield has been the main problem for years .Gillead runs all over the when he gets it he mainly runs sideways.Smallwood can be good or awful nothing in between but far too slow.
Surely someone else can see Pointon in midfield,vision of McCall fast and can tackle.
Cook hardly ever gets a decent ball but if he does,it’s one in three he scores or assists.
How can you compare Pointon who’s not a first team regular and international club legend McCall? The other post saying Gent has recruited well…I am flabbergasted he should be sacked we have a bloated squad of below than average 4th division players who GA is trying to move on but nobody wants. They are on 2 to 3 yr contracts and the club would have to pay them off to go. Gent couldn’t have done a worse job. The league table does not lie we are 16th. Gent Out.
Well it’s February hopeless manager out,let’s have Stuart back either as Midfielder , probably faster than what we have or Manger for the sixth time
I’ll be honest I’m agreeing with the author of this post that I am missing any humour in this article. However I’m slso missing any point in it too. The only relevant point/argument it foes make is the idea of a clear “plan A”.
Otherwise I can see why his “Evans” attempt wasn’t included, and surprised, considering the higher standard of WOAP, posts, arguments and opinions that this indeed was. Please inform if that is “gallow humour” or not, but it’s my truthful opinion:).