By Jason McKeown

They just can’t shake off their self-destructive tendencies. Just as a bubble of positivity had begun to form around Bradford City, they inflict pain on themselves – and their long-suffering supporters – with a performance as bad as anything served up all season. A first defeat in seven league games, and to a team in Forest Green who began the night second bottom of the 92. The steady revival in promotion hopes now once again lies in tatters.

I guess we should have expected this. The big book of Bradford City infamy and all that. If anything, it was overdue updating with a new chapter. Of all the emotions shared between fans on the trudge home out of Valley Parade here, surprise was not among them. Losing home games dismally to teams at the bottom is a tradition that’s become as regular in this city as Billy Pearce doing the Alhambra Panto. To use a topical phrase – it’s a Bantams thing.

And what emotions we, as fans, should be left feeling this morning is probably what’s key to the club’s immediate future. It’s fair to say we should feel angry. And speaking for myself at least, I guess I do. But more worryingly, I’m left with a sense of weary resignation that makes it hard to feel too much of anything at all. This is just the latest knock to absorb over a 10-month period of frustration and disappointment that began on that difficult afternoon at Brunton Park last May, losing the play off semi final. The regression of Bradford City since has thrown up all sorts of talking points and sparked a series of reactions in all of us. Not least – is it time to do something else on winter Tuesday nights like this?

The club is losing supporters who are simply losing interest. The stadium once again looked empty and City avoided announcing an attendance on the night. Even amongst those of us dutifully still turn up, the noise and enthusiasm levels are not what they were. All the recent talk and debate of an atmosphere section – right now, there is an apathy section at Valley Parade, one which runs all the way around the stadium.

We’ll come back to this, but right now we can’t put off talking about this sorry game of football any longer.

So, big sigh, and hold your nose.

Here we go.

This was a truly terrible display from the Bantams, who could not recover from the early blow of conceding in under a minute. Whatever they tried seemed to be bettered by a side who until recently looked down and out, but who now have a genuine chance of returning to this part of the world next season for a League Two fixture.

Going a goal down so early clearly didn’t help City. Forest Green went on the attack from kick off and their players appealed for a penalty. The referee Simon Mather – who got plenty wrong all night – awarded a corner when the ball seemed to go out of play off a visiting player. Whatever indignation City might have felt was undermined by woeful zonal marking that allowed Christian Doidge to head home Dominic Thompson’s delivery. Forest Green a goal up, with the Valley Parade clock showing just 50 seconds.

It put Forest Green in an ideal position for their gameplan to work. And all too quickly it became apparent that City had forgotten they were supposed to have a plan of their own.

So began to a tortuous pattern of the Bantams dominating possession but failing to implement an effective approach in breaking down their opponents. Early doors they tried to get the ball into the final third quickly, before passing around and probing for openings. But composure soon gave way fluster. Shots were attempted from way too far out, either getting blocked by visiting defenders or flying harmlessly through to Rovers’ Vicente Reyes. Before long, it was just aimless punts forwards.

Graham Alexander just didn’t pick the right team. The dominant scoreline and performance at Accrington on Saturday made it understandable he wanted to keep it unchanged. But the mitigating factors of Stanley’s circumstances – which led to them fielding a team largely made up of academy products – perhaps offered City a false level of self-confidence. A result that looked good on paper, but one which should have had at least one asterisk next to it.

It was the absolute best time you could have picked to play Accrington, but in contrast Forest Green’s recent revival meant this was pretty much the worst time to be facing the Gloucestershire club.

The point is that even without going a goal down so early, City were always going to face opposition playing with a low block, where they would have lots of the ball and be expected to break the visitors’ resistance. Going with a middle midfield two of Alex Gilliead and Richie Smallwood reduced their creativity. Both are good players on their day, but it’s not their strength to play killer passes to players in space. In certain games, their battling qualities really work (Accrington a good example). But so many times this season, the pair have fared better with a different partner in matches where City are expected to dominate the ball.

The team needed the composure, calmness and ingenuity of Kevin McDonald, who instead spent the night kicking his heels on the bench.

With the midfield offering little inspiration, City all too quickly resorted to long balls from the backline up to the front three of Andy Cook, Tyreik Wright and Clarke Oduor. It was incredibly unsuccessful and utterly uninspiring to watch. Ciaran Kelly and Liam Ridehalgh were especially guilty of some truly aimless punts that were either easily picked up by Forest Green or flew wastefully out of play.

Not one City player performed to a level they are capable of. Making for an awful spectacle that was further ruined by Forest Green’s incessant time wasting. The visitors were not a great team, but they were organised and clear in their purpose. They had done their homework on City in squeezing the space around Oduor and Wright. And as the home side became increasingly one dimensional, it was a relief to hear the half time whistle and have a break from such stale football.

A quick word here about our disappointing home form, where City have won just six of their 18 league games. This under-performance seems to be especially prevalent during the first halves of Valley Parade matches. They’ve been leading at half time just twice all season (Crewe in August and MK Dons last month), drawing 10 and trailing six times at the interval. They’ve scored the opening goal on only six occasions on their own patch, delivering a mere seven first half goals at Valley Parade all season. You really don’t need to worry if you turn up late on home matchdays.

The problem with being such a bad first half home team is you rarely give yourself a strong platform to deliver victory, which is why City have the 18th-best home record in the division. To be fair to them, this was only their fourth home loss of the campaign too. Somehow, it feels like a lot more.

With that deficit to make up, Alexander did keep ringing the tactical changes in the second half. Jamie Walker made his first Valley Parade league appearance since November as he stepped up his return from injury, replacing Ridehalgh as City went to a 4-2-3-1 last seen in the days of McDonald the caretaker. It initially gave the Bantams a shot of momentum as they pressed. But within minutes a Forest Green substitute illegally entered the field when the referee wasn’t looking to pass a tactical note from manager Steve Cotterill to Thompson. As Thompson went around to share the details with team mates, Forest Green evidently switched from 3-4-3 to 4-2-3-1.

In other words, they continued to match City’s formation – and frustrate them.

Alexander’s next move was to bring on Harry Chapman and Calum Kavanagh for Oduor and a deflated-looking Brad Halliday, meaning Gilliead and Wright operated as wing backs, which again Cotterill counted, this time through substitutions. It was only with the final throw of the dice – Tyler Smith on for Lewis Richards – that the tide began to change.

That swap came with nine minutes to go, and finally City began to create some chances and produce some sustained pressure. Kelly headed just over and Smith missed a sitter. A late scramble in the box saw some heroic last ditch defending, although it again looked like Smith should have scored. As the game moved into injury time, City won their ninth corner of the night and Sam Walker belatedly began to run up to join the attack. There was still a small chance the Bantams could nick a point.

Alas, the corner move broke down, Kelly made a mistake and Forest Green countered through Charlie McCann. In desperation, the Republic of Ireland defender hauled down the Northern Ireland midfielder. A clear penalty, dispatched by Doidge. Valley Parade was emptying out before he’d even placed the ball on the spot.

Such a substandard night for City – one so bad you don’t really know where they go from here. They are, improbably, still in with a play off shout given they trail seventh-place Wimbledon by seven points, with two games in hand. But the sad reality is that this team is not good enough for the level of perfection needed over the final 10 games. There wasn’t much margin for error before, now there really isn’t any.

In reality, planning for next season is going to take over as the priority. It has to. And that’s where we come back to the supporter mood. As the half time whistle was sounded here, and the players trooped off to justified boos, the Valley Parade scoreboard and PA system began to play the new season ticket promotional video. Timing is everything and this just felt so…dumb. A club once again failing to read the mood of supporters.

With season ticket prices going up and the fare served up this campaign so distinctly average, it seems very obvious there’s going to be a sharp drop off in renewals. Sometimes of late, the supporter anger towards the club has been dismissed as social media noise. But there’s no disguising the emptiness of Valley Parade since the turn of the year – especially for Tuesday night games. Thousands of Bradford City supporters have seemingly already turned their backs. Voted with their feet. They are not going to sign up for another year of this. The club has lost their trust, and has a lot of work to do to restore it.

And what about the rest of us, still turning up and still getting let down? Erm. Well…I will renew. I guess. But I don’t do so with any excitement. It’s suddenly not the automatic decision it has always been. It takes a bit more thought. Supporting Bradford City is a habit for many of us, but it increasingly feels like a bad one that does nothing for our mental health and wellbeing. I’ll hand over my £249 to be part of things next season, but I do so with a heavy heart rather than a buzz that has been there in the past.

We should not forget the club has made some good progress in recent weeks. Unbeaten in six, with some notable wins. Alexander has shown signs he can bring success to Bradford City. The players are largely a likeable bunch, with the summer activity surely about strengthening rather than ripping it all up and starting again. There are reasons to be optimistic. Just.

But Bradford City still remains a club that doesn’t seem to be well run. From the shocking state of the pitch to the fact one of our brightest youth talents in 20 years isn’t even getting a place on the bench. An owner who remains distant and who has apparently refused to pick up a batch of letters from hundreds of City supporters asking for a meeting to discuss our concerns.

It’s hard to look at Bradford City’s performance on and off the pitch this season and conclude we merit anything more than another year’s stay in League Two purgatory. As a club we do it to ourselves. And we get what we deserve because of it.         

Categories: Match Reviews

Tags: 2023/24, BCAFC, Forest Green, League Two