| Bradford City 0 |
| Notts County 3 |
| Langstaff 12, Jatta 57, 90+4 |
By Jason McKeown
All that’s left now is to wish away the end of the season. In the space of eight days, Bradford City’s play off hopes have gone from faint to improbable and now to terminal. Three straight home defeats. 10 (TEN) goals conceded. There are still eight, pretty much meaningless games left to play, and all City can seemingly do is try to limit taking on further damage.
And there is damage. Huge, considerable damage. The club languish 17th after this defeat. On course for a worst league finish since 2012. They’re only one place higher in the league than they were when Mark Hughes was sacked as manager in early October. Graham Alexander can be forgiven for feeling that little bit more anxious when checking his phone for messages over the coming days. Other City managers in recent history have been sacked for much less than this.
After such a shambolic, painful and significant defeat on Saturday, you hoped to exit Valley Parade here at least feeling slightly better about the future. But if anything this felt even worse. City were well beaten by a Notts County side who certainly had plenty of quality, but who had picked up just six points from their last possible 36. The home side put up limited resistance to opponents who have been languishing at the bottom of the form table. Ultimately, City came up very short. This was no stirring reaction from the Mansfield defeat. Not even the smallest crumbs of comfort to cling onto.
When you hit what looks like rock bottom and then you still keep going downwards, you really do fear for the future of the club.
Indeed, this was a frightening vision of what may yet lie in store. Notts County’s first visit to Valley Parade since ending four years in non-league wilderness is an important reminder that no club has a history that protects them from falling out of the Football League. The visiting supporters bounced around in joy at their team rattling in three goals, whilst the home sections were once again thin-bare in number and mute in enthusiasm. The club no longer tell us how many people are attending Tuesday night home games because they know we’ll laugh. They hide the reality, but nothing can disguise the growing number of empty seats.
The club have increased next year’s season ticket prices by 25%. And you have to commit to renewing before the end of this sorry campaign, before the prices go up even further. There is going to be some drop off in uptake. And with each miserable home defeat like this, likely sales are even further impacted. The problem with the sparseness of the crowds on nights like this is that it could well prove to be the norm next season.
Those of us who still bother to be here were not exactly rewarded. Just like on Saturday, City started okay – but for third game in a row they fell behind to virtually the first attack of their opponents. This time it was the league’s top scorer, Macaulay Langstaff, left free in the box to tap home a low cross that was deflected into his path, after Daniel Oyegoke missed a header that allowed Jodi Jones in.
It seems ridiculous now to think that only 10 days ago City were winning plaudits – and games of football – for their excellent defensive solidity. After the Accrington win, they’d conceded only two goals in eight games, giving them a route into the top half of the table and a platform for an unlikely late assault on the play offs. In these last three home games, they’ve trailed from the 1st, 10th and now 12th minute respectively. We’ve spent an awful lot of time over the past week watching City trailing and unconvincingly trying to come back.
And that was certainly the case here again. Alexander had shuffled things around, bringing back Andy Cook and leaving out Tyreik Wright and Clarke Oduor. It was a return to the 3-5-2 he first tried at Notts County in November, which for a time served them well. Here though, it was disjointed. Hopes that a Tyler Smith-Cook partnership could be the new Wells-Hanson have long since looked misjudged. Alexander certainly has faith in Smith, but the striker once more failed to justify it. We need him run the channels and read Cook flick ons.
Just 13 first half touches – the lowest of any player on the field – showed how ineffective Smith proved. The Valley Parade mini car spent more time on the pitch with the ball than the City striker.
With Jamie Walker showing flashes of his old self, but also making plenty of errors, as he returns to match sharpness, the 3-5-2 just didn’t function. Notts County matched up the same way, but playing more attack-minded wing backs in Jones and Aaron Nemane gave them an edge as they routinely found space behind the recalled Brad Halliday and Lewis Richards. For Notts County, Daniel Crowley in central midfield ran the show with a tremendous display. The best player on the park by some distance. Sam Walker made two important stops either side of half time to keep City in it.
As the home crowd remained quiet – even the drummer didn’t turn up tonight – you were desperate for the team to offer up something to get everyone going. Walker and Cook provided the best hope of that, as they showed great effort to chase lost causes and put in stirring tackles. And then for a brief moment, the crowd and team did flicker into life. A small window of opportunity emerged.
It came after Notts County lost possession from a corner and Oyegoke was able to break. The on loan Brentford man produced a tremendous surging run down the Midland Road side of the pitch, and showed composure to wait for the right moment to send over a cross. There was substitute Harry Chapman – who had just come on for the injured Alex Gilliead – to produce a diving header that flew past County goalkeeper Luca Ashy-Hammond. Alas for City, it smacked back off the post. So unlucky. But still, a glimmer of hope. Of resistance.
And the crowd and team responded. City went and attacked again, with Richards teeing up Chapman for a shot that was blocked. Game on? Well, only for another minute. That’s because County broke with Halliday taking a booking for the team as he illegally stopped the surge. From the resultant free kick, Jones crossed and found an unmarked Jatta who headed home for 2-0.
It was, again, absolutely awful defending from City. They’re of course ravaged by injury and availability issues that left them unable to start Sam Stubbs, Ash Taylor and Jon Tomkinson, with the returning Matty Platt only fit enough to be on the bench. So Alexander could maintain his three at the back (a questionable decision really), it meant continuing with left back Liam Ridehalgh and Oyegoke as two of your three centre halves.
Alexander did subtly switch it by moving Ciaran Kelly – the only available natural centre half, who is in increasingly terrible form – back to the left side of defence, with Ridehalgh swapped to the central spare man. It didn’t really work thanks to poor individual performances. It’s hard to be too critical of Oyegoke – back from long-term injury – given it was his first start since November, but still he produced so many mistakes. The lengths City went to in order to keep Oyegoke over January are curious. He is simply too raw of a player to be anywhere near the team when everyone is fit. And difficult to rely on moments as desperate as this.
2-0 meant game over, and for the last half hour Notts County played with a swagger that has evidently been lacking from them in months. They threatened to run up a scoreline similar to Mansfield, as Walker was kept busy. Over the last two games now, the opposition has had a combined 47 attempts on goal – 23 of them on target. Sam Walker has conceded eight goals in two games and yet been City’s man of the match twice.
City were not helped here by the fact Gilliead’s withdrawal and Chapman’s introduction left Smallwood on his own as defensive midfielder, and he was outgunned. Alexander did try to correct it by bringing on Kevin McDonald, but the sight of the manager taking off an attacking player (Walker) for a defensive midfielder, at 2-0 down, attracted boos from the crowd.
In stoppage time, Kelly made yet another mistake and Jatta ran through to score his second and County’s third. It was cue for many supporters to head to the exits, and there probably aren’t too many City fans who can say they’ve stayed to watch every minute of these last three home games.
Many of those of us who remained to the final whistle on this occasion chose to boo the team as they went to applaud the crowd. Cook was targeted with abuse by one fan in the Kop and reacted to it, having to be pulled back by team mates. I’ve no idea why anyone would blame Cook of all people for this. He let no one down tonight but was let down by everyone around him – including a manager who is nowhere near setting up the team to get the best out of a player who scored 30+ goals last season.
Alexander’s post match Radio Leeds interview was worrying in how far removed his assessment was to the reality of what we saw. But perhaps it’s not aimed at us supporters, and instead at the dressing room. WOAP has heard whispers that Alexander’s post-match reaction to the Forest Green defeat did not go down well with many players, and may have damaged his relationship with the squad. They certainly don’t look like a group bought into the manager. He needs them on his side, and quickly. He cannot afford to turn on them publicly.
Alexander is in a very tough spot of nothing he tries coming off. Every team selection and tactical decision is failing right now, and what on earth can he do next to change it? As much as I and others would love to see Bobby Pointon and Adam Wilson given a go, it’s asking an awful lot of two young players to change the overall mood music.
The style of football Alexander seems to want to play is grim and so far removed from what Hughes was playing earlier in the season that it’s no surprise City have never fully got going. An increasing number of fans now want him sacked. I’ve got nothing, really, to offer in defence of Alexander. My only argument for keeping him, right now, is I don’t trust anyone employed by the club to successfully replace him. Not after the shambles of last autumn and the month-long search that saw us end up with Alexander.
I’d like to say the boos at full time were shocking, but they weren’t. Low on volume because there was hardly anyone there to produce them. And in a season of so much frustration and anger, this was just the latest episode of a fractious period. Booing the team has become normalised by the scale of their underachievement this season.
There’s been many times over the past 27 years of supporting City where I’ve really worried about their future. In 2002 and 2004 of course, when the club twice went through administration. In 2007, when City were relegated from League One and you fretted over whether they could survive the blow. In 2011 and 2012, where in consecutive seasons the Bantams looked in danger of going out of the EFL and recorded their lowest league finishes since the 1960s. And in 2018 of course, where the scale of Edin Rahic’s damaging leadership became increasingly clear to everyone.
I think you can add the current situation to that list of moments of genuine fear about the future. Crowds are hugely down. I know so many people who are refusing to attend games despite having a season ticket for this campaign. Friends who for a time would only want to talk about City now only want to talk about something else. People are moving on with their lives. Fed up by the mediocre fare served up by City. Apathy is incredibly dangerous.
The manager does not inspire any confidence. The squad is too weak mentally when it matters (six wins from 20 home games is awful). Off the field, it looks a mess with supporters having no faith in the owner or the people running the club day to day. What, realistically, is going to change?
City will take their place in League Two next season for the sixth consecutive year. But with the mood so bleak and the trajectory downwards rather than upwards, you worry that their next divisional move isn’t going to be returning to League One – but falling out of the Football League.
We are witnessing the slow extinction of Bradford City Football Club.
Categories: Match Reviews
widthofapost.com 
Back in 2020 just after we promoted Sparks and before we sacked McCall I read the comment this club is -‘sleepwalking into non-league’ on one of the forums, or Twitter.
That poster was ridiculed for it, but it stuck in my head.
Now it looks like that poster called it accurately.
Almost everything this club has done, every decision has been the wrong one, and you can feel it starting to sink.
‘Edin Rahic’s damaging leadership’… all we’ve had is damaging leadership in the nearly 6 years since he left.
Apathy is a good word I had no emotions when I left before full-time again. I don’t mind loosing, but not in the manner we have done the past 3 games we’ve rolled over and give up. There’s been no fight, no desire, no passion that I can’t accept. I know there are a million things wrong at the club from an owner that is distant a CEO that’s inexperienced from a football perspective, a pitch that looks like a ploughed field and a manager that plays uninspiring football. But as players they had something to play for and now they don’t and that’s there fault.
Harsh on Oyegoke who I thought was just about our best performer – given that doesn’t say much.
Notts Co have one of the worst defences in the league so he picks a side with just 2 genuine attackers. One of my takeaways from last night was Cook yet again winning the ball bringing it down and having literally noone to pass to.
I’ve said it from very early on, Alexander is inept. I virtually always back the manager but not this one – one fit centre back and he plays three. Tactically inept.
Yes you can blame Rupp for the state of the club and Sparks for the ridiculous sacking of Hughes but these performances are on Alexander. They are on the players too but less so given the incompetent way in which they are set up.
I always scoff when the National League line is bandied but that’s where we are heading under Alexander. I don’t want him in charge of our summer recruitment.
There is lots to say about last night, but a footnote that shouldn’t get lost is just how bad Alexander managed last night.
We lack of available centre backs, but he uses a formation reliant on centre backs meaning a left back (Ridehalgh) and right back (Oyegoke – playing for the first time in months) have to play out of position against one of the most free scoring teams in the division. (I have to assume we don’t have the option to recall either FCD or Odusina). In total we had five defenders playing and it showed by how few bodies we got forward.
Smallwood and Gilliead have shown they don’t possess the skills to control the game in the middle of the park. Their pairing has not worked for the other two home games this week yet he starts them in there again. Einstein’s definition of madness. Both looked totally leggy and Gillead pulls up injured.
Cook was completely isolated up front. If he won a header against the two centre backs, so what? There was no one to flick it to. Walker was far too deep (again, having been too deep v FG and v Mansfield). Smith might as not well have been playing.
Ignoring Mansfield, which was done and dusted by 20 minutes, none of his subs or changes versus Forest Green or Notts County positively changed the game or helped us get back into it. No impact.
There is no pattern, no coherence, no strategy to what he has been trying to do. We go long one week, we play on the deck the next. We press one week, then we just drop that idea. I couldn’t tell you what our plan for scoring last night was, because we never looked like we’d create anything (the Chapman header came from Oyegoke just bombing it forward alone).
There’s a lot wrong and Alexander isn’t at the top of that list, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t on that list or that in any other circumstances he wouldn’t be under pressure. He’s not inspiring the players and he not going to inspire fans to renew their tickets either.
Jason tells it as it is, captures the prevailing mood. Three home defeats in a week and ten goals conceded is without precedent in my time. It’s shocking by any standards, even those of a team going down. You have to feel for Alexander who inherited a ragbag squad put together by a manager who didn’t know the division and got sacked for it. He came in, recognised the immediate problems and seemed to overcome them by hard work, drive and determination, the characteristics he admires and his own career embodied (as he frequently tells us). His brief in the window was evidently to strengthen the squad by trimming it. He suffered long term injuries to three attackers who might have brought goals and is currently without three robust centre backs clearly missed in these defeats. That said, he has to take much of the blame for what’s just happened. If you have but one fit central defender go to a back four then you only have to find one makeshift not two. If all your usual attackers are leg-weary on a desperately heavy pitch go for say Wilson and Pointon who are young and fresh. Surely? It was very worrying to hear our manager, normally so confident and fluent, babbling after such a defeat about his players being good human beings and good teammates. Yes we should make allowances for him being shellshocked but he hardly came across as the steely-eyed general to plan our next campaign. He was more the long-serving corporal-type, the old sweat identifying with the troops, and certainly not the officer, NCO or sergeant major, a natural leader. Can he be ruthless when the occasion merits it, as it does now? Or is he simply going to look for positives, as he intimated, and encourage his troops to train harder and be good blokes, good clubmen, like he evidently is. Are there any leaders at Valley Parade!
Everything starts at the top, it looks like Rupp has asked Sparks to run the club in a sustainable fashion and from what we have heard he has executed on that task which is why despite the on field performance he is still in a job.
As long as that goal can continue to be executed I don’t see any change on the horizon, so baring some luck or a change in the VP rental costs we’re a middling league 2 team with ever dwindling crowds.
They resemble some of the sides that have gone out of league. Scunthorpe looked hopeless a few years ago. We started with lots of closing down but as soon as we went behind heads dropped. As the game wore on there was a stark difference in the midfield dynamism. We have plodders. Notts had sharp movement and pace.
City goals are not spread around the team. If cook doesn’t score we don’t have someone at the back to score from corners or midfielders who can create goals. Relying on so few goals means we have to be super strong defensively and whilst reasonable until the last week the dam appears to have buckled.
No mistake we are way off.
The club needs to take significant action to demonstrate being solvent isn’t the only metric important. Because that will also become unattainable when the club see the size of the season ticket renewals.
Spot on report Jason. Thank you.
I’m still stunned from what I watched today and couldn’t quite articulate how I felt without swearing a lot – an awful lot.
All the locals were here trying to understand why I was so annoyed and what the big deal was. Time to go home and bed for me.
I honestly don’t know where to start.
Summed up fair and square Jason.
If Rupp won’t sell then he simply has to get someone in to replace Sparks who is clearly so badly out of his depth.
I’ve defended Alexander so far but he needs to be careful. The interview last night was like a Derek Adams interview.
I swear the club is cursed. Awful, awful, awful.
If it’s right that these players didn’t react well to Alexander’s reaction following Forest Green then it says a lot about them. Stop playing for Hughes, stop playing for Alexander.
He would have been right to have the hairdryer out after that inept performances and you would expect to see a response.
Last night the fact we struggled to create anything against a side whose biggest flaw is conceding goals shows the limitations of this team. Or at least the limitations of the side GA selects.
While I obviously want Bobby Pointon to do well he’s just one of a number of players continuously overlooked who can create chances. A player who actually excites. Throughout the season we’ve only ever had one of these types of players on the pitch at any point. Usually Walker or Oduor it’s not setting up for a spectacle. Yet the likes of Chapman are overlooked.
Look at players like Crowley for County last night twice he’s played against us and made us look like fools. We have two industrious centre mids who in isolation can’t be criticised but when using McDonald looked to get a bit of a tune out of the team in midfield he was soon replaced after a bad performance. The issue is players who try something a bit different are always going to have off games and Alexander (a player who maximised his own ability) probably doesn’t accept that but these are the players fans want to watch. An excellent back 3/5 were papering over the cracks and we’ve been unfortunate with those injuries but without Platt and Stubbs as leaders Kelly and even Tomkinson at the weekend looked lost.
I don’t think GA is a bad manager, but a manager who was appointed at the wrong time for a club that wasn’t setup for success for him – that’s on the CEO. Ultimately as a football club now you’re not just going to get fans turning up because that’s what they do. There’s so much more in the modern world to capture their attention for their entertainment needs and not just the availability of sport. I’ve always turned up because I’ve felt there’s nothing better than being there and watching it live. Last night on iFollow I was just happy I wasn’t there. We’re not just going to lose the current fans, the next generation will find better things to do and then where does our football club go?
I totally agree.
You appoint a manager at the right time and make sure he has the right tools at his disposal to achieve the standards that he wants apply to the club.
All the appointments and sackings have been carried out at completely the wrong time and have come as a reaction from the stick the crowd have started giving him.
Him been Sparks.
Adams brought in, Why? His personality and footballing style was never going to sit right with the Bradford public, even when winning so why risk him?
Hughes? Why? Because hes a big name? His record in management was a risk as never managed in League 2 and never got a team promoted.
GA is the only one that makes sense. Decent record in the lower leagues and a decent guy on top of that so for that alone Sparks needs to grow some balls, come out and back his man and make sure hes given everything needed in the summer to see that the way he wants to have his team playing can be achieved.
Right now we are left with the same spineless failures from the last 3 seasons.
Ridehalgh, Gilliead, Walker, Smallwood and Cook. That is the spine from last night with 2 full backs shoe horned into trying to wing backs.
You can give Cook a bit of slack for the goals he’s scored but his lack of mobility is damaging and Walker for the quality he has is always injured so what use is he??
Notts County played the same formation last night and as Jason pointed out, had the players to execute it, which proves that we don’t.
Can’t blame the manager for that.
Spot on. Back your man first and then decide if he’s up to it. Not one of those players were his choice. For all we know he thinks they are just as useless as we do!
Tbf Adams was obvious. Because he’d acheived pretty much miracles with no money and budget.
I agree he certainly doesn’t fit some of us older fans style of football.
Imagine seeing wingers on their natural foot, what a surprise that would be e.g. Hendrie, Beagrie, mega
Back to Adams though and what he said regarding the club after his sacking seems true. Despite Sparks pretending in live interview to say he hadn’t heard it and coming across as an arrogant petulant child.
IMO
Agree about the players. I think (some of) the players stopped playing for Adams as well as Hughes, so this could be three times in a row.
It’s a curious inversion of power at Bradford City. Players stop playing, results and performances plummet, fans call for the manager’s head, ceo duly sacks manager, players get a new boss.
I’m no yuge fan of Alexander but there are bigger problems at City, and this cycle of sackings needs to stop.
Dodgy stick to be watching an home game on ifollow, bur that is the reality. When sitting on the sofa with no hassle is better than live football somethings wrong.
Apart from McCall name one manager who has tried to attack, have a go, and entertain? He was sold a dud I’m his 3rd spell and should have walked as soon as he was given 5 promoted youth players. 100% not his fault. Had he had Bowyers squad, and tge 2 best strikers in the division, he would have got us promoted imo.
Since the pragmatic, defensive first football. Hughes should have been challenging for autos, but he went negative, which worked away mostly.
Play this way you have to get results. City fans has witnessed recently against Wycombe, will applaud the side when they see attacking intent and effort.
Alexander in his often bizarre post match interview bemoaned the lack of goals, also saying if it wasn’t for Cook last season. Well he dropped him against the top of the league and in the sane game he’s moaning about goal scorers played 8 defensive footballers at home against a side with the worst form and no clean sheets.
Hence my point and why fans aren’t going anymore. Its not entertainment its endurement.
I recall McCall having 10-12 players out injured, still tried to play positive attacking football and got panned. Personally I prefer that to clueless long balls. For me I wish he had stayed, the same goes for Hughes.
GA will not last as city fans don’t like long ball football, unless you get results like Parkinson did.
Watching on iFollow last night I got the impression the mgr has lost the dressing room.
Nothing created or won in midfield and Pointon can’t get a game.Rupp needs to take his lumps and take a reasonable offer. An offer low enough to allow a buyer to purchase the ground back or relocate elsewhere.
Rupp Out
Sparks Out
GA Out
I’m not returning until drastic action is taken. We are sleep walking to obscurity
I started in watching in 1987, totally fed up of watching this huge city acting like a minor town in all aspects. It’s not good enough
Apathy is one of the worst traits you can have , loss of desire and the notion that if we don’t turn up it may force the hand of the owner and decision makers to do the right thing . BCFC
I fed that apathy by not turning up last night as did thousands of others d , but let’s all remember this club belongs to the fans , US !
We have to try and swallow that apathy and keep turning up and use our voices there in the ground and try to lift the players but let the people running the club know that decisions need making .
There was talk of protest not so long ago but apathy has reared it’s ugly head again. Don’t let apathy win ,fight it !
Shake it off , go down show the people running the club that we cannot allow you to destroy our history . We have an obligation to those departed to save it !
Doing nothing is not an option if you love BCFC
Unfortunately Dave, it doesn’t belong to the fans. I don’t agree with it and long for the days of buzzing bumper crowds and togetherness that teams have offered in the years of parky, Jewell etc. it belongs to Rupp and we haven’t much hope of change until the day he finds someone who meets his asking price. why would any fan try to use their voice to urge players that seemingly don’t care and lack any trait in players yesteryear offer? Nobody in the squad has the minerals needed to get this club where it should be, like Davies, McCall, Darby, Jones, Liddle, Hanson, Vincelot. As for the running of the club, no hope can be seen with Sparks and Gent in the building.
I didn’t attend last night and have stopped even though I am season ticket holder for many years. We face the perfect storm next season. Massive drop in s/t sales, a rent of £500k which remains a millstone around our neck, a pitch that is serious need of attention, a bloated squad with too many consistent underperformers and finally a management team who live in denial (manager/CEO/owner).
There is no chance I’ll be renewing my s/t, even if it means dropping to the NL. We need Rupp out and he’ll only act if the value of his asset falls further. Sadly, I think things will have to get worse before they get better. Until he’s gone I don’t intend to financially support the club I love.
Dear Mr Rupp
Thanks for ruining my club
I won’t be back until you are gone
The only positive is that some these so called professional footballers are out of contract in the summer . Roll on May
Name and shame then. Who are you getting rid of?
Just to remind you We still have Smith, Taylor, Richards, Oduor etc.
I would not be getting too excited.
My evening began with being refused entry to the Hendrie Suite because the club have evidently taken a typically moronic decision to start mid-season using new scanners on tickets to scan for suite upgrade purchases even though the suite upgrade information isn’t held on the tickets. So I was being told by clueless security staff who didn’t even know which stand they were standing in that I was in the wrong place. Never mind that I’ve paid for and used the Suites for close to a quarter of a century. Well done City – great way to treat your loyal supporters.
In retrospect, I should have taken the hint and gone home at that point. 2 hrs later I was watching that third goal go in and just thinking how utterly boring it was to be there.
In agreement with a previous commenter about Alexander’s post-match interview. I was taken aback by how far removed his take was from what I thought I’d just witnessed. Not quite there yet, but sailing close to Derek Adamsesque levels of gaslighting.
‘I don’t trust anyone employed by the club to successfully replace him.’
– There is no trust in Alexander that he can lead a summer rebuild.
– There is no trust in Gent that there is any plan whatsoever behind the recruitment.
– Should Alexander be the latest to be fired, there is no trust in Sparks that he has the ability to find a capable replacement.
– Should Sparks be fired, there is no trust that Rupp has the connections or knowledge to find a capable replacement.
A mess of monumental capacity that leads all the way to an owner that is disinterested and placed his trust in a CEO that appears to be out of his depth.
This comment sums it all up for me, it’s so bleak whichever way you look at it, a mess from top to bottom
I’ve stop going. The stress of watching this club moving towards the abyss of relegation is too much. To think of the City the size of Bradford without a league football team is a strong possibility. I still believe that Alexander is the wrong choice for City. Unfortunately, the damage is done. The players do not want to play for Alexander or the club. They all collect their wages but it’s not earned. Those who pay good money to watch this club deserve better.
Getting rid of Alexander is the answer, but the CEO is incapable of bringing in a good replacement. I have no idea how this can be resolved. Who on earth would want to buy Bradford City? We have a great supporter’s base at this club so it could be a viable option to someone. Sadly, the senior staff at the top of this club must go for that to happen. I can’t see this happening.
I am the most moderate of moderate fans so I find the following comments difficult to type.
Three home defeats in 7 days, 1 goal scored and 10 conceded is totally unacceptable. Rupp was at the Mansfield game and even though he has little interest in football, he is a successful businessman and should be bright enough to realise that he has a failing Club/business. When alerted to the Rahic situation, he acted quickly and decisively to rectify the situation. He needs to act decisively now. Sparks is a failing CEO and he should resign or be sacked and replaced with someone who has football knowledge (such as David Baldwin). The same should be applied to Alexander. His selection and tactics in many of the matches, not just the last three, have been mystifying.
Without immediate changes, season ticket sales will slump and Rupp’s Club/business will be in free fall.
I know people want Rupp to sell but who is going to buy? In the meantime Rupp needs to get the situation sorted.
Would anyone be ok to have sparks stay at the club and remain in a commercial / brand expansion role? This is clearly his area of expertise. So could it work whereby an experienced CEO of football comes in and sparks remains in a role better suited to his skill set?
We need some continuity at the club. There are so few people and so few processes that if we clear out people we’re likely clearing out their knowledge / information.
Just a thought.
I personally would be ok with this. It’s a no hard feelings mentality saying we all want the best for the club and so let’s be honest. Mature and transparent to try move us forward. We don’t have the luxury of being able to clear everyone out and start again. I think too much information would be lost . Maybe?…..
The only problem with that is that the two people that have done that job since sparks became CEO have done a great job, the past couple have years have been since sparks stopped.foing it have been the best years we’ve had commercially. So would we need to demote them people the make sparks a job?? Or would we put sparks below them?? I just fear if get rid of the people that have been successful we are punishing success and rewarding sparks failure.
Would Sparks ego take that?
We made an average team look like world beaters last night. Although to be fair, we did keep passing the ball to them….
I’ve understood the omission of Pointon under Alexander so far but as we all know the season is over so now Pointon must play. There are good reasons for doing so
1 It will earn Alexander and the club desperately needed goodwill from the fans
2 We’ll see just how good he really is – the second coming of the Messiah or a decent squad player for League Two?
3 He’ll have a lot more experience for next season and lack of experience is presumably the reason Alexander is gambling on others
4 Nothing else has worked and he cannot possibly make things worse.
One of the most saddest factors out of all this is that we’re actually achieving Rupp’s mandate to Sparks, of maintaining L2 football at VP, obviously all’s well in his mind !
I don’t know what to say how can not buying a season ticket improve our team? Less season tickets sold less player budget for next season. Less player budget worse players (if that’s possible). Yet haven’t sat thru every single one of the 270 plus miserable minutes of the last 3 games I’m finding it very difficult to abandon my club, our club. It’s not Rupps or Sparks club it belongs to us. Unfortunately there’s not many Bradford billionaires who are City thru and thru. I despair.
Yes I’ve also sat watching the last 3 games ,yes the injuries to our back line for me is the cause of the problem?the previous comments are spot .nothing to play for now so give the young lads ie Pointon arun in midfield can’t do a year worse than what we’re watching now I will be renewingmy season tickets 5 of them iam not a quitter we the supporters are the owners of this club we do it through thick and thin, I know the good times will come back when we have most players fit I know the team will be good enough what about the old saying when the going gets tough THE TOUGH GET GOING I AM SAYING YOU THE SO CALLED supporters get a BACKBONE AND SUPPORT THE PLAYERS and club like I’ve said the club is OURS
Thank you for making this extremely valuable point. The problem is that the fans have been taken for a bit of a ride so many times. Their investment has been squandered. So although the outcome of them voting with their feet is detrimental (very likely) how else do they get the message across in a hard hitting enough fashion to generate change. A change of approach and to make those who have squandered our investment listen and take note to come up with new solutions and ways to use the limited funds available in a better way?
It’s a real conundrum….
CTID
“We are a listening club” states City’s own website ( see the club charter).
If they were listening then why do they (A) not reply and (B) do the exact opposite.
We have had the highest crowds in LEAGUE 2 ever.
Yet are still in league 2.
No need for protests or tennis balls. Rupp saw it Saturday and Sparks now sees it every week.
He knows he’s gone in his current role, especially if Rupp finds a buyer.
And in roles can anyone explain what Trueman’s job is please? Btw don’t want anyone or family to lose their income but what is his role?
Try look on the positive side.
Had we got to the playoffs, the extra matches and other wear, training etc and subsequent delays in starting to repair the pitch could have meant a pissibly even worse pitch next season.
Mind you, the way things are going, it might be the only improvement next season.
Big Al
Can’t commute 100 miles round trip for this level of failure and depression. It’s meant to be enjoyable..sometimes !
What a mess clueless managers one after another, maybe the supporters should take charge.
It cries out for inventive midfielders Pointon and McDonald but oh what do we get week in week out.Smallwood worst captain since Josh Wright probably the same standard.Gilliad who gives his all but isn’t good enough.
Nothing but a change of ownership can turn the club around – as previously commented, I understand there has been American interest in recent months. If ownership does not change City could well be scrapping to hang on to their 122-year league status – imagine a 25,000-seat stadium in the National League next year for a home fixture against Boreham Wood.
That would not happen though.
We would not be able to afford the rent, simple as that.
We’d either be over, trying to do a Bury or at Odsal again
You may well be right, Danny
Your suggestion of American interest is interesting. Perhaps you can firm that up. There is a reason why moderately wealthy US families seemingly with the right ethos have bought Carlisle and Gillingham (“small clubs”!). It is too obvious to state here. Both have started to invest in the bricks and mortar at their respective clubs. City will have plenty of interest but we are likely to be scrapping the bottom on the barrel of prospective purchasers. Chancers and Carpetbaggers in the main.
VP is commercially toxic. An onerous lease with little room to manoeuvre and ground which needs a lot of TLC. Add in a seven figure cost to fully bottom the pitch and potentially a ground-share whilst the work is done. I would not invest in City would you?
Interestingly I see Tranmere attracted Indonesian investment (without acquiring control) of £4 million. The reason a fat £18 million on the balance sheet namely the ground and training pitch. The irony is the more the feeding frenzy intensifies the greater the chance SR will sell to the first chancer who comes along.
We can all wish for a benefactor to come along but I am not holding my breath. The more financially illiterate would prefer to “do a Bury” and spin the roulette wheel with a Stuart Day. It’s worth remembering in that context that Bury Fc owned Gigg Lane and the Fans Trust was able to buy the ground from the Administrator. It would be North East/West Counties for City at Horsfall/Lawkholme Lane.
The upshot is that we would all like a sale including SR but it is not that simple. It sounds trite but be careful what you wish for. Folk will have to make their own mind up as to what helps the club the most in the long term. Turn your back or renew?
Was in reception at Midland Hotel in January, heard Americans discussing after meeting at Valley Parade. A very good source in the media has said there has been American interest since last summer. Another source (for whom I can’t vouch in the same way) has said Americans are prepared to pay significantly more in 2024 for a League 2 club than Rupp paid in 2016 for a League 1 club. Without a takeover prospects for 2024-25 season ticket renewals and club finances don’t look good.
I’m afraid that last night is portent of what is to come for this club. I’m now beginning to see a reality play out where this club goes into oblivion within 5 years.
The empty seats are a mark of the ambivalence many fans now feel about the club. Whilst the hardcore talk about possible protests directed to the owner and CEO, most fans have simply given up and walked away. Season ticket sales will be hit hard.
This will leave us in a situation where we’ll need to slash the playing budget or Stephan Rupp is going to have to put his hands deeper into his pockets from the rumoured £500k he supplemented the budget this season. Without this life support, I believe we’re almost certainties to be relegated. Once we enter the National League, the crowds will further decline. This, couple with the significant running costs, least of which is the stadium rent, will only drive us further to bankruptcy. The National League is much like the Championship; clubs spending huge sums (relative to their income) to make it to the supposed promised land of the EFL. We won’t be able to compete without a wealthy benefactor and Herr Rupp has shown he’s not willing to spend big for success. He’ll ultimately walk away, with little or no return on his investment and leaving a club in in terminal decline.
If Rupp really wants to make a statement of intent, he needs to replace Ryan Sparks. That doesn’t necessarily mean sacking him. He’s business acumen is good. Since he and his mate (as commercial manager) have been at the club, revenues from off field activity have increased and we’ve attracted some high-profile sponsors. Where he’s failed is on the football side of things. We need someone with proven experience to come in as a Director of Football, or whatever you want to call it. Someone to set our clear approach to both our style of play and recruitment to suit that style. Spark’s schizophrenic hiring and firing of managers has been reflected in the style of play we adopt each time a firing/hiring takes place. The bungled recruitment of a new manager post-Hughes shows he’s out of his depth – a reflection of his lack of football experience.
Ryan seems wedded to the hire-and-fire approach. Despite the clear evidence in the last 5 years that this isn’t working. We have players signed on three-year contracts who can (providing they see out their contracts) conceivably, play for three different managers, playing different styles. Such is the mad house at BD8. It’s time to stop this and the first and most obvious way is to remove Sparks from the football side of the club. We need to get someone in who has the necessary experience to define a playing style and recruit the coaching staff and players to implement it. And when things need to change, we don’t revert to the rip-it-up-and start-again approach of RS.
Maybe Sparks commercial department is the reason for the success!!!
Anyway am I wrong in thinking RS promised a fans forum before the end of season during his ill fsted Radio Leeds farce???
Given the way he and Gent squirmed under the pre-prepared questions during his Radio L##ds forum, I’d seriously doubt he’d be willing to stand in front of a couple of hundred angry fans.
Amendment to my previous comments – can we also recruit a communications manager in addition to a DoF!!
Trying to stay positive, I had an image of a fire alarm sent to me with Stuart McCall’s face saying in case of emergency break glass 🤣😂🤣😂
Joking apart, I would take that for last 8 games, we might concede 3 goals but score 4 and I know for a fact that Bobby Pointon would be on the 1st – 11 team sheet, I will wait in anticipation for all the thumbs down but please explain cos what else have we got left this season……………
The fans are going to decline at a rapid rate of knots and season tickets will be at a all time low for next season unless there is a major change immediately FACT………….
Sparks must be on borrowed time now and maybe has no get out of jail cards left or has he one last trick up his sleeve, he might have to lean on Dynamo for that one, and looking on at last night’s game it looks like a disappearing act from the once faithful fan base and who can blame them, enough is enough.
We do have Harry Potter scarves, but this is going to take one special Magician to get us out of this one 🥲🥲🥲🙏🙏🙏
I gave you the thumbs down.
1. You was baiting it, so felt required to oblige :0)
2. The Bobby fascination. Great potential but to put so much focus on him saving us / should be playing shows how far we have fallen. We have other players who should be delivering.
Rest I agree with. Depressing but agree.
JBBantam 🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂 love it
Just to clear your thumbs down 🤣😂🤣😂 I did not say Bobby Pointon would save us, I just thought that when he plays he shows real commitment 150% and is creative with passing, corners and crosses and maybe that could spur the under performers into commitment, the kid as not put a foot wrong and cannot get on the pitch if that is what you want to call it 🤣 so my point is that this is a great opportunity for him to step up when others are underachieving, as that is what Alexander has always said we have a big squad and that there are players waiting to keep the others focused if they drop off, but they seem to get away with 6 out of 10’s and for some bizarre reason does not want to play him, only he knows and keeps saying to the media he is in his plans, well now his is chance, because whatever he is doing isn’t working FACT…………..
I think it does add credence to the claims there was a bit of a fall out after the Forest Green game, as we just completely capitulated and gave up after the 2nd goal went in against both Notts Co and Mansfield. It reminded me of that Wimbledon game a few years back under Stuart where we got stuffed 4-0 and the players just stopped trying, when I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
If the players have sulked after criticism from the manager after the Forest Green game, then what a bunch of snowflakes, and irrespective of whether I think he’s the right man for the job, I’m actually with Alexander on this one, as you should expect criticism after losing at home to the 2nd from bottom. If this is the case, one thing is for sure though, he needs to patch things up with the players, as all the power is with them these days, and they will take him down, with him being out of a job.
If the players don’t want to play for GA then drop them play Pointon and Wilson Chapman Wadsworth drop ridehaghout do not play smallwood again or Smith play people who will be proud to wear the shirt the supporters will get behind the lads we are playing for next season now
The level of ST sales this time will leave us with an 8th or 9th tier player budget.
Isn’t it only top 7 anyway? Not like the playing budget is ever spent wiseley either.
I’m not talking league position in L2 when I say 7th or 8th ‘tier’
I’m league – as in none league – as in Northern Premier League – alongside BPA and Guiseley!!
The club’s been left behind. In almost every way. It’s that simple. It’s like rowing up hill. The minute you rest you go backwards.
We’ve been going backwards due to having to react to fixing all the unnecessary problems created since the change of ownership to the current owner.
All the hard work and progress destroyed. The trick is to build on the platforms created to keep momentum. All the hard work in any organisation takes years and years to bear fruit. City start. Scrap it. Start again. Scrap it again. And this is what you are left with.
I’d recommend anybody, who has not, to read the book “good to great” by Jim Collins. In particular the section on the flywheel & the doom loop
CTID
I’m not sure what to do with this thought, so am posting it here in the hope that someone from the club reads these comments.
Last night the Peter Greenwood Memorial Trust Fund for Deaf People were collecting donations on the concourse. They could not have got a worse night for it, with the low crowd and the lack of enthusiasm.
Somebody from the Trust spoke about it’s work at half time on the pitch, and told of how it’s a charity to help young deaf people stay in education, and is in memory of Peter Greenwood and his two sons who died in the fire. The spokesman also said that they’d been originally scheduled to collect at the postponed Doncaster game.
If the club has anything about it (…) then it will be inviting the Trust back to collect again under better circumstances because when all is said and done, and Rupp is gone and Sparks is gone and Alexander is gone and Cook is gone, Bradford City is supporters like the Greenwoods and their memory, and the Trust’s work deserves far better than what they were afforded last night.
https://www.pgmtrust.org.uk/peter-greenwood/
Thanks for highlighting this. You are quite right. I didn’t go last night, couldn’t be bothered. So just made a donation via their website.
Well said Andrew and thanks for posting the link. I was aware that the Trust missed out on their original scheduled collection due to the Doncaster postponement, but I didn’t realise they were collecting yesterday evening – I arrived quite early and there were no buckets outside the ground at that point. It would be good if the club could facilitate a bright, positive, sunny afternoon for them to collect on, but doesn’t feel like there’s one of those just around the corner at the moment.
Why hasn’t it worked for Alexander? You have to ask in the context of his career in management. I mean it’s not as if he’s without a bit of pedigree. Took Fleetwood to promotion. Took Scunthorpe to the play offs, sacked when 5th. Took Salford to promotion and the abandoned EFL Trophy final. Took Motherwell to 5th in the Scottish Premiership where Rangers and Celtic always are 1st and 2nd. EFL manager of the month. Not bad.
So why, like several other decent managers we’ve had on paper and were successful elsewhere, is it not working? Just now it’s as if he’s rustled up a bundle of players and reassembled them in any random order. Square pegs round holes. His selection and tactics in many of the matches have been a mystery. He has set a really low bar of competence recently. Playing players out of position is never a good thing. He’s tried dropping players He’s given players time to play themselves in to form – too much time in Smallwood’s case. He’s left players out in the cold. Yet he sees them in training. We don’t.
On occasion it’s worked. Witness Derby away. Wycombe at home. Common denominator here was no Andy Cook. Keep the ball on the floor. Alexander can’t seem to accommodate the top scorer in the division. Cook needs wingers, overlapping full backs who are quick and get round the back so Cook is facing the goal not with his back to goal flicking on to nobody in the way Alexander puts out a team. Ridehalgh and Halliday are simply not good enough. Not fast enough nor accurate in distribution and crosses. Wright has been very poor since he was held up to be the returning messiah. Chapman plays in fits and starts, as does Odour.
These are not players Alexander brought to the club. Mansfield were and are everything we are not and they represent the blue print for promotion out of this terrible league. We have no creativity above all. These players were spineless when Hughes needed them to step up – not least in the play offs. They’re spineless now. Not one on the books is playing well save Gilliead. Some loanees, yes. Tomkinson is a good player, the goalie has been outstanding.
Smallwood is piss poor and I wouldn’t pay him in washers. Captain? He constantly moans at the referee, moans at his own players – it’s never his fault. Frankly I thought he gave up on Saturday and again last night, not for the first time. He has limited impact on any game, drifts in and out and has no creativity. Drop him. He needs to wake up before he’s shipped out. We are used to so much better in that role.
Player-of-the-season-in-waiting Brad Halliday? That’s a very funny joke right? He was inept last night, continually out of position leaving too much space behind, hardly ever goal side, too slow to get back (unless a move breaks down and he just finds the ball at his feet somehow) , can’t beat a man or cross a ball or won’t, can’t defend, gives the ball away, can’t head and yet you single out Oyegoke who was , keeper excepted, our best player!! Yes Halliday sometimes puts in endeavour but that’s it. Most of the time he’s a headless chicken never having any impact on the outcome of a game – unless he’s losing it for us. Actually track him in a match to see what I mean. He’s over rated. Cue thumbs down, but it’s true.
And to those of you refusing to go and or renew. The club needs you. It needs it’s supporters to support and not to spit out dummies. Get behind the team and support it. Yes I get the apathy, I get the alternatives and in ways I feel the same. Following City is a cruel mistress. It can be painful. It causes suffering. Yet here’s the thing and why I shall renew. Let’s not forget this club has given so much pleasure, as well as the downers. Tottenham 1969, 8 v1 V Bournemouth, FA Cup run 1975/76, European Champions Liverpool 1980, champions in 1985, the Nearly season 1987/88, Promotions, notably the pathway in 1999, surviving relegation battles, the Premiership, League cup and promotion 2013, FA Cup run in 2015, 3 play off finals, beating Lufc at Odsal and Valley Parade.
We’re not Hartlepool, Rochdale, Crewe et al with due respect. Don’t take success for granted.
“It needs it’s supporters to support and not to spit out dummies”
I’m in a group of 6. My dad’s getting on and doesn’t want to go, my mate lives 90 minutes away and can’t make the commitment, his dad doesnt want to go if his son doesn’t.
But importantly there’s a 6 & 7 year old who have to go because of childcare and just hate going – and we’re not dragging them there anymore. Potential future fans, bored to tears.
I’m not going to be the only one who renews and is one of the Billy No Mates sorts who goes on their own because they have nothing else going on in life.
Besides, I’ve had enough of propping up a millionaire’s asset, and enabling the utterly useless but infallible in Rupp’s eyes Ryan Sparks to throw millions of pounds of our money away on tearing up manager contracts and offering contracts to abysmal and / or past it players.
If you want to renew, go right ahead. But don’t condescend those of use who don’t want to.
I ask you to read this in the full context. I don’t know you or your group and I am not being disdainful to you or anyone else. Your circumstances are your own not mine or others without your own personal issues. I don’t think I am being patronising or being superior. I simply mean those who can, should continue to support the club which is ours. I’m sorry that you take that personally.
“The club needs you. It needs it’s supporters to support and not to spit out dummies. Get behind the team and support it.”
Maybe the same could be said to Stefan Rupp. An uninterested owner who attends 1 or 2 games per season, has no long term vision for the club, and hardly puts a penny in.
I love Bradford City football club and always will, but i refuse to put a penny more into the club whilst its being run into the ground by an inept owner and CEO. The only way to force them out is the vote with our feet.
If Stephan Rupp took his money out of the club, which he has been entitled to do through his security for a long while, then there would have been no football club not least through covid. Nor will there be one going forward regardless of success or failure on the pitch. Voting with your feet only effects you but I happily endorse you comments about the CEO
Well said, I completely agree with most of what you say. The team was devoid of confidence, not helped by having a makeshift defence and square pegs in round holes. Did anyone else notice keeper Sam Walker’s frustration in the first half when wanting to move the ball quickly but having nobody to give the ball to as they were all hiding? Probably half of those playing last night are simply not good enough – even less so when, as now, the going gets tough and as you say the whole lot of them are spineless. Consequently hardly surprising we get performances like the last two. Hard to believe it’s only a month since we hammered MK Dons at home shortly after winning away at Wrexham.
Hallway won back possession more than any other player last night, but I agree with you, he is a bit of a headless chicken and his crosses are shocking sometimes. Still better than sideways Smallwood!
Absolutely spot on Jason.
The only way #bcafc will prompt uptake of 24/25 season tickets is new ownership or Rupp sacking Sparks and Gent. The fans are his only asset.
Any reduction will reduce both the budget but more importantly for Rupp the perceived value.
He has a critical decision to make for the future of the football club because ‘we are sleepwalking into oblivion’ not just the National League.
Another display of total and utter tactical incompetence from Alexander.
We can blame Rupp and Sparks for some of the problems at the club however they can’t be blamed for how we were set up last night. It doesn’t take a footballing or even sporting brain to realise that when you’ve got 1 fit centre back, a formation consisting of 3 of them wouldn’t work in our favour.
Nothing about Alexander’s set up and style inspires me or anyone else. It is dull, turgid, devoid of skill and quite frankly rubbish.
Looking into the crystal ball we can all see how this will pan out….Alexander recruits players who have heart and legs but lack any skill and let’s go of the attacking players who actually have ability, we start poorly as we have no ability, Alexander gets sacked and any new manager has nothing to work with.
Alexander worries too much about the opposition, why can’t we just play to our strengths. We’ve got one of the most clinical strikers in the league, and he’s not even feeding off scraps currently. Play with wingers, get men in the box and whip balls in.
We’ve got pace and skill in Chapman, Oduor, Wright, Wilson. Maybe we should try playing them out wide and take their man on and whip balls in for cook. The last two goals at home we’ve scored have come from when Chapman moved out wide, stretched the play and whipped a ball into our striker. It’s not rocket science, however whenever something shows glimpses of working we don’t do it again.
I feel sorry for some of our players. Cook and gilliead have clearly been asked to stop playing football lately and take up the high jump and cross country respectively. Some of the players however have stopped running and I think they are now fed up with GA.
The players didn’t stop running for hughes but they do look like they’re getting fed up of Alexander now.
Grim
The CEO of any other business which has underperformed for such a long time would have been booted out by now. We are sleepwalking into non league and Rupp doesn’t even realise this. The club needs a complete overhaul with Rupp, Sparks and Gent all needing to leave. They are all well out of their depth and need to have a long hard look at themselves. They are killing this club.
Did you hear the one about a guy who knew nothing about football so he bought a football club and then he hired a guy who knew nothing about football to run the football club………
At least I didn’t have to put up with that bloody drummer. High point of the whole evening!