Thoughts on This and That

Bradford (Park Avenue) have announced ex Bradford City manager Nicky Law is to take the reigns at the Horsfall Stadium, after they recently parted company with ex boss Benny Phillips.

Although I never rated Law in his time at VP, I wish him well at Avenue, he took over at City when we were in meltdown after the Premiership experience and, to me, he always seemed to be way out of his depth - him being a cheap appointment by Geoffrey Richmond because he had done well with financially troubled Chesterfield in the 4th division.

Avenue have lofty ambitions these days, being bankrolled by a sugar-daddy the Unibond League 1 club (average attendance about 300) recently announced plans to buid a 20,000 capacity stadium - maybe one day it will play host to a Bradford derby in the Football League - but I won’t hold my breath!

On the day Premiership clubs announced they were considering the possibility of taking fixtures abroad, there was a more localised story emphasising the greed, and the money obsessed world of Premiership football.

Bradford City’s 18 year old goalkeeper Sam Filler has been snapped up by Middlesbrough, despite barely featuring in the reserve side at Valley Parade, not to mention never getting anywhere near the first team in a recently struggling League Two side. The news follows hot on the heels of Liverpool signing a 14 year old from our academy a few weeks ago, to add to a 13 year old Chelsea took off our hands last year.

It’s hard to begrudge these kids (well, the ones going to Liverpool and Chelsea) the chance to make it at one of the worlds biggest clubs, but for me it is slightly disturbing to see such youth talent being hoovered up by a select few clubs, simply because they can afford to do it, and don’t want to take the risk of these kids being snapped up by their rivals, at 13 or 14 how on earth do you know that a kid will go on to make the grade?

In years gone by kids would come through at their local team after reaching 17 or 18, play there for a couple of years making a name for themselves then move on, all too often nowadays kids get snapped up while they are still children and, those that don’t kick on as they are expected, get cast aside. The number of kids who get discarded by the bigger clubs and are lost to football forever is way too high, and something I feel the FA should be addressing, especially given the concerns over the lack of English players around nowadays.

But forgetting all the “for the good of the game” sentiment, what really sticks in the throat is City releasing press releases as if this is a brilliant thing for us, yes we might rake in a few grand now (undisclosed fees rarely match up to what supporters of the selling club like to think), but if we can’t produce and keep talent, how do we realistically hope to be able to compete in the higher echelons of English football again? (if, indeed, that’s what we’d want to do).

When City got relegated last season after a pathetic capitulation at Chesterfield I pledged that no longer would I waste my weekends trailing up and down the country following them, I’m amazed it lasted as long as it did, but my resolve finally cracked yesterday, and I made my way to Macclesfield.

I’ve been enjoying my football again recently, for a number of reasons, and the combination of that, a new ground and a reasonable admission price (£10, the sort of price fourth division football should be) tempted me into making the journey, and I’m happy I did.

Town’s Moss Rose ground is a small stadium, ideal for a small club playing in a small town, it’s the type of traditional football ground that I like, and it’s been thoughtfully updated on two sides, while remaining some unique features…

The view from the open terrace designated to the away supporters was good, and luckily the rain stayed away, which helped us enjoy the 1-0 victory. It wasn’t the best of games, typical fourth division stuff really, but it means we are now undefeated in six games, have only lost three times in the league since October and still have an outside chance of reaching the play-offs, but I wouldn’t put any money on it just yet.

City have announced that this seasons £138 season ticket offer is to be repeated next year, as long as you buy your ticket before December 31.

While many seem to be celebrating this as great news, a brilliant offer I’m more inclined to worry that the club need to get some cash in quickly for one reason or another.

Cynical? Moi? We’ll see, but I’m not about to start doing cartwheels at the news,

After three wins in a row there was disappointment at Valley Parade yesterday, as City could only manage a 1-1 draw with Stockport, who had been through a gruelling cup tie less than 48 hours previously, which had resulted in extra time and penalties.

Of course it wasn’t our fault Stockport equalised in the last minute to deny us a win, even though at no point did we ever really take the game to them, and we decided to bring off threatening attacking players in the last few minutes and attempt to hold onto what we had.

Nope, it was the ref who sent one of our players off (at 0-0) and was, according to City fans, totally biased against us. That is, of course, no surprise - as the guy who sits in front of me said at full time “the refs are looking to even things out for the opposition because we’re a big club in this league, and that’s what they do”.

Football has obviously changed dramatically in the last few years if this is the case as, a few years ago when we were in the Premiership one of the oft heard complaints was “the smaller clubs never get anything from refs, all the decisions go to the big boys”.

Or maybe it’s just that refs aren’t biased in either way after all? Just a thought.

I’ve seen and heard Bradford City being compared to many things over the years, most unfavourable, and most probably justified, but even I was dumbfounded by what amazon.co.uk decreed a “related search” when I bunged the club’s name into it’s search facility yesterday….

If anyone can think what the comparison is, please let me know!

My feelings after City’s relegation have been a bit ambivalent, I wasn’t that concerned by it - maybe because it has been followed by a lot of good news - Stuart McCall getting the managers job, the £138 season tickets being offered, a new joint Chairman wiping out the debts and we even look like we might have a nice kit for the first time in a few years - but when the fixtures were released today the disappointment hit me.

After seeing who we were up against first (Macclesfield at Home) there wasn’t a single game I looked for or was interested in locating, there are no real derbies to get excited about, no real opponents of interest I want to visit and nothing at all sticks out as something to look forward to.

Being back in League One for the last three years has been grim enough, I just hope we don’t stick around at this level for too long.

Despite the fact that it’s been splashed all over the Telegraph and Argus since about 5.30 tonight there has yet to be any official confirmation that Stuart McCall has accepted the managers job at Bradford City. It’s believed the deal has been agreed and he will be unveiled at a press conference on June 1 when he returns from holiday so, until that time I won’t get too carried away or write too much about the development, I’ll just restrict myself to what has already happened so far - tears, alcohol and dancing! Of course my celebratory dancing cannot hope to compare to his.

McCall is a hero to all City fans, the longer standing fans remember him being an integral part of the team that went from the old division four in 1982, to being the captain of the team who were one game away from the old first division in 1988 through the turmoil of the fire disaster. Newer fans remember him as the inspirational captain of the team who were promoted to the top-flight for the first time in 77 years in 1999 and stayed up against all the odds a year later. One of very few things I have that I will never throw away is my first ever City shirt, which has a very poorly stitched number 4 (Stuart’s number) on the back!

After all the crap that has surrounded the club over the last few years this appointment is the only thing that could have a galvanising effect on the supporters and the mood around the club, and there is still part of me that expects to wake up at any moment to find it has all been some kind of dream, until then I’ll just keep mooching around with this big grin on my face, oh and remembering that Colin Todd was wrong yet again!

7 years ago to the day Bradford City beat Liverpool 1-0 to stay in the Premiership, within a month manager Paul Jewell had resigned, after a string of disagreements with loony chairman Geoffrey Richmond and Jewell’s assistant, Chris Hutchings, was given the job at Valley Parade. The ramifications of that are still being felt now at City as I, like many others, believe the mess we have got ourselves into all stems from that happening.

So are Wigan set for a similar fate? It’s unlikely but after Jewell’s resignation today, to be replaced by Hutchings you can’t help but get the feeling of déja vu. Hopefully Hutchings will be a success, and he will actually get the chance to manage this time, but you can hardly see top stars lining up to sign for him and play for a team who struggle to attract people to watch them, as for Jewell hopefully he’ll get a managerial job at a club with prospects, I believe his talents deserve them.

I don’t blame him at all for leaving Wigan, like about 90% of professional football clubs in England the best they can hope for is to achieve Premiership safety year on year, OK they might have the odd good season and finish in the top half like they did last year, but the way the Premiership has gone means the top four is a closed shop - and providing they are managed correctly, I see the likes of Tottenham, Everton, Aston Villa and Newcastle taking a firm grip on the next four spots over the next few years with little hope of anyone else breaking through into that “elite” bracket.