The Voice - Match preview Bradford City vs Walsall Saturday 30th September 3:00pm

I don’t believe the club is rotten, I think we’ve been unlucky with the appointments of Adams and Hughes but as I’ve said for a long time we are going no where with Hughes. It’s clear that he has to go. It might cost to sack him but it’s going to cost to keep him. It’s not easy selecting the right man but I cannot believe the right man would n’t get more out of this squad and play in a formation to bring the best out of some of this bloated squad. Halliday get’s plaudits because he put’s in the effort. That’s how far our expectations have dropped.

Sparks put his faith in Adams and then Hughes. Hughes has been backed by the owner and allowed to waste the money. We have recruited to a formation that even Hughes now realises was a mistake. I like Sparks but he should n’t be allowed to choose the replacement. We need to get a grip or the fan base at this club will shrink considerably. Being a City fan at this time is bloody awful.

Don’t blow it, get a grip, admit it’s gone wrong and do whatever is needed to put it right before we are no longer a club who is too big to be in L2.

 

Ever since zee Germans we have been on a downward spiral. Folk can talk about lack of investment all day long but we got relegated with a £4.5m playing budget and while Rupp hasn't invested since our relegation, he has not bled the club dry either. The budget is competitive enough to get out of L2.

There is something that needs to change and its not a problem where you simply throw money at players. Investment is/will be required but not in L2...

We are a major city, located well, with a decent sized stadium and a decent fanbase - so the foundations are in place for a competitive championship team - IMO of course. Yet we are the biggest perennial failures in English football. 90% (an educated guess) of our history spent in the lower league doldrums.

 

Investment perhaps not in players, but in the structure of the organisation, I'd say, is needed now.

We have the advantages you mention, and we know where we'd like to be, but what is our plan for getting there? (Hope is not a plan.) What sort of a team do we want to be? Who in the organisation can develop the plan, determine a style, and then implement it? As long as we rely on the manager, we are going to continue as we are, never settling into any style permanently, always having players around who no longer fit in, always wanting some players we don't now have, to fit into the new manager's style, never having a proper plan.

Our recent history has indeed been spent primarily in the lower divisions, and I suppose that colours our views, but overall the picture is somewhat different. As of today, we have played, in the League:



thus 9.8% of the matches in the top tier, then 25.6% in the second tier, 38.7% in the third tier, and 25.9% in the fourth tier.

RCB

 

I can put my finger on it.
A management team that hasn't a clue on how to coach a league 2 side to promotion and really poor recruitment of players tied together leaves us in the state we are today.

 

We're now very close to Derek Adams and Gary Bowyer territory in terms of toxicity Down now to a few isolated thoroughly nice chaps in the crowd still clapping like demented seals at the end of the game. People leaving with half an hour to go, some of those I know are fans of many years service. When they've had enough the bells toll for the managers head. Tuesday may well be his last game, a poor result against a badly struggling Tranmere side should really spell the end of what's been a largely disappointing managerial tenure.

 

I don’t understand ripping up the formation and starting again this season!

in my opinion we needed a left back (Richards) a centre half to replace Chritchlow (not seen a decent one yet) and cover at RB (Oyegoke) Then a new midfielder (MacDonald and Pattison), 2 good wide players (signed a load of nobodies) and cover for Cook.

I think we could have been a decent side with that recruitment but no, we change formation and sign players in desperation. Adding a load of bodies that don’t fit any style of play!

Signs of a management team that have no idea what to do.

 

Agree that Tuesday is a massive game for Hughes, anything less than a win and he has to go for me.

 

Waffle waffle

 

We didn’t know how to address them sitting back and playing on the break. We’ve had to that nearly every home game ffs, if he’s not addressed that yet then there’s no hope!

 

Lewis was dreadful yesterday and should be dropped for Tuesday but another example of the dreadful recruitment from Hughes/Gent is that the next choice keeper hasn’t played a first team game for about three years and is the keeper coach.

 

Sunday morning and i still feel annoyed at that complete horror show yesterday.
I have missed a lot of home games this season so far , but trotted down Tuesday with renewed optimism.Two pathetic home games later , i am back to the old feelings of this is a chore and i am only attending out of a sense of loyalty.
It should not be like this and it has been for far too many season's in a row.
We have to roll the dice now. We can not wait, Hughes has lost the plot , the fans and the players in my opinion.
His style of football has never entertained, now its not even achieving results, which would be just about acceptable.
I do not buy into this, who would we get. Their will be plenty of applicants, all who will have failed at some point elsewhere.
At least the new guy my try and play some attack minded football and organise the defence, which is woeful.

 

'But who would we get'? One of my pet hates that, when supporters question you asking for a change of manager, like there is some world shortage of available football managers. Any managerial vacancy from the national league up will be flooded with prospective applicants and ours is no exception.

 

The players we've signed aren't bad players, they just don't fit into a system well enough to make us look like promotion candidates. The whole recruitment strategy is muddled up, Hughes clearly went into this season wanting to play 3-5-2 passing system utilising wing backs. He has now reverted back to what we did last season but we didn't really strengthen with that in mind and our recruiting shows that. Because of that we didn't pinpoint targets that were weak areas in the 4-2-3-1 last season, namely the central midfield and lack of chance creation. And since being apparently watched by Barnsley, our last seasons impressive keepers form has fallen off a cliff.
All in all we've regressed badly since the playoff defeat and Hughes still doesn't know how to rectify it.

 

There’s only Salford right?
So much for all those clamouring for owners with football knowledge. They just don’t exist much anywhere in the EFL or Prem. It’s pie in the sky to claim top , well run clubs are run by “footballing” owners / CEO’s , rather they are run as rich play things or avenues to launder cash. That’s my point RCB .

 

I know, what’s your answer to the question posed I was responding to ,or don’t you have any knowledge or experience of the subject. Fair question?

 

suppose those figures can be altered how you take Div 3N. If you count that as the bottom tier it is over 40% of our matches in the bottom tier

 

You are very likely right, politics aside , which I won’t get into says the time is up.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing , but I don’t recall anyone me included, saying he wasn’t a coup at the time. The play off defeat was the time for him and probably Gent to go in all honesty.

If we put Truman in as temp, I’ll bloody scream!

 

Don't often disagree with you, but I do with your opinion about the new players signed this summer.

Apart from Pattison, the rest have looked poor, especially those whose names start with a O.

McDonald looks way passed it, slower version of Smallwood, who Hughes has said cannot play more than 1 game a week, what's the use of that.

Tyler Smith looks lightweight and poor.

Adam Wilson looks promising, almost forgot him because he has hardly been used.

Most consistent players so far this season have been Halliday and Walker, also notably the only 2 who showed any ounce of passion in that turgid 2nd half yesterday.

Whilst I want rid of Hughes, I also question Gent's recruitment just as much.

What happened to the summer talk of a leaner squad?. We now have a bloated squad of mainly mediocre players, instead of a trimmer squad of better quality.

Very depressing days watching us at VP these days, reminds me of the Jackson and Taylor era.

 

First time I've ever seen a team who scored have the stuffing knocked out of 'em