Match Thread Bradford City V Salford - Tue 23 January 2024 7.45pm

Agree bang out of order booing Walker. As is the norm there was zero movement in front of him so feck all to aim at.

 

Interesting that Radio Leeds made a point of saying "all we can do is re-iterate the official line from the club and that is he is injured". I doubt he is refusing to play, this looks more and more like the club hanging on until deadline day to get the best price for him.

 

Just the Loyal fans attending last night @Jordan , don't know what crowd was given out but I very much doubt there were above 8/9,000 in attendance last night.

 

The only bright point in that interview was GA saying that the players didn't give the crowd enough to motivate them.

 

Glad to see how much we've improved last night. Wright and Young absolutely tore it up and it was a joy to watch.

Up by Christmas.

 

I thought the same with regards the weather but once in our seats it wasn't bad weather wise felt quite pleasant, although the pitch played far better than I thought it would, both sides struggled to put a couple of passes together.

 

I honestly don't think Rupp is the biggest problem, there are successful clubs with absent owners. The problem is Sparks, he is so far out of his depth that even the air ambulance couldn't lift him back up.

I think he is more interested in preserving his job than telling Rupp the truth and ultimately moving the club forward, makes very poor decisions and is ultimately singlehandedly holding the club back.

Put a go getting CEO, with some life experience and importantly some experience of running a reasonable sized business in his place (and give Sparks the Vacant Social Media Job on £24,000 a year) and the issue of Rupp could be easily overcome.

That said, if we could get rid of Rupp as well it would help, but ousting Rupp without ousting Sparks won't change anything.

 

It looked sparse Broncs. I would be surprised if it was 5/6 thousand.

 

Movement? It was a goal kick and they were down to 10 men after treatment for a player.

Just get the fecking thing downfield as that's how we were set up. It wasn't rocket science!

 

He was getting bullied and for a center forward with his career at lower level football he knows he wont get anything from the referee he has to give his marker some back its not a bit of good complaining at every challenge although he may have a point, I couldn't imagine Bobby Campbell putting up with to much of that without a response.

 

Ultimately though Rupp is at fault. He employed him, but then he has little or no knowledge of how to run a football club. Advice taken from previous owner. He needs to take responsibility. Previous owner sold the club to him on the understanding that they could take this club up to the Championship/PL. As everyone knows we have gone backwards. You cannot run this club or any football club on a sustainable basis if you have ambitions of promotion. You have to take a leap and invest to get ahead of the game. We were one of three teams vying for promotion last season, this season we are one of 8/9. There you have it in a nutshell.

 

That worked well for 90 minutes didn't it

 

I don't disagree with that, my point is the weakest link is Sparks. Changing both is better, but if we only have to/ can only change one, then it has to be Sparks. We can progress as a club with Rupp as owner, but we can't with David Brent as CEO.

 

Two decent subs on but IMO it should have been Smallwood who was brought off not Gilliead.

 

No, but that's the style GA plays.

Name me one time we've played out from a goal kick under GA's tenure? There hasn't been one, this isn't a new thing.

 

OK. So I've calmed down after that borefest.

Thought we looked better with four at the back.

Wright, looks like he's still got that very good first touch ball control - but understandably sa bit ring rusty.

Cook, worries me once again. He's now got no direct competition and that needs sorting before the 1st February.

Onwards and upwards

 

It’s no different to Wells,the club put a spin on it that Wells wouldn’t play but it was the club who were desperate for the transfer fee and didn’t want to jeopardise the move to Huddersfield.

 

Totally agree. Smallwood was awful last night, kicking the ball into the air without looking.

 

His options are clearly limited but both of these players need to be replaced in the summer. Smallwood should be released, he's absolutely finished now and Gillead if he signed for two years could be kept as back up to Halliday or CM if we have an injury crisis but preferably moved on as well.

 

Word in a very spare stand last night Bobby is on his way to a Championship club, but didn't say if it was this window or closed season, don't see why the kid couldn't get a run out along with Chapman we creating little all the game.