Most liked posts in thread: Manager Rumour Thread

Whatever the truth, I find it baffling how anyone who witnessed the premiership fall-out can say they've never been so worried (not directing this at you in particular, that's not what you said).

I was worried for our future when we were hours away from a winding-up order so I'm not having sleepless nights over finishing 11th in the league and taking the first part of the summer to look for a manager.
Do I like it? Not much. Am I convinced by Edin? Not particularly. Do I feel a need to run through the streets of Bradford with a pitch fork and a burning effergy? No, not really, got better things to do. Some of you just need to calm down and stop getting swept away by baseless rumours and hearsay, especially from Daily Mail journos.

What worries me in terms of damage to the club is all this negativity being brought about largely by a small number of 'fans' with an internet connection and too much time on their hands.

 

Not after his record at Wimbledon
Ill disciplined squad. no formation, just overground, underground, wandering free

 

Brought in club legend as manager
Brought in fan favourite as head scout
Created a development squad
Spent £1m on transfers
Brought in accomplished L1 manager
Kept season tickets affordable

Now not all of that worked out as planned but Rahic is certainly walking the walk.

 

For many years since the millennium, this club has fought hard, and pulled together from all angles to keep it afloat, there’s been no magic wand, there’s been mistakes made, honest mistakes, sometimes little gambles that didn’t pay off. However it’s mainly been kept within a structure that wouldn’t hurt the club too much, we’d learnt our lessons the hard way.

Since the second decade of this century, we’d bottomed out, we’d stopped the rot, our fingernails finally gripped, we dragged our feet back into league two from the Abyss, and believe it was, our overheads would not have withstood a place in the national league, we’d have gone.

The climb-back started, the fan-base (through fantastic marketing by the owners and Baldwin) grew, a cup run, Wembley put more bums on seats, prudent management from a professional like PP brought in players that knew their jobs, promotion, a pipedream 18months before. History makers, play-offs in league one, I/we knew we were back. We were all eyeing the Championship, if not that moment then the next season.

The new owners came, PP went, Stu came.

We needed that steady investment for the momentum the club had found

Listening to the rhetoric it was fine, many of us thought pp did one to Bolton as a snub to us, but it wasn’t.
They kept the pricing structure in place, they brought back a firm favourite whilst telling us of cash injections to buy players, told us of their plan to gain promotion within a short amount of seasons.

Then the alarm bells started, Rahic tells us at every opportunity of his depth of knowledge of football, his coaching Badge, noises of the playing budget being slashed. Stu said if Rahic keeps from the training pitch at Rawdon it’s a plus! These cracks hidden firmly by a fantastic season of management by Stu, unbeaten at home all season, culminating in a play-off final

Yet the cracks started to appear, the rot within starting to create a smell.

Budget cuts again, but the rhetoric remained the same, we’re bidding for big (at this level) signings, there’s cash for January. Yet many of the spine of that side quickly left, as the plan that should have been in place would be to model Millwall. Yet we got crap cheap Rahic imports and loans. Maestro Stu again keeping us firmly in the top four.

Then it fell to pieces, all the alledged meddling and arrogance of the guru in the boardroom, Yeovil, the reneging of the agreed Hendrie deal, a very popular player humiliated, the treatment of players that spoke out about it, staff at City for years leaving, talk of reneging of scoring bonuses because penalty goals didn’t count, xmas do’s cancelled. The face of City was Stu trying to face the fans after the club had just had its brains blown out, whilst Rahic is telling us of some big bid for Kieran Moore.

Stu sacked.

Rahic tells us he’s learnt his lesson, yet SG and Warnock depart telling them firmly what is required.

Yet its more cuts, and more of these hidden gems, they’re out there but every club is after them.

A head coach to develop Rahic's signings, yeah when other clubs see this, they'll all follow suit

It doesn’t work like that, it’s not that easy. The plan now for the championship is again a pipe dream, relegation will ensue. All the hard work over the last 6/7 years to pull our club back on its feet is being undone before my eyes. I’ve experienced relegation before, its part of football, I can stomach it, but this is far more fundamental than that and it astounds me when I see people defend this madness. We've worked so hard to get here, its heart-breaking.

 

Hi Bronco, not been on for a few days as I do coaching and been busy but to be fair I did post last week saying I had info we were close to an appointment. The person who told me is a friend and very close to the club but also ultra responsible i.e. would never tell me names or say anything that could jeopardise things if it was in the open. The info given was correct, 2 candidates were being spoken to end of last week and not for first time, Stefan was back specially for these meetings and subsequently another name entered the fray at the last minute (presumably Heckingbottom after the situation at Leeds evolved). The person I know honestly thought an appointment would come after these meetings - although probably not announced until later in this current week, and this was largely in line with what Edin himself was saying middle of last week. My friend is a massive City fan, as am I, and I know they are worried about the delay and the reasons for it as not sure what they are - meaning if these 2 candidates were the final 2 of the 'high quality' applications we were told we had received then why has one of them not been appointed now Hecky is supposedly out of the running. I am not sure if Stefan is still about or has returned to Germany. We can only hope the delay is because we are holding out to get the best coach we possibly can - and not waiting until a 'puppet' coach is appointed late in the day so Edin can maintain his control of all aspects inc input on the playing side. We have to take the owners at their word that lessons have been learned and whilst the long term development of the club is a very worthwhile ambition to have, it has to run hand in hand with a results and performance based model - fans dont buy season tickets for next season to see something come to fruition in 5 years time. I know I am not saying anything new and dont post on here to claim I am in the know - I am a die hard fan and love this club and am as keen as the rest of us to see us continue to move Bradford City forward (not counting last seasons second half blip)

 

I do feel a little for the owners. Last season they were criticised for not buying players early. This season they have done that and it seems to have been brushed aside.

The pitch has been a problem for years and they have spent money on this bearing in mind they don’t own the ground. Again surely this is a positive.

Just because the club is keeping tight lipped about the new coach doesn’t mean no one is interested or people have turned it down. An even if people have who cares you want someone coaching the team that wants to do it not just pick up a pay cheque. I actually think keeping your cards close to your chest when recruiting a coach or a player is a good thing.although it 100% frustrating for fans it makes business sense.

The constant bashing of the chairmen is in my opinion creating the atmosphere and the bad vibe around the club. I just don’t get why fans think they would buy a club to run it in to the ground it’s madness.

Before any one gets on the ‘he must like Edin’ train. Far from it he’s made mistakes but bloody hell ain’t we all.

It seems to me no matter what he does how much money he spends how he runs the club some fans will never accept it

 

Yeah.. investing money in a new pitch which hasn't been done since the 70's, updating the ticketing system, computer system, future development of our own players and not going into debt.. they're atrocious owners. get them out now!

 

Agreed! Let's be frank here.

Bradford City, nay Bradford in general but let's keep it to just the football team fir now, is not and never has been an 'attractive proposition' no matter the ownership or framework.

We need to get some perspective.

We are, historically, a league 2, league 1 club. We have core support in the region of, maybe, 10-12k, we have a season ticket pricing system that inflates our attendances but does not inject the sorely needed money into the club. Our ground though in parts impressive is unfinished in appearance, has had a poor playing surface for generations, we don't even own it and It sits in a part if the city where to quote Springsteen "You hit a red light you don't stop".

So what did we really expect from the owners? That they would do a Jack Walker......time to wake up people.

They are doing a decent job. They are trying to build, slowly, but build nonetheless. It's their money, it's their club and I haven't seen any huge mistakes, yes, some errors, a bit naive and they maybe got caught up in the early season euphoria but so did we, but huge mistakes no.

Calm down. Take a seat, have a cup of tea.

 

Reading this Board and hearing things might have driven me to trying it with cornflakes!!

 

Absolutely 100% agree. Some on here will rest at nothing until he goes back to Germany and sells for £1 to a local hero like Mark Lawn.

One thing that really annoys me is why everything is questioned. Essentially what is the difference between Lawn taking 9% interest on his £1million loan and Edin taking a £100,000 salary ? Absolutely didly squat. I'm getting to the point where I've had it with BCFC forums and facebook pages because there are so many negative shits on both just waiting for certain people to feck up so they can have a go.

 

I think he's far and away better than the others that have been mentioned - Rosler? Cotterill? Cathro? Megson? no thanks. Warburton plays football rather than hoof, was brilliant at Brentford, and given how Karaka has got on after him, he wasn't bad at Forest while also blooding youngsters.

thought we'd have no chance of Warburton, so I'd be well pleased.

 

Why should they change their plan anymore than Tesco’s. It’s their business, like it or not.

Oh and “bugger off back home” phrase . Where have we heard that before. Ukip, National Front, British National Party, English Defence League, Section 88.
Would you say that to an English owner if you disike his / her business model. No you wouldn’t.

Please stop this anti foreign crap.

 

I think if Lee Clarke got the job I would emigrate

 

Warburton would be absolutely brilliant.

 

We've already signed one and another potential signing the lad from Southend very close. This is the most active May we have had for years.

 

Edin: ‘Thank you for your interest in the role of Head Coach. A key principle of our strategy is targeting exciting young players between 20-25 years old who can perform for our fans, develop further and then be sold for large fees’

Coach XYZ ‘That’s fantastic to hear. In my previous roles we’ve largely had to rely on cast offs, the loan market and old pros looking for a last contract. It’s refreshing that you’re willing to pay what it takes to go out and sign these types of players’

Edin ‘if you have the right contacts it’s cheaper than you’d think’

Coach ‘really? Well, I suppose you are only a few miles down the road from both Manchester clubs. Liverpool aren’t much further away either. And there’s always the likes of Huddersfield of course, they’re doing very well now so I imagine it’s an option for us to look at their fringe players,

Edin ‘well yes, sort of. And as you know I’m from Germany and have excellent contacts at F.C. schplunkemdunken in the regional 4th tier of the Black Forrest League. We must exploit this’

Coach ‘Okaaaay. Any relationships with local clubs at all...?’

Edin ‘Barnsley. We’re well in at Barnsley. Clubs like that release young players who aren’t quite good enough for this level all the time. We just need to coach them’

Coach ‘I see. Well I suppose people do make mistakes when they release young players.... What sort of wage budget are we looking at?’

Edin ‘don’t worry about that. You just coach the players’

Coach ‘it’d be useful to know what level of player I can attract though,

Edin ‘they all want to come here. We pay big bonuses. For example, if we’re promoted, everyone receives a large bonus’

Coach ‘excellent. I like the sound of that. So you’re saying we’ll have the finances to build a promotion side and attract players with the financial rewards on offer?’

Edin ‘well not exactly. Mid Table kind of budget really. We’re patient. We want to develop players so don’t worry, you’re not going to be judged on results alone’

Coach ‘ok. And the fans are on board with that?’

Edin ‘no, we’ve told them we want promotion’

Coach ‘huh?’

Edin ‘promotion. They expect promotion. And exciting football. And if you can’t deliver that, we’d have to consider your role. But we’ll tell you before hand. We won’t just sack you over the phone or anything. We’re not monsters’

Coach ‘erm.... can I ask, why didn’t you keep Grayson?’

Edin ‘well we offered him a deal, he just didn’t believe in our vision’

Coach ‘does that concern you? He’s been very successful in this league’

Edin ‘we didn’t want him anyway’

Coach ‘OK. So, to summarise, I must go after young players not considered to be good enough at this level by other clubs, make them good enough through Jedi style coaching and play attractive football. I have a mid table budget and should persuade people to come here because we’ll offer incentives for promotion, but promotion isn’t expected of me and there’s no pressure to deliver promotion by you, but the fans will expect a promotion challenge. And if I don’t deliver, I’m gone?’

Edin ‘I think you have this!’

Coach ‘I’ll be in touch’.

 

One minute the coach doesn't need involving in transfers, his job is to blend the players at his disposal into a winning side, then I'm told Abbott went on record dispelling this myth, yet the coach has had no input into the retained list or transfer targets, someone needs to sort out just exactly what a head coaches requirements are.
Because to me that's exactly what Grayson was expected to do with the squad at his disposal and failed badly, yet many said he can't be judged on someone else's players, that is exactly what the new head coach will be expected to do.

 

Please be Warburton, most of the others are just depressing.

 

I'm not deluded in the slightest.. I'm realistic.. we had a fecker of a 2018 of that there is no doubt.. is it all the owners fault no it's not.. it's partly their fault.. but not everything is their fault...

We don't have an unlimited budget, like it or not that's the way it is.. they've said they're going to spend what money we have differently... so i'll give them that opportunity to do so.. if they don't and it turns out lessons have not being learned then I will get annoyed..

Half a bad season in 5 or 6 isn't a disaster.. it's football there are no gurantees.. but to have a meltdown all summer over well i'm sorry I just can't be arsed with that.

Just enjoy going to the football with your mates having a laugh and yeah hopefully we have some success.. we're not going to get relegated, i firmly believe that.. and so what if we do.. Yes I'll be angry and annoyed, but hey I'll still sign up next season and continue to have a laugh. Don't take things so seriously, it's doing yourself no good.

What did your grandad tell you about supporting Bradford City? Whatever it was I imagine there were more lows than highs, but you still follow them don' t you?