McCall speaks...

I personally believe there is an element of truth in what McCall says. Injuries did hamper him and it certainly exposed the lack of quality and paper thin squad he had at his disposal. The poor run of form coincided with this. However, McCall et al. took a conscious decision to go with a small squad. It was a risk and it backfired.

I do understand his frustration though. He always maintained he was not going to panic buy and bring in any old striker. He indicated this area would hopefully be addressed in Jan. The club were prepared to back him, more resource came in with the recruitment of Turnbull and it would appear Rowe was Stuart's target. To be denied the opportunity must be frustrating.

That said, I have to agree McCall made some questionable tactical choices. When you are down to the bare bones and you lack quality the first thing you need to do is protect them. Keep things simple and make the team hard to beat. Instead the formations were not clear and far too open.

In the end given the teams position and recent performances his sacking was understandable. I do believe things would have improved under McCall but I doubt the turnaround would have been as impressive as what we have witnessed under T&S.

 

I thought the referee on the day (cant remember who it was) was going to play on until Everton equalised , it seemed an eternity.

 

Yeah pretty sure speeds goal was in injury time

 

Similar to the league Cup away at Newcastle sure that big clock had stopped

 

Hate to be picky Bronco but I think it was Chris Kamara who shouted to Southall in the tunnel "stay on your line Nev" that was after Chris Waddle said to Kamara that he thought he could chip him from near halfway as Nev had a habit of going walkabout.

 

You could be right I know it was said as I understood it was Waddle who said it, but it does not detract from the great skill that went into scoring that goal, another magical memory from the past.

 

I agree. What T&S have done is combined what McCall liked to do with a quick passing forward play but they have done what Stuart seemed reluctant to do. They have gone to a back four and with that made us more compact when we aren't in possession. A good example of that is FCD who apart from a few shaky moments has been developing because he has usually had Billy Clarke tracking back when we haven't got the ball.

 

Those were fun times at City. Yes we brought Chrissy Waddle in along with a very underrated John Tumble Dreyer, Gordon Cowans and later Andy O 'Brien. Also partly with the help of Romeo Zondervan we brought in quite a few foreign players, some with more success than others. The likes of Edinho, Rob Steiner, Marco Sas, Erik Regtop, Pinto, Oli Sundgot and a couple of others who only played the odd game before going home.

 

Or the odd 18 minutes, like the legend of Jari Vanhala

 

Forgot about him. I was thinking about Jacobson and a big centre half called Raul.

 

Raul D'Olivera ? Wasnt he the one that bottled out of playing at Barnsley and Kammy later said he had the heart the size of a pea ?

 

I'll never forget the arrival of Vanhala, it was like the second coming of Christ. In my memory, he stepped through a wall of dry ice and performed all sorts of flicks, lay offs and overhead kicks and would have turned us into the next Barcelona if his taxi home hadn't been waiting or if (in reality) he hadn't played like a school kid who had won a "play for Bradford City" contest and only touched the ball twice.

 

That's the guy

 

Bruno Rodriguez?

 

NO NO NO. Don't ever mention that name on a football forum

 

Cowans was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s last year, quite sad.

 

After reading the article I have lost any respect left for McCall as a manager. He sucks and he just needs to admit it.

I’ll choose to remember McCall as a player, but I want to forget that he ever managed us, this article proves it was right to sack him. We’d be bottom of the table if he were still in charge.

 

I agree with you. Firstly, even with everyone fit, I doubt he would have been able to ditch his three at the back and secondly I seriously doubt that some of the players we have signed would have come under McCall to be involved in a massive relegation scrap. Under him, heads went down when we conceded, I'm sure we would have lost to Southend, Barrow & Morecambe with him in charge. His plan B was stick BRE upfront.

He had no vision to play AOC at RB, something T&S have seen and made to work, and he was ruining Wood as a wingback.

Sorry Stuart, you are the ultimate legend as a player, but I never want to see you on the home bench as first team manager. Please do what you do best and stick to being the go between man between players and manager.