Is the home form decline this season the fault of the boo boys ?

Ok as back up though .

 

He’s one of those that frustrates me Kevin, you can see he has the talent.
If we play with him on the front foot he’s far better than ball to feet - has to be one of the front three but in doing so he needs to increase his output.
Agree as back up, but not as a starter

 

Pattison had goals in him. Real shame he’s proven a crock

 

That's just basic game management away from home in front of large crowds. Our crowd is generally passive and not hostile to anyone. Its the last thing to look at.

What's needed are players of the quality and mentality to perform well, get the crowd going and make VP a horrible place for the opposition - like it used to be

 

I read somewhere, can not remember where , about a Barrow player one of our fans had spoken to.
He asked what was the secret of then getting results at Valley parade.
He replied it was easy, frustrate the players, frustrate the fans and it turns nasty, thus making their job easier.
we certainly need the club to show more intent in home games, but also maybe we need to accept that these are league 2 players and will make mistakes and turn in bad games.
I think we have lacked good leadership on the pitch for several years, no one seems to drag the players up by example.
Smallwood has for me been a very poor captain, who's own performances are way below what you would expect from a former championship player.

 

That's not unique to us. That recipe exists for every home fixture where there's a large crowd and underperforming home club. The way you break the cycle is to invest in players who can dominate games and command the agenda.

 

I do not doubt that, But in our division, we are probably more of a target than most, 3 points is 3 points, but i bet there is more pleasure gaining them at Valley parade as an away team than Wetherby Rd.
Walker , Smallwood and others over the years have constantly let the fans down for one reason or another, experienced players, that are under performing and not leading by example.

 

I agree. And not saying you're making this view, but the issue isn't with the crowd - it lies with the club for failing to establish a strong and talented side. We've seen before, the positive influence the crowd has when we have momentum.

 

Recruitment and players mental strength is important. we seem to get it wrong more often than not.
I truly believe we need a better CEO and head of recruitment.
I do not give two hoots that Rupp is hands off and not willing to blow his personnel fortune, as long as the guys running the club on his behalf are more than up to the job, the current two are not in my opinion. Our budget is good enough for playoff's at a minimum.

 

No 1 priority win the toss and make us kick towards the Kop first.
Angry fans, I assume he meant boo boys? … Serious question..is that somehow linked to giveaway season ticket pricing?
Id certainly maintain cheap 15 or under season tickets and have ( much higher ) graded prices for adults depending on where they sit.

 

This is an interesting thing, as a visitor I would always make us play towards the kop as you can tell the crowd are immediately unsettled.
Even Mansfield did it although they had 2.5k of their fans at the Bradford end, they preferred to unsettle us than play to their fans in the second half.

 

It’s probably not Andy .
Mansfield , Stockport, Notts County, Salford, Wrexham, MKD & Gillingham all say differently by having playing budgets bigger than ours. When you have Crewe, Barrow, Wimbledon and Walsall all punching above their weight , then we can’t compete if the squad doesn’t perform.

Money guarantees nothing on a one off season basis . It has to be season over season with the right recruitment and manager ( Mansfield) . Get that wrong and the money gaurantees no such thing as a play off place.

 

It was the opposite in the old days, we always wanted to play towards the Bradford End in the second half , turn us round and the same outcome usually ensued. Strange and another reason to open up the TL Dallas to City season holders ( Cheaper pricing) Best of both worlds !

 

Exactly my view of things.

One of the people who comes with me (a relative newcomer, who only comes for the pre match beer) blames the fans for everything, thinks we act like we are entitled and behave like we are the Man Utd of League Two. He thinks the sole answer to our problem is to give the manager (any manager) three years in charge and the only role of a CEO is to give the manager a decent budget.

I've worked in enough businesses where the men/ women at the top are toxic, to know that if the toxicity comes from the top, the whole business is affected, apart from the yes men who cuddle up to the source of toxicity waiting for him to slip up so they can take over. In our case, there is no-one waiting to take over as Sparks has created his own little fiefdom.

I think most can see from afar that the issue with Bradford City is we were toxic under Rahic, and Sparks has just continued that toxicity in his own way. Until he goes, nothing will change apart from the manager every 9 to 12 months.

 

yes ,we need some stability, giving a manager more than six months would be a start. i do believe our budget is good enough
spread too thinly this year on below average players.
I am not sure exactly how much ,but was it not in excess of £3 million. £58000 per week or an average of £2600 per player on a 22 man squad, There are lots , who would love that sort of money, unfortunately footballers rarely come into this, fuelled by agents wanting their cut.
Hopefully the new regulator will bring all this more in line.

 

Tonight was probably THE turning point. Atmosphere finally turned toxic enough to notice, the boo’s at full time were deafening (and rightly so) despite the low number of fans left in the ground

 

I believe we won the toss and Smallwood turned us around as Mansfield kicked off the game.

 

They cannot play in front of big crowds allegedly they cannot handle the pressure so please explain why they cannot still play when the crowds are down to 6k ????

 

Exactly! Its got nothing to do with crowds. People thinking we’re getting beat because we are a massive team in the league is a joke.
Coming to Valley Parade isn’t the pinnacle of a league 2 players career and we need to stop with the narrative that we are a big fish in this league. We’ve lost 10,000 fans at home during this run. That’s a huge ratio compared to what other clubs of similar fanbases would lose.
All that this narrative creates is excuses. Excuses for the Leadership and manager and then you get Jamie Raynor peddling out the question every week about the “pressure” of playing at VP. It’s utter rubbish.