Anonymous Letter

Could do with some grammar tips, that's for sure.

 

Link please as I've no idea what you are talking about!

 

it doesn't carry much credence anyway - it just attacks Rahic without ever explaining why really.

it largely mirrors my own opinion but it's not a very well written letter.

 

Before anybody asks....it wasn’t me lol

 

Had to laugh at the footnote about a lack of constructive talk about Rahic considering the content of the letter

https://widthofapost.com/2018/05/14/matter-of-heart/amp/

 

Has been removed now, anyone know what it said?

 

They've taken it down but I'm assuming it's still cached in your browser? Can you copy it in?

 

Editor pre-amble:

At Width of a Post, we’ve always attempted to operate to certain editorial standards. Firstly, that criticism must be constructive and backed with sound opinions (eg we would never write Player A is rubbish, but instead explain why we think Player A is lacking in ability). Another is that articles cannot be anonymous. If you want us to publish your piece, you need to be prepared to put your name to it.

Today, we’re going to allow the second rule to be broken for only the second time, and to allow a supporter to have an article – or more specifically a letter – published anonymously. I have met face-to-face with the author to discuss their reasons, and I’m happy with the explanation for wishing to remain anonymous. It should also be noted that the person who is the subject of their criticism – Edin Rahic – is aware of the letter, having received a copy (with author name included) after the final home game of the season.

Stefan Rupp has also been sent a copy of the letter. He has responded by inviting the supporter in for a chat when he next visits West Yorkshire.

The supporter has decided to make the letter more public, and so here it is.

Matter of Heart?
Dear Mr Rahic

It’s not been a good season has it? How it has unfolded may have been an unpleasant surprise to you. To me and many others however, it wasn’t a surprise; unpleasant, yes, but no surprise. This is because there were warning signs last season which continued into this one.

Four times last season, I questioned whether your ownership of the club I have loved and supported since 1981 was really a matter of heart.

Firstly I suspected (but gave you the benefit of the doubt) that it was a matter of arrogance as you paraded on the pitch, scarf aloft, on Boxing Day before the Scunthorpe match.
When Stuart McCall gave a wonderful, rousing and inspirational speech at the Player of the Year Awards dinner, you visibly could not bear his popularity with the assembled fans and sponsors. You tried and failed to overshadow him with your own speech. That night, I knew it was a matter of jealousy.

After the draw at Fleetwood which got us to Wembley, you again paraded on the pitch, while Stuart stood by the dugout. At this point I saw you genuinely believed that the team’s success in getting to Wembley was because of you, when in fact it was because of Stuart/Kenny/the players/the spirit created by the previous regime and in spite of you. That sunny evening in May, it was a matter of narcissism.

You told Richard Sutcliffe of the Yorkshire Post afterwards that you had said to Stuart, “I know about football. You have to take me seriously.” By admitting to saying that to a man with over 750 professional appearances, 40 caps for his country, two goals in an FA Cup Final and one at a World Cup finals, you guaranteed that no Bradford City fan should take you seriously. At that point, it became a matter of delusion.

This season has demonstrated more worrying decisions including, of course, letting anyone outside your immediate family watch the excruciatingly embarrassing Matter of Heart self-promotion DVD. More seriously:

Your obvious jealousy of Stuart’s popularity with the Bradford public blinded you to the accuracy of the widely held belief that he was overachieving with the squad of players available to him. The link that Stuart had with the fans and players led to a union between all three which was greater than the sum of its parts. Stuart + Players + Fans = Success. You will note that Edin Rahic did not appear in that simple equation. Your decision to sack Stuart, when he was patently not the problem, showed that it was a matter of denial.

Your failure to attend the Bury game just after Stuart’s sacking demonstrated that it was a matter of cowardice.

When it was reported by Simon Parker that you had tried to stop Sky employing Stuart as a pundit for the game v Shrewsbury Town, but you then denied this citing safety concerns, I know who I believed. Simon Parker is not a purveyor of fake news, but a reporter of integrity who made it clear he was standing by his source. You know what you said to Sky but I believe Simon and think that, on your part, it was a matter of duplicity.

One of the few positive developments this season has been the openness of club staff, including James Mason, in discussing and clarifying club matters on Twitter. The recent diktat to shut down staff members’ messages on #bcafc was a new low. By silencing them but failing to engage yourself in any substantive communications with the supporters, you have made it clear to me that it is a matter of paranoia.

As a consequence, a huge number of season ticket holders have not renewed for next season and I am aware of many who have renewed but will not attend matches until you have left the club. All the hard work of others over the years (Julian Rhodes, Dave Baldwin, James Mason, Phil Parkinson, Stuart McCall and people behind the scenes who I don’t even know about) has been singlehandedly dismantled by you. This is a matter of incompetence.

These are just some examples of poor decision-making which are apparent to an outsider. I can only imagine what has happened away from the public eye, the circumstances surrounding Luke Hendrie’s departure being one such obvious example.

For me and many thousands of others, the club is a matter of heart. Within that broad definition, it is a matter of civic pride, friendships, families, shared joy, shared hope, shared despair and, above all for a significant number of people, shared tragedy. It is conspicuously not about being the richest or the best in the land or any of the traits that you have demonstrated in the short time you have owned the club.

So, I conclude that your ownership of Bradford City is a matter of many negative things and not a matter of heart. While your intentions may have been good at the outset and you may honestly believe this remains the case, your approach, character and communication skills seem to be so fundamentally flawed as to make you unsuited to running any, never mind this, football club.

I can only hope that you have now realised this and both you and Mr Rupp will take steps to sell the club to a person/people who know(s) and understand(s) Bradford, who can continue the progress made by the previous owners and for whom Bradford City is a matter of heart.

Yours sincerely

[Name withheld]

Post script from the letter author
I have decided to make my letter to Mr Rahic more public because, aside from Jason McKeown’s excellent article “We Need To Talk About Edin” following Stuart McCall’s sacking back in February, I’m not sure there has been much constructive talk about him. Instead emotional battle-lines have been drawn on Twitter, some for and more against him, which reveal predictably polarised views, but don’t leave room for much analysis.

I hope the Width of a Post readers are interested to read an honest assessment of what I believe have been some revealing moments of Mr Rahic’s joint-chairmanship to date and which lead me to conclude that the club is not in safe hands while he is at the helm.

I know some will agree and some will disagree. If you’ve not already done so by now, you can draw your own conclusions.

 

WOAP carries little credence for me these days.

 

Get ready, it's a long one...

Editor pre-amble:

At Width of a Post, we’ve always attempted to operate to certain editorial standards. Firstly, that criticism must be constructive and backed with sound opinions (eg we would never write Player A is rubbish, but instead explain why we think Player A is lacking in ability). Another is that articles cannot be anonymous. If you want us to publish your piece, you need to be prepared to put your name to it.

Today, we’re going to allow the second rule to be broken for only the second time, and to allow a supporter to have an article – or more specifically a letter – published anonymously. I have met face-to-face with the author to discuss their reasons, and I’m happy with the explanation for wishing to remain anonymous. It should also be noted that the person who is the subject of their criticism – Edin Rahic – is aware of the letter, having received a copy (with author name included) after the final home game of the season.

Stefan Rupp has also been sent a copy of the letter. He has responded by inviting the supporter in for a chat when he next visits West Yorkshire.

The supporter has decided to make the letter more public, and so here it is.

Matter of Heart?
Dear Mr Rahic

It’s not been a good season has it? How it has unfolded may have been an unpleasant surprise to you. To me and many others however, it wasn’t a surprise; unpleasant, yes, but no surprise. This is because there were warning signs last season which continued into this one.

Four times last season, I questioned whether your ownership of the club I have loved and supported since 1981 was really a matter of heart.

1. Firstly I suspected (but gave you the benefit of the doubt) that it was a matter of arrogance as you paraded on the pitch, scarf aloft, on Boxing Day before the Scunthorpe match.
2. When Stuart McCall gave a wonderful, rousing and inspirational speech at the Player of the Year Awards dinner, you visibly could not bear his popularity with the assembled fans and sponsors. You tried and failed to overshadow him with your own speech. That night, I knew it was a matter of jealousy.
3. After the draw at Fleetwood which got us to Wembley, you again paraded on the pitch, while Stuart stood by the dugout. At this point I saw you genuinely believed that the team’s success in getting to Wembley was because of you, when in fact it was because of Stuart/Kenny/the players/the spirit created by the previous regime and in spite of you. That sunny evening in May, it was a matter of narcissism.
4. You told Richard Sutcliffe of the Yorkshire Post afterwards that you had said to Stuart, “I know about football. You have to take me seriously.” By admitting to saying that to a man with over 750 professional appearances, 40 caps for his country, two goals in an FA Cup Final and one at a World Cup finals, you guaranteed that no Bradford City fan should take you seriously. At that point, it became a matter of delusion.

This season has demonstrated more worrying decisions including, of course, letting anyone outside your immediate family watch the excruciatingly embarrassing Matter of Heart self-promotion DVD. More seriously:

1. Your obvious jealousy of Stuart’s popularity with the Bradford public blinded you to the accuracy of the widely held belief that he was overachieving with the squad of players available to him. The link that Stuart had with the fans and players led to a union between all three which was greater than the sum of its parts. Stuart + Players + Fans = Success. You will note that Edin Rahic did not appear in that simple equation. Your decision to sack Stuart, when he was patently not the problem, showed that it was a matter of denial.
2. Your failure to attend the Bury game just after Stuart’s sacking demonstrated that it was a matter of cowardice.
3. When it was reported by Simon Parker that you had tried to stop Sky employing Stuart as a pundit for the game v Shrewsbury Town, but you then denied this citing safety concerns, I know who I believed. Simon Parker is not a purveyor of fake news, but a reporter of integrity who made it clear he was standing by his source. You know what you said to Sky but I believe Simon and think that, on your part, it was a matter of duplicity.
4. One of the few positive developments this season has been the openness of club staff, including James Mason, in discussing and clarifying club matters on Twitter. The recent diktat to shut down staff members’ messages on #bcafc was a new low. By silencing them but failing to engage yourself in any substantive communications with the supporters, you have made it clear to me that it is a matter of paranoia.
5. As a consequence, a huge number of season ticket holders have not renewed for next season and I am aware of many who have renewed but will not attend matches until you have left the club. All the hard work of others over the years (Julian Rhodes, Dave Baldwin, James Mason, Phil Parkinson, Stuart McCall and people behind the scenes who I don’t even know about) has been singlehandedly dismantled by you. This is a matter of incompetence.

These are just some examples of poor decision-making which are apparent to an outsider. I can only imagine what has happened away from the public eye, the circumstances surrounding Luke Hendrie’s departure being one such obvious example.

For me and many thousands of others, the club is a matter of heart. Within that broad definition, it is a matter of civic pride, friendships, families, shared joy, shared hope, shared despair and, above all for a significant number of people, shared tragedy. It is conspicuously not about being the richest or the best in the land or any of the traits that you have demonstrated in the short time you have owned the club.

So, I conclude that your ownership of Bradford City is a matter of many negative things and not a matter of heart. While your intentions may have been good at the outset and you may honestly believe this remains the case, your approach, character and communication skills seem to be so fundamentally flawed as to make you unsuited to running any, never mind this, football club.

I can only hope that you have now realised this and both you and Mr Rupp will take steps to sell the club to a person/people who know(s) and understand(s) Bradford, who can continue the progress made by the previous owners and for whom Bradford City is a matter of heart.

Yours sincerely

[Name withheld]

Post script from the letter author
I have decided to make my letter to Mr Rahic more public because, aside from Jason McKeown’s excellent article “We Need To Talk About Edin” following Stuart McCall’s sacking back in February, I’m not sure there has been much constructive talk about him. Instead emotional battle-lines have been drawn on Twitter, some for and more against him, which reveal predictably polarised views, but don’t leave room for much analysis.

I hope the Width of a Post readers are interested to read an honest assessment of what I believe have been some revealing moments of Mr Rahic’s joint-chairmanship to date and which lead me to conclude that the club is not in safe hands while he is at the helm.

I know some will agree and some will disagree. If you’ve not already done so by now, you can draw your own conclusions.

 

Beat me to it @Ricc

 

@Maverick

Went along the lines of 10 bullet points/examples of how rahic is mister nasty. Each bullet point was ended with an insult or opinion

Example 1) dancing and celebrating on the pitch at fleetwood.. narcissistic

Example 2) i watched you sulking during mccall player of the year speech... Jealous

Example 3) I know football. . Deluded

And so forth...a quite bitter and twisted letter by a very upset person with an obvious vendetta

I had to comment on it as it was a ridiculous thing to put out, especially from a mouthpiece of the fans. It was also very funny how it was deleted and almost seconds later WOAP tweeted about being invited to an audience with Rahic, and the author of the site saying this was a welcome step from the club.

In other words they shit themselves

 

Dread to think what letter he wrote to Richmond or Rhodes and his sidekick whose name escapes me when they dumped us into administration

 

The guy is a wet fanny, if you are going to send a critical letter stand by your convictions and put your name to it. If a letter was sent to me the first thing I'd do is check who sent it, if they couldn't be bothered/or too scared to tell me then it would be straight in the bin.

It's poor by WOTP to even post this without a name, and then take it off the website.

 

I think the copy he sent to edin had his name on it

 

If you read the first part of the post, it states that Rahic & Rupp have received a copy of the letter with the Author's name on it, and Rupp has invited the author for a chat.

 

I've supported City for over 45 years, we've had far worse owners than these two (Bob Martin springs to mind) and far worse seasons that finishing 11th in League One. The whole situation is symptomatic of the kind of instant gratification/ compensation culture/ I want it all and I want it now kind of Society we have become. Personally I blame Maggie and the damage she did in the 1980's.

Back in 1983 we would have killed to be solvent, back in 2010 we have killed to be 11th in L1, back in 1965 we would have killed to be both.

I'm not a fan of our owners, I wasn't a fan of our previous owners, but they need at least another six months and a summer of activity to prove that they have learned lessons before we hang them.

Some of the behaviour on twitter/ facebook/ here/ WOAP etc is knee jerk sensationalism (the letter might be clever but it's not constructive and based on hearsay) and we shouldn't be preparing lynch mobs.

Drive these two out, as many seem intent on doing, and we could drive the club back ten years rather than two years.

 

Why did they publish that? We all have our opinions but so much vitriol and accusations and opinion without much in the way of back up?? I get the upset and frustration but I don’t think this was useful. Just my thoughts.

 

And possibly defamatory as he's openly called him a deluded narcissist and made it public. If I were Edin I be considering having a solicitor present at the meeting he's asked him to.