Most liked posts in thread: Anthony O’Connor .. & any other 'Off Topic' Issues!

The guy is doing his best to put things right by playing the best he can for the shirt and putting his body on the line for the club week after week, Give the guy a break

 

A OConnor has been our player of the season and along with others like Our keeper have improved immeasurable from last season.
As for the arm band so called incident it must be one of the biggest storm in a teacup happenings in history

 

Did he actually do that though?

 

I don’t really understand why people are so fixated on captains and “the armband”. It’s just a piece of elasticated material, nothing more. Some people will motivate and lead the players vocally, some will quietly lead by example and some will need to be led. Wearing an armband doesn’t change that. I can’t understand why you and some others on here are so upset about what he did/didn’t do with the armband.

The performances were my issue with him and he’s rectified his performances and that’s all that matters.

 

If you were demoted at work and your replacement fell ill on his first day in your job, would you go and meekly fill in for him when asked or would you kick off first? And there's no telling what else went off around that time and shortly before. Allegedly, when confronted by a fan about it, he said the fans had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. (Non-disclosure agreements would not necessarily end just when Edin departed.) He played okay when Bowyer came in after that, though. AoC said at the end of last season that he wanted to stay and put things right. He's doing just that. I remember after the last game of the season and him walking slowly right around the edge of the pitch saying thank you to fans and giving some small kid in the Sunwin his kit, when the team was being booed and several players scarpered. He did not hide. I was impressed. I thought it took balls to do that. I bet that kid loves his kit now and isn't the slightest bit bothered about an old spat between AoC and Drury.

 

I don't think any of us can really know or appreciate the true extent of Rahic's malign impact on last year's dressing room. It's hard to imagine a more demoralised, demotivated and disunited group of players.
Armbandgate was probably the low point of a very low season and, like most of us, I wanted AOC out of the club in the summer. But none of us knows the full context behind it.
Actions speak louder than words and he has done what he can to put things right on the pitch this year. So I'm prepared to cut him some slack for his previous misdemeanours and hope he can keep turning in superb performances to get us back up at the first attempt.

 

This post highlights my entire point that some people give the captain’s armband such an overstated level of importance. Once you start comparing the treatment of the armband to the fire memorial then you’ve totally lost perspective.

 

HAHAHA.....is this a joke post? Fickle? One of the most consistent performers this season? FFS

 

If he or any other is putting in the effort and performance for the Club, then imo, they are respecting the shirt.

 

Just get behind the lads for fecks sake. A favourite with the #BantamsFamily

 

I'll never forgive him for wiping his arse with the captain's armband last season, can't believe this has been forgotten already.

 

That's funny, on 909 today they discussed at length the Granit Xhaka incident.

Pretty much all of the professionals said there are two things that you absolutely cannot do, ever - disrespect the shirt, or disrespect the armband.

I guess we have low standards as a lower league side, but frankly, mine aren't that low.

 

Are we 100% sure that him taking off the armband and throwing it into the goalmouth was as an act of disrespect or might it have been that the elasticity was not tight enough and it was slipping down all the time so he got rid of it to stop it annoying him?

 

I don't know if this was the case or not, but in my opinion the whole thing was blown out of all proportion. Yes I understand the significance of the armband and that it should be worn with pride, but it wasn't as though he ripped it off aggressively and flung it to the ground as some huge gesture. Maybe we will never know and everyone has there own opinion. I think, as someone has already pointed out, its a storm in a teacup

 

It represents that you are captain of the team and that you SHOULD be leading by example, not stropping like a 13 year old girl as you and the rest of the team meekly submit to opposition after opposition.

It SHOULD be seen as an honour and a signal of respect from the management and teammates alike.

It SHOULD represent that by wearing it you're agreeing to 100% commitment to the cause and your level best in dragging that out of every single player around you.

Most recently, Gary Jones showed us how it SHOULD be worn and his attitude was the very least we, as supporters, SHOULD be demanding from our captain.

 

As I’ve said above, last season was a disaster and there isn’t any player that was the sole cause of it and there isn’t any player that could save the situation given the miss management on and off football pitch. AOC is playing well and that is all he can do the rectify the disaster of last season. I’m not sure what else he can do. Surely staying and helping us push for promotion shows he is a good character and has some pride, rather than jumping ship.

 

The whole club was in a state, the Portsmouth match was probably the lowest ebb........
I travelled down on the Friday, had a great night in Pompey with the missus, got a phone call Saturday morning to ask if I fancied going to watch Brighton v Puppies instead. Full corporate including meal AND free bar. Plus chance of watching town get spanked. I threw away my city ticket, changed my hotel booking to Brighton and the only dampener was the Pompey score line (plus the Brighton lot presuming I followed the dogs!)
The point of the above tale.....I gave up on city, probably because the team, the back room staff, the chairman, the owner, it appeared at the time had all given up. AOC had a strop, stamped his feet in frustration and threw a bit of material into the goal. Anyone who has played sport has kicked a ball away, thrown a golf club, smashed a tennis/ squash racket, kicked down a changing room door, I know I’ve done all the above. He to my knowledge never disrespected the fans, this season he’s been the model professional, please people wipe the slate clean and cut him some slack, one of our best players so far this season and appears to be getting better each game.

 

The question is, would Jones have stropped and thrown away the armband. It doesn't need answering though.

You asked me what the armband represented and I've told you. If you don't agree that's fine but in my reply you'll at least be able to understand why feel the way I do about the incident.

 

The more I think about this thread the more I think it's embarrassing! I say that Bradford City Football Club acts like a charity at times and fans, media are far too soft with their demands and expectations of the club.

You only have to read the Reeves thread to see how some want to put Reeves rehabilitation ahead of the bigger aim which is going up this season.

I've said to @JonButterfield many times about moving on from last season but just like people having a go at Akpan, praising AOC is wrong also. AOC let down the armband for me last season and both players didn't produce.

AOC is just doing his job and yes he's done well this season so far but let's not go extra about it. He needs to still up his game but what next we going to start a song about him?

Let him concentrate and get us up but let's not act like a soft club. At most clubs he would of been out of the door by now.

 

AOC has probably been our best player this season but I'm still not convinced that last season's performances were solely down to attitude.

The best teams in this division last season are now amongst some of the worst in league 1. In fact, all 3 of the promoted teams have a realistic chance of going down including Lincoln who ran away with the title. The last time we were promoted some of the players who served us so well in league 2 struggled to make the step up and it goes without saying that the likes of Forest Green, Crewe, Newport etc are miles apart from clubs like Ipswich, Sunderland, Peterborough, Rotherham etc.

Despite some claiming that there's not much difference between the 2 leagues, most of the stats and fact suggest otherwise and I think that in O'Connor's case it might just be as simple as he's now found his level.