Any Topic Going formerly Transfer Rumour s

I’ve employed good people who have done a good job but wouldn’t reemploy them because the dynamic of the team and the requirements we have have changed.

For me, for City to thrive now and for the next few decades a change is needed.

City’s fan base is arguably mainly white and ageing, that doesn’t match the demographic of the City it represents. A new CEO or owner needs to capture the imagination of the future fans, of the whole City or in twenty years there may be fewer fans. Or are they just hoping for a cup run or promotion and to exist next season.

Football was changing before Covid, the PL and increasingly the championship are attracting the majority of the money. Are City aiming for that elite or are they going to be self sufficient community club on the style of say Accrington, or do something different like FGR with their environmental awareness. Or are they going to plod on as they are hoping for a cup run or promotion and gradually be overtaken by the likes of FGR, Harrogate, Lincoln and so on.

The new CEO needs to rebuild trust with the fans, the fact that McCall or the club gets hammered for not signing a striker or a dodgy Twitter rumour of Woods leaving is indicative of the lack of trust. Fans just don’t trust the club or don’t trust Rhodes and Rupp. Or do they just want to plod on, hoping for a cup run or promotion and gradually be overtaken.

In my opinion Bradford City needs a clean break, to move on from Rhodes, Rahic and Rupp and to define where and what it wants to be and to do it. It needs someone like Peter Deakin did for the Bulls, transform them from nothing to amazing Summer nights in front of a full house against Leeds, put the excitement back in to it. It needs someone who has seen how T20 or Baseball gets crowds in, how it entertains and keeps them coming back.

 

My issue is that we lost Mason because he could no longer work in the set up at the time and it meant we lost someone who had done a lot of good for the club, particularly in communicating with and engaging the fans, something which a lot of people are now saying we are missing. I would agree to some extent it is not always good to go back but situations differ and for me I would have him back.

 

We went down that road in 2016 and it turned out to be a disaster, that with our present situation could take a long time to correct.
I get your general point but neither Julian Rhodes or James Mason were party to this debacle, our present situation stops firmly at Stefan Rupps door he says he will try and right Rahics wrongs and so far it looks like hes as good as his word.
Even if the rumour with regards Huw Jenkins is correct it doesn't mean he can turn us around because he once did it at Swansea.

 

Again, I agree with a lot of what you say here but I actually think that James Mason was on the way to playing a leading role in doing this. Season ticket sales were increasing, I know you argue that some of this was to do with the fact that the club had been promoted and were pushing towards the top of League 1, however I can't remember a time before that we had sold around 20,000 in that League. Added to the fact communication with the fans was much better and the club was trying to engage with the different demographics of the city (although probably still not enough) it seems for me Mason is tarnished by the regime of the time despite doing a good job.

Bottom line for me is I agree that it is time for Rhodes to move on and not saying Mason should be the replacement, just saying it would not be a terrible appointment in my opinion.

 

We're certainly a good training ground for future EFL CEO's, we must have done something right in the past.

 

He then went to Rochdale and it didn't work out..now at Welcome To Yorkshire..Point is hes out of the sector now and he's moved on.

He might have been doing ok here but the club wasn't and still isn't moving forward. For many reasons its gone backwards and we now need a person that can really drive this club forward. A fresh set of eyes!

 

Bang on the money this.

 

The demo point is one i really think needs to be looked at too. Tranmere chairman was on TalkSport few days maybe a week back about costs and testing etc. One point he had was it's not just this seasons budget, it's fans for the future too. He said there will have been a batch of kids either taken by their parents for the first time or kids into football but their parents might not be, opting for the cheaper lower league season ticket to try get the kids into the local teams. So a load of 5-9 year old kids who might have had their first season watching them last year, largely not get results and get relegated, so it's not a fun experience and now they potentially wont see live football for well over a year maybe more. But kids in that area can see Liverpool and Everton on TV at least twice a week play entertaining stuff, meaning those kids they might have might think sod this, there's better local teams to watch.

City aren't in a too dissimilar boat, could well have been a few hundred kids attend the first season round in our relegation year, then witness Bowyer bore the life out of everyone. Two dross seasons, then the kids have a year of not really being that interested unless their parents make them watch it, the football they most likely catch is PL every week and think, 'whats the point in going back to city?' when they've probably never associated it with a fun experience.

 

Like Edin and Stefan?

 

Rupp needs to go as well.

 

He's been quoted as saying that he isn't leaving the club without @Fordy117 because this man is who he aspires to take after in business and would make him more money than he could ever dream of

 

MH makes some good points and I fully agree. However the bottom line is firstly, we have to become a viable business and self sufficient. Yes, we need a dynamic and ably experienced CEO capable of setting and meeting objectives. But, we still have to attract the sort of football crazy benefactor who will encompass the same ethics of progression. Whether, Rupp, Rhodes or anyone else is holding us back, we still have to deal with covid and the damage it is causing financially. I want transparency at the least and I want success and promotions built on firm foundations, but the difficulty is finding those whose combined chemistry will be the catalyst needed for our success. I don't realistically see us as a viable and sustainable PL outfit but more as a competitive Championship Club at best personally. You are dead right in pointing to youth as our future fan base Mike and we do need to prioritise our efforts in this respect.But change is needed one way or another. Forecasting the future is impossible and if Stuart gets us up this season and we are given backing from the Chairman to push on..well under the circumstances I guess most would be happy with that.

 

Reverting back to transfers,

How about those without a club, ie Jack Wilshere. He’s looking to prove himself again and is willing to step out of the premier league to do so - why not offer him a Short-Term deal to prove his fitness and in the same time it brings us real quality until at least January.

Surely we’ve nothing to lose by making an approach?

 

April 1sts come round a bit lively!!

 

You forgot to throw in Danny Welbeck for a double swoop, just been released by Watford. Striker problem solved

 

With Daniel Sturridge as back up

 

If I could give 1,577 likes to this post, I would.

 

Stick to fifa

 

We couldn't even afford Lee Hendrie, and we only briefly had him because Peter Taylor was manager and possibly because John Hendrie put a good word in.

How long have you locked yourself in with your PS4 before you came up with Wilshere as a possibility???

 

That’s not a bad shout whatsoever. It was only a few years ago that Notts County has Roy Carroll, Sol Campbell et al playing for them. Yaya Toure was training at Leyton Orient recently too.

Players like Wilshere and Sturridge probably realise they can’t make it in the EPL at their current level, so they’ll need to step into the EFL to prove their worth again.

What harm would it do making an approach?