Away vs Mansfield Jan 25th

Got to love you @brisbanebantams you fail to answer the offering a plan for the future comment.
I have no idea of who would be interested in our club at £10m I would like to know where his valuation comes from totally unrealistic, but at £4/5m I suggest there would be interest.

 

Indeed. If you reply, you just get another question back. It could carry on ad infinitum. It's a way to avoid the point you are making.

 

The only time we've looked a remotely decent balanced side was when Donaldson played the lone striker role with a 4-2-3-1 (some may say 4-3-3). On Saturday it was clear from the start the balance was all wrong, it looked like a 4-4-2 (4-4-4-1) with McCartan dropping between attack and defence when needed. Problem is when he did offer himself Reeves ignored the option. The problem then arose that how was Doyle going to be utilised to his get the best out of him like Swindon did so well. Well in four games it's still not been worked out, in truth it can't be worked with the way we play. Going back to Saturday the two creative outlets for Doyle were Connolly and Pritchard. I like Pritchard but his best position is more central, Connolly offers nothing in terms of assists bar winning the odd corner. With Reeves and Taylor being asked to sit in midfield it left McCartan and Doyle isolated, the whole set up left the players with the usual long ball outlet to Doyle which we all know does not work.

The only way I can see progress is in the summer when loan players can be returned and a clear out of the dead wood is instigated. Bowyer or whoever is in charge needs to sit down with the rest of the management and look at what formation they want to prioritise for the season ahead, then plan the recruitment and identity of plausible transfer targets to meet this formation criteria. At the moment we have a completely unbalanced squad, not necessarily full of poor individuals but individuals who don't fit into a workable compatible formation. 28 games in to the season and Bowyer has no idea what his best formation and line up is when everyone is fit. He was left with a lot of poor options not of his doing, the likes of Robinson, Patrick and Akpan, and others who clearly don't fit his preferred line up. That said, others he's brought in haven't really done the business for varying reasons, Palmer has been disappointing, Henley looks average to poor and retaining the likes of Anderson and Devine has achieved nothing. His inability to sort the middle of the field out has hampered a forward line that should be capable of scoring more at this level and is the number one priority at the end of the season. As a short term measure I'd like to see us bring in a central defensive midfielder as a matter of urgency although that looks increasingly unlikely. A place in the playoffs is still up for grabs though from what I've seen this season I would not expect us to be promoted. If Bowyer is to be kept on I want to know what his plans for the team are moving forward.

 

Would Paladini be interested again? I'm sure there will be good interest at around £5M valuation.

 

here's the thing bronco, there's no argument. there's no right or wrong. it's a discussion and nothing can be proven as right or wrong. people are entitled to their opinion on how they see things..

but you, you like to try and play people off against each other. you'll agree with one poster about something whilst quietly criticising another. then you'll pay the other poster a bit of a compliment to try and get them back on your side. you tried doing it to me yesterday; called me condescending, I think it was, then said you enjoyed my posts today whilst here we are now when you're back to trying to criticise again. might work with some but I see you for what you are.

 

From what I've seen up to now this is what needs to happen. A good organisation will have a plan throughout the club of how they want to move forward. A case in point in our division at the moment Swindon. They lose their two leading scorers back to their parent clubs, they replace one with a non scoring striker from a lower league 2 club, he scores on his debut in a 3-0 win. How does that work we ask? We have a leading scorer who hasn't scored in 4 after 23 in 22, they sign a 3 in 30 and he scores straight away? Because at Swindon Wellens knows his system he prefers, I heard him say they changed the system early on when he realised they would be wide open against the better sides, the players know exactly what is expected of them, its set up to create chances for whoever is asked to play the role of front man whether it be Doyle, Yates or the new lad Hallam.
Until all the deadwood has finally gone from the Rahic era and whoever in charge has the full salary budget to work with we are always gonna look like what we are, a hastily thrown together package that doesn't know what it's supposed to be.

 

they did, but that all goes out of the window when you get relegated. you have to re-evaluate and change the plan.

 

Luton are a great example.. Mick Hartford did a fantastic job overseeing their progression over a number of years.

 

I agree, but who do we have overseeing that role? I was fuming with Bowyer after Saturday but I'm honest enough to admit the problems go deeper than one man. It's gonna take a management structure from the top down to decide what direction we head in. At the moment it's like putting lipstick on a pig, we are reliant on loans no one else really wanted and contracted players, some like Robinson who are stealing a wage, Patrick who should never have been given a wage and high earners like Doyle and Akpan who don't really want to be here.
In fact I'd start the ball rolling now, start identifying targets for next season and work out who goes from the existing staff. And look at bringing in a Mick Harford type behind the scenes that buys in to the clubs philosophy of how you want to go forward. Maybe a new coach for Bowyer like Philips who he was with at Blackpool.

 

It's a far more realist price I would think .

 

That would be enough 'cos i'm sure the £10m quoted was to include what it would cost to take us further towards the championship...

 

If there was a list of wealthy people wanting to waste money on City a) Rhodes and Lawn would have found them before they sold to Rupp and b) I’d imagine Rupp and his chosen agents are looking for them, the fact they haven’t found anyone willing to pay his price means there are none or the price is too high and Rupp is staying.

You’d have to be a mug to pay anything for City. It’s a money pit.

 

I guess it all depends on resources available to the club.. every cost has an effect on the playing side.

look at this season - a choice had to be made on whether or not to keep the investment in pitch maintenance or not and an argument can be made for both sides; upkeep on the pitch should lead to a better quality of football, but if that spend doesn't allow us to have the strongest squad availability then what's the point.

unfortunately we still have the cost of ground rent and stadium upkeep to consider which at this level is a considerable amount of money but it has to be paid, we can't get away from that.

I guess Greg Abbott was supposed to be that man but that didn't work out. another discussion is whether or not if a sporting director was affordable - should that man be Bradford City through and through or does that bring too much emotion in to it.

it's a difficult conundrum to have to solve. glad it's not me having to do it.

 

Yes I did because of your reply, quoting "people like you" I'm one of the few who has backed Bowyer even though at times it's been difficult and I'm still saying IMO the club wont sack him.
So your using a pretty lamd excuse, even within a post there are things you can agree with but not agree with other content within that post.
Think you losing the arguement mate, I also posted I enjoy your inside knowledge with regards players injuries quoting your "soft tissue" injuries in the past that any ordinary fan wouldn't have the slightest knowledge about.

 

Grim to read in detail, but absolutely spot on.

 

Next season in some ways will be a fresh start with big decision to be made that couldnt this season. Pitch work will need to be prioritised but this can be offset with big earners like Doyle and Akpan off the wage bill, I think Rileys contract is up as well I'm not sure. Just a shame no one really knows what the thoughts of the most important guy, Stefan Rupp, are. Hard to know how to move forward when no one knows what the owners long term plan or vision is.

 

Just catching up so not sure if this has been posted.

If ever anything was the visual description of BowyerBall this is it.



Passing right to left across the back, to end up lumping the ball to Doyle who is against a 6foot plus centre back.

 

All football clubs are money pits but they will always be someone wanting to buy one.

The problem with Bradford City is the cloud of negativity, the we can't do mentality. In all truth the losers mentality. It's off putting.

The only thing stopping us selling the club is the asking price. Rupp can ask for what he wants but he needs take a hit and move on!

We need an owner/owners who want to drive the club forward on and off the pitch.

 

Having watched them most games home and away this season and voicing my displeasure at varying decibels I've tried to sit back and look at the approach from other such as who you mention Swansea. I'm leaning toward thinking it wouldn't matter who we bring in as manager, it's why I likened the situation a month or two ago to the second season of McCall, decent league position but everything just feels wrong. I couldn't put my finger on anything exact back then and still can't, but the club has lost its mojo so to speak. It doesn't feel for me much different to last season, I feel no leadership long term from either Rupp or Rhodes, something essential in the long term development of a business.