Most liked posts in thread: BOYCOTT STARTS TOMORROW

Dewhirst isn't a regular visitor to this site or others because frankly I am sick to death and bored with discussion of BCAFC on social media given the conspiracy theories, scapegoating and a lot of the crap that is written.

For the record I met SR in Munich at my own expense and initiative in November, 2018 because it was plainly evident that he needed to be told what was actually going on at VP. It was also apparent, as he confirmed to me, that he attaches little credibility to what was - or indeed is written - on social media. I'd go so far as to say that social media was counter productive and served only to help Edin's arguments.

I didn't know what to expect before I met SR but nonetheless found him to be an honourable, ethical guy who injected money into the club in December 2018 to pay the wages because he felt an obligation to avoid insolvency. Whether you like him or not he has put more money into BCAFC to keep it going than any other owner at Valley Parade - and that is over and above what he paid.

I have little doubt that he would like to be rid of the club but I am extremely sceptical that anyone would be prepared to invest clean money to meet his commitment and buy BCAFC. It is ultimately SR's prerogative whether or not to cut his losses and walk away but with respect, I would resent people telling me how to manage my investments or family's inheritance.

I was relieved that the club was not sold to the crypto gang in January. As to the credentials of the next offer, I wouldn't hold out the hope of attracting a blue chip buyer. Seriously, BCAFC is hardly an attractive investment proposition given that we don't own the ground, pay a massive rent and have been under-invested for decades. An aspiring money launderer might have an interest in buying BCAFC but does anyone think that a philanthropist will come out of the woodwork to help us? Certainly it hasn't been the case in the 50 years I have followed the club.

Like everyone else I am disappointed about DA and I haven't been impressed by his comments. In fact I am not convinced that he will deliver. Thereagain, I don't remember any complaints when DA was secured last year and when we beat Stevenage at VP back in August the general consensus was that we were good money for a promotion challenge.

I fail to see how SR can be blamed for the disappointment of DA. It is hardly as if he is doing a Rahic and pulling all the strings. Ditto I don't understand why Ryan Sparks should be scapegoated and believe he has done a lot behind the scenes to improve things at VP. Does anyone seriously think that someone is going to abandon a six figure salary and replace him at VP to be CEO and put up with the toxicity? Both SR and RS face a massive decision about DA and at the very least deserve support and sympathy for the position they are in.

Unfortunately I think we are at the stage where people have made their minds up and won't hear anything to the contrary, irrespective of logic or substance. It's not exactly a healthy state of affairs. For example I've read the comments about SR seemingly undermining the finances of the club as if he needs an income from BCAFC to fund his lifestyle. I looked at the club finances a couple of years ago and found no evidence of the smoking gun that people on this site are adamant about. SR is ultimately the guarantee of the club's balance sheet and I would trust him far more than I could have said about Bob Martin, Stafford Heginbotham or Geoffrey Richmond. And unlike Richmond he is risking his own money.

As for organised boycotts, it is futile and ditto the idea of a banner in the sky. Again, hardly the way to boost the credibility of City fans and probably even less likely to impress anyone wanting to put themselves in Rupp's position.

 

So here’s something which should send shivers down Ryan’s spine..........me!
As someone who gladly admits to being a bit of a “happy clapper”, someone who actually thinks we have a deluded fan base in terms of how big we really are, The thought of a boycott just doesn’t float my boat. BUT.....on Saturday I watched the Kidderminster V West Ham game, went to put the City match on the radio but didn’t, After the Hammers game I put some racing on, checked my phone once or twice and when Harrogate scored I just shook my head. Tomorrow normally I’d have paid my tenner for an I follow pass, however having looked at
The Premier matches available I’ll watch one of those instead.
In my humble view it’s not a few hundred organising protests which will drive change, it’s when the happy clapping majority like me get to the point when we really can’t be arsed anymore and I’m kind of there now, Sparks be worried, apathy is setting in!

 

I approached Julian Rhodes in March, 2020 to review the accounts which repeated an exercise I undertook prior to the club's administration in 2003. There were delays due to lockdown but I eventually completed the work during the summer of 2020 with the full assistance of the club's auditors.

I looked at the BCAFC accounts, not those of Stefan Rupp's investment companies and was given access to management accounts as well as trial balance detail. From a diligence perspective I was satisfied that the records were complete with reconciliations of all key accounts (ie bank account and ledgers). Hence I am confident that what I saw embraced all transactions between the club and external parties including ER Sports. (Given the double entry of the accounting I didn't need to see the ER Sports accounts to confirm payments to/from BCAFC.)

When Edin Rahic was at BCAFC, as a German national he was remunerated via ER Sports. In FY19 payments of £0.3m were made from BCAFC to ER Sports which covered Edin's salary in addition to associated fees and taxes. Those costs were included within the club's operating costs. No payments have been made to ER Sports since Rahic left the club in Dec-18 and there were no outstanding liabilities in the BCAFC accounts relating to ER Sports.

To recap, the only funds transferred to Stefan Rupp from BCAFC have been in respective of the bridging loan repayment in 2020. As outlined in the WOAP feature, no payments have been made in respect of debt capital or interest. Neither has interest been charged to the accounts in relation to the loan balance of Stefan Rupp.

GK / 'Mike Hunt' is openly talking on this forum about a £25k monthly management charge to Stefan Rupp / ER Sports (refer 12-Dec-21) but he doesn't say what evidence he has to substantiate this. For a start, it's definitely not in the BCAFC accounts.

The comment was made by 'Dennis' (again on this forum on 12-Dec-21) that because the club only had £120k in its bank account at the financial year end on 30-Jun-20 - despite having made a material profit from the sale of McBurnie during FY20 - that money must have been paid to Stefan Rupp. To be frank, the naivety if not stupidity of the suggestion beggars belief. As I have said, the bridging loan had been necessary at the end of Jun-20 precisely because the McBurnie monies had not yet been received. Whilst profit was indeed recognised in FY20, the cash receipt came after the year-end, that is to say during FY21. A first year trainee accountant learns that the flow of cash does not always match the flow of profit. It's hardly forensic stuff but to make that sort of accusation in a public forum is reckless and any qualified accountant knows that you don't give an opinion about financial statements that is based on supposition. In the circumstances a lawyer would say likewise.

Both 'Dennis' and Graeme / 'Mike' have expressed doubts on this forum about the accuracy of what I reported on WOAP and implied that I have been deliberately economical in what I disclosed - to quote, 'not wanting to give everything away'. What genuinely surprises me is that if they doubted my integrity or the validity of my analysis why they never made contact as I'd have been more than happy to meet and discuss. It's not as if I hide behind an alias and am invisible. I appreciate that that would have meant them surrendering their anonymity but if individuals are going to make damaging insinuations about the financial affairs of the club and its owner they should have the courage of their convictions and not hide in the shadows.

The theatre of making unsubstantiated claims and spreading wild rumours online is not in the best interests of the football club that we all support. That aside, I would have thought that any experienced accountant or company director would recognise that neither is it consistent with what could be described as reasonable or responsible behaviour. 'Dennis' will be aware that a professional body such as the ICAEW would take a dim view if a complaint was made and I am sure that 'Mike' would be mindful of similar potential embarrassment.

We all have expectations about how the club is managed and the financial investment of its owner. Criticism of Stefan Rupp is one thing but to encourage unfounded rumours that he has been taking £0.3m from the club each year is unnecessary as well as libellous. This has all gone too far and needs reining in. Accordingly I would hope that a line can be drawn.

 

I've followed this thread, indeed alerted John D to the fact he had been mentioned. I had some exchanges with him yesterday and rather than repeat what he has said so comprehensively, all I would say is I totally agree. I also agree with his response at #136 on this thread where no matter what is said someone always knows better even when they are a million miles away.
I stopped contributing on here for the same reason JD did but I will continue only to provide information which is what I've agreed with JD. As follows.
Soon into Season 18/19 it was apparent, more than before, that all was not well under Rahic. I saw this at first hand with the significant amount of work I was doing for the Club in the area of my career and which I'm supposed to be good at. Others saw the problem too and a small group, no names, got together to look at the market as to who might be interested in buying. One party was identified but were tied to another deal in their line of business which didn't happen.
We looked at where things were and we (Ambassadors as Rahic named us), knew that he was hiding the finances from Stefan whilst at the same time chasing such as us to invest in the Club, the money presumably used to cover his losses, bit like a Stock Exchange Trader. In the meantime Stefan was presumably being fed false info, who knows, but we as a group decided something had to happen. JD, who is an accomplished professional in his trade was going to Germany and volunteered to see SR who he had met/ communicated with and that happened as he said in his post.
At that meeting it was agreed that I, being the closest outsider to what was going on with my work, would go to Munich and present SR with what evidence I had, this was separate to JD's visit. I met SR in Munich on 22nd November, 2018.
Three days prior to that Rahic in my view knew the game was up. He had failed to get any funding and the Club was possibly going under. He went off with stress. A week or so after my trip Rahic was effectively gone and SR took full control finding the misdoings of which there were many hidden away.
SR is indeed an honourable guy, he has put more money into the Club than JD's figures, he doesn't have to be here to do any of that level of management.
Finally, some months ago I said in my view it would take 5 years to right the wrongs and the damage. I was ridiculed but it will take 4 at least.
Hope this adds to JD comments, I'm sure it will attract more negativity as everything seems to at the moment.

 

What has Sparks done wrong?

He doesn’t own the club but he’s managing it for the owner. He doesn’t get involved in first team affairs, he leaves that to the manager. Rightly so.

He’s brought in Adams who is a proven manager and no one complained at the time.

It’s looking like it’s not working with Adams for whatever reason, but to me Sparks is getting a raw deal from many people here.

There’s a lot of people to point fingers at in the last 4 years but Sparks isn’t one of them. The bloke’s doing his best. He wants the best for this club, it’s not for the want of trying.

 

I disagree that the players have a poor attitude. I did not detect a lack of effort yesterday. A lack of skill in some areas, yes, but little indication they had downed tools.
What there was in abundance was an indication that Adams had set them up in completely the wrong way, imposing his rigid system on players it didn't suit.
Since when has Andy Cook been able to play a lone striker role? He was battered to pieces by 3 centre halves all on his own. There was no width behind him and the central three were all too far away. Everything was loaded on the full backs who had nobody in front of them.
I think the crowd got it right when they chanted that it was Derek Adams whose football was shite. The crowd did not get on the backs of the players apart from one or two wayward passes, and rightly so.
I don't think the players have downed tools, but they could be forgiven for feeling more than a little despondent. After all, if you know that one mistake is likely to lead to you being named and shamed publicly by your manager, you are less inclined to be positive in your play. That's down to Adams and his management "style".

 

A polite message to @wetherbywhaler who was quick to come on here after a scrappy win over a team near the bottom and call people hysterical keyboard warriors, did it sound like the fans were behind the club and Adams today near the end?

I suggest taking more time to think what you say before typing in future as you have got form. Just remember we’re all entitled to our opinions and that one win will only paper over cracks for so long. You may like the likes of Rupp and Sparks but there are plenty who pay good money who won’t accept this crap. There was barely 10k there today.

 

Stefan Rupp did not 'inherit' the debacle Edin Rahic, he created it. Without Stefan, Edin would have had no involvement at Bradford City. There's no point rewriting that with a more romantic spin. It's his fault.

You, yourself, had to fly to Germany just to tell the man that his business was in a right state. YOU had to do tha, at YOUR expense. Credit to you, but what a farcical situation.

You can call Stefan honourable, and you're right to point out that his own money is what has propped this club up, but John, that's not your job. In fact, do you have a job at the club? If not, your actions were very much the actions of protest, which you're now claiming is pointless.

That doesn't add up, John.

Back to Stefan's negligence about his own business: his lack of awareness isn't a reason for me, or anyone else, to laud him for financing us in the aftermath of his own mistakes. It was either that (speculating to accumulate), or cut his losses. He made his choice. Good for him. I'm glad he did, it undoubtedly saved this club a lot of turbulence, but it's not an altruistic act. He did what was best for business; his business.

And now, I, and others, feel he's no longer doing what's best for Bradford City. Running sustainably, fine, yes, that's the right way to do things. But sustainability in League Two doesn't exist long term. Sustainability requires this club to get promoted, the faster the better.

Stefan Rupp made promises that he would continue to invest heavily in Bradford City until we were back to where we were before the Rahic era. He promised this, to us, the fans.

He appears to be reneging on that, as he doesn't have the same sense of urgency the fans do. He isn't investing right now, it feels like he's running everything on the cheap. We don't even recruit properly, we try to do everything locally, in-house, people who are already at the club. We haven't interviewed for any key positions, CEO, manager, coaches. It's fine that you think the issues lie with Derek Adams, a lot of them probably do. But did they lie with Trueman and Sellars, Stuart, and the rest of the double figures-worth of managers we've rattled through in the last six years? That's a lot of bad apples, John.

We must be really, really unlucky - is that your stance?

Fundamentally, I, for one, do not accept this narrative that nobody would buy us, nobody is interested, that we've got the best possible owner. I'd be interested in exploring the possibility of other owners, but that's not going to happen unless the club is publicly for sale and at a price that isn't distorted by the fact Stefan Rupp has lost a lot of his own money on his own investment thanks to his own very poor leadership.

 

Changing manager is ridiculous. We need a manager who is tough and won't take nonsense. We need a manager who has a proven track record of getting teams promoted from this division based on today's current standard of football - not some has been. We have that with Adams. I believe he is the right man and he's right, success can take time and managers need to be given it.

So the football isn't free flowing and as entertaining as we might want it to be. For now, that is not at the top of our priorities. Being patient and progressing forwards by building a successful team is and if that means a brand of football which wont win any admirers then so be it. Suck it up, it's League 2 and we need to move up and out of this division asap. We can worry about our 'brand' of football if and when we get to a higher level.

As soon as fans understand that and bite their lips, begrudgingly accept a style of football which doesn't exactly get the pulse racing then the sooner we as a collective can move forwards.

Results aren't there right now. We've drawn too many and lost a couple recently. We are however difficult to beat and generally been the better team in most games this season. We are in another mini transition given the recent signings. I personally think Adams has addressed a few deficiencies, so let them bed in and hopefully push us towards the play-offs. We're still in the hunt.

 

The crowd attendance yesterday is a warning to Sparks of things to come if he does not get rid of Adams, The customers ( supporters ) do not enjoy him or his football and will not buy something they do not like,

 

The term keyboard warrior is so amusing. The ones that use it tend to be the ones that don't like people disagreeing with them.

 

Turnbull was doing his best for the club, and it wasn't for want of trying.

Trying is the bare minimum. Results are all that matter. It's a results-based business, and everyone connected with a football club realises that.

What has Sparks done wrong?

Failed with every appointment.
Failed with every contract extension.
Promised success that he has been unable to deliver.
Congratulated himself prematurely on the successful appointment of Adams.
Given Adams a three year contract, thus effectively locking us in.
Compromised his own vision by appointing a manager with no interest in youth development, completely at odds with his ethos (or supposed ethos).
Allowed Adams to sack the club scout and bring in three of his own, with no obvious improvement or success.
Allowed Adams to dictate the departure of the club captain without replacing him.
Failed to halt the merry go round of managers, staff and players.

In other words, not only has he got every major footballing decision wrong, he's allowed one of those bad decisions to ride roughshod over this club and ensure that, once he leaves, we are back to LITERAL square one with nothing to show for it except the approach of another inevitable squad dismantling/rebuilding effort that likely won't work.

Again.

 

It's not my boycott, I'm not actually committed to the idea, and I don't think there is one. Fans seem to have only just got to the 'very angry shouting in the stadium at the end of games' stage, so I'd say it's still some way off.

Anyway, I appreciate your responses, and I'm not sure this forum is as toxic as you thought.

@River_City_Bantam has just highlighted the crux of the issue at present:

"SR: an absent, non-football owner isn't necessarily a (or the) problem, especially if there is a proper structure to the organisation beneath him. That, I think, is where we are failing."

I have, and always have had, a ton of suggestions about potential solutions. I've posted them on here for the last couple of years. Someone with a bit of long-term vision and a good understanding of football needs to come in, I don't care where, or in what position, or what we want to call it, but someone who can oversee transitions between managers/phases properly because I think that's where we've fallen down time and time and time again.

Ryan Sparks has had the opportunities to do this, but has failed.

He's gone from Stuart McCall (open, free-flowing, attacking football), to Trueman and Sellars (the ultimate ambassadors for young players), to Derek Adams (the antithesis of open, free-flowing, attacking football AND the antithesis to an ambassadorial position on young players).

How does that happen? How does someone appoint a man like that, when he's spent all Summer talking about link coaches and the value of young players and the value of SELLING young players?

Well, it happens because Sparks is told we are working to a budget, sustainability is the key, so he goes out and focuses too much on getting a manager that works to a budget and who has a history of working miracles on a shoestring (albeit in front of tiny crowds).

This is the kind of lack of vision that has caused all of the current discontent among fans.

Has Stefan Rupp noted this, and does he appreciate Adams was a terrible appointment?
No.

Has Stefan Rupp decided to ensure we don't continually flip-flop between managers that are the polar opposites of one another, thus inhibiting our chances of turning things round in six months (six months is as long as anyone's allowed, apparently, hence Adams has to go...)?
No.

Is this rocket science?
No.

It's a really simple, easy-to-implement change that is both achievable and DOABLE, but Stefan Rupp doesn't know enough about football to outline to Sparks that we can't just appoint managers in such an erratic manner and expect success.

Two transfer windows isn't enough for a manager to completely overhaul a squad and get it right. We should be appointing managers that BUILD upon the last one, not dismantle everything they've done and start again; but ever since Rahic, we haven't done it.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: a Director of Football/CEO/whatever you want to call it, IS the answer for the medium term future. Move Sparks to Commercial Director or keep him in the CEO role, I care not. But neither Rupp nor Sparks are savvy enough to be running this club,

AND THAT

is why people want change at the top.

Because they want people that are savvy enough to run this club WELL. And they're not it, for all the honourable traits that you point out that they both have. They're both good guys, but they're not good at running Bradford City.

 

Fully agree. We knew what brand of football we were getting under Derek, it shouldn't have been a shock to anyone who did more than 25 seconds of looking into Derek Adams. Anyone who remembers his Plymouth sides or watched Morecambe last season knows it's not going to be expansive or free flowing football.

I think every City fan has frightfully given a negative take on something Adams has done over some point this season. But it seems some of our fans wont give him any praise this season, even if it ends well, which is pretty sad and pathetic. Even after last night, when defensively the setup between the back line and CMs was pretty solid until tired legs kicked in. They barely did anything from open play until the last 10, they weren't given the chance and Adams deserves some praise for the setup. From twitter the past few weeks, it seems we have a section of the fan base that when we win, it's individual players or we were lucky to get the points... if we lose it's 100% Adams fault, which when it actually is, he should get called on it every time, but it seems lately after every defeat, even if caused by player error it's "Adams out" time.

The transfers were disappointing, the interviews are contradictory to the point I've stopped really paying much attention to his words as it seems he doesn't say anything in the public that can be judged at face value. But the chop and change approach doesn't work for us. I had BT sport on before the game yesterday and Peter Crouch brought up a good point about players who get too used to downing tools when they know they are at a chop and change club. He said he's been in squads that did it and knows from a squad member that it happens at Watford at the minute, that there are players in the squad that pull their performances when they are too used to a chop coming for the bosses as they know this bloke wont be in charge much longer, so whats the point in playing? Like if Adams went and someone came in, Paudie will be on manager 6 or 7 at City, Cooke on his 4th or 5th, Watt and Sutton on their 3rd or 4th boss.... and that's the spine of your side. They cant build if they know the man in charge wont be there as soon as 4 or 5 defeats creep in.

 

We will give a manager time when we can see he plays good football and is building for the future, We do not need to win every game but we do need to share some hope with him,

 

Yup, that's the point. If you are a manager who sets your team up to play exceptionally dull football then you had better be good at it. Fans will cut mangers some slack if they play negative football but win matches as, at certain times, Parky did. Fans will have some patience with managers who play entertaining, progressive football, even if it's not immediately successful.
But fans have a very short tolerance of managers who deliver negative and losing football. That is particularly so if the manager in question is dour and charmless; throws certain players under the bus whilst having obvious favourites who are seemingly immune from criticism; refuses to accept any responsibility for poor recruitment and tactical errors, and then blames the fans for being unable to happily sit and watch the same directionless drek week after week, having been promised a lower league expert who will swiftly deliver automatic promotion.

 

Since this thread is about a boycott, I am a season ticket holder but will not be renewing until Rupp leaves now unless by some miracle he can start to show a bit of interest in his company and do something he’s failed to do since arriving improve us not send us backward. Life’s to short to deal with the last 4 years of crap he has over seen. When we spent 6 years down here last time it was on the back of 2 admins, not having a club legend in Parky as manager who had led us in the previous 4 years to Wembley twice(including a major final), promotion, FA Cup quarter final and season upon season improvement for 5 seasons. All he had to do with his mate is walk in see which areas needed some TLC, maybe invest in a few talents which if went well could have been sold on for a profit and happy days. Instead he let his mate run riot, the club legend was gone within a few days of meeting them, he’s gone through 3 CEOs, 10 managers, god knows how many garbage players and takes out over $350,000 a year for his troubles without so much as attending a game. We had crap times worth Lawn and Rhodes, but they were always there with Baldwin, giving anything they could to try turn us around after financial mismanagement. That’s why I won’t back Rupp and that’s why I’ll support any movement to get him out ASAP.

 

So you're saying stumbling on two academy coaches out of sheer necessity after giving Stuart a contract extension in the middle of a losing streak and then sacking him two weeks later, two academy coaches who just happened to already be here and were subsequently mishandled by Sparks resulting in one of them leaving in an annoyed fashion, is Sparks' big achievement?

Sounds about right, Park.

Sounds about right.

 

Respect to you for giving us your incite and take on things John, can’t agree on some of it however and just because Rupp seems a decent bloke over a pint doesn’t mean he is fit to run a well functioning football club.

You mention lack of investment in previous years, nobody would disagree, difference been non of them owners are any longer involved as I hope soon Rupp won’t be as he has done nothing to change that. When you buy any business, it becomes your responsibility to run it correctly regardless of the past. He’s a multi millionaire who was conned by a second rate con man, that in itself is negligent and it’s a poor do when a fan like yourself has to pay out of his own pocket to do something about it. Rupp is part of the lack of investment, other than some new seats, which have come out of this years budget what investments has he made?

As for solely blaming Adams, yes it’s his fault we’re playing poor atm. But is it his fault we went from 5th in League 1 when Rupp bought the club to 15th last season? We could have gone down as well make no mistake about it. Is it Adams’ fault we have gone through 9 managers and 2 CEOs previously? Always someone else’s fault doesn’t wash with me.

What will you think of we sack Adams and things continue as they have the last 4 years and we do even worse next season, even get relegated who will you blame then?

It’s poor form to say people are having tantrums because they care about the club, and have seen 4 years of constant decline under this leadership just because you had a pint with the man in Germany and he sacked Rahic. People have genuine concerns and understand simply sacking another manager won’t be enough.

If the only thing you can say about Rupp is he stopped us going bust, which was to save his investment from totally going down the toilet then you’ve already lost the argument. I’m sure he recouped a nice amount of it from McBurnie anyway. He’s not a night in shining armour and it’s dangerous to say so as we will go down and as a result bust eventually if we carry on the trend we have with him in charge.

 

Swansea from Lge 2 to Top 8 of Prem, playing possession based football.

Molby to Martinez to Rodgers to Laudrup. The Manager was picked on the philosophy of the club.

Jenkins ran the show off the pitch.

It doesn't have to be possession based football, but there does need to be a plan.