Most liked posts in thread: Competitive Budget.

Quite obvious we had a competitive budget this season Fordy just had the wrong person using that budget.

 

It's probably quite sad to imagine what someone who knows football could have done with what we've actually spent in the last two years. I suspect we'd be looking at Championship football next season instead of the football dumping ground we're heading to.

 

I think we've spent more than a competitive budget this season all told, sadly it was completely wasted on unprofessional lazy crap by Rahic.

 

We'd already blown most of our budget and couldn't get rid of the crap.

 

Nothing wrong with the budget, it should have seen us competing for a play off spot. How it was used on the other hand....

 

We were already over budget but that still increased considerably, I would think. Payne (increase), Butterfield, Clarke, Anderson and Woods won’t be cheap.
I’d argue the budget has been generous - but we’ve signed the wrong players with that budget both in the summer and in January.

 

The way to have a good January transfer window, is to have better summer recruitment.

We shouldn't be in a position of needing 4, 5 or 6 new players across multiple positions, just 2 or 3 at the max.

The number of players that have gone through our books in the last 2 years is damning on the whole recruitment philosophy of Bradford City.

 

Butterfield was a last minute one, which happened only because he's a local lad and we're contributing very little in terms of wage %. It was 'opportunitistic', which in itself showed the distinct lack of planning. I said it at the time - unless we knew that we had the money and means to go and get the 4 or 5 players we desperately needed, Payne should have been returned. A proper centre back, hard midfielder, left winger and striker were absolutely essential. A decent left back would've been good - but we could've limped through if the rest of the team was strengthened.

What the thinking was in January I've no idea. I can understand why the summer was a shambles, but there's no excuse for January.

Another reason why keeping Bowyer is essential. It'll allow us to plan for a professional transfer window in the summer. Get some solid foundations in place to stabilise the club - a year of finding our feet again, and then pushing on the following season. If we can do both in the same season then great - but we need to stop the bleeding first of all.

Its the biggest rebuilding job in terms of squad that I can remember us having. There are literally 3-4 first team players, plus 3-4 younger fringe lads that are worth keeping. That's it. We could be looking at needing anywhere up to 15 new players. We're not going to get all those in one summer. Better to focus on getting 7-8 of the right ones and giving a few of those who've under performed another chance - IF we believe they have the right character and the talent to perform in a properly balanced side - an example might be someone like Doyle. Or even Akpan. Stick the right wingers in the side and a battling midfielder (Akpan sure ain't one!) then I think we might see the best of both players.

 

Most have played higher than the bottom of league 1 with varying levels of success. But it was clear, even in pre season, that actually making a competitive team out of them was nigh on impossible.
It soon became apparent the jigsaw pieces didn’t fit, evident at Blackpool away when a fresh faced 19 year old Lewis O’Brien with no experience looked far better than players who’d been around the block.
Fans tend to blindly look at Wiki stats and which divisions these guys have played in rather than what position they will fill.
And then theres the coaching team and the Edin scenario. The Collins fiasco was one of the most embarassing things i’ve seen happen at this club and was a precursor for what was to happen all season. Its been damage limitation ever since. Lets face it this was the expensive toy train set Rahic had dreamed of for years, funded by the bank of Rupp.

 

just because we welcomed the new signings and were happy with them doesn't actually make them good signings, and the fact they have turned out to be crap, lazy and no have no heart for a fight is indeed Edin's fault.
he was the one doing the research and signing the cheques and bringing in these players. we didn't have a head coach, and the one we eventually did appoint was just Edin's puppet anyway.

Edin Rahic has set this club back YEARS, and we're lucky its only that, we could have ceased to exist as a football league club altogether had it gone on much longer.

 

Edin might not have scouted them, but I’ll be happy to bet he was contacted by dozens of agents telling him their player was the best prospect since Messi was lad and the daft *@?$ believed them and signed them on daft wages. He put a shit coaching team in place far too late leaving a dreadful pre season. He fired or drove anybody out of the club who disagreed with him.

So yes, it is Edin’s fault.

And no, I’d say we weren’t all positive about all the signings. O’Connor left Aberdeen slagging off the fans, hardly anyone thought Wright was a good signing. And Akpan. And people were questioning the balance of the squad from day one. On the Cow’s Arse where will we finish poll on page one in July people are saying it’s going to be a shit season. If the players are that good, then why are they still bottom after the fourth manager of the season?

 

People banging on about hindsight, it was clear in the first couple of games of the season and pre season games that it would be a hard struggle. We have won many games this season and even in the early wins we were lucky to come away with a win. Shrewsbury away, they should have been a couple up at half time, Burton at home, jeez how bad was that. You didn't need hindsight to see where this shitshow was heading.

 

Next season for City, I'd play O'Connor just behind the two dugouts.

 

theres a lot of crap to shift this summer and that wont be easy to do.

 

Think your list of requirements is spot on. I’d add to that an RB which naturally we’d hope will be Caddis, but he’s not confirmed or contracted at this stage.

As others have commented, our budget over the past two seasons has been more than adequate for us to build a squad capable of challenging top 10 at minimum. It’s within how this was used and who on, which has been grossly mismanaged.

I suspect/hope the approach for next season will be similar of that which Parky took on his first full season. Mixing experienced campaigners at the latter part of their career (Jones, Caddis types) with young loans/free transfers to provide depth (Cullen, Burke, Hines etc). Looking back I don’t think we gave Parky the credit on just how good his recruitment was in those first seasons. A lot of shrewd signings of players with the right character and skill set to allow us to progress. Bowyer doesn’t come across stupid and seems to have the knowledge and experience as to what is needed. Hope we see this executed within the next two seasons.

 

perception is everything.

which players were we really getting?

Riley- The player Man Utd fans were raving about or a gamble who had only proven himself at non league standard?

Wright- The player with Championship experience who had also won Gillinghams POTS ahead of Dack or the player who both Gillingham and Southend could wait to get rid of?

Akpan- The player who had played al of his career at Championship level or the player who was nicknamed hopeless?

O'Connor- The player Aberdeen fans were lambasting or the player who was also offered a 3 year contract there?

etc etc

Most of us trying hadn't even heard of these players- we knew next to nothing about them so trying to establish whether they were any good required a huge amount of guesswork and Hence, it's perfectly acceptable for us the fans to look back with hindsight. I'm not sure Rahic and Abbott should get the same amount of leeway. We can look at it in any way we want , the fact remains that we're currently the worst team in the division, will more than likely get relegated and both of them failed miserably in their attempts to build a promotion building squad.

 

I think that is relevant to every single team in every single division in the world. Get the spine of team right and the bits off that are what will make a mid table team into a promotion chasing team. Goalkeeper included.

Parky had it right. McLaughlin, Davies, Jones and Hanson. If any of these were missing we were always a weaker team (arguably we had a decent back up keeper in those days). This is where Parky won his battles and what he recruited to play off them was what carried us through.

Think of today’s squad and tell me one player who can even come anywhere close to matching either of those four? O’Donnell is the only one IMO and a goalkeeper alone isn’t going to bring success. Absolute priority for Bowyer must be a CB, CM and CF in a similar mould. Then work on what’s around them.

 

The Collins appointment had the alarm bells truly ringing. It was the sign that told us who was running this show, Collins was the puppet that Rahic needed to he able to manage the whoe thing without interference from an experienced manager, to avoid the situation he had struggled so bitterly on with McCall. This was Edins cake and no one else was getting a slice. Unfortunately by the time Hopkin came in the damage was done.

Look mate, i get the players have to accept responsibilty for some of the worst perormances in living memory. But they were thrown together without any idea of how the whole situation on and off the pitch was gonna work. If you don’t prepare the ingredients right for a cake then just hopefully stick it in the oven, what will come out ain’t edible.

 

You don't honestly believe that do you?