Dust ourselves down, give it time to gel.

Time's up.
We've gone backwards in a big way.

 

I don’t #believe anymore. The #bantamsfamily is falling apart. We seem to have stopped ‘going again’ this season and instead take all our losses and subsequent criticisms ‘on the chin’. Anyone for a game of football cliche bingo?

 

Hi. I hardly ever post as 99% of the time I’m pretty positive about how things often turn out. However, the football this season and lack of passion from players is frightening.

I honestly see us as last years Bury - they signed lots of new players, spent big and look what happened. The parallels are too spooky.

I hope I’m wrong and it gels...but for that we need a good manager.

 

I agree. But you are trying to speak to Bradfordians and Bradford City supporters. There is a malaise that goes beyond the football team in Bradford. Generally it seems to me that the city, as a whole, is backward looking and depressed. The supporters generally reflect the city.

Personally I put my optimistic outlook on life and the club to the fact that I left Bradford 44 years ago and chose to live and work in places (all over the world) that are forward looking, optimistic, open....all the things that Bradford is not.

Give me a moment to put my flak jacket on and then .... off you go.

Norman

 

Norman, I’ve stuck up for them more than most on here and come in for some right flak for it but they have to give us something f back on the pitch!

There was no desire yesterday. No big tackles to get the crowd going. No spells of pressure. That’s not down to a new team needing time to gel it’s down to poor motivation from above them.

 

You don't miss what you've never had.I started watching City in 56-57season and it was always fun but when we played Burnley at home in 59-60 season and they equalised half an hour into injury time I then knew we were destined for lower league mediocrity.

It was a conspiracy,then,after a long while we got MCall,Hendrie and co and we played a brand of exciting football I'd never seen from a City team.We got promoted to premier league and got to a major cup final.Then we go do Chelsea and my early thoughts were shot to pieces.

So now,after all those incredible times,seeing the club revert to a shambles by changing the ethos is creating a big upheaval.

Stop messing with our club,we're not a guinea pig for your continental meddling,we are a proud Yorkshire club and we demand you listen to it's life members!

 

Agreed.

 

I like the cut of your gib young man but there is something missing in your post....time,

The time between you starting watching BCFC, 56-57, (I am a good 10 years behind you) and the first success, 88-89 with the first McCall driven team, followed by another 10 years of mostly abject mediocrity until 1999 season and promotion. There was then a year of excitement followed by relegation and another 13 or 14 years of mediocrity followed by a couple of years under Parkinson of excitement. League cup final, promotion, Chelsea, Sunderland and the FA Cup quarter final with Reading....followed by another 3 or 4 years of mediocrity.

If we are to be honest with ourselves we are actually not doing so badly given our past performances. We are where we normally are.

NOTE. This I am not lacking ambition. It is simply a recognition that, overall, historically we don't tend to perform any better.

Nothin' but love 'atcha

Norman

 

fans who are pissed off and want to express their frustration need to organise a protest before a game but although we are all pissed off I wonde if there’s enough distaste amongst fans to become pro active and demand changes and answers to that level because without I can’t see anything but the status quo

 

Radio Leeds made me laugh on way home yesterday. The comment had we won it would have a been a very good start to the season, well correct me if I am wrong but we were lucky at both shrewsbury and home to Burton Tuesday and we were woeful in the 3 defeats so even if we had beaten Wycombe yesterday it would have just papered over the cracks.

 

Cheers Norman, I didn't want to go into too much detail although I concur with yours.

 

Well I lived away from Bradford for 12 years, I have always been an optimistic soul. I chose to come back and work in Bradford. I am not going to slag my City off, because it seems to be the norm, I love my city yes with all its warts, but it has warmth, humour and compassion. Qualities I realise are not valued in this world. Greed, money and job status is what carries weight in this day and age, so be it, but I am not getting on that bandwagon.

I watch City because it represents my heritage, in other words I belong to a football team. I hate that we appear to be going backwards, so yes I will speak out when it is necessary.

 

That pretty much sums up my "City Life" and given some supporters "experiences" in their time with their clubs it's been a lot more and I mean A LOT MORE ! eventful than most ! Nice reminder Normski

 

Rahic started this season in (my) last chance saloon.
He's got two games left, tben i actively want him out.

 

I think the Owners objectives are being thwarted by the very criteria they are employing to achieve them. VP is not a rich man's playground for guinea pigs and we do not exist as a club to be used as someone's experiment either! We need proven strategies and workable structures with empathy to our unique situation.So I would ask that we actively seek an experienced senior Manager/Coach to provide a stable cornerstone for our development and progress us to a higher level. No appointment will guarantee success, but it will give us much needed stability.

 

The worrying thing is that Collins is looking to speed up the process of bringing someone in if needed. As welcome as that would be, if they don't receive clear instruction on how to set up, they'll look as bad as the rest do right now. I wouldn't give him another penny other than compensation for the remaining length of his contract.

 

I haven't lived in Bradford for over 25 years. However, it's because of that, that I have massive support for the club and real love, due to the fact that I've spent those said 25 years attending matches whenever I'm rarely in the city, desperately trying to find a channel in some Eastern European pub to watch the few live games shown on Sky, trying to find a DAB channel airing the game, or on a few occasions spending close to a grand visiting Wembley Stadium. It was a case of, "I don't care if we lose, because I'm just happy to be able to watch the club I've supported for 32 years"

So in this respect, not living in the City, but still having a positive attitude doesn't mean it's "grained in". If anything, I think the general depressed air about Bradford, is a damn good excuse to get rid of it for 90mins by watching a game to allow frustrations to be vented. I'm sure fans of the club who live in Bradford, still wake up on a Saturday morning with a matchday buzz, excited about the day ahead, just the same way I do when I'm visiting, and haven't been to a match at VP for a year or so.

HOWEVER. The above could change drastically, if the club is not run to the values we're used to, and the players don't put the effort in as much as the punters who are there to watch them. Edin talked about Bradford being a working class city with working class values and high expectations. This was a statement I think we all agreed with. If the work ethic is there - both on and off the pitch, then we'll grumble, but we won't turn.

And this is now becoming the problem. There's no connection anymore. The board aren't connecting with the fans, the players aren't connecting with each other, and the manager has no connection with the club. We've been sold a scenario by the owners, but they haven't carried it through.

This connection needs to get back on all levels. We're talking about the players gelling with each other - but it's not just the players who need that togetherness. It's needed on all levels, or fans are going to vote with their feet. Once the fans are lost, then the club only is headed in one direction.

To sum it up, I'm heading over to Bradford later in the year, and this is the first time I'm actually thinking of NOT timing my visit when a home match is on. After watching that spineless performance on Saturday, I'm prepared to NOT have a couple of pints in the pub beforehand. NOT spend 25 quid on a ticket. NOT spend 50 quid in the shop. NOT have a couple of pints after the game and NOT go for a meal after the pub.

Time for Edin, the team and the manager to realise that the performances on the pitch, have huge reflections off it too. Let's make Bradford a GREAT CITY again.

Wow, that was emotional, I'm off for a lie down

 

City are synonymous with the good old fashioned 4-4-2 and simply don’t have the players for these ridiculous formations. All our past success bad been built around that formation and good honest hard work. This project was doomed and predicted from the start and will not improve until a manager is apppointed in the mould of Parky or McCarthy. Rahic should take his little hobby to the continent where it is more likely to work.

 

I’m not convinced it was doomed from the start. I think that the idea of a head coach coaching the team, the players and philosophy established by the Director of Football, the coach leaving not meaning wholesale changes in the club, developing players, a well run business side of the club, these are all the right thing to do.

What is obvious to even the most myopic person is that the execution of it has been an absolute car crash. Everything about City from the very bottom to the top is Edin’s, there are very connections to before he arrived. Succeed or fail it’s down to him.