The Voice - Match preview Most liked posts in thread: Harrogate Town vs Bradford City 23rd March 2024 1:00pm

I’m actually ashamed of the players today, I remember some really crap days in the 4th division in the 70s but the players gave everything in those days. This lot are a spineless group who don’t give a toss, I am in despair this afternoon.

 

Anyone else at the 'not caring' stage? Just feel like I have zero affiliation with thus club at the minute.

 

Well so much for this week. Fly 4000 miles and see 3 losses. Observations on today; their #17 looked like a bit of a player. Leading one City fan to shout at him “come back Levi”. But seriously, he was winning everything in the midfield. All seemingly built on his “all heart, no talent” status. We were awful all over the field, even the the City fans just seemed resigned to the outcome and were relatively lacking in the kind of anger I would have expected. As for the manager, not much to say that hasn’t already been said. C.E.O really needs to go. Sorry but it is clear that the footballing side of the club has gone backwards under his stewardship. Anyway, I should be back in October, hopefully watching a team that can get us all excited and optimistic. See you in a few months.

 

Harrogate are currently 13th and were below us before our recent losing streak, let’s not pretend that our former players are suddenly world beaters off the back of smacking our spineless lot about.

We were right to get rid of everyone of those players on display yesterday, where we were wrong was the replacements. We should be aiming for far better than the 22 that were on the pitch yesterday, Harrogate also have lost more at home than us so I bet most of the time they have as much bottle as our lot.

It’s no coincidence that former players raise their game against us, but also have the same character flaws this lot do, Parky used to put a lot of emphasis on a player’s character and our last successful team had his spine still in tact. Ever since we’ve struggled.

 

Well I didn't think I could be any more pissed off, then I started listening to the fans phone in bit after the game.

That utter weapon who was the second caller, absolving Rupp and Sparks and even stating that Rupp was 'investing in the club'. Which Kiwomya then agreed with.

Utter, utter nonsense. You can't fix a problem unless you identify what the problem is.

 

Alexander is a disgrace. His football is so mind numbingly boring, lacking in any sort of quality and worst of all, just plain stupid. What sort of idiot sets up a team to play hoofball in those conditions today? I mean seriously.

He is not THE problem at this club obviously but he sure is A problem that needs dealing with. He cannot be in charge next season.

 

Say what you like about Andy K, but he is a genuine fan and you can feel his hurt and despondency.

 

I will never stop supporting this wonderful club but as it stands I really don't want to put another penny into the club coffers while either Rupp or Sparks are here.

 

Just switched on the Stockport vs MK Dons games. A win takes MK Dons into third. Alexander had them in 18th. Cheers, Sparks.

 

GA rates Smallwood! Do you trust him to rebuild?

Our midfield is so slow!

Until Sparks goes I don’t trust anyone.

 

There's one just been on the city vent twitter space who pretty much said the same. I'm not sure I can take anymore of the utter cretins that infiltrate our fan base as they clearly have no idea about football. Why should I waste my time supporting a club that has these folk amongst us?

 

Interesting stat after today's game. Since Harrogates first promotion to the football league in 2020, we have played them 9 times. The record?
Won 2
Drawn 1
Lost 6.

Just let that sink in because this sums up what we are. A bang average at best league 2 side.

 

Well, got here last Saturday, train in from Manchester Airport 2 City fans got on in Manchester. Spoke to 1 of them getting into interchange. He wasn’t too confident about Mansfield game but I mentioned we seemed to play better against good teams. Right… that turned out ok. Then a whupping on Tuesday. Managed to get ticket from ticket office for this one. Hoping to see a win before i go back. Oh, and a new ground for me too. It’s the hope and all that but our away form makes me think it might happen.

 

I've seen some bad periods throughout the 40+ years I've been watching City and this is right up there. There has to be change or this club could cease to exist as we know it due to lack of finance, huge drop off of fans etc. All the good work Parkinson did to turn this club around has been undone to a point where we are a laughing stock around the clubs, some opposition fans even posting comment feelings sorry for us.

 

It's not the losing I'm concerned with, you can play well, be unlucky and lose. It's the nature of the defeats, no fight, no skill, no organisation, no creativity, players looking like they're already mentally off to somewhere nice for their holidays, that's what's worrying.

I fully expected a strong end to the season, get the supporters buoyant and even if they missed out on the play-offs, perhaps looking like something more positive could be built for the next season. Currently, the club looks like it's in an absolute mess.

It's not just about the manager, this is cumulative mismanagement from the very top down. Rupp for not giving a flying feck, Sparks for being massively out of his depth, Gent for looking like the identification and acquisition of footballers is a job he shouldn't be anywhere near doing, if it's a club that wants to be successful. Removing Rupp looks unlikely, but Sparks and Gent should be removed from their jobs ASAP. To be honest, would any other business with a turnover in the millions every year give the job to an absolute novice like Sparks? I seriously doubt it, unless nepotism was involved.

 

We are now at an all time low. Relegation next season if we do nothing. GA cannot inspire these players. I am not happy at all that we are now having to contemplate sacking another manager, anger doesn’t even describe what I am feeling this afternoon. I am upset and just feel I can’t watch another match. I have lost all confidence in the Board who clearly aren’t looking at the dismal display on the pitch.

 

There are still some who clearly do not see the problem, then quote something badly wrong to try and justify their point. Some of us have banged on about the real problem at this club for a long time. Sick of seeing some saying 'but who would you bring in then' like we have a magic wand to bring a new owner in. We are part way through the same journey the likes of Oldham, Coventry, Scunthorpe etc have been on. We aren't as far down the road as some of those had to go but make no mistake we are some way down it. All this talk about sustainability only works if your club is going in the right direction, we are completely in the opposite direction.

 

It was a bad appointment at the time.

Yet another problem with our desperate situation is that no decent manager will touch this job, unless there's a regime change.

 

Ridealgh ahead of Kelly was enough to be seriously challenged on selection.

However for the period of the game I watched today, and has been all season, we have no identity to our set up. No passages of play. Players out of position and most concerning in the past 4 games, we are so so so easy to play against. We look completely clueless and regardless of squad availability etc, that has to be down to GA.

He sounds completely lost and defeated in this interview. I don’t want him out, won’t achieve anything, but based on this performance he desperately needs help from other sources within the club and Rupp has to address this.