O'Connor throws armband in net...

Our reluctance or inability to strengthen the team properly in January is bemusing. In fact, our January business is starting to look almost as bad as the summers.

 

We have had the same discussions over Chicksen. Granted I only saw very brief highlights of Saturdays game but I didn't see lack of effort from O'Connor. He's just not a very good centre half. That said his goals, and goal line clearances, have probably earned us a good few points this season

 

The problem at centre back was of the ex managers making, Football teams work on pairings, A good forward pairing getting goals, A centre midfield pairing controlling the game and most important a centre back pairing stopping the goals, It was and has been for some time obvious that O'Connor and NKP were not working together and a poor pairing and as such may have been ok individually but they were not as a pairing working together, Only a poor manager would not have seen and corrected this.

 

Nailed it!

and this DOES make it Edin's fault again, he pushed out our player of the year last season Kilgallon, the man just made horrific decision after horrific decision..

its obvious we need a full clear out! and start from scratch, what a mess

 

Nah can't blame Edin for that.

100% Hopkins fault. 100%.

Hopkin was allowed to bring in players and decided to bring in mainly midfielders. The CB he brought in was a player that can't get into a youthful L**ds team that he doesn't rate. Plus he allowed a defender to leave the the club in the Jan transfer window.

It been clear to the watchful eye for months for O'Connor is a liability to Bradford City and should never of been made captain.

 

Don’t agree, the mainstay of any squad is the recruitment in the summer. I cannot believe DH would have brought in midfielder if there were decent defenders available at the right price. The right price was set by Stefan.

 

Butterfield isn't cheap mate.

Did we really need to resign Payne if we were signing Clarke?

Managers decisions not the owners.

 

From my understanding Clarke was a last minute acquisition, so he was probably thinking next season rather than this. Well he probably thought Butterfield would be a upgrade on midfielders we had, and once again thinking next season when the loan players go back.

Fans keep asking why DH didn’t bring in the required players. Well you want to exonerate Rahic, I think in good time we will find out his bookkeeping skills were non existent and has overspent. I strongly suspect the final total of his overspending will be eyewatering. So although it is extremely frustrating for everyone connected with City, we cannot properly evaluate the damage done until the end of the season, so for 1 do not blame Rupp for being cautious until this lot has all unravelled.

 

Butterfield is on an approximate 30k a week mate. We're not signing him next season.

Clarke signed on a 6 month contract. If planned for next season then his contract length would of been longer.

Sorry not having it mate. So no defenders, wingers, forwards available- rubbish. Hopkin messed up.

 

Butterfield signing was mind boggling on the basis we could have kept JOB who was playing perfectly well for much, much less and spent where needed. Clarke pointless signing apart from he's probably a decent influence in the dressing room. Paudie - can't get in ahead of our other crap CBs.
Stuart's signings at Scunny would probably have been ideal for us - Hammil, Webster and Van Veen.

 

Well we will have to agree to disagree. None of the January incoming has been give anything longer than end of season, not even our new manager. Come on Fordy you can’t possibly think we are paying £30,000 a week for Butterfield, as I say he thought he was getting an upgrade on what we have. Butterfield will know if he wants to play for us, he can kiss goodbye to £30,000 a week.

There are plenty of the type of players we need, even in January, BUT we cannot afford at this stage, and here I am speculating, but we need to assess how much damage has been done at the end of the season. We don’t really know what league we will be in. That is why caution is the watch word atm. It is no surprise to me that Gary’s job is to assess the players we have, wheat and chaff exercise going on. Grayson did it last year, but the one who knows football binned it!

I know it is the modern modis operandi to just look at the here and now, and apportion blame to whatever they are looking at. In this situation you have to drill down and look at the evidence, including as @Dennis and @Rogered Tart have explained going back to the actual sale of the club three years ago. Assessing whether two German business men coming in cold to run our club on a shoe string was a feasible option? Julian and Mark run this club on a very tight reign but it also required football knowledge of how the English leagues are run and good football financial expertise.
Notice those two words ‘football finance’ it is that coupled with Rupp’s cash that is currently keeping us afloat. I know it might make your headache and it is much easier just to look at current evidence, but nothing happens in isolation.

Gary is looking at each individual file on the players, what is he doing that for you may ask? He is looking at the history of each player, then he is going to watch videos of our current team, then he is off to the dog kennel to watch out of team players. If he just watched videos, then he would be failing in his duty to complete a comprehensive assessment of each player.

 

You know for a fact that there was the funds in place to bring in the targets Hopkin wanted but he bizarrely decided no will not bother?
Isgrove was a target but we were out bid in terms of the wages seem to me to indicate he was also restricted by the amount he was given to spend and being unable to off load Wright, Riley and Patrick by loan or permanently did not help his cause.. This would have given more funds and flexibility to bring in amd compete for targets.
Rahic signed these no hopers on allegedly good wages - this has acted as a straight jacket on any manager.

 

I'd query what Butterfield is on though Briggus as it won't be peanuts - could that not have been spent on Isgrove

 

I'm still gutted we don't have Killa

he was brilliant.

 

It was quoted on here that we were paying 5% of Butterfields wages, so if the £30k is right we are paying approx £1500 per week

 

Its also been quoted that we are paying £8k a week.

 

WOW - I'd not heard that. That would be a shocker if we could afford that and yet lost out on targets in positions that needed strengthening.

 

BTW I'm not saying it's true

 

Does anyone actually have a quote re his wages rather than saying ‘it was quoted’?

 

Rahic dismantled the best defence we've had in years last season, 100% his fault.