Promotion prospects

Bet we would do better moth balling VP for a year and playing up at Odsal !. Rubbish tip of a ground no one would want to play there including us or watch including us. 8-10 thousand crowds real Dog n Duck League 2 stuff . We catch everyone out who thought they would have their "Day Out" at Valley Parwembley and smash this crapp house season to smithereens. Then we like it that much up in Bradford South we stick with and rebuild the club in a super stadium fit for Grand Prix Speedway !.

 

After watching the play off final between Newport and Tranmere I’d say we have a good chance. Awful awful standard.

 

Take it you are too young to have watched us at Odsal after the fire.

Depressing cold and wet venue that I for one would give a miss, if your ridiculous suggestion materialised.

Are you going for the world record of Wind ups in a day today by the way?

 

Can you imagine the landlords face at the top House when he is asked to put 100 barstaff on.... Lol

 

Clues in the name 74 I came in and yes I was there through it all. I can put up with Odsal because I practically lived there when Speedway was on ! Over two eras 70-75 and 85-97. I know the Big O right enough but not because of the Drugby ..

 

Odsal is a shit hole that should have been filled in decades ago.
I’d never go back there unless it was to a brand new stadium with modern facilities.

 

You snob

 

As you said in the above, way too soon to make my judgment. If I was basing it on the current squad, I’d choose the 4th option (top15), as I think we’ll finish around 11th/12th.

But if we can get rid of 4-5 players and bring in 8-10 quality additions, I’d go as far as saying the first option (top3). As we don’t know if that’s the case or which 8-10 players they will be, I’m afraid I can’t give you a definitive answer yet. Come back and ask again in August

 

Bang on.

We need to start well to build momentum. Recreate the atmosphere we had during the Parky era and teams will be intimidated. We know the jury will be out for the first few home games, so it’s imperative that we as fans, don’t drag last seasons negativity into the new season. We can’t afford to start slowly or we may never recover, just like we did last season.

 

Too True
The fans will respond to a team on the pitch that put the effort in/take pride in the shirt regardless of the level of skill something sadly missing last season
It is imperative we get rid of the "deadwood" which is where Mr Rupp needs to keep to
his utterings of funding the club out of trouble
Also essential is the acquiring of new players I hope GB has one eye on a team to maintain L1 status as well as a promotion winning side
This summer will very much determine the future of our club we will know by the end of July what sort of a season it will be. Bradford City now have a potential fan base instead of an actual fan base
Thanks Mr Rahic. !!!!!!!

 

Speedway is an irrelevance, Odsal will always be famous for its rugby roots. I watched Rugby there since the late eighties, the glory years of the bulls was the greatest sporting era this city has had, it was a pleasure to watch games with a great atmosphere as the stadium's unique shape leant itself to a fantastic game day experience for the family. Football in the eighties up there was a completely different story. It wasn't a family friendly sport then and football fans act differently to rugby fans, in this case the stadium wasn't fit for purpose.
Valley Parade is fine for what we need but there will come a time when a new stadium will be needed, could be twenty years down the line who knows. But financially moving forward the city needs a modern sporting facility fit for the purpose of hosting multi sporting disciplines under one roof and i'm not sure there are any alternatives to Odsal.

 

I keep reading this bullshit about L2 being on par to the Dog n Duck, but it’s just crap. Let’s look at it from just recent seasons;

2016/17
Portsmouth, Plymouth, Doncaster and Blackpool all gained promotion. The following season those teams finished 8th, 7th, 15th and 12th in League1. We finished 11th.

2017/18
Accrington, Luton, Wycombe and Coventry all gained promotion. The following season those teams finished 14th, 1st, 6th and 10th in League1. We finished 24th (rock bottom).

Even in the cup competitions, we have played the following in recent seasons;

2016/17
League Cup - drew 0-0 with Accrington and lost on pens. We finished that season at Wembley after coming 5th in L1 whilst they finished 13th in L2

FA Cup - this time we lost 2-1 at home to Accrington in rd1

2017/18
League Cup - lost 3-2 at home to Doncaster. Both sides were in L1 at the time after their promotion the previous season.

FA Cup - lost 2-0 away to L2 Yeovil in rd3. They went on to finish 19th in League2.

2018/19
League Cup - lost on penalties to Macclesfield. They finished the season just escaping relegation to the Conference by 1 place and 3pts.

FA Cup - we beat Aldershot on pens after a replay. They’re a Non-league side.

Now I know none of this proves anything and that stats can be portrayed however the writer wants, but I think they show that there’s not a massive difference between L1 and L2. Finishing bottom (by some margin) in L1 will mean some turnaround just to get mid table in L2, let alone fighting for top3

 

Nonsense!!
We beat Chelsea, Arsenal , villa, Sunderland, Leeds.
Does that automatically mean those teams would struggle in league 1 and 2 over an entire season?

Absolute rubbish! We should be smashing league 2 as champions or at the very minimum a top 3 finish. Anything less is failure of the management.

 

I did say it’s not an exact science, but it isn’t rubbish.

Let’s ignore the cup then and focus on the season as a whole, rather than one-off knock out competitions. You seem to have deliberately ignored the data relating to league promotions.

If you think we will be “smashing League2 as champions”, you’re going to be massively disappointed. Personally, I think you’re deluded if you really believe this

 

You’re data on how promoted teams fair in a league above is irrelevant.
Let’s focus on how teams relegated from championship to league 1 and league1 to league 2 fair.
I’m not gonna scour the stats but off the top of my head I can name the following who’ve bounced back immediately or within 2 seasons.
From league 1 to championship.
Millwall
Barnsley
Sheffield United
Wigan
Bolton
Blackburn
Norwich
Southampton
Leeds
Rotherham

From league 2 to league 1
Pompey
Huddersfield
Plymouth
Doncaster
Blackpool
Bury
MK Dons
Coventry

There’s probably many more so I ask you why you think we’re any different and why you believe we are not better equipped than those teams listed to bounce straight back.

 

The gulf between League1 and the Championship is massive, so not going to even respond to that. But yes, let’s look at relegated teams.

2015/16- Doncaster, Blackpool, Colchester and Crewe got relegated. Only Doncaster gained auto promotion, with Blackpool also going up via the play-offs (25% auto promoted back)

2016/17- Chesterfield, Coventry, Swindon and Port Vale got relegated. No sides gained auto promotion, but Coventry did get promotion via the POs (0% auto promoted back)

2017/18- Bury, MKDons, Northampton and Oldham got relegated. This season saw 2 of those sides auto-promoted back the following season (50%).

Not as easy as you claimed though, eh? And how many of those relegated sides “smashed the league” the following season?

In fact, since 2012/13 (last 6 comparable seasons), how many sides finishing bottom of L1 have gained auto-promotion the following season? I’ll give you a clue, it’s less than 1. In fact, of those sides relegated to L2 after finishing bottom, how many got promoted the following season? I’ll give you another clue, it’s the same answer as above....!

Still think we should be “smashing” League2 next season?

 

Many of the teams relegated from league 1 are either in financial or boardroom disarray but many of them still manage to bounce back.
Ie. Blackpool, Coventry and Bury.

When we were relegated back in 2008 we were in administration and were operating on a shoestring.

We finished bottom of last season because of mistakes made at boardroom level. I think those mistakes are unlikely to occur again so yes I still think we should smash league 2.

 

Rugby League brought the game into the 21st century when they started summer Rugby,