Most liked posts in thread: Something Is Rotten In The State Of Bradford City

Might be a long shot but I'll throw my hat into the ring - I am currently an FA Level 2 Football Coach and due to start my UEFA B Licence later this spring. I have been in the Woking area for 20 years now and got to know a network of people in the lower leagues down here so would be happy to scout and promote our club south of London. My first match was 1976 and my love for City has been there ever since - if its all about building bridges then the best people to help do this are the fans who have the club at heart and its best interests as their primary aim.
If we can get the right manager and CEO in and let them know they have a fan base with skill sets to support them in achieving our mutual goals - be it ex players, long term benefactors and new ones, and just die hard fans (the like of which are on this and other sites)
The key is obviously finding the right owner for the club - and I would not rule out SR just yet as one or two appear to be doing. There is no hiding the fact that there is much work to do but I refuse to see my club as the 'basket case' it is currently turning into.
If nothing else that has made me feel a bit better on this miserable Sunday lunchtime!

 

The first step is to appoint a manager for the future not only now, Let him bring in a whole new team round him and get rid of the present coach, Let him assess the players over the next 2 months and finance those he wants out of the club while backing him with a suitable wage budget to build his own squad, Slowly we will come through this if we take the right decisions now

 

The only remedy for our current malaise is further significant funding to rid ourselves of a large section of the squad and provide decent resources to pay for better players of the right attitude and in the right positions.

Whether Rupp will dig deeper is the big issue for me after what he has said about us deserving better and implying that he would not bale on us.

If Rupp won't throw the required additional money at us he needs to find a buyer or investor who will. The alternative is that we are in real danger of plunging straight through league 2 next season with what we've got, regardless of who the manager is.

 

If you accept this it kind of takes away the anger to an extent. But we as fans need to know our aims and until we are down no one knows what we are planning for. The season ticket deadline needs to move for a start.
The problem with all this is the protagonist has gone and we are still looking at individuals to aim our ire at. No individual player is responsible for this mess, its a culmination of goodness knows how many mistakes by one man. The natural conclusion to this debacle is relegation, it could have happened to any club that the German halfwit chose, unfortunately it was us.
The hard part is getting out of your head that the last 5 years hard work before the Germans has been for nothing. Every bit of that progress has gone and we have nothing tangible to show for it. Back to what we've spent most of our history doing, bouncing between the bottom two divisions.

 

Disagree its anywhere near 90%. I have been going since 1979 and I mostly have good memories of following city.
1982 promotion 1985 promotion 1988 nearly promotion 1996 promotion 1998 promotion 2013 promotion
4 wembley visits
1 major cup final
Sure there were some dodgy years with relegation and administrations but to say its been rotten for 90% of the time is way off the mark for me, well certainly in my time following the club anyway.

 

Associate Directors was a former title. It was changed by Edin to 'Ambassadors'.

It costs £3,395 + Vat for the privilege of match day hospitality and parking spot. You can double that if you want to go away as well. That's a hefty commitment if you bring your partners as a number of people do.

It was a great idea introduced by Mark Lawn who quite rightly didn't want any freeloading 'hangers on'. People had to pay for an association with the club. The collective amount generated is equivalent to a sizeable stand sponsorship and generates much-needed revenue.

It's not a closed shop. Anybody is welcome to apply. In fact, we will be inviting two people to join for next season shortly.

Most Ambassadors run their businesses full time but also help out where they can with the club. Roger and I spend more time because we've sold or retired from our businesses. I'll be there for four days this week. The day I'm away will also be related to City.

 

Beat me to it @StaffordBantam I have just sent this text to someone who took time out to watch that shower yesterday at Portsmouth :

Our defending was Sunday morning stuff, even accepting Edin was responsible for a lot of whats happened with regards our club but he cant be held responsible for resent team performances.
There is something running through our club that is toxic if a seasoned pro like Hopkin could not sort it
I'm not giving up just yet but we need an appointment asap to give him and us a chance there are still 33 points to pay for.

 

Sounds like what we need is an exorcism.

 

Spot on.

Right now, I've no intention of renewing, because I have no belief in us as a club. But I want to renew - I want to have a real reason for renewing.

We need a complete reset. A proper Chief Operating Officer. A good manager and team around him. And a massive overhaul of the squad. And that's going to cost. Unless there's sufficient funding, this club will continue to plummet.

I want to see the intent of Rupp to start putting this right, properly. And only then will I put my money and time into going next season. And I suspect that the club will have to extend its pricing deal for STs.

We're at a crossroads. Either we rebuild seriously or we die. There can't be half measures. Revenue will go down, our costs will be inflated and we need a quick return from League 2.

Take this seriously and pay the price - literally - and fans might just be re-engaged when emotions calm down. But it's a hell of a repair job.

 

JR needs to push season ticket sales with a tag along the lines of "sell 15000 and we pay them all off"

 

There is a bigger picture in all this. Economically Bradford has been dying for a long time and the consequences of that are there for all to see. The middle classes have more or less deserted the city and this has a big impact on its sporting life, and much else besides. Not only are City and the Bulls struggling but also every other sporting club in the city. Take a look at the fortunes of our rugby teams in the district and you see a similar picture. Bradford is not alone in this, but the phenomenon is particularly strong here. There are no more silk hats on Bradford millionaires. Across the country there is a broader pattern of sporting success gravitating to the south, the south Lancashire area excepted. There are individual exceptions, of course, and the Lancashire sporting endeavours continue to buck this trend, but overall the picture is plain to see. The only hope for places like Bradford is for some foreign multi-millonaire to come in (eg Blackburn) or some local lad made good to pump his millions into the club (eg Wigan or Blackburn again). Neither are on the horizon. I have an acquaintance who is a Bradford businessman and a City supporter. He is worth many, many millions of pounds. As far as I am aware he has never considered putting any money into City. I'll see him again shortly and I'll put it to him.

When the Germans came in I wondered if they would be our white knights, but I soon had my doubts and they were far worse than I had ever imagined. So, without any external investment we are doomed, as we've always been, apart from the crazy madness of Richmond, to mucking about in the lower two divisions. I don't think we'll go out of business next year, but I can't see, at the moment, how we'll be competitive, unless something unforeseen happens.

But then again, it's been like that for almost all the time I've supported City. And so I still do.

 

Scary prospect!! I still think the right manager will be able to get more out of Akpan, Wood, and Mellor - and possibly another 4 or 5 of that list but there are also a number I would be happy never to see in a City shirt again

 

Were all gutted with our players poor performances this season but you sound like you've given up on our season @trevor ?..
There aren't many positives we can take so far from the current season but until we need 4 point and only have Wimbledon at home on 4th May I'll still hold out hope that these players and our new manager can get enough points to keep us in league one, then he sits down with Julian (if hes still here) and Stefan and voices what he needs to turn the club around the coming season.

 

Pick the right manager and it will get sorted out over a season or two.

This appointment is crucial and can not be for the short term. The manager will bring with them a structure and if we believe in it and invest in it where we can then the club will turn around.

We have to stop these “quick fix” managers who are not in it for the long term. It’s the reason our squad is the way it is. It’s been assembled by nearly 5 different people now.

Get the right manager and the rest will follow

 

To add, I'm accepting that a whole load of patience is going to be required. I'm accepting that a whole load of frustration will be endured. I'm accepting that I will doubt and question the actions of the club. I'm accepting that change will take time. I'm accepting that next season will be about stabilising the club.

But this is the here and now. I will presumably ramble on in the future and forget my statement of today.

This is gonna take time. I'll back the club next season and purchase a season ticket for me and the lad, accepting we are in league 2.

 

In the shorter term yes it may benefit the club financially to go down, but if we ended up languishing in League 2 for years then we would lose far more in the longer term.

 

Your last paragraph is a good point. I accept that period has gone now, and whilst it was bloody ace ( in the main), I feel the yo-yo times may well be back. Been through it before, Tordoff, Simpson, Richmond and yep, Rhodes.

But feck it. Its not the end of the world. I'll be still getting giddy when we score that last minute winner against Newport on a cold wet winters night.......