Match Thread Stockport County vs Bradford City Tues 24 January @ 7.45pm

Good form or not, and I still accept Stockport are a ‘proper club’, but Christ it’s bad when people are talking about being happy with a draw in league two.
Current situation yes, but it says a heck of a lot about our current situation.
Expectations and standards are still low and accepting of mediocrity.
Should be going there looking for nothing less than a win!

 

The trouble is our “ current “ situation is our norm and has been for probably more than 90% of our history big crowds and ambitious fans can’t change that. We all want better but at the moment Stockport are a good league 2 team and will take some beating

 

Are you saying in our history, we have been in the khazi league for more than 90% of our time?

Now I can't be arsed doing the maths but that is so wrong.

 

I’m not bothering to check but I’d say it’s more like 35-40% of time spent in the 4th division.

 

Just feels like 90%?

 

As far as i remember we've spent the majority of our history in the bottom two divisions with the most being in the bottom one.

 

If I’m honest I find it all irrelevant what’s happened in our history and some what defeatist, you can’t change the past but you can effect the future. I bet our time spent in the top two flights isn’t much different than a Bournemouth or Brentford, they don’t seem to have our inferiority complex however.

 

Stockport half time/City full time is a massive 41/1 on Bet365. I’ve stuck a whole fiver on it.

 

76 games in PL
1224 in Championship & old Div 2

 

Its more relevant than you think, its part of who you are. Now there's no reason you can't change that history but that usually involves owners with bucket loads of cash and a game plan. Something only Geoffrey Richmond has had in my 40+ years of watching us. And in that 40+ years i can only remember us three times ever looking like a team with grandeurs of automatic promotion, that in 85 (when we were champions), in 87/88 when we should have gone up and in 97/98 when we went up automatically. Effectively, take out BFGs roller coaster ride and we are what we are, a lower league journeyman.

 

I added them up a few months ago and i think the bottom division was top by about 2 or 3 seasons. Mitigating reasons for that i guess, didn't help having 2 teams in the city for most of that time.

 

With regards to people absolutely, but businesses like football clubs not for me. You only have to look at how the likes of Amazon were at the start of their history to know how far separated a business can become.

But as you say in the 21st Century without a rich backer it’s never going to happen again.

 

RT you’ve triggered this comment but the answer not aimed at you.
We’ve got one argument that we ignore Stockports past, then on another we’ve got we have to cling on to City’s past when managing our expectations.
I’m not fussed about all that. The majority of the time I’ve supported City (1987) we’ve been in the bottom two leagues.
But this year, now, we’ve got one of the biggest budgets, definitely the biggest crowds, accordingly we should have the biggest sponsorship deals and absolutely we have one of the top two or three squads in the division.
Yes, my expectations are far more than what we’re achieving now. We’re underachieving today, I’m not bothered about the past.

 

We won a major trophy nearly 60 years before or neighbours, it’s lucky Don Revie didn’t submit to Leeds’ history or they’d be scratching around playing us most years not Man United. They even changed their identity moving to playing in white. In football things change, formations, playing styles, clubs divisions. One thing that never changes is this club which isn’t a compliment. RT is correct though in that you need someone to be a driving force behind the change, in the 60s and 70s it were managers but now owners and cash mean everything.

 

I don't disagree with any of this. I was only thinking the other day why can't we be this years Plymouth or Stevenage or Burnley or Leyton Orient? And to some extent it annoys me knowing that yet again in the bottom division we still can't seem to dominate a season to an extent where it feels like we should be in the top two. But then as Bradford fan i've kinda come to expect that, apart from the crazy Richmond years, this city is destined to have a football club that mirrors the city itself. And that being a club with no real ambition.

 

My 5p per kWh ended , now on 8p but still cheap as chips.

 

I'm not sure where we stand exactly in terms of spend, but I do believe wholeheartedly we're spending enough to get promoted.

What we don't have is a base level of consistency, or a long term footballing identity, and those are major issues currently hampering us whether we like it or not.

Every time I ask myself why Bradford City isn't top two, the only answer is this:

We're suffering a perennial hangover due to chronic mismanagement of issues both on and off the field.

It took Phil Parkinson to come in and show this club how to run itself even under Lawn and Rhodes, who most fans will probably now feel did a solid job running this club as a pair.

We're all hoping it takes Mark Hughes to come in, now, and do the same - and maybe we're witnessing him transform this club into a competitive one not just in League Two, but with the capability to perform in League One as well when we get there.

I believe that's happening, but just like under Phil, it's not easy when the people running the club leave someone like Hughes with the dregs of a poorly-conceived Derek Adams side, which in turn was inappropriately built on the back of a Stuart McCall/Trueman & Sellars side, which in turn was inappropriately built on the back of a Gary Bower side.

If we'd had an appropriate manager in place before Hughes, playing a similar (if ultimately unsuccessful) style of football, and we'd needed fewer signings in the Summer, then I genuinely believe we could be top three right now. But the chronic pressing of the panic button by Sparks, combined with the complete dismantling & rebuilding of our entire squad every season is a recipe for disaster.

But, here we are, Hughes has just under a year in charge, we've got a respectable win percentage of around 40 % under him, and we're still clearly building a team (hence 4 or 5 signings already this window).

What matters more than budgets, sponsors, crowds, and expectations is reality, and the reality is, we're about three quarters of the way to having a quality League Two side consisting of young(ish) players who can potentially play a level above.

Three-quarters of the way there.

It's frustrating, but for God's sake, no more panic buttons, no more rebuilds, no sackings, and even if we don't finish in the top seven, let's give it another bloody go next year with a bit of god damn consistency. If Hughes leaves, he leaves us with a philosophy of playing 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3, and with only minimal changes needed. A major fear has to be that we finally start getting things sorted, but because we're not in League One come 23/24, we're hiring another Derek Adams-type and starting from scratch again with absolutely nothing to show for it except an ever-increasing sense of frustration because despite being the biggest fish in the pond, we haven't learned how to bloody well swim.

 

Thank you Paul Hudson

 

There's a split between history in general, and our own little part of it, and that skews our perceptions. There may still be a centenarian around who remembers our Div. 2 days in the 1920s, maybe even one who was born when we were still in Div. 1 then, but overall we who are alive today have been living in a time of a 3rd- and 4th-tier club.

History of the club: Matches played in the divisions, as of today (total 4755):

Div. 1: 468 (9.8%)
Div. 2: 1224 (25.7%)
Div. 3N: 704 (14.8%) \ 3rd tier together 1854 (39%)
Div. 3: 1150 (24.2%) /
Div. 4: 1209 (25.4%)

But it's a different picture if we switch to a personal history. Mine, in this case -- I was born right after the 62/3 season ended, so I'll begin with season 63/4:

Matches played starting with 63/4 season, as of today (total 2704):

Div.1: 76 (2.8%)
Div. 2: 496 (18.3%)
Div. 3: 1012 (37.4%)
Div. 4: 1120 (41.4%)

RCB

 

Cheers @River_City_Bantam , kind of echoes what I was thinking. If we go from 1960, then it won’t be much different percentage wise but, it’s Bradford City and I would watch them in any division. Yes, it would be great for them to be rock steady championship stuff but my affection for the club is not dependent on league or status. Cue young Fordy imploring me to show some ambition. Right, time for more wine!