The positive side of Bradford City

Right now, I've got nothing other than I get to spend time with my kids.

The football is akin to Colin Todd's and Peter Taylor's. I've only missed the Crawley game so far but I won't be there Saturday and definitely won't do Mansfield. I'm spending too long stood on terraces being bored and wishing I was elsewhere, especially for a 4 hour round trip like Saturday so it impacts most of your day.

I probably just need a rest but it's some home games and ifollow for me, at least in the short term as I just can't drum up enough interest to want to spend any more money on being let down.

Once I believe the players and manager aren't going at this half hearted is the only time I'll bother with away games again this year.

 

I maintain, this is a huge opportunity for the right owner, the right footballing leader at the club and the right manager. And for players too. We have the biggest home and away following, week after week, despite having to endure some of the least entertaining football in the league and year after year of failure. The fans - that's the positive. We have the foundation of a self-sustaining Championship club, we have a platform that should be a huge draw to attract loan players and provide a stern test in front of large crowds. We do seem to develop decent young players though they're sold before they get near the first team. The pitch is now spot on, the ground is excellent, the training facilities are fine. Commercially we should only continue to improve and I think there's a huge (missed) opportunity for digital content.

We should be a ripe target for a wealthy owner to come in, but you have to make it happen, and I don't think we have the capability at the club to that effect.

 

Haha, sorry pal, very short of positivity at the minute.

 

At the moment the positive side of things is we are only 4 matches in with only 1 played at home and we are 3 points of 7th so despite a horrific performance on Saturday there is plenty of time to get things right.

 

Work is going on behind the scenes which is encouraging and it's good to see the academy bearing fruit however the rest is all goodwill.

Up season tickets to proper prices and the adult uptake drops by 4,000 easily. Those teenagers and kids are paying £30 a year and are probably accompanied by full paying adults. Lose the adults and lose the kids and you are looking at crowds of half what they are now.

Crowds of half that, and suddenly all sponsorship and commercial deals lose value and income streams from them drop.

Half the crowds losing £1m and then lose of commercial turnover and any owner has a problem on their hands

 

Not a great deal for me to be honest, I probably tend to lean on the happy clapping side of the fence but I'm tired of been in this league and being rolled over by teams like Morecambe. The only highlight is I had a cracking weekend out with some friends I've not seen for a long time.

 

There is a lot to be positive about at City, certainly behind the scenes, and has others have said our young footballers are doing really well. However, it is at the business end we are failing.

 

Bobby Pointon, He is a bradford city supporter who I hope gets a start against crewe and then we the fans can see if the lad is good enough.

 

He showed touches in his cameo last weekend.

 

If I won the $1 billion jackpot on the US lottery (I think it was over a billion recently anyway), I might buy a football club, but it wouldn't be this one.

Far, far, far too toxic, far too demanding, far too impatient.

I'd probably invest in Harrogate Town or something, and I'm not being obtuse saying this, I genuinely wouldn't buy us even if I had Elon Musk money.

 

Completely disagree. There's little to no toxicity at all. It's tepid as an atmosphere on matchday's if anything. And I don't think our fans are any more demanding or impatient than others. We've had 23 years of abject failure and regression, permeated with 3 or 4 positive years under Parky. Fans are just worn down, let down, and in need of a team that they connect with. Give fans a hard working team that attacks games, and is entertaining in the context of the league we're in, and the fans will sing. The fact we're so lacking isn't down to the mindset of the fans, its down to a cycle of failure by those in charge. Just like the City as a whole.

 

I didn't say it was down to the mindset of the fans, what I said was, I personally wouldn't buy the club as I wouldn't want to be told I was useless every time we lost a game or had a poor season, and that would happen because football is difficult.

Buy a club like Harrogate and you're not going to get your car smashed or whatever happened to Mark Lawn, or abuse sent to your mobile like happened with Sparks, or threatened while you're playing a friendly overseas like Harry Lewis because someone made up an imaginary story about a transfer that never happened.

I've been to a few critical away games in my time, two at Carlisle, and I find our fan base a bit disgusting.

 

I think that element happens at all clubs. With larger fanbases, it happens more. I genuinely don't think its different elsewhere, though perhaps historically amateur clubs may be different in fairness.

 

Bigger fan bases create more idiots or do you think that clubs of the same size as City have Angel fans who don't say a thing ?????
Maybe the act like they do because they get that pissed to try and blank out what shite is about to be served up.

 

The positive for me is a £15 per month season ticket means I can choose not to go and not feel guilty.

Fifty years of watching, week in and week out, rearranged personal and family events to attend, and I've never felt so 'meh' at the start of a season.

 

For the first time in decades, I was sat with the home fans for a City away game a few weeks back. I've seen quite a few games from the same seat over the last couple of seasons and City fans were one of the loudest and most passionate set of supporters I've seen, even in the league above this one.

Yes, it wasn't a massive distance to travel and the weather was decent, but lots of City fans still made the effort. Even the locals I've got to know sitting in the same stand couldn't get their head around why a club the size of City languishes in the lowest league in English professional football.

 

Those types would be better stopping in the pub.

I never understood getting pissed at lunch time, but plenty seem to...