From December, 2007
Colin Todd went from Bradford City to manage Randers FC and complains about clubs - all keen to unearth the new Paul Jewell - go for younger managers rather than bringing in experienced gaffers.
Todd’s time at Bradford City is not well viewed but the former City boss would point to the club’s slump to League Two on his exit as proof of what a good job he was doing rather than a suggestion that he had been underachieving.
Indeed it would be hard to argue that City are a better team post-Todd although very few are not much more happy to see Stuart McCall in the dug out rather than Todd.
In a week where English managers have been founding wanting by the FA Todd’s example of going aboard to further his career is a revealing one. After his team’s 2-0 defeat by Everton yesterday Alan Curbishley bemoaned the inability for an English manager to get a job at a club that can offer Champions League experience.
Curbishley jumped ship from Charlton and ended up at West Ham just as Sam Allardyce went to Newcastle United with the idea that excelling there could get the fourth place in the Premiership that while previously a could do better season is now bigger than the FA Cup.
There managers could take a look at Todd’s example and set there sights away from these shores. Should Curbs set his sights further than the other side of that London and looked at jobs in places like Denmark, Portugal or France or even the Charltons of Italy and Spain then he and his peers could have returned to England a few years down the line with more varied experience than a decade at a sturdy, steady football league club.
Take a manager like Sven-Göran Eriksson who moved from Sweden after winning a double with IFK Göteborg onto a more respected league Portugal - and taking another double with Benfica before heading off to Italy and picking up another double and an armful of other titles and then - eventually - the England job, Jingoism aside it is no wonder that overseas managers are getting the better jobs in British football - they are prepared to take a few risks to further their career rather than sitting at The Reebok or The Valley until the blindingly obvious becomes apparent. Paul Jewell and Martin O’Niell take career risks for progression but even they do not think that the way to get a job at one of the clubs that plays European football is to manage a continental European club.
With risks comes failure - take a look at the Chris Hutchings style sackings on Rafa Beneitz’s CV before he got it right and got rewarded - but setting off the risk is the rewards of success.
Colin Todd will probably not be offered the England job but a good display with Randers could see him move about the Danish league and further around Europe augmenting his CV much more than a few more years battling the reducing budget at Valley Parade ever did.
Paul Jewell has ended up at Derby. Lens, Auxerre, PSG and Metz are four of the bottom five of the French league and a survival great escape in that League would be much more of a feather in the cap than even doing the same at Pride Park.
It would seem that in being banish to Denmark Colin Todd has fallen on a way to push his career back on track far better than jobbing around the lower leagues of English football.
Stuart McCall tells us not to get too excited at the prospect of Willy Topp coming to Bradford City - like his insistence that the Chilean be called Billy not Willy one can expect his words to fall on deaf ears.
Topp is expected to feature on the bench for the League Two game with Rotherham United - the very typification of a dour would be derby game - and for the time he cools his heels to the second he strikes in anger in claret and amber the thoughts of all will be on this latests great white hope.
Topp follows a path along the decline of this club that started with Benito Carbone who promised the abilities that club needed - in the case of Topp and Staurt McCall’s Bradford City those abilities are obviously needed - but for a multitude of reasons were not delivered upon. Topp would do well to follow Carbone’s example - the little Italian gave his all for City every game - rather than the path of Juanjo.
For Topp and Juanjo - Jim Jefferies perfect playmaker - are aligned. Both come into teams that lack inspiration and both are looked on to turn around the fortunes of the club. Such big aspirations on small shoulders Topp - like Juanjo - cannot make a team no matter how well he plays.
And it is oft forgot that for every wretched performance the Spaniard put in his offered moments of impressiveness - his debut winning goal springs to mind - that showed that when he wanted to, he could.
Had he wanted to for Nicky Law then Juanjo could have changed the path of Bradford City. Law’s meat and spuds variety of football was always going to isolate the tricky former Hearts man but more dedication could have seen him win over supporters and managers and - assuming his flashes could be turned into performances - provide the excitement that was lacking from that City team.
Topp comes into the same situation. City are trundling along and one can imagine that the 12,000 on the trundle are waiting for something to make noise about, something to get excited about. Topp - regardless of McCall’s insistence - carries that weight.
One hopes he carries it well, or at least better than others have.
Chesterfield 1 Bradford City 1 - League Two 2007/2008
It rained at Chesterfield and then it rained some more and without a doubt the pitch was unplayable but this is League Two and no one really cares about anything except the blood and the thunder and City set out with Paul Evans in the midfield alongside Nicky Law so we were always going to get some of that but for all the fight in the middle pair the home side had the ball for most of the game or what we could see of the ball that was a brown lump of mud being thudded from one side of the pitch to another and it lacked class but I discovered that Lee Richardson the gaffer of the team that put us down last year was gutted to not win the game but admitted they didn’t deserve to and that is true cause the Bantams are starting to build stern stuff with Joe Colbeck back and running down the right and Omar Daley up front so everything as more secure but I’m never sure why Stuart McCall puts a fast lad up front and I can’t remember us ever out pacing a defence but there is no defence for Kevin Gray today because I still remember the fury and the violence of that tackle he did on Gordon Watson and for a bit my mind wanders back to that day and how exciting Chris Kamara’s Bradford City were before McCall arrived and turned passion into pride and steeled the team for promotion which looked unlikely today when Chesterfield got away at first and scored but the Bantams slogged through mud and Kyle Nix came good in the second half and that was that and both these teams are said to lack consistency but like the rattling prose of this page the only thing constant today was the driving, smacking, wetness of the rain.