Monday 8th February, 20107 months ago
Stuart McCall’s exit from Bradford City confirmed
Bradford City have confirmed the exit of manager Stuart McCall from the club.
He is a man who has put everything into three spells at Bradford City and we have shared the rewards with him. I’m proud to say I cheered him as a young man in the claret and amber of the eighties and that ten years later I cheered him to the Premiership and into Europe. I’m proud to say that I stood behind him in his third spell where as manager things were not going as well as he hoped.
McCall leaves City and has options on his future. Do not be suprised if his coaching skills are requested at Rangers some time soon.
He gave everything, every time and that is all I’ve every asked for from anyone at the club at any level. I can put hand on heart and say that I did not desert him when success did. I wonder what the measure of a fan or a man is if it is not how he responds to bad times as well as good.
Early reports suggest that the Bantams are looking for short term management with a belief that the club is going neither up nor down in Valley Parade in a manner which is scarily reminiscent of the thinking that saw David Wetherall replace Colin Todd only to glide down a division.
Such talk defies logic. If the current City team is not good enough to make a fist of a promotion campaign with 19 games left then why unseat McCall? Not expecting results starting Saturday is a tacit statement that it is the players and not the management that is the problem and in that situation why work towards a change of management?
57 points are available and to justify the pursuit of a management change as is reported to have been common at City then three from every home and one from all away games is expected starting on Saturday against Grimsby Town.
Anything less than a full throated attempt at that puts a question mark over the motivations for the club allow McCall to leave.
The club’s new moves are very significant ones indeed.
Me, I’m waiting for the fourth coming.
Michael – thank you for finding the words I’ve been searching for and echoing my feelings.
So desperately unhappy that Stuart couldn’t make it work, but (as Jason Mckeown wrote yesterday) I’m just glad that the Legend didn’t have to suffer the same abuse that previous holders of the poisoned chalice have suffered.
Farewell for this chapter Stuart, thanks for your commitment and passion for the club and all the very best for the future.
Now, is there room in the fourth coming waiting room for a fat bloke?
Keep the faith
NSM
=;-)
Exactly my sentiment Michael. Whoever is next should be given longer than 4 months to wowk with the players. How the hell do we plan otherwise.
Sad day for City. Thanks Stuart, I for one felt your sorrow on the post match Radio Leeds interview. For the true City fans, you will be sorely missed. For the idiots who didnt back you then I hope you are happy – you have your wish.
We’d all obviously wish for Stuart to have the best of luck in whatever else he does now – let’s face it he deserves a bit of luck, as he never got it while watching us play sadly.
Hi – I think my comments are better here than the previous posts. I repeat them for ease…
I have been devastated by this news all weekend. It is so typical of Stuart McCall that he left with his dignity (mostly) intact – but I am so sad that his dignity was ever in question.
Here is a man who typified everything that has ever been good about our club – sure he had a terrific amount of talent but more than that he was proud, disciplined, down-to-earth and amazing ambassador for our club.
I saw his first game and his last. I saw him come off the field in tears after missing in the last minute against Oxford and potentially costing us the Premier League. He was the person I looked for that day at Wolves.
I watched him suffer through the fire, as so many did, and I saw how he responded with such amazing courage, stoicism and understanding.
I saw how he never criticised the fans even though some criticised him.
And more than anything as I watched the ups and the downs of our club over the 28 years since his debut I have known that he cares at least as much as I do. There aren’t many other players or managers that I could say that about.
There is a Stuart McCall sized hole in my club today and I am sad. Thanks Stuart and good luck.
I’ve read the club statement and I too am worried that the statement is about next season rather than the 57 points left to fight for in this current season. If we are not prepared to keep on the push for playoffs then what is the point of paying off one manager early and paying to bring in another to just sit there and take stock.
Talking of pay…how many football managers would not take all that they were entitled to (in fact significantly less) because of what is in the best interests of the Club. The Board have lost a great man in Stuart McCall and I think that by this time next year they will have come to realise it.
For those that have a copy of ‘The Real McCall’ take a look at page 184. Reading it now makes me so sad. However I’m going to keep the faith and wait for the ‘fourth coming’. Then page 184 really will come true!
Have to say a sad ending to it all.
I await a new man
I await the “This club is too big for League 2, and how they’re going to get it back to where it belongs, look at the stadium, size of attendance etc” speech
I await the players saying how they feel responsible for Stuart losing his job and how much they love him.
I await no change on the field
I await the booers getting itchy feet as they can’t pick on Mccall.
I await said booers then to turn against the new manager
I await the swifter exit of this man than Stuart
Ever felt that this cycle will never stop?
As always, eloquently put and thank god for BfB and the voice of the reasonable and intelligent city fan. I am extremely sad to see it end like this and I stand with Michael in not being afraid to say I have cheered him on as player in both spells and as manager, and not once thought he should leave this season. Unfortunately, it is not sites like this that are read by those who matter, but rather the OMB, T&A and the Facebook page – the latter of which seems to have trumped one theory at least – even un-masked and no longer anonymous, people still spout rubbish, get abusive and give little thought to their illiterate ramblings.
As has been mentioned elsewhere, the only good to come of this is that Stuart leaves before the busy little bees pour their poison in more ears and tarnish the name of a man who is and will always be a true legend.
But, a very interesting question you pose Michael – why indeed if we are resigned to a mid-table finish, do we change manager now?
To be honest, there is no sensible answer to that, unless they have something big planned…and one suspects that is unlikely. All the talk of who is next is all conjecture, happened upon by looking at the list of “available” managers on the LMA’s website. If the caretaker role goes to Jakes or Wethers (in my humble opinion, two more legends at City), then I dread to think what all those who have already turned on Staurt will make of it.
If anyone expects an instant turnaround I think they are sadly mistaken – a play-off busting run of form is probably far beyond the realms of fantasy. I suppose all we can hope is that a new appointment will have time to see what he has to work with, take the tough decisions in the summer, and build something for the future…but then, that sounds like a familiar story with a familiar ending doesn’t it?
In the meantime, Stuart, if you read this, you are a hero and wherever you go and whatever you do, you go with my best wishes, full support and utmost respect. Thank you.
I also backed McCall to the end and like you Michael i’m proud to have done so,i’m still of the opinion that McCall should have been in charge to the end of this season and nothing i’ve read from the clubs official press release changes my mind on this matter.As far as i’m concerned now Stuart has gone a permanent replacement should be put in place as soon as a suitable applicant has been found another Wetherall type stop gap measure is not in the best interests of the club and makes no sense what so ever.
STUART McCALL BRADFORD CITY FOOTBALL CLUB LEGEND.Good luck Stuart ,you had very little of that in your time as BCFC manager and all the best in whatever you do next.
Is there something rotten in the State of Denmark or are the conspiracy theorists working themselves up into a frenzy?
Has SM had to work with one hand behind his back whilst also looking over his shoulder (interesting yoga position that one) or is it just that he is an incredibly proud man, BCFC through & through and felt he had taken the team as far as he could?
We can surmise about the size of budgets, whether players have been signed for reasons other than playing ability and whether support has been given from both sides of the boardroom, but in the end, the results have just not been good enough.
I think it hurts more that this time SM himself couldn’t achieve what he clearly, desperately wanted – success with his club as a manager. Perhaps there will be a fourth coming, because he sees it as unfinished business, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.
A sad day for all of us who dared to hope.
Hey, ho – bring on Grimsby and no doubt a hatful of goals!
Come on you Bantams!
I’m very worried regarding the comment about us being “safe” this year. I echo the point made in this article that Stuart should not have left, if we have no ambition to reach the playoffs, and then we could have lined a replacement for the end of the year.
Myself, hope not to have Jacobs and Wetherall in charge for too many games.
A permanent manager who can start sounding out potential targets for next year.
Totally agree Michael.
I too have ‘mourned’ the loss of Stuart – Ilkley Beer Festival on Saturday night took on all the hallmarks of a wake after I’d absorbed the post-match interview – and with the rumour mill already in over-drive, attention is diverted from a group of players who have largely let the club and their manager down.
Perhaps the players knew only too well how much it meant to Stuart and this was a pressure that few could bear. But in spite of McCall’s insistence that performances have merited more points, I still think it’s the players who ought to take a good look at themselves this week.
Who next? My hopes are will Peter Taylor, Colin Calderwood or Steve Cotteril. I fear Russell Slade (Nicky Law?) and Peter Jackson are more likely.
Windass. Really!? One has to question how this represents a better option that sticking with Stuart. Would the men in charge really swap inexperience and determination for inexperience and clowning around? I hope not.
Whatever happens next, I’m grateful to Stuart for yet again hearing the cry that we needed him. And, just as in the past, I wish we’d treated him a little better…
Do you think there will be a fourth coming Michael?
I think that whenever the club is in need it turns to Stuart McCall and I can see the club being in need again.