Looking for the truth in the local paper

The truth about Luke O’Brien’s absence from the City squad under Peter Jackson, that was the promise. The left back went from sure starter to not being able to get on the bench and now Simon Parker would lift the lid in the Telegraph and Argus.

I simply wasn’t in (Peter) Jackson’s plans. End of story – Luke O’Brien

And there it was. The end of Parker’s story and nothing else with it. No investigation as to why O’Brien might have fallen from those plans in the space of a few weeks and – in the article at least – no attempt to question O’Brien for that piece of information.

Likewise during his time at the club there was no question poised to Jackson about O’Brien and why one of the club’s players had been frozen out – or if there was it was not answered – but after Jackson’s exit there was this article saying that O’Brien was “(shooting) down the conspiracy theories regarding his lack of action for City.”

Let me say at this point that I’ve no ace to grind with Simon Parker or anyone else who writes about City. Jason, myself and the other writers of BfB pretty much write when it occurs to us rather than having to hit a deadline and are not bound by the need to maintain relations with the club. Parker does a tough job and he does it under pressure from his employers and (indirectly) the club on one side and a demanding readership on the other. I’ve no axe to grind with Parker or anyone else who covers City.

However the reporting on the club seems to slip into condescension far too often. If a person covering City is not able to get to the truth of a situation then I’d rather that they did not present a half truth, and present it in such a dismissive manner.

We have no idea of the truth of O’Brien’s absence before or after Parker’s article and the reaction to being told that he was not in Jackson’s plans is to find out why. If that is not possible then do not write a story which talks about “conspiracy theories” that you are not able to cast any light on.

Likewise when BfB found out that Omar Daley had been offered a new two year deal at Bradford City within an hour Derm Tanner had tweeted that there was no truth in the story. Three weeks ago we found out that Daley was heading for Motherwell, Daley headed for Motherwell two weeks later. The information came from the same place. Tanner might have been right to say that Jackson did not believe there was any truth in it, but simply repeating what he was told is hardly the stuff of investigative reporting.

Again, this is not to criticise Tanner, but rather to point to the idea that if the people who cover the football club are not able to investigate stories beyond asking a single person and dragging very little out of them then I would rather that they did not present their version as “the truth” especially if it is so obviously limited. If it is not possible to do more than asking O’Brien and print the words “end of” then it might be best to change the tone of articles.

Of course this is not important. In the end getting to the truth of why Luke O’Brien did not play or even why Omar Daley said he was getting a deal and Peter Jackson said he did not really do not matter in the scheme of things but for he people who report on the club to be in the habit of not asking questions, or not attempting to dig into stories, of not looking any deeper than the first thing they are presented with is not a good position for the club to be in.

After all if the history of this club’ boardroom tells us one thing it is the supports are not always presented with an accurate version of events. At the moment Bradford City may be being run superbly, as well as possible, but that has not always been the case and the current board would appreciate the fact from the situation they inherited and the reasons for that.

If the reporters who cover City are not able to question the official line it would be good if they did not present that as truth.

There are no comments on this article, Michael is on holiday.

Colin Cooper leaves Bradford City, but won’t be quickly forgotten

Colin Cooper today departed Bradford City having built up a standing most unusual in recent years – he was a popular assistant manager.

For sometime now it has felt like, whoever was the Bantams’ number two, he has been responsible for the much of the continuing failings on the field – despite the absence of any evidence. Wayne Jacobs, Junior Lewis (a coach rather than number two, but high up on the ladder under Peter Taylor nonetheless), Bobby Davidson, Ian Banks, Billy Brown, Malcolm Shotton – all criticised either instead of or alongside their gaffer.

It is a high profile role, undertaken in a very low profile manner. We see them often on the touchline, but no one really knows what they are supposed to be doing.

Cooper arrived at Valley Parade in February shortly after Peter Jackson became interim manager – with Jacobs and Lewis having been placed on gardening leave by the Board the day after Taylor bid farewell. For a while you could hear the standard jibes at games – “how come we can’t defend when Cooper is assistant manager?” – but in the end his decision to head back to Middlesbrough to coach the under 18s is one met with widespread sadness.

Perhaps also some confusion. True, Cooper has strong ties with the North East club which he was born close by to and begun and ended his playing career at. He was also assistant manager under Gareth Southgate as Boro slid out of the Premier League. Yet having placed himself in the shop window when thrust into temporary command of City – performing impressively – going on to coach a youth team appears to be a step down, when managing a Football League club would appear to be an achievable ambition better met by remaining a number two for now.

It is slightly foolish to judge Cooper on two matches as caretaker, but the way he guided the young City team through the difficult period of Jackson’s shock exit and helped bed in new manager Phil Parkinson was highly impressive. In charge against Barnet two weeks ago, a passing, attacking style of play was great to watch and led to the club’s only league win to date. He followed that up by leading City to a JPT cup win on penalties, and there were plenty of people wishing he could be given a longer spell in charge of the team.

It appeared Cooper was happy to take a step back and carry on in the previous role of assistant manager, but this attractive offer from Middlesbrough proved tempting.

Like any assistant coach, the legacy he leaves behind isn’t obvious. But the likes of Nahki Wells declaring Cooper was the best coach he’d ever worked with suggested he was popular with the players. We can also, realistically, attribute the improvement in defensive performances at least partly to his tutelage. Luke Oliver is the main case in point – looking average at best under Taylor and surely on his way out, his performances towards the end of last season and this have been outstanding. It will be interesting to see if the giant defender can maintain his form now Cooper has left.

Who Parkinson turns to now as assistant is unclear. Mark Kinsella performed the role for him at Charlton but is currently manager of Southern League Division One Central side Daventry Town. Preston boss Phil Brown was Parkinson’s first team coach at Hull City and Geraint Williams his assistant at Colchester. Interestingly both Kinsella and Williams were internal appointments rather than being brought in by Parkinson. If he goes down this route again, perhaps Wayne Allison is a contender for a promotion?

Whoever gets the role, it may well prove the case that Cooper’s name is not far off our radar. The best manager in the history of Bradford City could be looked back upon as an ‘if only’ moment, especially if Parkinson fails to be successful. Years of failure at Valley Parade leave us regularly second guessing the worst case scenario; and if the pressure builds on Parkinson you can already here the complaints of “why didn’t Lawn give Cooper chance instead of rushing to appoint Parkinson?”

Perhaps Lawn – who it is rumoured was witness to a less than impressive side of Cooper’s attitude than his glowing reputation would suggest, during Jackson’s final days – was in a position to know much better. That’s the frustration with assistant managers, we never truly know how good or bad they really are – not that it stops many of us from forming an opinion anyway.