Articles written by Jason Mckeown
Stockport County 2 Bradford City 1 – League Two 2007/08
This weekend was the first anniversary of one of the more painful moments in Bradford City’s recent history. It was this time last year that nearly 4,000 of us travelled to the Galpharm Stadium for an incredibly important local derby against Huddersfield Town. With the battle against relegation becoming increasingly desperate, a good result was vital.
We were ‘rewarded’ with a feeble and pathetic performance, going down 2-0 to a mediocre Town side. Falling behind inside two minutes, there was just one woeful effort from Steven Schumacher which could be counted as a City shot on goal. The players showed a shocking lack of commitment and, considering it was a derby and we were fighting for our lives, it was unforgiveable.
12 months on and, while the bigger picture has undoubtedly got worse, thankfully we’ve not seen a performance as poor from City since. There will no chewing of the nails and worrying about relegation during the final 12 matches of this campaign, although Saturday’s defeat to Stockport has ensured we won’t be feeling any butterflies at the prospect of promotion either. And as the season drifts away it might be worth showing the current players the video nasty of that Town defeat to help them contemplate whether they’re currently doing enough to remain a City player beyond this summer.
If the players were to look in the mirror and ask that question following the Edgeley Park defeat, the majority of responses are unlikely to be positive. Yes Stockport showed they were a decent side and the conditions were difficult to play in; but with 700 or so City fans singing non-stop to spur you on, even through the half time break, and the knowledge that a new contract this summer is far from certain for many of them, you’d expect them to show a lot more than this. Stockport now lie sixth in the division, a place where we’d expect City to at least be this time next year. It was an opportunity for the players to demonstrate they are good enough to reach this standard by competing against a side with a decent chance of playing League One football next season. Sadly too many fell short.
Omar Daley and Kyle Nix were punished for bad performances the previous week by losing their spots to Eddie Johnson and Paul Evans as Stuart lined City up in the 4-5-1 formation which has caused heated debate amongst supporters this season. Whilst criticisms about its negativity may be valid, this tactic relies on runners from midfield supporting lone striker Peter Thorne. Unfortunately City failed to find any rhythm going forward and, considering we had five in midfield, it was concerning how easy Stockport passed the ball through us as they enjoyed territorial advantage.
Joe Colbeck and Alex Rhodes were too isolated, though at least Colbeck showed willingness to come central for the ball and worked hard defending. The same can’t be said of Rhodes, one player desperate for a new deal this summer. Rhodes recently returned to the side with two impressive performances against Notts County and Rotherham, but we need more than two good games followed by two below average efforts and Rhodes has a lot to do in the final weeks to convince he should be part of next season’s plans.
Stockport, with Shaleum Logan and Liam Dickinson looking lively, dominated the first half and only Scott Loach prevented them going in front with a string of impressive saves. Defensively City played reasonably well with Darren Williams, recalled after Ben Starosta was ruled out through illness, looking solid on his return. There were some impressive blocks and defensive headers which showed commitment was not a quality lacking at the back at least. A couple of wild shots from distance were the only attacking response from City and the half time whistle was a relief.
Many of City’s away games this season have featured dull first halves, so it wasn’t a complete surprise when we took the lead seven minutes into the second. A long ball forward was cleverly controlled by Thorne, who then did well to lay it into the path of Colbeck. The in-form winger charged into the area before been tripped by County keeper John Ruddy, leaving the referee with no choice but to award a penalty. With Barry Conlon on the bench and most City fans desperate for Thorne to take over duties, City’s top scorer looked nervous as he placed the ball on the spot. He duly despatched his 11th goal of the season to set up the platform for a fortuitous win.
Yet City still couldn’t get going and continued to invite County to apply heavy pressure. Loach made a string of impressive saves and Stuart brought on Daley for the ineffective Rhodes. The Jamaican has previously shown he’s a useful player to give the ball to when City are in a narrow winning position and the opposition are throwing players forward, unfortunately the defensive side to his game is still inadequate. Daley half-heartedly tracked back but failed to deny Logan space and his low cross was fired home by Anthony Dickinson.
Ten minutes later County edged in front through Michael Rose’s superb free kick from the edge of the box. It was rough on Loach, who seconds earlier had made his best save of the afternoon by denying Dickinson when through one-on-one, yet no more than his team mates deserved. Surely City now had to start forcing some pressure to get back into the game? Yet attacks in the final stages remained sporadic. Colbeck, who put in another decent performance, sent over a superb cross after Daley’s charged down shot had fallen to him and David Wetherall, thrown up front in desperation, had a free header and the whole goal to aim at. Incredibly he put it wide.
As we trooped out of the ground while listening to the odd City fan muttering that Stuart “hasn’t got a clue”, I couldn’t help but feel jealous of County. The final whistle was greeted with huge cheers from home fans and their players and manager Jim Gannon savoured the moment by staying on the pitch for a few minutes to soak up the applause of an important win. I wasn’t just envious that they can still dream of an extended end to the season, but of the spirit around the place which was evident. They had some decent players and their determination in battling on even after they had fallen behind impressed. They kept playing the right way and were ultimately rewarded. It’s a spirit which is sadly missing with City at the moment.
It’s easy and predictable to blame all of this on Stuart, but where’s the personal responsibility from those paid to play for Bradford City? The reality is that Stuart is stuck with this bunch of players until the summer, only then can he bring in better players. Sounding characteristically downbeat in defeat, an honest Stuart took responsibility for the tactical switch of bringing on Daley which failed to work. It’s another hard lesson to take on board; but if Stuart is going to make mistakes he’d be as well to do so now and learn from them for next season, which is surely the time to judge him. The manager left no doubt he will be making changes for next season and those players who wish to remain part of his plans will need to prove themselves in these final 12 games.
Not just prove they are committed, but that they have the ability to take this club forward. As Barry Conlon came on with ten minutes remaining to be met with a chorus of boos from some fans in the away end, there was a timely reminder that 100% commitment, woefully missing a year ago at the Galpharm, is only the minimum requirement. There are big question marks hanging over whether a number of current players are good enough to help City to a better shot at promotion next year, they’d be advised not to start dreaming of their summer holidays yet.
Notts County 1 Bradford City 3 - League Two 2007/2008
Not for the first time since its redevelopment, it would appear the better moments of a City season are taking place away from Valley Parade.
While the two recent last gasp defeats to Bury and Rochdale empathically demonstrated that the traditional home woes are far from resolved, away from home it’s been a different story during the last five months. Although suffering a poor start to the season on the road, since the cruel last gasp defeat at Morecambe during the middle of October only one home team’s supporters, Peterborough, have been able to celebrate maximum points when Bradford City are in town.
There are no obvious reasons why City are finding the consistency on their travels that is lacking at home. The team for Saturday, while altered with TJ Moncur making his debut in place of the injured Matt Clarke and Joe Colbeck in for Kyle Nix, wasn’t any different to what Stuart McCall would have picked for a home match. City play in a similar manner of knocking the ball on the ground and, frustratingly, long that little bit too often. Performances aren’t particularly better and first half’s have been largely non-events, with chances and flowing football at a premium.
City created the three best chances during the first period at Meadow Lane with Willy Topp (twice) and Eddie Johnson going close, but County forced a lot of pressure through aerial bombardment and good wing play which tested the defence. City’s passing was often ineffective and, while Topp had a disappointing game suggesting he may not yet be suited to away games, you can only despair for him as long balls are sent in his direction which just isn’t his game to make something of.
During home games we often only back the team when they’re performing well, away from home the backing was there despite the average performance.
As the whistle was blown on an incident-less half one of the reasons for why City may be performing better away from home became clear. Any one of the other 940 visiting supporters will no doubt agree; this sort of first half showing would have been met with a chorus of boos had it occurred at Valley Parade. There probably isn’t a club in the country who wouldn’t say their supporters get behind the team better in away games, but the more positive mentality of fans at Meadow Lane compared to those around me last Saturday was a refreshing change.
Two minutes into the game a chorus of ‘Stuart, Stuart’ was sung. It isn’t that we don’t sing Stuart’s name during home games, but it’s usually only after City have taken the lead in a match and this is the difference. During home games we often only back the team when they’re performing well, away from home the backing was there despite the average performance.
That support made a notable difference in the second half at Meadow Lane. County came out with their tails up and Scott Loach made a superb save to keep the scores level. The pressure was building but, rather than complain, the level of chanting in our end increased. You could see the impact it had on the players, who began to plan better and attack with purpose. It therefore was a surprise when Ryan Jarvis suddenly put County in front following a mistake by the other impressive Moncur.
Did the booing start? The positive support continued while, on the touchline, Stuart made an inspired tactical switch by bringing on Alex Rhodes for Topp and moving Omar Daley up front with Peter Thorne. Rhodes suffered a bad injury before Christmas and has since found his path to the first team blocked by in-form players, so the winger was keen to make up for lost time and began to stretch County and charge at the fullback. The tide was turning.
Within four minutes of going behind City were level, once again through Throne. Ironically it was Moncur, with a long pass, who set up the chance. Thorne beautifully controlled the ball before unleashing a fierce drive into the bottom corner of the goal. That’s eight goals in ten games for Thorne. Like his predecessor of the number 10 shirt, Thorne’s goals have been occurring more at home than away; but give him a decent chance and the odds are the in-form striker will take it. At this level Thorne, now free from those niggling injuries, is a class act. His deal expires in the summer and hopefully talks will soon be held regarding a new one, before somebody else snaps him up.
Soon after Thorne’s effort, City were celebrating again as Colbeck latched onto a loose ball rolling across the penalty area and expertly fired it home, though this was only half the story of his contribution. A few seconds earlier a City corner had sailed over everyone and was heading to the far corner where the County full back had time to clear, but Colbeck’s quick thinking in closing him down forced a weak clearance to fall straight to Daley. The Jamaican sprayed a great ball over to Rhodes, who charged to the byline before been tackled, forcing the ball into Colbeck’s path.
This was Colbeck’s fourth career goal for City and it’s notable they have all come away from Valley Parade. During home games Colbeck is often a victim of crowd abuse which notably gets to him, but some of his away performances have been brilliant and he was probably City’s man of the match at Meadow Lane.
With City now in front, it was the home player’s whose heads were dropping. There were no chants from the County fans willing their team onto a fight back, showing our problems at Valley Parade are far from unique, and a third quickly followed after Daley played Rhodes through to notch his first City goal with a low finish.
There could have been more; Daley’s superb curling shot from distance was tipped wide by Russell Hoult and Colbeck superbly won possession and laid on a chance for Thorne, only for Hoult to just reach the ball first. Loach was also forced into another spectacular late double save and it was nice, after the previous two games, for there to be no late drama going against City. By the end City were well in control and special mentions must be made for Eddie Johnson and Lee Bullock, who both did really well in winning the midfield battle and setting up chances, and David Wetherall who was back on form.
Just like Nicky Law and Colin Todd before him, it appears as though Stuart is getting an improvement from City on their travels before getting the home form right. With two games at Valley Parade this coming week, the hope is this win will be the perfect platform which City can build on. Neither Rotherham or Dagenham are going to be pushovers, but the aim has to be for City to be sitting in the top half of the table by 5pm Saturday.
There are no guarantees the backing from fans will be positive if things start off badly, so the players need to demonstrate they have the mental ability to handle the pressure of playing for the best supported club in the division and carry on where they left off at Meadow Lane.
City seem able to through the gears and rev it up on the road, let’s hope the engine’s still purring when it’s back at home.
Like 13,197 other City fans I left Valley Parade in a bad mood on Saturday. I spent the journey back to the car complaining with my friend Steve about certain aspects of City’s display and our mutterings were in unison over the tactical changes which appeared to work against the team. “That’s the play offs ruled out,” I hastily concluded, thinking back to only a couple of hours ago where, walking from the pub down Manningham Lane to the ground we half-joked about going to the Mexican restaurant we always pass to celebrate after we got back from Wembley in May, having witnessed City go up. How stupid did we now feel even to kid about it?
We listened to Stuart McCall’s interview on the radio as we drove back, faintly satisfied, at least, to hear that Billy Topp had been taken off due to flagging fitness. I wanted Stuart to be asked why he took off Peter Thorne, our best player, and replaced him with the lightweight and ineffective David Brown, who barely touched the ball. Or why, despite playing below standards and suffering some utterly abysmal abuse from so-called supporters, Omar Daley was hauled off when he at least looked as though he could do something, which couldn’t be said of Kyle Nix on the opposite side. The calm and honest words of Stuart at least made me feel better and, while I wasn’t impressed with his changes, I felt confident they were mistakes the manager will learn from going forward.
So gradually I calmed down, watched a bit of the Man U v Arsenal game with a beer at home. Seeing the own goal again on The Championship the following morning was difficult viewing but, sharing opinions with other City fans I bumped into that day calmed me down further and, while I was still in a bad mood back at work Monday morning, I began to look forward to the trip to Notts County on Saturday which I hope can only be better.
I appreciate it’s not the same for everyone and that anger over the two recent performances is still high, but I’ve found some of the opinions posted on various City-related websites difficult to read calmly. It appears we’re back to the blame game, where some folk seem determined to pick on players and declare everything the club is doing is wrong. Just over a week ago we were excitedly talking up the play offs with our chances looking increasingly better, now we’re back to describing the season as dreadful.
There are the usual targets for criticism when it all goes wrong. When Wayne Jacobs returned to the club during the summer I remember thinking he might be the easy target for some. 12 years service as a player, but he was never universally popular. Now a very slim minority have decided the last two defeats are entirely down to our assistant manager. When I read these views I struggle to find the reasons for why it’s Jacobs fault, probably because those making such comments don’t know either.
Then there’s our training which is prehistoric, dated and nothing like as good as Rochdale’s, a small insignificant club we should be thrashing. I’m not sure if the people criticising City’s training methods have actually witnessed them to know they are bad as they make out, and I’m even less certain they will have seen Rochdale’s to compare.
Of course it’s down to Stuart’s failure to pick certain players which is to blame. Have a quick scan through our reserves team, choose a couple of names who are been ‘disgracefully’ ignored, Alex Rhodes and, of course, Luke Medley on this occasion, and tell the world they should be playing. It doesn’t matter that the players keeping them out of the side have recently gone on a six match unbeaten run – that was two weeks ago, why haven’t they been sacked yet?!
Last but not least, after every player, member of management team and coaching method has been blamed; let’s have a go at the Chairmen for not backing the manager and hoarding all the cash. What a joke of a football club we really are, from top to bottom.
Among the message board comments and views added below T&A website stories, there is a lot of sense spoken. It’s just unfortunate that a lot of it is diluted by the strange and nonsense views of others. They who should loudest are usually heard, but that doesn’t mean their views make any sense.
The reality of the situation is that, after showing some real promise in recent weeks, we’ve suffered a set back. There are things that need to be improved about the team clearly; the first half against Rochdale was embarrassingly one-sided. Yet after grabbing an underserved equaliser the team improved considerably in the second. For all the feelings of disgust we all had about the performance Saturday night, we nearly won the game. When Peter Thorne cracked the outside of the post with that long range effort with five minutes to go it wasn’t only nearly a winner for us, with the beautiful way Barry Conlon back-heeled the ball into Joe Colbeck’s path and marvellous through ball to set up Thorne’s volley, we were agonisingly close to witnessing one of the best Valley Parade goals seen in years. Rochdale won it through our mistake, but for how bad that left us feeling we could easily have been celebrating a win.
And now, rather than carve the team up and start everything again, we face three presentable-looking games in a week where a decent points haul is achievable. Stuart will have seen a lot of things he didn’t like during the performance and certain players have some making up to do, but while changes will be made the progress from the team since the turn of the year should not be forgotten.
The players and management made mistakes on Saturday, but anyone among the 13,198 City fans that witnessed them who says they have never made mistakes in their career and life is lying. The key is to accept and learn from mistakes, so that you move on and develop. No football manager gets their tactics correct all the time. We, as fans, now need to forgive and hope Stuart never forgets.
As for our own contribution, well it was hardly great was it? 10 minutes to go, an enthralling end to end game that is clearly a battle; where are we making noise and backing the players? We’re sat glumly in our seats groaning everytime something goes wrong and hammering on individuals’ mistakes. We have the biggest crowds in the division, but where’s the advantage we give to the team from it?
But we move on, get over these defeats and back the players for the next three important games. We probably won’t win them all and we almost definitely won’t make a late play off surge now, but there has been some progress made this season which we all hope will be more visible next season.
Me and Steve might not get chance to enjoy that Mexican after Wembley, but we might just go for it anyway on the journey back from Wycombe May 3. If you can see the positives and don’t believe everything should be considered a failure just because we’re unlikely to bounce straight back up this season, I invite you to join us for a Corona or five. The rest may as well get off home and inflict their usual moaning all over our City cyber world.