Bradford City 1999-2016
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Bradford City's 2-0 defeat at Colchester United showed up the want of character within the team once more leaving questions to be asked at how teams can create character and leadership in squads that rotate so quickly?
Paul Anderson has his leg broken and Steve Davies does not make the right things happen. City lose 2-0 at home to Peterborough United.
A weak performance in the third game of the season continued the problems of character which have dogged City since February 2015 and have not been solved by the summer recruitment the results of which seem to be players who will not take responsibility for their performances. Phil Parkinson has much to do as pressure on him begins to mount.
As the season starts on Saturday City fan's are excused a moment of fantasy safari believing it might be obvious that the club will be promoted but recalling the collapse of the end of last season is sobering. However in Phil Parkinson the club have the manager that everyone wants and he could be key to returning to the top two divisions of English football for the first time since 2004.
The 2-0 win over Carlisle United told Bradford City fans and Phil Parkinson very little about the team and the characters who the manage has brought in. Those things might not be obvious until the season is in progress.
Beating Farsley was a given for Bradford City but in doing so City brought up questions about where chances will be created next season and the nature of the creativity which Phil Parkinson wants City showing.
Jon Stead has left Bradford City a legend after his part in the win over Chelsea but he is only so well regarded when we ignore his more common displays which we do often but as a manager Phil Parkinson cannot afford to be blind to those things when he recruits the next set of Bradford City players.
Aged just thirty one Andrew Davies has left Bradford City to join Ross County - of all places - and in doing has cast the arc of his career not as being the rise of an heroic defender but rather - and wrongly - as a strange decline of a player who started at the top and worked down.
When we apply Game Theory to transfer deal we note that signing players early in the close season forces teams into making bad deals while waiting and signing players later allows for more good deals which are better deals to be made.
Christopher Routis has been given a new contract by Bradford City despite his inability to prove himself useful at the club suggesting that he makes an invisible contribution which is so valued by Phil Parkinson as to be worth having a player who has yet to play well at the club in his squad.
The Liverpool player Steven Gerrard is appreciated by regular attenders of Liverpool matches because of the level of commitment and attitude he shows in games while he is debated in the increasingly international and non-attending debate fora at make up Premier League support on a statistical basis. The former is something that is universal in attenders and appreciated for people such as you - dear Reader - while the former is served by media coverage of football.
When asked about my player of the season for 2014/2015 I selected Andrew Davies. You might disagree, dear reader, and I totally respect your right to be wrong.