More About Benito Carbone
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.
Three summers ago we weighed up who “The most exciting signing in the club’s history” could be before seeing the dominative Italian walking into a maelstrom.
Benito Carbone was the zenith of the summer of madness and now that the battle that began between Geoffrey Richmond and some at the club has been won and the history written by the winners Carbone was always a bad idea.
He was a giddy head rush of an idea. He was starting on a bottle of Jack Daniels while lounging on your freshly cut lawn knowing that you will pay for the hangover and that you had not finished the weeding. He was football transfer as binge.
Like all head rushes it felt great at the time.
Today things are different. Bradford City are making a major signing at a Press Conference at Valley Parade this afternoon but no one is whispering and rumouring. The club sign Alan Combe seems to be the most popular assessment of the events although names from Danny Forrest to Teddy Sheringham have been mentioned.
We have modest ambitions these days.
When Carbone signed many thought City had spring boarded into the top half of the Premiership. Even if today’s major signing was the little Italian there are few who would thing that this one player would face anything more than a play off push at the very best.
Perhaps we have learned something in the time between August 8th, 2000 and today. We have seen Benito Carbone and a cast of others including Stan Collymore, Ashley Ward, Dan Petrescu, David Hopkin et al be able to do nothing individually and in some cases collectively against the decline of the Bantams.
Add to that the catastrophic wages of Carbone that caused a strut on the day but cost so much in the longer term.
The lesson is that you cannot focus on one man and ignore other problems. That whomever we sign today the aim of the game is to get the best out of the squad.
Promotion in 1999 depended not on the great works of Stuart McCall and Peter Beagrie but on the fact that work a day squad men like Robbie Blake and Jamie Lawrence emerged as quality players. If we are to get on at this club then it is not important if we sign Alan Combe, Danny Forrest or Teddy Sheringham, it matters that we get the best out of Michael Standing and Danny Cadamarteri.
That said though if we break the bank to sign Freddy Adu I’ll be wandering away from VP a happy man.
For some it will be Benito Carbone reverting to type. The temperamental Italian finally showing his true colours and leaving City in the lurch following his refusal to take a place on the bench for Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat by Preston.
For others Beni will have been justified in walking out of Valley Parade within two hours of kick off after being told that he would be sub to a defender who had a few decent games up front. Certainly there are few other than Nicky Law who would have thought that Andy Tod represented a better striking solution than Benito Carbone.
Whatever the justification for Beni’s walking out the effect on the team was clear. City were insipid in a game that was easily winnable. Carbone’s departure had obviously effected the players, although for what reason is unsure. Did they play bad because of the upset of seeing Carbone go, was it some parting shot that the striker made on his way out of the door or was the little Italian so popular that a wound to him was felt by the team.
Whatever it does seem that Beni had blotted a perfect copybook at City where he has been a model pro. The solution for Beni was to cool his heals on the bench for an hour and then burst back onto the scene. By walking away Beni seems everything that they have told us he is and more. He seems uncommitted, he seems to not give a damn and what’s more, he seems small and petty.
Benito Carbone is not manager of Bradford City, just like when Stuart McCall and Jim Jefferies were at loggerheads, McCall was not the manager. Nicky Law is and he has the right to pick the team as he sees fit and like Jim Jefferies he lives and dies by that selection. If Nicky Law, who watched Carbone trudge around a Middlesbrough reserve game lifelessly last week before deciding not stick with the team that scored two in eight minutes at Barnsley, decides that Beni is not worth a place in the starting line up that decision must be respected by the player.
Carbone will probably be hell bent on getting out of Valley Parade now and perhaps that is best. In so many ways he represents what we tried to be. If we are to get back to the Premiership then we will do it the same way we got there. By building a team and making the right buys. Beni is a superb player and yes he can take defences in this division apart on his own but as his walk out proves, too much store is put in a player like that. We need to spread the danger in the forward line (Peter Beagrie, Lee Mills, Robbie Blake and Jamie Lawrence), not isolate it to a simple approach be it the skills of Carbone of Tuesday night’s long humps to Tod and Ward.
Carbone will face a two-week fine, which gives Nicky Law an unexpected £80,000 to play with. My advice would be to add it to the bid for Breckin and Burt. Should Carbone go soon then that with the money raised for Robbie Blake should be used to bring in more players of the Burt/Breckin mould: Young, talented, eager to get on.
City need a reboot. Jim Jefferies made it his mission to take on the squad and bring down the age separating wheat from chaff but the Scot failed in that. There is still too much overpaid chaff at City. Carbone is not wheat and on his day he is worth every single penny of his £40,000 a week, but driving away from Valley Parade before kick off he is worthless, especially as he leaves his team mates only five points off the relegation zone.
One would have thought that City could do with a player like Carbone in that situation, but this morning, the morning after Beni walked away from Valley Parade, the phrase “A player like Carbone” has the same ring for City fans as it does in many other areas of football, and that sort of player we can do without.
If Benito Carbone can be brought back to the fold then all the better, but he will be forever tarnished at the one club in football that thought he was something other than they said he was. Benito Carbone the troublesome Italian? You betcha.