Taylor to bring in Dickinson

BfB understands that Peter Taylor is to sign Barnsley’s six foot four 24 year old forward Liam Dickinson on a month long loan deal.

Dickinson joined The Tykes for a free reported to be £150,000 from Brighton & Hove Albion having played for Leeds United, Huddersfield Town, Blackpool and Peterborough United on loan deals as well as Derby County and Stockport County where he scored the winning goal over Rochdale in the 2008 play off final.

He was signed by Paul Jewell for Derby at a cost of £750,000 and later by Guy Poyet at Brighton for £300,000 before his move to Mark Robins’s Tykes. He has yet to feature for the South Yorkshire club.

Take a pinch of salt with this story – The Official site will announce it should it be, well, official – but it would seem that Taylor has signed a replacement for the injured James Hanson and that Luke Oliver will no longer be required to play in the forward line.

Taylor has previously offered a deal to Jon Macken who opted to join Chris Hutchings’ Walsall in preference to the Bantams or to tomorrow’s opposition Rotherham United.

Taylor looks for his Windass in Jon Macken

As Peter Taylor bemoaned the fact that the national media are making his job harder by saying he has more resources at his disposal that he does the City boss talked about how his side is complete but for one man: Dean Windass.

Not that Taylor is thinking of getting the 42 year old back – although he would by no means be the oldest player in League Two – but rather as Taylor said

Maybe there’s not a centre forward there who’s been around, like Dean Windass was for Bradford, and maybe we’ll need that for a successful season but maybe we won’t. Hopefully, I’m wrong there.

As Taylor mused news emerged of former Barnsley man Jon Macken’s deal at Hartlepool United for next season falling through with our old friend Ronnie Moore saying

He was going to Hartlepool, but the deal fell through. So, now (Rotherham United) have put an offer in. He has a good goal ratio of one in four and at this level will get goals. But Bradford City are also interested in him.

Moore’s comment – “But Bradford City are interested” – seems to indicate that the silver haired man of Millmoor considers any chance in which the Bantams become involved to be over before it has begun. City snatched Mark McCammon from Moore’s reach last season, a few years before the Bantams missed out on Paul Shaw to South Yorkshire.

Nevertheless it seems that Taylor has targeted the former Manchester United, Preston North End, Manchester City, Crystal Palace and Derby County striker as being his smart centre forward and in doing so he is not the first. Kevin Keegan paid £5m to take the player to Maine Road where his time in the ascendancy – which included an impressive display at VP – was hampered by injury.

Moore’s assessment of Macken as a goal in four games man is accurate and his style of play – as cunning as it could be said to be clinical – would certainly mark him in that Windass role.

Macken is 32 and left Barnsley in the summer. He has a single Republic of Ireland cap.

Barnsley beat City 2-0 in pre-season showing the sum of the things we already knew

The warmth of the sun and the warm glow of pre-season continued as Barnsley beat Bradford City 2-0 at Valley Parade the visitors being good value for the win which – of course – is utterly meaningless.

Meaningless of course but all we have at this point and from that point of view the defeat gave City and Stuart McCall the same lesson which Burnley and Owen Coyle got when the men from Turf Moor arrived at Valley Parade for the start of pre-season. That any game at any level is lost by mistakes.

Those two mistakes from the Bantams came either side of half time the first being a corner that was allowed to pass in front of Jon McLaughlin in goal and behind the central defensive pairing of Zesh Rehman and Steve Williams and when none of the three claimed it opposition centre half Steve Foster did and the ball nestled into the back of the the goal.

Barnsley’s goal came after a decent first half for City that saw some good work with the forward players Michael Boulding and Peter Thorne combining well with the three forward midfielders Lee Bullock, Chris Brandon and Joe Colbeck with Bullock good all afternoon and Colbeck quiet but disciplined.

Brandon and Boulding combined well working the ball around a returning Darren Moore for Boulding to drag his shot wide. The punishment for allowing a corner to travel across the face of the goal aside a level scoreline at half time would not have been unfair.

Nevertheless Rehman and Williams seemed determined to make sure that that error never reoccurred and next corner both went, both made good contact, both ended on the floor. Rehman wandered off looking groggy to be replaced in the middle by Simon Ramsden who was giving a good account of himself at right back. McCall seems set to have his right back hang back and his left back go forward and Ramsden and Luke O’Brien are his players for that tactic.

Likewise his wide midfielders suit those roles with Colbeck covered and Brandon able to – and willing to – drop back and combine with a full back. All well save the gap at number four that yawns wide open. Grant Smith took the position in the first half and was not able to stamp his authority on the game nor was second half replacement James O’Brien.

The second mistake in the second half ended the Bantams realistic chances of winning when a lose pass from Luke O’Brien (Although it may not have been the left back, the view being spoilt by Stuart McCall blocking my view so James O’Brien or Chris Brandon may have been the man) being picked up in midfield by Jacob Butterfield who put the ball in for Jon Macken – a player Kevin Keegan once paid £5m for – to finish coolly. Give the ball away cheaply and you will lose matches.

City gave run outs to James Hanson, Gareth Evans and Leon Osborne – Hanson looked full of running and his a cracking attitude – while Luke Sharry got a chance to play central midfield showing no little ability. Should Sharry be dubbed first reserve for Bullock going into the season I would not be unhappy at all.

However the number four gap continues two games and two weeks away from the start of the season. James O’Brien and Hugo Colace got involved in tackling that would result in booking and O’Brien looked frustrated by his inability to grasp the chance and take the position that begs for a player.