More About Ronnie Moore
In Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity the protagonist Rob explains how – after being dumped by sophisticated and seemingly smart girl Charlie – he surmises that he was playing of his league.
When dating Charlie Rob was out of his league – he decides – and he could never settle with the idea that she was with him which is why he spent the last few years with the gut wrenching feeling that Charlie was about to leave him for one of the guys who seemed to fit her better which she does. Read the book, its great.
Perhaps Mark Lawn will be feeling something like this as for a second weekend he reads that his manager Peter Taylor is being linked with a move away from Valley Parade and while last week it was the FA of Bahrain this week Meadow Lane and Notts County are reported to be interested in the City boss.
Rumours peculated that Taylor has a get out clause which will allow him to jump ship to a club in a higher division should they ask – we could probably dub this “The Hull City clause” – but it seems highly unlikely that having started to call in favours to bring friendplayers Tom Doherty and Luke Oliver to Valley Parade that the boss will move onto a club which has had to free all of the squad it could do and only has twelve men in the squad. County are as nailed on for relegation this year as they were for promotion last.
Nevertheless Taylor’s talent is well known – indeed that is the reason he was recruited to replace Stuart McCall – as is the fact that he is a hired hand rather than someone who is invested in the club long term as he predecessor was.
These factors makes him vulnerable to being taken from the club if not by Bahrain or Notts County then certainly by someone with more to offer. Imagine if The Tigers are in need of a manager in five months time and wonder how hard would be for Taylor to turn that job down if offered. Imagine too how hard it would be if Hull put an eighteen month contract on the table. It is hard to see anyone offering him a deal for less than the one year that Lawn had Taylor sign at City.
As advances about Taylor are talked how much of a long term commitment have the Bantams given their manager? Discussions about Taylor’s one year contract on this site talk about how if he does not perform then the manager will be out calling this a shrewd deal for Lawn but should Taylor get an offer he can’t turn down – or should he take one of the ones rumoured – then were does that leave City?
Rotherham United – in League Two again next season after being defeated by Dag & Red in yesterday’s play off final – were hammered on for promotion before their manager Mark Robins left for pastures higher and was replaced by Ronnie Moore and a slow decline.
Naturally some offers that come to a manager would be too good to turn down but should we not have given Peter Taylor some assurance that we are prepared to give him some security that might at least rival any other offer? If we are not going to offer managers long term security then do we have an idea of what to do on the day they exit that continues any good work they were doing?
One can only hope that Taylor – the attractive manager for any job – is not going to dump us like Charlie does Rob but it seems certain that Mark Lawn and Julian Rhodes are – because of the decision to give out three month, then twelve month deals at Valley Parade – going to spend much of the time while City are with Taylor worrying that they are waiting for someone to steal him away.
Friendplayer: Noun coined at 11:18 today by Me.
1 . A footballer who is recruited by a manager on the basis of a presumed good previous relationship working at another club.
Chesterfield 1 Bradford City 1 At Saltergate in League Two, 2009/2010
Editor’s Note: Details with the game with Chesterfield – a 1-1 draw with almost little to write home about – can be found on City’s official website. Rather than dissect the game of what for the Bantams was something of a meaningless affair the report is given over this this piece by Dave Pendleton about events around the game.
I love this country. In particular I love the north.
As we sit here in the wake of St. George’s Day, with a General Election and World Cup looming, I’m feeling less at ease with the in your face ‘Englishness’ that has suddenly appeared. From car flags to official parades involving press ganged school children, ‘celebrating’ Englishness is everywhere. Flying a few flags and kids enjoying an unexpected day out of the classroom is harmless enough, but there is undoubtedly a dark underbelly to this newly discovered ‘Englishness’.
Ever since the Bradford riots – which would be better described as young angry Muslim men riots – City fans have regularly had chants of ‘En-Ger-Land’ aimed at them by opposition fans. The fact that the people being chanted at are 90% white working class, and frankly have more reason than anyone to be angry about the damage the riots had on their home city, seems lost on the chanters. The point the chanters seem to be trying to make is that Bradford is not England in their eyes. By implication it seems that even white Bradfordians are no longer English.
I wish the chanters could point this out to the car load of young Asian men who last year informed me I should “fuck off home” when I was walking down Hall Ings – I was bemused by the incident given that here was an Englishman being abused by men of Pakistani descent on a street with a Viking name. There was a piece of wonderful irony at play here, but I didn’t see the point in trying to explain that to a car load of young men with cropped hair cuts who probably couldn’t spell Subaru Impreza, let alone irony.
But, enough of angry young Asian men, let’s return to angry young white men.
At Rotherham we were treated to the chant of ‘you’re just a small town in Asia’. What a piece of cutting wit from the ethnically pure, even smaller town, near Meadowhall Shopping Centre. What was funny that day, very funny, was Ronnie Moore’s face when James Hanson scored deep into injury time. We should have celebrated by singing at the Millers’ fans “have you ever had a bath with your dad?” Instead, we jumped around like demented lunatics on the Don Valley running track.
Cut to Chesterfield and the penultimate away game of the season. The English Defence League were leafleting the home fans. I agree with the EDL that I don’t want our country to become an Islamic State. Where we differ is that I’m fairly confident that a country that once built the largest empire in the history of the world, and who managed to fight off Hitler when he was staring at us across the Channel, is unlikely to suddenly cave into to the radical demands of a minority of its Muslim population. However, a section of our popular press seems convinced that a few hundred angry young men with beards are enough to cause our entire nation to fall to its knees, both in supplication and prayer. This in turn causes a few hundred angry young men in designer sports wear to mobilise in defence of their country.
So, why did the EDL choose to leaflet our match at Chesterfield? I once remember seeing BNP supporters in Sunderland leafleting when City were in town, telling the Wearside shoppers ‘don’t let Sunderland become like Bradford’. The retort, which nearly caused a minor riot, was ‘don’t let Bradford become like Sunderland’. Well, I thought it was amusing, even though we had to leg it to avoid being beaten senseless.
At Saltergate a small number of home fans decided to regurgitate the usual chants about ‘En-Ger-Land’ and much worse. Has Bradford become the sum of all their fears? Our city representing some imagined multi-cultural hell hole where white people fear to tread? Though Bradford is far from perfect, and has major problems with attitudes of some of its youth, both Asian and white, but if it was as bad as the chanters at various grounds seem to think shouldn’t we – i.e. the white people who live in the city – be the ones chanting ‘En-Ger-Land’? The fact that we don’t either tells you that life in Bradford actually is fine 99% of the time, or that we don’t give a flying one anyway. I’m inclined towards the latter.
At Valley Parade, and away, I want to leave politics, home life and work behind. I’m there to immerse myself in the football, scream and shout like an idiot for ninety minutes, then laugh, shrug my shoulders and go for a pint. The only colour I’m bothered about is claret and amber.
Perhaps the next time the chanters start up we should drown them out with ‘And it’s Bradford City…’ Us, whoever ‘us’ is, united for the afternoon in support of our team and our city and to hell what anyone else thinks about it.
Notts County and Rochdale were both promoted over the week and with the former having blasted five past City on the first day and Rochdale impressing at Valley Parade few City fans would say that either does does not deserve promotion but with League Two offering three automatic promotion spots one wonders who deserves to be in League One next season and so The Barry Articles asks…
“County and Dale aside – who is the best side you’ve seen at Valley Parade this season and who deserves promotion?”
Jason Mckeown City Gent & BfB Writer
I’m not one of those people who endlessly bang on about how League Two is a poor division. Of course it is short on quality compared to the upper echelons of English football, but personally I still enjoy lower league football. There’s a fantastic competitive nature to every fixture and no team gives you an easy ride. It’s a scrap, which can get ugly at times, but it’s an enjoyable scrap.
That said, apart from Notts County and Rochdale I’ve not been impressed by any visitors to Valley Parade this season. Rotherham arguably stand out for their over-physical approach that so often teams at the top earn success from, think back to the MK Dons two years ago. However their 4-2 December success on our turf was aided greatly by referee Lee Probert. Burton and Crewe looked good sides on the day, but aren’t in the promotion shake up. Port Vale impressed in the Valley Parade JPT encounter if not the league game, Bournemouth were solid if unspectacular and Dagenham brilliant for the last half an hour of the recent 3-3 draw.
From the away games I’ve attended, it’s been a similar story of teams looking decent but not amazing. Notts Forest in the League Cup tie were terrific, I do hope they go up into the Premier League.
In terms of who deserves to be promoted with County and Dale, Bournemouth are certainly good value for third. Eddie Howe is clearly an outstanding manager who deserves to go far. The race for the play offs is too close to call, and my preferences for who goes up from and who comes down to our league is always centred on having more nearby northern teams, for easier away travel, the following season. This year I also want everyone who cheated us in league games to get their just desserts and slip up; so I guess overall I’d like to see Aldershot promoted on the basis they’ve not upset me and it’s a bloomin’ long journey to their ground – with Rotherham, Bury, Morecambe and Shrewsbury enduring miserable failures.
Dave Pendleton Bantamspast Curator & Former City Gent Editor
It’s difficult to judge who deserves to make the final promotion spot. We only get to see most teams in the flesh once at VP – and some twice if we go away. Bournemouth look fairly safe in third place and, given their travails, one hopes they cling on for promotion. Directly behind them are Rotherham. I did wonder whether this entire question was another excuse to have a laugh at Rotherham’s expense? Something I’m only too happy to do.
Our old friend Ronnie Moore, someone we love to hate ever since he City should be thrown out of the League for going into administration. Of course, since then his beloved Rotherham went into administration and lost their ground. I should feel for the Millers given their predicament, but the season after a points deduction they suddenly have cash to throw about, whereas many clubs who suffer administration take years to recover. They might have got lucky, or there might be a hint of a downmarket Leicester or Leeds about them – I often wonder what Julian Rhodes makes of these scenarios.
The other contenders are former FA Cup winners Bury, Aldershot, Dagenham & Redbridge and Chesterfield. We are more in the territory of play off winners here. I’d like to see Aldershot do well, as a reformed club they were in the equivalent of the Northern Premier when we were in the Premier League, now they are poised to pass us. That probably says more about Bradford City than it does Aldershot Town, but good luck to the Shots, I hope they do it. Chesterfield were, last time I checked, still owned by their supporters, so again, I tip my moral hat to them. In truth though, I’m more likely to support southern teams in the play-off race, simply to save on travel costs next season. Good luck to all involved, just wish it was us sweating on the final games.
Michael Wood BfB Editor
Many of the things that I’d like to see Bradford City follow have been forced on AFC Bournemouth and manager Eddie Howe who has taken the curses forced on the club by administration and money issues – however deserved they may be – and made them into boons.
Howe’s side are hardly allowed to sign players but they use that to make a tight squad. They cannot bring in a senior professional to replace the experience of Steve Fletcher so they ask him to stay and are rewarded with a good few goals and a good head. They are forced to blood young players like Joshua McQuoid, Danny Hollands and Brett Pitman who have grown into a very capable bunch.
It goes without saying that in this situation they have been cherished the stability they could. Manager Eddie Howe has been at the club since 1994 – save an unsuccessful sojourn to Portsmouth from which he returned smartly. Things have had to stay the same – and in staying the same they have improved.
The triumph of Howe and The Cherries this year is not to be the best team in the division but to be the best team they could be – so much more than the sum of the parts – and a stark contrast in a league which has seen teams like Shrewsbury, Bradford City and even considering they paid Sol Campbell £400,000 while struggling in mid-table Notts County spend big and achieve little.
