The School Report

As the Bantams, reflect on a week returning just one point.

Name ..Bradford..City..FC……………………………………………….    Class……LG2

                                            Term Ending……8/3/12……………….

Group Marks.

A – Very Good               C – Average

B – Good                         D – Poor

Goalkeeping	B+	Matt Duke failed to live up to his expectations; replaced by Mclaughlin who has performed admirably.
Defence	B	Bolstered by the arrival of head boy Davies this group has shown marked improvement since the start of the academic year.
Midfield	C	An overall patchy performance by this group as some are performing to a higher standard than others; but a lot of potential to be found here.
Attack	C	Exam results poor must contribute more to lessons to improve schools standing in the league table.
Manager	C+	Demonstrated ability and character but must improve league tables.
Signings	B-	Satisfactory in particular the capture of Davies.

                                                                   Signed….J.Storrie……

I have to admit I didn’t attend the match on Tuesday night against Accrington and subsequently  it would hardly be fair to offer my thoughts and opinions specifically on another disappointing draw at Valley Parade. Seventy five miles away from the comfort of my living room I was quite happily watching the Arsenal vs. A.C Milan game and hardly speculating at all on the events taking place at Valley Parade. It seems I was not alone in this, as reportedly it was the lowest turnout of the season from the VP faithful.  The reasons seemingly behind this occurrence hardly require the great investigative skills of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes to fathom them out. It was reported that City have yet to beat Accrington at home in fifty years and one recalls the horror shows such as the three null drubbing of Stuart’s first season as been one of the lowest points of recent times. So it was as Arsenal had finally succumbed to defeat that I flicked onto ‘Sky Sports News’ to see that City had conceded a last minute equaliser and snatched what felt like a defeat from the jaws of victory yet again. Coming on the back of a poor result at lowly Dagenham and colliding with the start of the launch of next year’s season ticket sales; it hardly seems like a recipe for great sales no matter how great the offers may be.

So Instead of reflecting on solely the week’s events   it may be a fruitful time to look at the overall impact of the players efforts this season by categorizing them into their respective positions.

Firstly the Goalkeepers, which has proved to be the making and undoing of reputations this season. The loan signing of Martin Hansen by a mixture of Jacko and Christie was the first to try his hand as the heart of the Bantams back four. I recall watching Hansen at the pre- season game against Hull City and being suitably unimpressed by him, as he chucked a couple of shots into his own net whilst warming up beforehand. Next came Oscar Jannson who was a massive improvement on the shaky Dane, his penalty shootout heroics in the JPT a particular highlight. With the arrival of Parkinson came Matt Duke billed as the experienced permanent signing the club needed; this turned out to be a huge anti-climax as Duke proceeded to produce some amateur displays which made him a liability. He has since been farmed out on loan to improving Northampton. The form of Mclaughlin has seen the issue of who will fill the VP sticks moved to a backburner in the manager’s mind. Still relatively young in goalkeeping terms he will be staying at the club for a while yet, one would assume.

The defence is one that has shown clear progression since the start of the season and is now the polar opposite in terms of experience and personnel as it was on the opening day. One player who will not be impressed is former skipper Guy Branston who arrived as the summers marquee signing and after playing below his abilities early in Jacko’s reign never found favour with incoming manager Parkinson. The form of duo Davies and Oliver has been nothing short of outstanding and are inevitably the first players banded about in talk of the player of the year awards. The ever dependable Marcel Seip has proved to be an astute signing and it could only be wished that his fullback partner Simon Ramsden could stay fit and take his place in what would be one of the strongest backlines in the league.

The midfield area is one that provides the manager with plenty of options and no little ability, with the standout players so far arguably being Ritchie Jones with his composure and passing skills and recent signing Ricky Ravenhill adding a ‘bite’ to the Bantams play. Jack Compton was coming into the best spell of his city career before rejecting a loan extension and moving on. His left wing counterpart Kyel Reid whilst providing excitement and frustration in equal measures has proved to be an asset to the team with a good figure of both assists and goals to his name.

Up front, much ‘lauded’ signing Craig Fagan has on the main not quite delivered up to the clubs billing in terms of an expected goals return. Looking through his past record with other clubs he has enjoyed a similar sort of return in his career at VP to present. On a side note he seems to relish the role of the lone striker and is very clever in his link up play. James Hanson has continued to develop and improve in his play and one wonders if he would be rivalling league’s top scorers if he had stayed injury free as he was in December/ January.  The rise to prominence of Nahki Wells has been one of the great success stories of the season and has come from the clubs fifth choice striker to one of the first names on the team sheet adding a different option to the frontline through his dynamic play and skill.

Whilst this season was not billed by figures at the club as one where City will be challenging at the top instead it was labelled as a consolidation season. It has become a sorry sight to see, how much the club is struggling down at the bottom of the table. The team needs to start converting draws and performances into points. Fast.

Gig Review: Matt Cardle @ The York Barbican 1/3/12 *****

The winner of the small talent show known as the ‘X Factor’ came to York on Thursday night on the back of a highly successful time period since leaving the show. Matt’s album entitled ‘Letters’ went platinum and while his single releases haven’t set the official charts alight; they have continued to help keep promoting the album. This appears to be on a slight side note something to do with how different genres of music such as R&B, Rap and Pop seem to be riding a wave of popularity and music by talented bands and singer songwriters not been supported in the same way ; with the obvious exception in the form of Ed Sheeran.

Supported by the talented Roxanne Emery; this proved to be a fantastic opener to the night. Alongside a full band she belted out some songs accompanied by her Guitar whilst revealing some of the inspirations behind them. Recommended.

Digressing slightly, the stage was then cleared and a short interval accompanied the support team setting up the stage in a sort of ‘Living room’ effect. Think of a few rugs scattered around and a few tables with lamps helping to create atmosphere and a relaxed feel.

Cardle’s band were the first to take to the stage again the lighting was subdued and blue lights shone around the stage to the opening ‘riffs’ of ‘Stars and Lovers’ a song with a Coldplay/Snow Patrol vibe a great easy listening song to start the evening. A roar went up from the sell-out crowd as a figure emerged from the side of the stage enshrined by darkness Cardle had arrived. Playing all the songs from his album barring ‘Reflections’ it was clear that he has moved on from the songs that rose him to the public’s attention on a TV show. Gone were the covers that have been included in previous gigs post X Factor; no matter how much the person sat next to me wanted ‘Hit Me Baby’ by Britney Spears.

The only hint to his X Factor past was a stunning cover of Roberta Flack’s ‘First Time’ and it was a massive hit with the crowd who stood up and applauded and shrieked their approval before he opened his mouth to sing the first note. Accompanied by just by a Keyboard, a standing ovation followed a great site to see which Matt was clearly overwhelmed by. The show overall though was as Cardle had promised, in interviews leading up to the nationwide tour a ‘proper rock show’ and the songs on the album were all twisted in ways that seemed to improve them. They were much better for the glitz and glamour of the string sections being stripped back and instead had fantastic Guitar playing by the band which seemed to lift them to a different level. The ‘Live Lounge’ feeling was further emphasised by the stories Cardle told about the lyrics and meanings behind each of the songs. Although however Matt chose to go for quality over quantity as it wasn’t the longest of sets; around thirteen songs which left the audience wanting more and I was personally disappointed he didn’t include his version of ‘Uninvited’ by Alanis Morissette. If you haven’t seen it go onto Youtube its incredible.

The highlight of the night (there were several but still) was the audience reaction to the opening thumping beat of his second single ‘Starlight’ Matt asked for the audience to clap in unison with the beat; what he actually got was nearly the entire audience as one standing up clapping and dancing along, a spectacle to behold.

Crowd favourites ‘When We Collide’ and ‘Run For Your Life’ were the songs that closed the set and evening and went down a storm again. In particular they loved his rendition of his X Factor winners’song which was performed with just an acoustic guitar and a spotlight. The standing ovation swiftly followed and as the crowds shuffled out of the ‘Barbican’ a proper buzz was around the place at just how the recorded versions of his songs do no justice to just how good his voice is live. Superb.

Jekyll and Hyde

Contrast - The state of being strikingly different from something else, typically something in juxtaposition or close association.

Another week passes in the life of Bradford City football club and not for the first time it has held contrasting emotions for supporters.

The home game against Hereford, swelled by cheap tickets saw a crowd of over seventeen thousand at Valley Parade. In truth the game largely lived up to Phil Parkinson’s hardly ringing endorsement beforehand. He promised that it would be a battle and a scrap and it certainly could have been called that amongst other things. The game proved to be of interest due to the divide in opinion between fans over the performance and tactics deployed by the management team of Parkinson and Parkin. The decision to stick with the same formation as the one that nicked an impressive away victory at Torquay was an obvious one and one that Parkinson seemingly favours after employing the 4-4-1-1 at the start of his tenure also. This then was a straightforward decision; one that had suited the team the previous week would surely be as effective against a team with a similar set up as Torquay in Hereford. Who came with the intention to flood the centre of the park by using a five man midfield supporting the lone striker. What was called into question by the fans was if Parkinson had the personnel available to play such a system; due to the absence of the physicality of Craig Fagan leaving Nahki Wells as the pinnacle of the Bantams attack. Wells tried and tried a bit more but is clearly most effective when played off a presence such as James Hanson. The disappointing result in front of such a large crowd left sections of supporters grumbling about Parkinson with several producing stats showing how Parkinson’s win percentage is lower than both Taylor’s and McCall’s and the lack of progress this apparently shows. All this appears to have changed, however after the Bantams recorded a thumping four nil win at Barnet midweek. Suddenly an air of positivity seems to have engulfed the club again and the stats now been produced say ‘one defeat in seven ‘and ‘unbeaten at home since November’. The formation so condemned after the draw to Hereford is now back in favour especially away from Home as it tends to leave the team with a solid base from which they can try and hit teams on the counter attack. This appears to be something that the stifling tactics used by opposing teams at Valley Parade doesn’t allow. The contrast between the two results then leaves the Bantams in high spirits ahead of the away trip to Dagenham on Saturday. Historically the club has seemed to struggle against Dagenham’s style of play in recent years but surely the height and physical presence of the back line and in particular Davies and Oliver should help to counteract the set piece approach favoured by the Daggers.  This then could be said to reflect the fickleness in the life of a football supporter in the sense that something as condemned as last Saturday’s tactics could have such a reversal in circumstance in the space of a few short days.

But that's Football and that's why it's such a great Sport.