Bradford 1-0 Wycombe

I’ll split this post into different sections focussing on various elements of the game that I found interesting…

Mugged in Manningham

It had been an interesting pre-season for Bradford City, what with new striker Jake Speight’s conviction for assault and old winger Gavin Grant’s conviction for murder. (I’ll come back to these convictions later.)

Pride

I was proud of several individuals today – firstly, I was proud of players such as O’Leary and Evans for the effort they put in during a meaningless end-of-season encounter played on a bobbly pitch in windy conditions. More importantly, I was proud of our fans.

Departures

While I am not particularly sad to see the Boulding brothers leave Bradford City, I was concerned to see this story: Taylor interested in Hull job.

A Letter To The Board

Having written about Stuart McCall’s departure, and subsequently read the T&A and Boy From Brazil accounts of the legend’s leaving, I decided to contact the club. Here is the text:

McCall Out – What Now?

Having been the main talking point throughout this season, the managerial change has now come to pass. Manager, former player, club legend, and all-round good guy Stuart McCall – Bradford City’s own Roy of the Rovers – has left the club for the third time.

The OK Game

The referee was OK, the City performance was OK, and the game was OK. Given recent matches, I think that “OK” was the best I was hoping for from today’s game. I wasn’t disappointed.

The Referee’s A Wanker

Since they seem to be so keen on making each game about them, I’ve decided to dedicate today’s post to the officials.

Bradford City 3-0 Chesterfield

A creditable performance saw each City man play his part in a 3-0 victory over the Spireites.

Lucky Lincoln?

In my last post on this blog, I briefly discussed the part that chance plays in football. I also pointed out that it is difficult for us fans to judge what happens during games – and to predict what will happen as a result. While catching up on my reading last night, I noted that on the Boy from Brazil website there is an article that refers to a “half-time tactical switch from Lincoln” that exploited a weakness in the way City had lined-up. This tactical switch was the substitution of Scott Kerr for Andy Hutchinson. A little later, I saw on Ceefax that Scott Kerr was a doubt for the next Lincoln game, having been substituted at half-time during the match at Bradford with a recurrence of a back injury. If Jason McKeown is right and the substitution played a part in City’s defeat, then it was luck rather than good judgement on the part of Peter Jackson that enabled Lincoln to take advantage of City’s tactics. Had Scott Kerr not suffered a recurrence of his injury, Andy Hutchinson would not have played. (The BBC website has a report of Lincoln’s injury problems.)

We fans rarely know whether a substitution is purely tactical or if there is an element of fitness in the manager’s choice – unless a player is obviously injured we will assume that a substitution is tactical, but we do not have the knowledge of the player’s condition that is available to the manager and physio. Sometimes a player will perform well and fans will be baffled to see him replaced – near the end of the Port Vale game, some fans were surprised to see O’Leary replaced by O’Brien. O’Leary later said that he had tired towards the end of the match due to a lack of football in pre-season (O’Leary is also said to have been carrying a toe injury – which flared up again before the Lincoln game).