ITV Digital, Administration, and Questions for News Corp

Remember this, from 2002?

Bradford are one of the 72 football clubs affected by the collapse of ITV Digital, which owes the three lower divisions £178.5m.

Bradford City’s share of those television rights would have been approximately £5m.

Well, tonight’s Panorama has made some rather interesting allegations regarding a software company linked to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, counterfeiting by pirates, and the demise of ITV Digital (formerly ONdigital). The Guardian has a summary here.

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:

The Wisdom of Football Fans

We all see the game differently – that much is clear. Unfortunately, little else is clear. Should Thorne have been subbed last night? Was Boulding the man to save the game? Should the team have been booed for putting in effort but failing to get reward for that effort? Who should have taken the penalty? Is our narrow formation the reason we are yet to score?

Every fan has the right to have their say, but given the contradictory opinions I hear at every home match what value can be placed on the views of football fans (specifically Bradford City fans, in this instance)?

While we are all wise after the event (hindsight is 20/20, dontcha’ know), it is very difficult to predict in advance: which tactics will work best with the personnel available; which players will show the best form and frame of mind; who might be able to change a game in our favour (as an ‘impact sub’). We also lack inside knowledge – which players are carrying niggling injuries, who has been distracted by off-the-field matters, or other “unknown unknowns”. I think I’ve yet to hear a fan correctly predict which player will perform best in any given football match (although the outcome is subjective), while correct predictions of scorelines and scorers are almost equally rare (and this time the outcome is objective fact). Let’s face it – if football fans were that good at predictions, the bookies would all have gone bust by now.

Accepting that we are poor at predicting outcomes of football matches, I have to question why fans believe that their after-the-event opinions – for example, of what would have happened if only the manager had decided on the substitution they would have preferred him to have made – are valid. Sometimes the crowd (or elements of the crowd) are actually proved wrong. Anyone remember a section of the fans booing the introduction of Barry Conlon in one particular game? Bazinho proceeded to make the boo-boys eat their words by scoring City’s goal. I remember hearing fans around me on the Kop shouting in response to the subsitution “that’s shit McCall – shit”, making similar comments, and booing as the substitution was made. These fans believed that Conlon was not the man to make a difference on that occasion, but those fans were wrong. Yet the same people continue to believe that if McCall made different decisions (those they would have made themselves if they were manager, presumably) then City would see better outcomes. Frankly, they’re kidding themselves. This is only possible because their decisions remain hypothetical – they didn’t happen, so we cannot see (or judge) the outcome of them.

A further note

One thing that, as fans, we don’t seem to take into account is the part that chance plays in results. Against Lincoln, we could so easily have scored – shots saved by their keeper, goal-bound efforts that beat the keeper blocked by a defender, a penalty saved by the lad we tried to sign as our goalkeeper. Luck matters. I’m no statistician and I won’t pretend I understand risk and chance, but there is a website, understandinguncertainty.org, that has calculated that in the Premier League in 2008/09:

22% of the variability is due to chance and 78% due to genuine differences between the teams. This is a low contribution of chance, comparable with that in Greece and Turkey where the leagues contain a wide range of talent. Some leagues, in contrast, have contained teams of essentially equal ability where the league positions at the end of the season could be totally attributable to chance: for example the Scottish 2nd Division in 2002-2003 in which after 36 games each the teams all finished between 36 and 59 points: poor Cowdenbeath were at the bottom but the points show that they were really no worse than any other team, just the unluckiest.

22% of the variability in the Premier League is due to chance, and in other leagues where there are not significant gaps in quality (League Two, for example, hardly has a “big four” that are obviously better than the other teams in the division as has been the case in recent Premier League history) chance plays a bigger part. While commentators may claim that luck tends to even out over a season, I am not convinced that this is the case. Maybe luck plays a bigger part than they (or most football fans – including myself) realise.

Bradford City 0-0 Port Vale

The first home game of the season was a fairly uneventful affair, but a more enjoyable one than I had expected. Of the new signings, Eastwood was not seriously tested by City’s opponents and it may take a few games before any judgement can be reached on the loan ‘keeper. Williams made an impressive home debut and looked comfortable in his new surroundings, while Ramsden also played well. O’Leary looked bright and did a good job in midfield, picking the ball up from defenders and looking to start attacking moves (while also being unafraid to “put a foot in” in the centre of midfield). Hanson seems to have made a good start to his City career and put in one very good cross from the left in the first half, while also winning his fair share of headers. Evans came on for Boulding and looks to have the strength that is required of forwards in this division (although his time on the pitch was fairly brief). James O’Brien was not on long enough to make an impact, while Flynn played reasonably well without making a big impression.

Rochdale: A Struggle With The Truth

This blogger has posted an article that is, while generally factually accurate, making some rather silly assertions.

You’re not fit to referee

There was controversy over the refereeing decisions of Trevor Kettle on Saturday at Luton Town versus Bradford City. Kettle was, unfortunately, assailed by missiles from the Luton supporters at the end of the game after he gave a controversial penalty. The commentators on the radio and Simon Parker in the T&A pointed out that it was pretty much the only decision that went City’s way during the 90 minutes (plus about seven minutes injury time). I haven’t seen the incident but by all accounts the decision to give the free-kick that led to Luton’s second goal and a booking for Luke O’Brien was a very poor one. It’s not the first time this season a referee has been poor – the officials in City’s games against Chester City and Accrington Stanley were poor if memory serves. The worst, though, has to be Jarnail Singh. He has now twice failed to stop a game when City players have been down with head injuries. I think the first was Oldham Athletic at Valley Parade and the more recent occasion was away to Shrewsbury Town. Referees are supposed to stop the game if there is a serious injury – particularly if it is a head injury. Google has examples of fans complaining about the inconsistent application of this rule. The Scottish FA clearly think this is a rule worth enforcing and referee Craig Thomson admitted his error in failing to stop one match involving Motherwell and Hearts:

Motherwell forward David Clarkson received an accidental head injury in the 12th minute of this game, the incident occurring on his opponents’ 18 yard line. Play progressed and seconds later a goal was scored at the other end of the field. Whilst the two incidents were not at all related, referee Craig Thomson has indicated that if he had realised that the injury was to the head and could have been serious he would have immediately stopped play for early treatment. Referees have been instructed to deal with such head knocks in this way.

The italics are mine. Other sites that have reported on or discussed the incident are linked below:

boyfrombrazil; BBC report; Claret and Banter.

Oh my god – there’s a Facebook group for Trevor Kettle called “you’re not fit to referee”. I just googled his name and it was one of the first results. FB-Kettle.

If you have a “least favourite” referee or you can remember a particularly bad performance by an official please feel free to comment below.

Bradford City 0-0 Chester City

Chester came for a point and they obviously decided the best way to do that was to play rough, time-waste, and feign injury. Cynical. To sum up the game in a few words, we were up against a team out to frustrate us and stop us playing, we still made a few chances and plenty of half-chances but we just weren’t clinical enough or decisive enough in the box.

Match Report – Bradford City 2-2 Gillingham

Well, the first thing I have to say is that the officials were terrible. No-one round me thought that the Gills’ midfielder Bentley was going to be sent off for his challenge on Paul McLaren, the ref ignored several absolutely blatant fouls on Thorne and Boulding and gave free-kicks that baffled most of the crowd. I had no idea what the guy was doing – and I’m pretty sure he didn’t either.

Gillingham started brightly and built some good moves going forward, but after City went one-nil up we started to look more comfortable and added a second just before the break. The first goal came when Peter Thorne finished with a shot from inside the box following a save from Gillingham’s keeper who tipped an effort onto the post. I thought it was Furman who had gone for goal, but the T&A report insists it was a Thorne header. The second came when Colbeck, who had temporarily switched wings with Omar Daley, cut in from the left and hit a well-struck shot with his right foot.

Second half, Gillingham came back into the game and got a first goal back through Jackson. They had cut through the City defence on a couple of other occasions and let themselves down with poor finishing so the first goal wasn’t a surprise. To be honest, neither was the second. City seem to be making it far too easy for opposition players to get through our defence at the moment and a couple of shots hit the flags either side of the goal at the Bradford End. The late equaliser for Gillingham was something we had asked for. Not being quick enough with our passing and too prone to fanny about indecisively at the back, we look vulnerable. Going forward, Peter Thorne had another effort saved by the ‘keeper and at two-one there was one more moment to savour as Omar Daley amused the crowd with some crazy-legged showboating.

Late on, Colbeck had an effort saved and the resulting corner saw Lee thump a header against the bar but the five minutes of injury time were in vain and City could not find a winner. By this time, Topp had replaced Thorne (who was dumped on his backside by a Gills defender) and Conlon had come on for Boulding (to cheers from the Valley Parade faithful, thankfully).

We’re still in a play-off position and a couple of decent results at Darlo (on TV, Tuesday) and Grimsby (Friday night) should set us up for a good night against Bury on Tuesday 28th at Valley Parade.

Evans 7 – let down by the outfield players.
Moncur 6 – played his part, but a mistake let Gills player through to miss.
Lee 6 – sponsor’s man of the match was better in the first half than the second.
Clarke 6 – failed to keep out Gills striker for their equaliser.
O’Brien 7 – solid.
Colbeck 6 – despite goal, was too quiet.
McLaren 6 – not always quick enough to pass ball.
Furman 7 – energetic.
Daley 7 – some good runs.
Thorne 7 – scored yet again.
Boulding 6 – no chance to shine.

Out-thought and out-fought: Bradford City 1-3 AFC Bournemouth

Oh dear. City were taken down a peg or two by Bournemouth on Saturday with ex-City striker and current Bournemouth manager Jimmy Quinn taking most of the plaudits for his astute tactics – wing backs with plenty of back-up from the midfielders and just a single striker. City never got Colbeck or Daley one-on-one against a defender, Heckingbottom and Moncur were frequently wider or further forward than Colbeck and Daley and we never seemed to get our danger men in dangerous positions. McLaren prompted from midfield, while of the full backs Heckingbottom and Arnison both started well but one faded and the other got himself injured. Clarke and Lee struggled at centre half, I thought Bullock was poor in midfield and Thorne and Boulding never got a sniff all afternoon. Colbeck was given man-of-the-match, which was probably fair enough but Daley went into his shell and by the end had pretty much stopped playing altogether. When Daley goes missing like that the only sensible option is to sub him – Nix should have come on for Daley on Saturday and there is an argument that Bullock should have gone off too. Too many players were below-par and it would be unfair to blame one or two individuals for the defeat, but Daley going missing certainly didn’t help and neither did Bullock’s anonymous performance. Daley looked more interested in falling over than playing football – was he playing for the team or for himself?
The danger mainly came down the Bournemouth right, but Heckingbottom shouldn’t take too much of the blame as he was left exposed against players like the tricky Sammy Igoe too often (e.g., for the first goal). Our centre-halves didn’t cover themselves with glory, but they and our midfield seemed unsure how to deal with Igoe playing between midfield and attack. Some good set pieces from Bournemouth made City’s defence nervous and brought a goal when an AFCB player was left unmarked in the second half.

Evans 6 (defence let him down)
Arnison 6 (subbed with an injury before things got too bad)
Lee 5
Clarke 5
Heckingbottom 6 (excellent start, left exposed by team-mates later on)
Colbeck 7 (for his 1st half goal and continued effort)
McLaren 6 (tried to prompt from deep without much success)
Bullock 4
Daley 3
Thorne 5
Boulding 5
Subs:
Moncur 6 (did very little wrong)
Conlon 6 (won a few flick-ons)
Furman 6 (took over where McLaren left off)

Bradford City 2-0 Rochdale – Match Report

Another Saturday, another three points and another goal for Peter Thorne – if I can keep writing that every week I will be absolutely delighted. So far, we have five points more than at the same stage last season. It’s very early days, but things look promising for Stuart McCall and his squad.

Summary: Rochdale started brightly and impressed with clever interplay between the midfielders and forwards. Shaw got in behind our defence a couple of times, but was caught offside and (thankfully) the linesman got the decisions right. The first half saw quite an open game with both teams attacking and I for one was mightily relieved when City’s first goal went in as I had feared the worst, but then I’m a pessimist – I always expect to be disappointed and victories tend to come as a pleasant surprise rather than something to be taken for granted. Another good performance from Rhys Evans and his back four was backed up by solid play in centre midfield by McLaren and Bullock and some exciting bursts by the the wingers helped to keep us on the edge of our seats, while the front two Thorne and Michael Boulding showed their class and looked a formidable pairing. The second half saw City come under some pressure from ‘Dale, but also saw some excellent counter-attacking play from the boys in claret and amber.

Rochdale’s best moments in the first half came down their left and Arnison looked to struggle a little defensively, but he wasn’t always helped by his team-mates. On a couple of occasions, Rochdale broke into the box and were not challenged by anyone in claret and amber – this was a collective failure rather than being the fault of one man. Meanwhile, City looked dangerous going forward. Omar Daley and Joe Colbeck have the pace and ability to frighten defences but sometimes make the wrong decision, or put in a final ball that lacks the required quality. They certainly excited the crowd though, and there were definitely more positives than negatives from the two wingers today. They should help to make City a force to be reckoned with this season and hopefully will perfom to at least the level they were at today throughout the season – it’s no good playing brilliantly for one or two games and then fading for the next three as most of our wingers have in recent seasons. Boulding and Thorne both looked sharp and I think what we saw today from Boulding is a sign of things to come, his fitness levels can’t have been great for the first couple of weeks as he missed a chunk of pre-season and strikers more than anyone need to be match fit in order to perform well. No match-fitness, no sharpness. ‘Dale had more of the ball in the first half, but City were more clinical in front of goal and defended manfully against tricky opponents who played good football and showed some clever touches. Football is all about putting your chances away and stopping your opponents from doing the same. To this end, Rhys Evans, Graeme Lee and Michael Boulding look like very good acquisitions and of the players still here from last season Matt Clarke, Peter Thorne and Paul Heckingbottom certainly played their part in the victory.

Second half, Rochdale came out looking to claw a goal back and made early substitutions (including Le Fondre) in an attempt to shake things up. City stood firm in the face of good pressure from their League Two rivals and with the back four looking fairly solid and Evans once again performing well between the sticks there was only one real moment of worry. ‘Dale number 10 Adam Le Fondre hit the woodwork and when the ball dropped it fell to a Rochdale player who was only denied by a combination of two City defenders (one of whom was, I think, Kyle Nix). I was convinced the attempt by Le Fondre was in and was shocked and delighted to see it hit the frame of the goal. Before the game, the lads on BCB (I think they call their show Straight from the Bantam’s Beak) reckoned it would be a City win and I think it was one of them who said that City would go ahead and would be able to catch Rochdale on the counter-attack. City always looked a danger on the counter due to our ability to pass the ball well and also due to the pace of our two wingers. The only real downside of the second half was that McLaren and Daley looked to pick up injuries. Daley was able to continue (a good job he was – we’d already used our three subs), but McLaren was substituted for Kyle Nix who later put in an excellent cross following some fancy footwork from Omar Daley. Michael Boulding and Peter Thorne also went off to be replaced by TJ Moncur and Big Barry Conlon – Thorne getting a fully-deserved standing ovation for yet another excellent performance, having set up the first and scored the second. Boulding had been unluck not to score a second goal when he broke through and cleverly turned his man before hitting a left foot shot that beat the ‘keeper and hit one post, before rolling across the line and going the wrong side of the Rochdale goalkeeper’s right hand post.

Back in June, I tipped Peter Thorne to be top scorer and player of the year and I also predicted that City would play good passing football and finish in the top seven. I’m on course so far and nothing would please me more than all my predictions coming true, with the exception that I hope City finish top three rather than top seven. As I wrote earlier in this piece, I am a pessimist – an optimist would have backed us to be champions. Any City fans who decided not to get a season ticket because it would cost an extra 52p per game or because they were waiting to see if they could buy-one-get-one free must be kicking themselves right now. They certainly should be.

Evans 8 – another solid display and some important saves. Put under pressure by Rochdale’s forwards but stood up to the test and should have had a couple of free-kicks when ‘Dale got a bit unnecessary from set-pieces.
Arnison 7 – looked better going forward than defending. Left short of cover at times. Decent, but room for improvement.
Lee 8 – the new David Wetherall certainly looks the part and made some important clearances. Excellent in the air and not afraid to put himself on the line for his team.
Clarke 9 – sponsor’s man-of-the-match was solid, no-nonsense and used his pace and strength well.
Heckingbottom 8 – solid in defence, did well when he got forward, too. Made some good runs and perhaps unlucky not to score.
Colbeck 8 – exciting, not afraid to take his man on and put some good balls in for the strikers.
McLaren 7 – another tidy performance, but poor pass nearly let ‘Dale in. Was later injured by former rave DJ Clark Keltie.
Bullock 8 – an improvement on his display against Notts County (which wasn’t bad). The kind of performance that impressed us last season was repeated today.
Daley 8 – I was maybe a bit harsh giving Omar 7/10 last time out. Another exciting performance full of pace and showed some trickery as well. Still too many aimless runs across the park. With better decision making and a better final ball, Daley could be awesome. I’m not optimistic enough to believe his defensive game or work-rate will ever improve much, though.
Thorne 9 – everything a front man should be. Calm in front of goal, puts in a shift every week and good in the air and holding the ball up – as well as having the knack of scoring important goals.
Boulding 8 – scored one, unlucky not to get two. Good partnership with Thorne and always looks to get in behind the defence. Should score plenty for us this year (fingers crossed!)
Subs:
Moncur 7 – brought on to stiffen midfield. Did his job well and helped City keep another clean sheet.
Conlon 7 – Barry the Bastard is like Ronseal, he does exactly what is says on the tin. Makes life uncomfortable for defenders, hold up play is excellent and having bagged a few in pre-season I reckon will get off the mark a bit quicker than he did last season.
Nix 7 – one poor corner, but soon followed that with an excellent cross for Thorne – who will have been disappointed to have slightly mis-timed header. Looks good on left, but I think is better in central midfield.

Stats to follow as soon as I can get hold of them. I don’t have the exact attendance figures, but from memory it was something like 13,150. I have a feeling Rochdale had more shots-off-target than City and more possession, but the stats that matter are in the title of this post: Bradford City 2-0 Rochdale. Three points for City and we are now second behind Shrewsbury in the table as the only two teams in the fourth division with a 100% record.

T&A Stats:
Attendance: 13,154
Shots on Target: City 5-6 Rochdale
Shots off Target: City 2-8 Rochdale
Corners: City 3-14 Rochdale
Fouls: City 8-8 Rochdale

365stats.com:
Attendance: 13,154
Shots on Target: City 6-0 Rochdale
Shots off Target: City 3-10 Rochdale
Corners: City 3-14 Rochdale
Yellow Cards: City 0-3 Rochdale

Football.co.uk stats:
Corners City 3-14 Rochdale
Fouls City 7-10 Rochdale
Goal attempts City 9-10 Rochdale
Shots off target City 3-9 Rochdale
Off-sides City 5-3 Rochdale