Bradford City at home Match Thread

[Spanish]

3 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Does that mean there is no speed limit on the estate where I live because I have no intention of exceeding 30mph? 😀

Seriously though, if we are still subject to agreed business plan that includes self imposed spending limits, surely effectively they are restrictions if the business plan wouldn’t have been approved without them. We’ll never know if it would have been rejected but I’m pretty confident that DC and his team had a reasonable idea of the type of spending the EFL were likely to approve. Surely conversations took place.

My view is that, technically we may not be able to call them restrictions but effectively they probably are.

So it’s either a budget on what DC wants or a budget based on what DC would expect the EFL to be comfortable.  Like I said we don’t know whether we are working within external imposed restrictions or not.  I don’t think DC is going to do anything that is not business sustainable.

[Sparkle]

5 minutes ago, Magicman said:

Players to keep for next season :

Wildsmith Vickers 

Nyambe Wilson 

Nelson Cashin Rooney 

Bird Thompson Robinson 

NML Collins 

Off Load 

Loach, Fozzy, Elder, Bradley, Fornah, Hourihane, Sibley, Barks, JJ, Waggy, Washington. 

So 50% turnover some will attract modest fees others not. 

Rather early to say who we keep and let leave because we would need to know which league we are in - that said I expect loach,Hourahan, JJ and Waggy not to be here regardless and personally I would be looking at moving on Bradley Fornah and Washington but we would struggle to get rid of them because of the contracts we gave them and their limited quality 

[Ghost of Clough]

15 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Does that mean there is no speed limit on the estate where I live because I have no intention of exceeding 30mph? 😀

Seriously though, if we are still subject to agreed business plan that includes self imposed spending limits, surely effectively they are restrictions if the business plan wouldn’t have been approved without them. We’ll never know if it would have been rejected but I’m pretty confident that DC and his team had a reasonable idea of the type of spending the EFL were likely to approve. Surely conversations took place.

My view is that, technically we may not be able to call them restrictions but effectively they probably are.

If my personal budget is £10, but someone tells me I'm restricted to spending a maximum of £20, it's not really a restriction, is it?

[VulcanRam]

Supporters were not motivated enough to turn up.

Players were not motivated enough to turn up. 

Seems no-one likes playing L2 opposition in front an an East stand-only crowd, whatever competition it's in.

We can have an inquest and/or a meltdown but I'd just forget about it and move on. Far bigger fish to fry this season and our league form is good. 

 

 

[Returning ram]

10 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

If my personal budget is £10, but someone tells me I'm restricted to spending a maximum of £20, it's not really a restriction, is it?

Well yes, because you only have a tenner 🤣 

[Ghost of Clough]

1 minute ago, Returning ram said:

Well yes, because you only have a tenner 🤣 

The same would apply to a business which (hypothetically) has set it's own budget of £8m even if it's governing body would have allowed it to go up to £10m.

[Ram-Alf]

10 hours ago, Kathcairns said:

Didnt see much effort there,wish i could have treated my job like that😁

You were there I wasn't so can only go on the postings on here, To a poster the players were poor with maybe the exception of 1 or 2, Fans deserve better, But when do fans come into the players minds?

Teams can get away with carrying 1 or 2 players, But 7/8 or 9 even that's a no no, Lets hope this was a blip and not the January/February race to the bottom 

[Returning ram]

Just now, Ghost of Clough said:

The same would apply to a business which (hypothetically) has set its own budget of £8m even if its governing body would have allowed it to go up to £10m.

Still a restriction though isn't it ? 
 

If Derby and Pboro go in for a player today, one can offer more than the other (regardless of if they can afford to pay it) - correct or not ?

[Ghost of Clough]

3 minutes ago, VulcanRam said:

Supporters were not motivated enough to turn up.

Players were not motivated enough to turn up. 

Seems no-one likes playing L2 opposition in front an an East stand-only crowd, whatever competition it's in.

We can have an inquest and/or a meltdown but I'd just forget about it and move on. Far bigger fish to fry this season and our league form is good. 

It's why it's usually a good idea to include a couple of U21s in the team. They bring enthusiasm and unpredictability to the team, the sort of energy which helps motivated the more senior players in the team.

[Ghost of Clough]

Just now, Returning ram said:

Still a restriction though isn't it ? 
 

If Derby and Pboro go in for a player today, one can offer more than the other (regardless of if they can afford to pay it) - correct or not ?

Don't get confused between budget and restriction

[Alty_Ram]

Well that was all rather underwhelming. It'd have been nice to win the competition and while I'm really not really overly bothered at getting knocked out of this tournament and avoiding the extra games in what could be a big season for us, given the reasonably respectable side that we sent out you'd have expected it to give a better account of itself than that. Several fringe players totally failed to make any case for themselves and several first teamers below par.

Shrug. 'Concentrating on the league' time... again. As long as we are back on track next league game then I suppose that's all that really matters.

[Returning ram]

1 minute ago, Ghost of Clough said:

Don't get confused between budget and restriction

There is no confusion here, we set a business plan with the EFL, that is a restriction that we have to adhere to.
 

Had we not, then we could at any time change our spend upwards over that, at this current time we cannot.

[TomTom92]

33 minutes ago, jimtastic56 said:

The “ 2 men & 2 dogs” are the hardcore fan base. And the players still get their £10k a week . Is the F A Cup “Tinpot”? Because we have gone out of all 3 cups at home to lesser opposition.

I accept your point and kudos to the hardcore fan base for turning up. 

Not saying we should be losing to Bradford and the performance was obviously dreadful. But ultimately Warne will be judged on our league performance and will most of our fanbase be upset with our cup performance if we go up? I wouldn't say so.

If we don't go up then Warne will no doubt be judged on his failure in all competitions and then the questions over his future can be asked and debated fair game.

FWIW I don't have much time for the FA Cup either, but i accept i'm probably in the minority for that.

[TomTom92]

37 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

It’s a good job these players weren’t around in the Covid season then. I agree, it must help to have a decent crowd cheering you on (or not as is sometimes the case) but professional footballers should be able to motivate themselves to perform at a much higher standard than they did last night. So, I agree with your first three words. Just a shame your 4th word was “but”.

They should be able to but they're only human. A lot of people probably didn't have much motivation in their jobs the week leading up to Christmas? Why not? They're still being paid.

Ultimately fans can be upset over last night especially the ones that went. But some of the hysteria i saw after last night was unjustified as last night will mean nothing if we go up. In fact if that happens I imagine most of us will be singing the players praises for a fantastic season. 

[G STAR RAM]

58 minutes ago, Spanish said:

We can’t know for certain but my view is you can’t call them restrictions if we have no intention of breaching them 

We do know for certain, its set out in the EFL rules for exiting administration. 

If DC had drawn up a business plan that the EFL were unhappy with, then we would have had to amend it.

Therefore restrictions are in place. 

What level them restrictions are at is anyones guess, I wouldn't be surprised if even the EFL didn't know.

[Spanish]

5 minutes ago, Returning ram said:

There is no confusion here, we set a business plan with the EFL, that is a restriction that we have to adhere to.
 

Had we not, then we could at any time change our spend upwards over that, at this current time we cannot.

But our budget complies with EFL rules for a div1 club.  Have the EFL imposed harsher spending rules on us?  Would DC have pushed the budget if there was some headroom to the general spending rules?

[Rambam]

At the end of the day, that trophy is an irrelevance to us. Also an opportunity to get injured. 
Like all the cups, I’ll forsake the chance to play Man United in a one off for the certainty of getting out of this unwarranted EFL punishment division. 

[Returning ram]

1 minute ago, Spanish said:

But our budget complies with EFL rules for a div1 club.  Have the EFL imposed harsher spending rules on us?  Would DC have pushed the budget if there was some headroom to the general spending rules?

I'm not sure what you question is, we continue to operate under a business plan, is that higher or lower than others is irrelevant, it still restricts us on overspending. If your saying, it's as good or bad as anyone else's, a different question and one I don't the answer. All

I know is that we are NOT allowed to go over it.

"Decisions are still to be made on next season, but we remain in positive discussions with the EFL. We will continue to be under a business plan next season, which will obviously be divisional specific, however it will be one that we propose to the EFL and will be reviewed collectively in order that we can demonstrate that we are not being over-ambitious, which we aren’t being – we will be continuing to build in a progressive and sensible manner.

[Gabby'sThighs]

15 minutes ago, Magicman said:

Players to keep for next season :

Wildsmith Vickers 

Nyambe Wilson 

Nelson Cashin Rooney 

Bird Thompson Robinson 

NML Collins 

Off Load 

Loach, Fozzy, Elder, Bradley, Fornah, Hourihane, Sibley, Barks, JJ, Waggy, Washington. 

So 50% turnover some will attract modest fees others not. 

Fozzy still looks good to me, worth 1 more year, even if he's on the bench more.
Elder has looked okay in the last few games now that he's fit. He put in some good blocks last night, but he did play an awful backpass to Vickers at one point. Wait until the end of the season.
Fornah could be really effective at DM if he sticks to the basics - press, win the ball, pass. He did too much fannying around with the ball last night, when he just needed to play it quickly.
Loach is GK coach & 3rd choice so I don't see the harm in him staying.
Collins depends on promotion - it's been great to see him step up this season, but I just can't see him doing anything in the Championship.
Cashin will go if a Prem team comes in for him, Bird will leave if we miss promotion.

Bradley needs firing into the sun, proverbially. His confidence is non-existent, when he successfully plays a 10-yard pass, he looks sort of relieved. He's so slow, and surprisingly crap in the air for a big unit. He got bailed out by Thommo after stepping out into no man's land and l=eaving a huge space behind him.

Interesting that you forgot Korey Smith! He just needs to go now.
And Ward - Nyambe is a better FB, Wilson is a better WB. Probably worth keeping as he can at leat cross and take set pieces.

I'd echo the main gripe I've seen on the thread - I wish we'd used this cup to get some young 'uns involved. Brown, Weston, Robinson, Bartley, Fapetu. There'd be no shame in losing 1-0 to Bradford with 5 or 6 youths in the matchday squad.

[G STAR RAM]

43 minutes ago, Ghost of Clough said:

If my personal budget is £10, but someone tells me I'm restricted to spending a maximum of £20, it's not really a restriction, is it?

If you subsequently win £15 on the lottery and then also want to spend that then yes, you are restricted.