The Width of a Post 2011/12 player of the season, Luke Oliver

By Alex Scott

Watching Ricky Ravenhill’s sending off, all momentum built up over the past week dissipated, like air from a punctured forehead. It was frustrating, but such things have become commonplace in football: the Bradford City captain showed a momentary lapse in brain function, and was punished for it. Nothing else really matters. Despite this, with Gary Jones returning soon, and the dominating presence of Nathan Doyle growing with every game (not literally), losing Ravenhill (in spite of his recent uptick in form) probably isn’t the end of the world. Even the Burton game itself, whilst it’s obviously not ideal to play with ten men, this side is as well built as any with its resolutely organised defence, set piece prowess and ever-grafting target man running around up top. Disappointing? Sure. But by no means a disaster. Seeing Gary Jones prepare himself in the dugout, confidence was beginning to rebound, even if Alan Connell had to be sacrificed. But Jones wasn’t the first man off the bench.

“Olly doesn’t look good at all, with his achilles…”

————

It’s easy to forget now, but at the beginning of last season Luke Oliver stood a lowly fourth in the central defensive pecking order, despite the club only having three recognised central defenders. Oliver was behind such luminaries as ‘current 2nd worst side in the country’s reserve defender’ Guy Branston (3 starts, 9 conceded, 0 points), a Gateshead central midfielder, and prospect Steve Williams. The fact Oliver is not only still playing for us, but is also now seen as a vital cog is a staggering leap for the former Wycombe man, and speaks testament to his mental strength, and ability.

A starter in that now famous inverse shop window friendly against Silsden in 2011, the most notable fact was how little I, or most, noted his inclusion. With Flynn and Threlfall, there was a sense of injustice in their attempted phasing out, but with Oliver, the lack of outrage spoke volumes. He was a Taylor boy, and not a particular outstanding one at that, standing impatiently alongside Lewis Hunt queuing at the revolving door of lower league staples.

Injuries to Lee Bullock and Williams opened the door, and Oliver appeared a changed man. A quick managerial change saw an equally quick alteration in the depth chart, Andrew Davies arriving on loan, but not to replace Oliver. He (correctly) was favoured over his more expensive, more experienced, club captain counterpart. Whilst at the time this decision seemed logical and fair (whilst having all the leadership intangibles – for whatever that’s worth – Guy Branston was consistently undermining the rest of the team), but in hindsight, dropping your club captain, and highest paid player in favour of an unassuming, slightly unpopular holdover was a big call from Phil Parkinson. Not that it was wrong, and it did help establish the meritocratic culture Parkinson was trying to establish, but it remained a ‘big’ decision.

From that moment on, with the faith of a manager who showed him respect, rather than one who utilised him as a gimmick striker, or one who undermined him based on everything other than ability, the central defender has grown from strength to strength, finally standing to his full height. (Plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery.)

Until Saturday afternoon.

With Luke Oliver’s short-to-medium-to-long term future up in the air, what was the strength of this year’s outfit has instantly become a frailty, a soft core within a still-impressive machine. This has obviously been exacerbated by the simultaneous (albeit milder) injury to his partner in crime Andrew Davies. The former Middlesbrough man is clearly a better all-around player and on the face of it, his absence will be felt hardest.

Looking deeper however, losing Luke Oliver for the rest of the season completely alters how this team functions defensively, and without reinforcements, it’s difficult to see how the loss won’t have a hugely damaging effect on the team as a defensive unit, which is their bread and butter.

Before going into the impact of this injury, I’d first like to extend our best wishes to Luke Oliver, from all the writers here. The severity and nature of this injury cannot be understated. A ruptured achilles (besides maybe a Lisfranc fracture) is probably the most devastating injury possible for a sportsman. The rehab can take anything up to a year, and even then the level of play achieved can be drastically altered. Studies have shown in the NFL, about a third of the players to rupture their achilles never take the field again. On a more positive note, recently in the Premier League, Steven Taylor, Yossi Benayoun and Sam Ricketts have recovered from similar injuries in around 7-8  months. But even that hopeful timeframe would still end the defender’s season. He (thankfully) penned a two-year deal in the summer which at least affords him some security in his rehab, but what landscape he will return into is a worrying unknown.

How this affects the team on the field is a comparatively meaningless, insensitive question to ask, but in this forum, I suppose I’d be remiss not to ask it. Watching the team defend, their strategy is delightfully, and effectively simple. With two hard workers in the front line hassling defenders, and a midfield four drilled to sit deep occupying passing lanes into the forwards, opposing teams are forced to pump diagonals to gain field position, however these balls are more often than not met by the towering Oliver or Davies. Once the header is won, it is normally cleared, or if not, the defensive numbers will so drastically outnumber the forwards in the vicinity that the second ball can be claimed.

Luke Oliver isn’t a great defender, in my opinion. He is a solid defender who is sensational in a couple of key areas, but rather than being a stud, he is the beneficiary of a defensive system designed around him. He cannot be isolated one-on-one against opposition forwards, and never really looks comfortable defending on the ground. Parkinson has built his defence around Oliver’s strengths,  and the 6’7 defender has (for the most part) has excelled.

Two defensively-minded midfielders in front of him, two tall, strong ‘tweener full backs outside; Luke Oliver is in his safe place.  With someone like Rory McArdle to his right, seldom leaving his post, the chances of Oliver’s weaknesses being exposed are dramatically reduced. For an opposing striker to get to him with the ball at his feet would require him to beat at least two men. And what’s more with two relatively tall fullbacks, there is little scope for exploitation with a long diagonal. All the balls are funnelled inside, all the balls are funnelled to Oliver.

When that plan alters though, Oliver’s output tails off. Which we have witnessed whenever Stephen Darby has played. Having a more forward thinking, less sturdy full back outside him has seen Oliver isolated more often against opposing attackers, and also required him to cover more space, which has left him often looking uncomfortable. (Oliver routinely, and effectively, covers for Davies inside, but when having to think about his outside flank as well, his comfort level drops off.) The games against Gillingham and York stand out especially in this regard. This impact seems to be the primary reason for Darby’s extended spell on the sidelines to start the season. Whilst a fine player, he negatively affects the most important player in the defence.

Losing Oliver means that Rory McArdle immediately becomes a starter inside, with Darby outside him. As we saw in the League Cup win over Burton, where the Northern Irishman was targeted throughout, the team’s defensive system does not play to his strengths. This is compounded by Stephen Darby’s presence outside him. Now playing a high pressing game to encourage the long ball doesn’t seem such a beneficial strategy.

Unless a comparable Oliver figure can be recruited as a replacement via the loan market (gasp!), there may have to be a fundamental alteration in strategy. Maybe the team will defend higher as they have now have superior recovery speed? Maybe they will have to be more attacking to compensate their new-found instability? I don’t know. But simply playing McArdle as the ‘Oliver’ won’t do.

McArdle’s glorious performance against Wigan on Tuesday does bode well though, as does Stephen Darby’s efforts on the right, however that game probably isn’t indicative of the usual workload in the fourth tier, Wigan’s to-a-fault possession style unlikely to be replicated in the league. The real test of McArdle and Darby (as weird as this feels to type) will come back at Northampton, with their aerial prowess just about second to none at this level.

Beyond this, there is now no depth in the defensive ranks beyond young Carl McHugh, who whilst enjoying a highly impressive start to his Bradford career, is still inexperienced at this level, and there remain questions whether he can hold up as an every-week starter. Behind him, the cupboard is bare. Doyle and Forrayah Bass would provide depth, but not in the required positions, unless James Meredith has more versatility than he has previously let on. Regardless of whether or not McArdle can make the step up to being a core starter inside, Phil Parkinson will likely have to invest in some depth in central defence.

Over the past year, Luke Oliver has personified manager Phil Parkinson’s dominant pragmatism. His obvious shortcomings have been deliberately massaged and managed, and he’s gone on to star. After Saturday, the uncertainty which all of a sudden clouds his future, has descended down upon his manager, and the route though doesn’t appear clear. Especially if the playing budget is becoming constrained.

Luke Oliver has walked a long road in his career, from career novelty figure, to an unwanted outcast. Only now, after his 28th birthday, has he established himself as a core starter at this level. Now, just as soon as he is beginning to tap into his potential, his world has been turned upside down. He has shown remarkable mental strength and resilience to reach this point, he will have to show just as much, and even more to make it back. His route to success which had finally seemed to clear up, now looks as difficult as ever.

So does his manager’s.

Teams doing well invariably attract media attention. And so it was for Bradford City at the peak of early season form, when on the day of the Port Vale game The Sun newspaper ran a feature on top scorer James Hanson.

“James Hanson used to stack shelves in his local Co-op,” began the piece. “But now the striker has swapped stocking up tins of beans for racking up goals at Bradford.”

A feel-good story that we City supporters know so well. Signed from Guiseley by Stuart McCall in 2009, having been on the Bantams’ radar for the previous 12 months, Hanson’s rise into professional football is a great tale that earned him the affectionate chant “he used to work at the Co-op.” Here was a guy as ordinary as you and me, plucked from relative obscurity to be scoring goals in front of 10,000+ crowds every other week. Living our dream, you might say. The working class hero.

“He used to work at the Co-op.”

In time – and in truth with some predictability – that feel-good story has been diluted by a section of City supporters turning on Hanson and decrying that he is not good enough. Not good enough for a club with promotion ambitions some say, not good enough to be in professional football add others. “Get back to Guiseley” has been often heard on the Kop this season. Two seasons ago under Peter Taylor’s dismal reign, the cries in the Midland Road were to “go back to stacking shelves”. Width of a Post writer Luke Lockwood tells a story from this season’s Morecambe game, where a guy in front of him – who had barracked Hanson non-stop – reacted to James’ superb long range goal and subsequent announcement of the goalscorer’s name over the PA system by booing. This is what Hanson has to deal with.

It strikes me that what endeared Hanson so quickly to the Valley Parade faithful has in time being used as a stick to beat him with. Maybe there is a slight embarrassment that City’s number 9 came from a lowly background (whether that’s because he played for non-league Guiseley, worked in a Co-op, or a bit of both), but some people will tell you that Hanson, in his 4^th season as a professional footballer, is not, in fact, a professional footballer.

Which goes beyond simply disliking or not rating a certain player. I did not particular care for Gareth Evans’ displays during the final few months of his time at Valley Parade, but with his Manchester United pedigree you didn’t see anyone claim Evans was not a professional footballer. Over the last few weeks a number of City supporters having been falling over themselves to praise Port Vale’s Tom Pope and stating they wish we could swap number 9s. This overlooks the fact Hanson has a better goalscoring record, or that Rotherham made Pope their joint record signing (£150k) in 2009 and were rewarded with him scoring just four goals from 53 appearances. In other words, he has been rubbish in the past. Yet the fact Pope has a better pedigree and happens to be in good form somehow makes him a better player than Hanson.

“He used to work at the Co-op.”

James Hanson’s time at City should feel more of a success than it is perceived. At Guiseley he banged them in for fun – 46 goals from 67 appearances according to the ever-reliable Wikipedia. Yet at City his record of 35 goals from 124 games shows the step up the divisions has been successfully taken. On paper, Hanson is a one goal in three-and-a-half-games striker at this level (the in-form Pope is one in four) – that is pretty good. Get a striker chipping in a similar amount too (Nahki Wells’ City record is so far also one in three) and you probably have around 30-40 goals contributed by the front two alone.

Hanson’s first season, 2009/10, was great – but then again, the expectation levels for what he could accomplish were low. For a number of years now, we City fans have looked at under-achieving, barely trying players with frustration and declared that we should sign “hungry” players from a level or two below (in the Premiership the mantra was we should sign lower league strikers, now we are a lower league side it becomes non-league). The reasons for this suggested action are not because such players are better ability-wise, but instead that they would work harder because they would be so grateful just to be here. Hanson came in, worked hard and scored a few goals – thereby fitting the mould.

“He used to work at the Co-op.”

Inevitably a high level of effort alone is not considered enough, in time. We, of course, want quality from our players, and for them to deliver the goods on the field. It may not matter that Hanson gives 100% and Omar Daley was perceived as a shirker. When in Hanson’s second season Peter Jackson was desperately trying to keep City in the Football League, he turned to Daley to save us.

At that period – his difficult second season – you began to wonder where Hanson’s future ultimately lay. Jackson got the full time job, started next season off badly and found that hauling Hanson off increased his popularity stakes with some. Infamously in his last game in charge, with City a goal down to a physical Dagenham side, Jackson took off Hanson to cheers and replaced him with the under-developed Nialle Rodney. The team continued to knock long balls up the pitch to a player who could not cope. City lost the game.

Under Phil Parkinson, Hanson has enjoyed a renewed lease of life. Just like Taylor and Jackson, the current City boss had looked to find a replacement for Hanson (Paul Benson) with the aim of a short-term fix boosting immediate results. Hanson was stung into some of his best form since joining the club after attempts to sign Benson last November failed. Parkinson had Hanson firing on all cylinders, revealing last December that one of the reasons for a surge in confidence was that the City boss was urging him not to be afraid of making mistakes.

Yet still, during this summer, Parkinson talked of bringing in another number 9 who Hanson could “learn from”. Perhaps that Hanson complex stretches to people within the club as well as some fans. After three seasons playing week in week out in League Two, did Hanson really now require a spell on the bench ‘learning’ from Andy Gray?

“He used to work at the Co-op.”

The number 9 position is one of the most difficult in football. It’s about having strength to hold up the ball, tackle from the front and win flick ons (like the one for Wells’ goal on Tuesday night). It is about being an outlet for a team under pressure and needing to get out of their own half. Relying on the big man to not only win their wayward long ball but to keep hold of possession long enough for others to get forward. More often than not, it’s about making your strike partner look good.

Go back to Dean Windass’ second spell at City, and you’ll find his best goal bursts came when he was playing alongside an effective number 9: Dele Adebola, Aaron Wilbraham. These people did the ugly stuff very effectively, so Windass could concentrate on doing what he does best. One of the reasons it went wrong for Stuart McCall’s 2008/09 City promotion push was a realisation Barry Conlon was not good enough to maintain consistent form – and his replacement Paul Mullin was to prove the wrong replacement. How Peter Thorne could have done with a James Hanson during the latter part of that season.

The number 9 position is one of the most difficult in football. Think of how much we hated Ashley Ward. Recall how, the season after Lee Mills scored 25 goals, he was racing up to the Midland Road stand with the finger-on-lip-shut-up-gesture, because he was so upset by the stick he was getting. Remember when Hanson was injured two years ago and Taylor – rather than play a different way – stuck Luke Oliver up front. Number 9s are vital to the team, but so often they are hated.

On Saturday, half way through writing this article, I made a point of listening more closely than usual to what critics were saying of Hanson. He was being slated by one bloke when his flick ons didn’t find Wells; he was being slated by the same person when a Wells pass did not go near Hanson. Surely Hanson can’t be in the wrong in both such instances and Wells right? When James forced two good saves from Cheltenham’s keeper – one in each half – there was complete silence from this fan. When Hanson missed that great chance at 0-0 the same guy was on his feet screaming.

The peak of this bile towards Hanson came midway through the first half when he rolled on the floor clutching his thigh for a brief second. “Yesss!!” this fan yelled, “he’s injured!” I mean what can you say about a supporter who dislikes a player so much he wants them to be injured? I cannot begin to understand this type of support.

Hanson has had a good 12 months for City, at least in home games. In his last 21 Valley Parade appearances, he has netted 13 goals. Yet during a spell earlier this season where you could argue he has been at the peak of his form, the critics in the stand have largely ignored how effective he has performed and waited for his next mistake. What more can he do? I guess it boils down to how much the rest of us – supporters, management, and Hanson especially – should pay attention to the abuse. I’ve no issue with anyone criticising any player if they are prepared to balance it out with praise where it is due. But with the Hanson critics in particular, any such balance is completely lacking.

But let’s ourselves balance out simply defending him with some constructive criticism. Going back to that Port Vale afternoon where Hanson was making a splash in The Sun pre-match, he missed what could only be described as a sitter two minutes in. A corner was swung to the backpost, and there was an unmarked Hanson ready to head home in a similar manner to his goal against Fleetwood in August. He somehow missed, with some fans in the Main Stand cruelly teased with the distorted impression that the ball had hit the back of the net, and who for a moment began to cheer. There was all round shock that he had missed, and something changed.

Hanson has not quite looked the same player ever since. An even worse miss in some respects followed at Rochdale a few days later, when he had the chance to head into the goal from six yards out but timidly attempted to flick it onto a teammate who was in a worse position. No goals since the Port Vale miss, and a few chances spurned that we would have expected him to take.

His body language suggests a slight dip in confidence. You suspect that he needs a goal. Nahki Wells has scored eight times since the last time Hanson scored to take a pole position in the battle to be top scorer. Frankly we would have all expected Wells to lead the charts this season, but having looked on course to get 20 goals this season Hanson has fallen behind schedule.

We need him to get back to how he was last December, and how he was earlier this season. That is bullying defenders, demanding and keeping hold of the ball, playing with eyes in the back of his head as he knows what run Wells will be making. And scoring a variety of goals.

Above all else, we need Hanson to go back to not being afraid to make mistakes – and we supporters need to stop hammering him when he does. He used to work in the Co-op. But now, like it or not, he is pivotal to our promotion challenge.

After another summer involving a high turnover of playing personnel, the opening weeks of the season have been rife with debate about how well the new recruits have settled in their claret and amber shirts. That is with the notable exception of one player in particular, new City left back James Meredith.

That should not be considered a criticism of the new arrival but just the opposite. Meredith has looked so comfortable in the City back four so far this season, it’s as if he’s always been there. He does of course have a lot of experience playing as a full back – a quick look at the ever reliable Wikipedia tells us he has played over 50 times in each of the past 3 seasons and 46 in the year before that. However, this is his first season playing regularly in the Football League and he has taken to the challenge like a duck to water.

The new recruits have dominated a lot of the early season discussions, whether it be about the brilliance of Gary Jones and Nathan Doyle, the frustrating inconsistency of the obviously talented Zavon Hines, the vastly improved Will Atkinson or whether Garry Thompson should be getting more of an opportunity. Even on the opposite side to Meredith, there has been a lot of discussion about who should get the nod between Rory McArdle and Stephen Darby. Although McArdle has performed consistently well at right back, there are still those who question whether Darby would be the better option.

This shows how well Meredith is fitting in to life at Valley Parade as no such questions are being raised about his own position. Bradford City fans have it in their nature to complain – over a decade of decline does that to fan – but Parkinson’s decision not to bring in any experienced competition for Meredith has yet to be questioned and his faith in the full back has been rewarded by a string of fine performances. The young Carl McHugh has been brought in as cover, but judging by Meredith’s fine start he may have a long wait for any prolonged game time. You feel that should he maintain such a level throughout the season he will surely be on a shortlist of candidates for the player of the season gong – although based on early season form there may be a number in contention.

With the relatively low amount of attention being given to City’s new left back a fantastic opportunity presented itself for us Skipton Bantams to put the spotlight firmly on James Meredith at out recent meeting on October 10. Skipton Bantams are Meredith’s sponsors for the 2012/13 season and the supporters’ club chairman introduces Meredith and – again quoting Wikipedia – gives a brief background on the player including the interesting fact that his father was ranked world number 3 in squash.

Initial experiences of life at Bradford City:

Suitably he is first asked about life at Valley Parade and the differences between his new club and old club. Speaking very articulately, with an Aussie twang, Meredith explains how he experienced a harsh early lesson to life with City in the Football League. He recalls his first pre season session, with a smile on his face, as he explains that while he was at York he would always be at the front in the pre season runs and sprint but he was ‘dead last’ on his first day at City and even the staff beat him. All those who remained from the season previously had been given fitness programmes over the off season, therefore he was initially behind the rest of the squad. However, when he was probed about how he fared now he was quick to point out he was comfortably up with the front of the pack.

His stamina has certainly showed in the highly congested early season fixture list as the left back has only been left on the bench for one game during the spell of Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday games while most of his team mates have been afforded more of a rest.

The manager and why he signed for the club:

Meredith feels the packed fixture list has had an impact on the squad’s preparation between games. He chatted about Phil Parkinson’s passion for the game and how he loves to plan meticulously and relentlessly studies videos of the opposition before preparing the side on the training field accordingly. The frequency of the fixtures does impact the amount of time the side have to prepare in this way.

Parkinson has obviously impressed Meredith even before he joined, and he referenced the manager as one of the factors when quizzed about why he chose to sign for City over the summer – despite York City stating their surprise at his decision when sides from higher up the league had shown interest.

We have all heard the frequent answer from new signings about how they’ve signed for a massive club, a sleeping giant that shouldn’t be playing in League Two and their excitement at playing in front of such a huge crowd. It has almost become a tiresome pre written press release that’s rolled out for all the new signings every summer. Meredith, however goes into great depth about why he chose to sign and is refreshingly honest in his answer.

During the summer Meredith attracted interest from a number of clubs at different levels in the Football League pyramid. Watford and Burnley both wanted to sign him, however he explained both club’s wanted to sign him as a development squad player and gradually tutor him over the prolonged period before he became a regular first team player. Having played the amount of games he has done over the past four seasons, it is obvious Meredith is a player who likes to be involved and on the pitch, so those offers just wouldn’t do.

He then received offers from Stevenage, Brentford and Bradford – as well as an offer from current club York City. These were the sides that he feels his final decision was ultimately between. He was offered better money to sign for Stevenage in League One but had a gut feeling that they had reached a peak and didn’t feel they were prepared to challenge for promotion. Whereas, when he came to Bradford he got a different feeling – like he did when signing for York – that the club were going somewhere and he had more chance of playing in the Championship with City than he did with those sides already in League One.

Following three appearances at Wembley and a promotion with York City, his gut feeling was certainly right in that case. Let’s hope he’s proved correct again.

The squad:

I got the feeling from Meredith that he had a real belief in the squad, without even being pressed on the topic he was quick to tell the audience that he felt Parkinson had assembled a team of winners. In his opinion a play off position wouldn’t be satisfactory as the squad has everything it needs to achieve a place in the top three. Nut if they failed to make it automatically he is also confident of taking on the lottery that is the play offs and anything less would be unacceptable.

Unconcerned by one point from the previous nine (now two from 12) he feels Bradford will quickly bounce back and regain winning ways. He was asked about those that have really impressed him – ‘Davies, Doyle, Nakhi, Reid, Hans…’ he goes on and before you know it he has named pretty much the whole squad. However, he reserves special praise for Gary Jones, as everyone seems to have identified this season he is the key.

It’s no coincidence a drop in form has coincided with his injury and we need our inspirational leader on the pitch as soon as possible.

Afterwards he provides a more light hearted view on the squad, apparently Kyel Reid gets away with murder amongst the rest of the lads, and Davies – along with the physio – is the joker in the pack.

His style of play and thoughts on City fans:

Meredith explains that although he likes to attack this opportunity is more limited when Reid plays in front of him. I don’t think that this is because Parkinson doesn’t want him to get forward, but more because it restricts Reid’s style of play. Kyel is an old fashioned winger who likes to hug the touchline and Reid offering the overlap reduces the space that he can exploit, but this is not a concern to Meredith because it is clear he loves to defend.

With a smile on his face he says ‘he loves crunching tackles’ and when he explains that the players he admired growing up were Roy Keane and Paulo Maldini you begin to understand that it is genuinely his favourite part of the game.

He fondly recalls a defining moment when he realised he’d chosen the right club. During the match against Fleetwood earlier this season he made a fair crunching tackle and followed it up with a second, when the ball broke free Doyle then put in a third big tackle and as each tackle is made the roar from the crowd has been getting louder to the point that by the time Doyle has made the third challenge the City faithful are cheering louder than when we score the goal.

We as fans have made an impression on Meredith already, and it’s not just the big gates at home games that he refers to but the following away from home and the support we offer even in games where we have struggled. When a member of the audience explains to him that there will probably be more City fans at Wigan than home fans Meredith gets genuinely excited by the prospect.

Incidentally, if we beat Wigan, he wants Leeds at home in the next round rather than a Man United or Liverpool.

Career ambitions: 

Meredith moved to England to pursue a career in football at the age of 16 and he has done it the hard way. After being released by Derby he has worked his way through the non leagues and is back in the (relatively) big time.

In Australia football just doesn’t get the same support as Aussie Rules, Rugby League and cricket and so he the majority of Australian footballers do aspire to make it England, although he also confesses he once almost signed for Melbourne Victory.

Despite having impressed in England he admits that he has not yet looked at pursuing an international career and remarks that he believes he would have to be playing consistently in the Championship before being considered.

His current goal is quite clearly promotion this season and then hopefully a quick promotion to the Championship not long after. He is quite realistic in his ambitions and says he would like to prove himself in the Championship and play there for a few seasons before returning to Australia in his early 30s and suggests, if he’s lucky, maybe even get a season to experience the Premier League.

He alludes to the fact he thinks he can achieve this with City without stating it blatantly, which is a refreshing change. He obviously doesn’t feel as though he is here to tell the fans what they want to think but what he believes. It is also obvious that these ambitions are important to him and should they not be attainable with City over the coming seasons he will look elsewhere to achieve them, which is also understandable.

Interestingly, when discussing the leaders in the side, Meredith’s friend who is sat amongst the audience put him on the spot and asks if the armband is something he aspires to. Meredith doesn’t need to say anything as a grin emerges across his face, but he takes the time to explain that it is something he would like to experience one day, however he doesn’t think he is quite ready for it yet. Interestingly – again on Wikipedia – a photo from his York City days shows him sporting the captain’s armband so someone has already identified Meredith to have the leadership qualities necessary.

Thank you James Meredith

On behalf of the Skipton Bantams I would like to thank Meredith for his time last week and for his refreshingly honest attitude on the evening. He provided those in attendance with a thoroughly entertaining evening and he points covered above are just a small selection of the topics he discussed throughout the night.

As for Meredith the footballer, it has been great to use Width of a Post as a platform to give him some of the recognition he has deserved for his fine early season form. Phil Parkinson deserves an immense amount of credit for this capture, without his efforts and enthusiasm Meredith may just have accepted one of those offers to play higher up the leagues.

However, he is obviously developing a fondness for the club and should we be able to match his ambition he gave the impression that he would more than happily build a successful career at Valley Parade. And who knows, he may well be a future Bradford City captain.

Alan Connell signed for Bradford City this summer as table-toppers Swindon’s top scorer. He only played half the games. Swindon paid “an undisclosed six figure sum” for his services, believed to be around £115,000, just 12 months prior. Something must be good about this guy.

So far, so good. Connell looks just the player City have craved for so long. A player fantastic at holding the ball up, and creating something that most other players can not. And just this week, Phil Parkinson seems to have found a formation perfect for undoubtedly one of his most technically gifted players.

The 4-3-1-2 is ably suited to the striker, allowing him to drop off and be on the ball as much as he likes. When Gary Jones is back fit and with Ritchie Jones racing up ahead of him, it could be the perfect formula. It just fits.

Connell’s greatest ability is holding the ball up, there is no doubt about that. It is questionable, though, whether he is sensible enough to play that role. For me, he seems to try and be too fancy, too cute, and that doesn’t work. Often a simple couple of touches and lay off to the full-back is all that is required. But, again, that is also a strength, which brings something new to the team.

Connell’s first thought is always to go forward. This is almost a new revelation for our team. Will Atkinson is one whose first thought is always backwards, along with Ricky Ravenhill and even Nahki Wells is so often wasting a promising attack with a backwards pass. It is great to see someone who has the bravery and endeavour to attempt a clever little pass forwards.

Then comes the next negative – if it is considered a negative. Alan Connell is often too clever for the other players in the team. He will see something that some team mates aren’t clever enough to spot. He will play a little ball over the top which catches James Hanson on his heels, or knock one through someone’s legs to a player who hasn’t made the run he should yet. Which brings me to my next point:

Alan Connell should play with Nahki Wells.

If we have a clever player like Connell up top, why do we need a big man like James Hanson? Connell isn’t afraid to put his head where it hurts either. And if you need a target, stick Garry Thompson on one of the wings. We hardly have any wingers at the moment. It could be his route to the team.

Also, with the midfield quality of Jones and Nathan Doyle, as well as full-backs who are more than comfortable on the ball, we do not need someone who is simply on the pitch to win headers from goal kicks and long throws. With Connell, we can become a clever team.

A team who doesn’t need to worry about winning all the aerial battles, because we have League One quality across the whole pitch. And some are even better than that.

That is the baseline fact. Alan Connell can be the turning factor in this team becoming what it can. A good, solid, footballing team. A team who doesn’t have to rely on the striker winning a flick on for a quick striker to finish it off. Yes Hanson works hard, but so does Connell. He chases absolutely everything down, never letting the defenders have any time on the ball whatsoever.

This begs the question as to whether the manager has the guts to drop Hanson. Can we last a game without a big man up front? Wells and Connell would be a formidable partnership in League One, never mind League Two.

Of course, we have the 4-3-1-2, which Parkinson trialled against Hartlepool. I didn’t go to the game but reports suggest it went well. However the lack of width means there is no out ball. No-one to exploit the space that there is out wide, and the game could very easily become bogged down in midfield. And without Gary Jones, it immediately becomes much harder. Ravenhill and Doyle aren’t going to race forward at every opportunity. With the burden all falling to Ritchie Jones as a result, the player will undoubtedly tire and leaves the side short in numbers in attack.

Central to this working, is that man. Alan Connell. There aren’t many players around like him, with his ability and footballing brain, and we could have a real player on our hands. Someone we cannot afford to waste on the bench every weekend.

He has his flaws, as does every player playing at this level. His finishing seems to be lacking, having managed to not score two one on ones. Then his cracker against Accrington puts this to bed. But there are other players who can score. There is no-one else who can play with his know-how and ability.

As I said, something must be good about this guy.

Not even six months have passed since one of League One’s prize midfield assets publicly stated his hopes of seeing out his current deal, and possibly his career, at his longtime club, Rochdale. Record appearance holder Gary Jones, the midfield dynamo, was in the process of racking up what turned out to be a finite, 473 games for the Lancashire club. Nobody was speculating that the contracted club captain would even consider a move away from Dale, or that it would ever be sanctioned by either of his biggest fans, his hugely complimentary manager John Coleman or former boss Keith Hill.

Yet, into October of this ‘new’ season, Jones finds himself in League Two, with perennial underachievers, Bradford City. A league below (although of course Rochdale were relegated at the end of the season), a probable pay cut negotiated, a team whose recent form and history is less than impressive and no doubt a longer drive to work are his scant reward.

Football has its critics, especially those who decry the lack of loyalty to a club, players scooping overinflated wages and committing crass social ‘faux pas’ both on and off the field, with their antics far flung from the reality of everyday supporters’ lives. Gary Jones would likely be one of the last men you could throw those accusations at and, even in a short space of time, he is slowly becoming a new cult hero in the City engine room. Whilst ultimately, only time and results will tell whether Jones and his current teammates reach the oxygen-sparse status heights of Windass, McCall and Co, he’s certainly started off at the top of his game.

Any casual or first time observers on Saturday witnessing the footballing bombardment of Port Vale and the subsequently miraculous City loss would be forgiven for thinking that ‘Jonesy’ had been somewhat overrated in their friends’ pre match briefings. In some respects, on the back of a number of magnificent, commanding performances, Jones’ performance against the Valiants was just a little off the pace for the normally high quality maestro. Said casual observer may have alluded to his sometimes misplaced passes or his relatively few attacking cameos, but even in the face of this, Gary Jones still weighed in with a notable 7/10 performance.

In endearing themselves to fans, City players past and present have displayed a number of likeable characteristics. The tenacious and free scoring playing days of Dean Windass, or the legendary commitment and effort of Stuart McCall span decades at the club, but the Nouveau-City squad hosts energy-induced Nahki Wells, the uncompromising Andrew Davies or Luke Oliver, and the flamboyant, if sometimes frustrating Kyel Reid. But Gary Jones, whilst some way off the legendary status of Messurs Windass and McCall, seems to be moulding a level of his own in the hearts of the current City faithful.

So what are Gary’s endearing features? Strangely enough, he’s already on a winner – he’s Mr Loyalty, if you like; certainly many Bradford City supporters rank loyalty high on their wish list.  Only 9 league games into his City career, it seems bizarre to point at his loyalty to the Bradford City cause, but on the back of his Rochdale appearances and numerous public statements to the Dale fans about the difficult decision to leave their club after years of loyal service, it’s clear that the Bantams are major winners in this deal.

Of further delight to the Claret and Amber Army is Jones’ no surrender attitude – he gets stuck in, grabbing the midfield battle by the scruff of the neck, leading by example. It’s not dissimilar to Stuart McCall in some ways is it? City fans love seeing his rousing passion; there’s nothing like a fist pump or an impassioned battle cry to stir the Kopites into a raucous Saturday song-cycle.

Gary Jones also brings a part of his game to Valley Parade that has been seriously lacking in recent years – quality delivery at set pieces. A significant percentage of the Bantams goals have come from this area and it is no surprise to see Jones heavily influential in this department. Add that to his undoubted leadership capabilities and his presence simply cannot be ignored on the pitch. ‘He was absolutely everywhere’, is often the phrase emanating from City fans’ lips. What that often comes down to is not necessarily that he has done more work than any other player, but his beautifully timed tackles, chasing down of loose balls and rapid, incisive distribution breed greater rewards for his team.

All in all, it’s fair to say that City have a gem in Gary Jones and one who is going to be a hugely significant engine to power Bradford City to the dizzy heights of League Two, and hopefully beyond. He brings the attributes of a player very much fit for purpose in helping the team achieve their season’s ambition. The only questions in my mind (following his absence in the Rochdale blank) are whether he can stay fit enough to steer the club to glory, and whether there are enough quality players to latch onto his superb midfield play and bang in the goals for City.

For my money – I live in expectation, not hope.

Phil Parkinson’s first signing at Bradford City, Kyel Reid immediately became the squad’s most important player. Last year, the squad’s primary ailment was their chronic one-dimensionality. Kyel Reid was that one dimension. In a perceived relegation battle with limited resources available, unconvinced of his other attacking talents, Parkinson decided to stick Reid out on the left, fill the rest of the side with defensive, pragmatic options, then hope for the best. That was the plan.

For the most part, Reid flourished. As one would expect. Playing below his level, as the first, second and nth attacking option, the pacy winger dominated the field. James Hanson appeared a focal point, but his primary functions were to bring Reid into the game after long balls upfield, and to be there to meet Reid’s balls into the middle. That was Reid’s team.

And this is still Reid’s team, although an errant start to the year has resulted in the beginnings of a backlash forming amongst the fan base. A backlash which may have been nipped in the bud by the winger’s dominant second half against Morecambe. That was the first time this season he has played at anything close to his level, and after his first Valley Parade goal curled into the far corner, a weight appeared to be lifted from his shoulders. For the rest of the game (against a team chasing a goal, leaving gaps in defence) he was rampant. He seemed to get his swagger back.

This was a welcome return to form for Reid, a return which bodes well for the short and medium term for the club. If he can maintain the level he reached in the second half on Tuesday in the upcoming fixtures, any debate on his worthiness in the team will be made to look silly. If he reverts back to the early season Reid however, the murmurings will resurface. Despite being one of the team’s most talented players, there is/was a growing minority who were unimpressed. I wrote here last week on Will Atkinson, and the expectations we place upon him coming to define the debate around him, and the same might be becoming applicable to Reid. The Reid debate came to a head with Joe’s match preview the other day:

“Kyel Reid needs to be dropped for me…He looks lazy, unfit and arrogant.”

Whilst I’m unsure whether this view would be generally representative of the fan base, I’m sure I’m not alone in having heard these sentiments sporadically around the crowd in recent weeks, with similar groans surrounding Nahki Wells. But are these accusations fair? And why are they being made now?

———–

Fans want the team’s wingers to be beating men, hitting the byline frequently, whilst consistently making right decisions and rarely wasting a cross. Obviously we do, that player sounds great, he is also known as Antonio Valencia. If Reid could consistently do half those things, he would be playing in the Championship, he has the talent. The reason he has fallen to us is that he is a flawed player at this point, and (I imagine) the club are overpaying him. The sooner fans accept these truths and enjoy him for what he is, the better for everyone involved.

The ‘arrogant’ label is one which never occurred to me, but it feels like a criticism for the sake of criticising. Firstly, it is asinine to attempt to infer attitudes from players based on how they run around. Reid and Wells this year have been commonly labelled as being “too big for their boots” (or similar), an interpretation which is entirely fuelled by our own prejudices. Reid and Wells played in the same style last year but we had no outside stories through which to filter the action. Suddenly they hold out for more money in contract negotiations and the performances which were viewed as precocious last season are now arrogant. It’s silly. Criticise them for their play, not for the attitude which you interpret them giving.

For what Reid is, his work rate is fine. He’s no Milner, but he’s not that sort of player. Compare his tracking back to his predecessor Omar Daley, it’s pretty good. He swaggers around the pitch like he owns it, but since when was this a bad thing? Or a new thing? We want our attacking threats to play like that. It’s not like he’s falling short on his defensive responsibilities, or calling out other players on the pitch. He just shoots a lot, and has seldom seen a blind alley he wasn’t desperate to hurtle down. He did this last year too, this is who he is.

Each game, each flying run seems to be followed by a referendum on whether Kyel Reid is a star or a fraud. Is he a player who can lead us to promotion, or a wasteful outlet holding us back? But these debates shouldn’t be held up as an evaluation of Reid, they should be pointed back at us, and our desire to use these singular examples to definitively cast Reid as one thing or the other, when they are merely the ups and downs associated with his type of player. Kyel is going to be Kyel.

I’m not sure why it is we frame players like Reid as people we need to ‘fix’. James Hanson suffers from a similar ailment. Why can’t Reid just be that exciting winger who could take over a game at any point, but who also will only connect on 20% of his crosses? Why must he take a leap forward? Why is it his fault if he isn’t the player we want him to be?

Like most players currently in the squad, Kyel Reid comes with a great pedigree, a starter in the Premier League in 2006, he has represented England at all youth levels, the “foremost” player in England’s Under-17 European semi-finalists in 2004. (Nathan Doyle was also in that team, Ritchie Jones was captain of England’s Under-18 European finalists at the time.) He played over 25 times in the Championship for Barnsley at 19, then after sporadically playing for West Ham, helped Wolves to the Championship title in 2009. He met up with Parkinson a year later, setting up his move to Valley Parade. He is currently 24 years old. If you said to a fan in 2005 that our 2012 midfield would consist of Reid, Doyle and Jones, we could realistically have expected to be a strong Championship team.

Which is all just to underline the quality of Kyel Reid, and the squad in general. Andrew Davies, Zavon Hines and Stephen Darby have also played Premier League games as well as representing England at youth levels, in addition to Will Atkinson and Matt Duke’s Premier League experience. For those counting, that’s eight players with top level experience, in a fourth-tier team. (People may rightly be able to question Phil Parkinson on a tactical level, but his recruitment is beyond reproach.)

———–

More than misplaced passes, or ill-timed challenges, errant crossing seems to elicit the most groans inside Valley Parade. I suppose that’s a function of the rising anticipation as the ball reaches the final third, and the subsequent letdown as we see it float into the Kop. The reaction implies an assumption of fans that crossing is a relatively simple art, one which is eminently repeatable. Which anyone who watches Match of the Day can tell you it isn’t, even for the best in the world. Regardless, this treatment doesn’t serve the wingers who frequent the parish.

Reid was the heir apparent to Omar Daley’s mercurial throne, and seems to have unintentionally adopted some of his predecessor’s stigma. My issue with our expectation level of Reid was far more apparent with Daley, with almost the entire crowd desperate for him to become something he never was, then criticising him for that. When Daley took over from Jermaine Johnson (a far, far superior player), I suppose it was assumed they were facsimiles. But they never were, and Reid is equally no Daley. But their treatment from the fans is similar.

“On Daley’s part, he apparently told people close to him that at City he felt it didn’t matter what he achieved, some people would always seek to belittle his contribution or fail to recognise his qualities. He felt pigeon-holed as a ‘lazy player’, no matter how hard he tried.”

Reid and Daley differ in many ways, the directness of the former contrasting with the headless chickening of the latter. Reid is also a better footballer. But they are being treated in the same belittling, sceptical manner by sections of the crowd, and that paraphrase from Daley could easily be applicable to Reid. He isn’t a lazy player, and never has been.

Whilst the summer has seen many arrivals, none of them have taken the spotlight away from Kyel Reid, who remains the team’s focal point.

The midfield has taken on a completely different persona this year with the arrival of Zavon Hines across from Reid, a true threat, and two new experienced, talented midfielders inside him. Last year’s lopsided approach led to Reid being consistently doubled-up upon by defences, with little in the form of managerial flexibility or nuance expended in getting him free. There were other, bigger, more porous fish to fry before helping Reid. He (like all pacy wingers) is most dangerous in a one-on-one situation with a couple of yards to pick up steam, something seldom seen last year, but this year has seen the creation of these situations as a priority.

With Hines stationed across from Reid, (again, an inconsistent, but real threat) one of the two will always be singled up against a full-back, and so far it has predominantly been Hines, (something which in itself should imply the educated perception of their relative abilities, Reid is still the focus) and Hines has been inconsistent in his exploitation of such situations. But as he settles in, especially at Valley Parade, opponents will have a tough decision to make. The two have also been switching sides frequently, especially early in matches, to try and prevent this doubling up whilst also affording them the opportunity to cut inside for a free run at the back four. (This would be immeasurably more effective if Darby and Meredith were allowed to play/overlap, but we can’t have everything.)

Reid’s stunning goal against Morecambe did potentially foreshadow a new wrinkle in the side’s attacking focus. After Will Atkinson entered for the more direct Hines, he linked up far better with the players around him, floating inside into the spaces to create triangles. After keeping the ball for a spell on the right with Atkinson, McArdle and the dropping-off Wells, Morecambe slanted their focus to that side, leaving Reid one-on-one on the opposite flank. Nathan Doyle received the ball at the base of the midfield, noticed this and quickly fed Reid with a glorious 40 yard ball. The rest is history. Maybe rather than Hines across from Reid to draw attention, the inclusion of Atkinson from the start could lead to greater control of the game, as well as freeing up Reid in situations such as this.

Connell has been recruited to drop off the front line, drawing out defenders to create space for the two wingers further up field. And with a base of four (usually five) players the manager can trust rigidly remaining in defensive positions, Reid and Hines have been able to attack at will, knowing the opposition will not be able to spring a counter attack if it fails. (Even Will Atkinson, not perceived as ‘that type’ of player, was free to run at his full back after coming on against Morecambe, and did so impressively.)

This development provides freedom for the wingers to play their natural game, but also leads to the perception of ‘greediness’ and ‘ineffectiveness’ amongst the fans. That is by design, and is kinda the point. Reid and Hines are statistically inefficient players, but that isn’t a surprise, they’re direct wingers, they are inefficient by nature. But they can win games on their own. That is why they play. They aren’t in for their tracking back abilities, the system has been designed to ensure they don’t need to. Let Kyel be Kyel.

Something which we all ignore in our analyses is that Kyel Reid is a really fun player to watch. Sure, you could argue a disciplined, militant, Kevin Ellison-type would be more ‘effective’ on the left hand side, but the team would be way less fun to watch. Why do you pay your money each week? It sure isn’t because you love winning. Getting to watch Kyel Reid each week is fun, just like watching Nahki Wells is fun. They’re exciting, joyful, electric. They have faults, of course they do, but they’re fun to watch. And their inclusion isn’t mutually exclusive with winning stuff.

Before entering these debates about the worthiness of Kyel Reid’s first-name-on-the-teamsheetness, we would be well served thinking back nine months to what the side looked like without him. That team was a mess. This squad is better, but take him out for his back-up, being either Atkinson or Thompson, teams will double up on Hines in the same way they did last year with Reid and we are back to square one, and if Parkinson insists on not letting his full backs attack, the side’s attacking quickly becomes stagnant. Whether it is nice to hear or not, this team relies on Kyel Reid. Without him everything falls apart. It would be nice if he was Antonio Valencia, but it’s a fantasy. For who we are, he is a fantastic weapon to have at our disposal, we should be grateful.

Just look at Tuesday night. Most of this article was written on Tuesday afternoon, and I’ve spent time trying to talk my way through this argument. But like the best things in football, you don’t need to talk it to death, just look at Tuesday. Don’t forget it. He won that game. Two assists and a goal. He took it over, and won it. That is why he plays. He doesn’t need fixing. Let Kyel be Kyel.

Kyel Reid is one of the squad’s most talented players, and equally one of the most important. But he’s also inconsistent. He’s going to make poor decisions, that’s the only reason this club was able to acquire him. Whenever the backlash regains steam later in the season, and it probably will, we would all be wise to take a step back, and stop trying to fix him. Leave him be. Let Kyel be Kyel, and just embrace it.

Jubilant cheers were echoing round Valley Parade as the whistle sounded last May, rising above the relieved hum of conversation and applause. All of those associated with Swindon Town were able to savour the moment and begin to dream of what lay ahead. They were joined by each of their striped foes, finally able to bury their haunted nightmares of what lay ahead. Almost.

Will Atkinson trudged off the field, away from the rising walls and chastising calls for potentially the last time. His opponents delighted, his teammates relieved, the isolation which had defined his short time in this place, couldn’t have been more apparent. Out of contract, out of confidence, out of time. A year ago he was helping his team complete an impressive away win against Bournemouth, enabling them to an even more impressive 9th place finish in League One. Now he was here, at the bottom of the leagues, staring into the abyss.

—————

“Will Atkinson was the one that raised eyebrows but he was picked on merit. What he gives you is a youthful enthusiasm and he seems to arrive where the ball is, which is a great habit to have.”

Raising eyebrows seems to be a running theme with Will Atkinson. More than most, he seems a player defined in our minds by the deafening noise which encircles him. His performances are secondary. As our own Jason McKeown noted earlier this year, last season fans dehumanised him to a concept, an idea, “Atkinson”. He is noise. When he plays well, his praise is often faint, laden with disqualifiers, portraying astonishment that a man with a track record of playing football well who is employed to play football well is playing football well.

As Atkinson walked off the pitch last May after putting a cap on his conveniently-ignored best run of performances, most fans were glad to see the back of him, assuming he’d head back across to M62 to pastures old. We were moving on to better things and better dreams.

But then something interesting happened, Will Atkinson was re-signed permanently by Phil Parkinson. This presented a dilemma for a large section of fans. Parkinson was/is relatively popular, most like to argue he was a good manager last year who was undermined by circumstance. But he chose to re-sign this guy no one respected or thought was any good. So where was the disconnect – were we wrong about Atkinson or Parkinson?

Unlike most new signings, his fanfare wasn’t one of unbridled optimism, he was still ‘Atkinson’. Even the introductory Telegraph and Argus interview was titled “I will not disappoint next season vows new Bradford City recruit” ‘Disappoint’ is the fourth word! Each other mention of the midfielder is framed by the idea that he is somehow in our debt, betraying a lack of confidence from the player, and a lack of respect from everyone else. This is all ignoring the fact Bradford City were the sixth worst side in football last year, and Will Atkinson is two years removed from scoring in the Premier League. That quote near the top of this article wasn’t from Phil Parkinson, he has been much less effusive in his praise, rather from Iain Dowie, his manager at Hull City after a scoring debut at Wigan.

It would be fair to say that last year saw Will Atkinson become one of the least popular players in recent club history, a recent history which hasn’t exactly been noted for its popularity. He was the fall guy in a team littered with solid players who couldn’t put it all together. An initially pensive, anxious figure in midfield, Atkinson seemed to be playing well within himself, desperate not to make a mistake. Each mistake he did make was seized upon by a desperate crowd, exacerbating the issue. By the time relegation had been avoided, the excruciating pressure had alleviated, he settled and began finding his feet. Still he was derided en masse.

Even this year, which has seen Atkinson put in a string of solid-to-good performances in an alien position, when singled out it is only faint praise which falls upon his damned soul. A brief search through this site’s recent match reports leads to conflicted phrasing such as “quietly impressive” and “supporting where he needed to without being too outstanding” With every compliment accompanied by a disclaimer, it isn’t a surprise the player’s confidence isn’t the highest. Although it must be noted here that being damned with faint praise is still a marked improvement from the damning with emphatic, profane damns he received last year.

What exactly is it about Will Atkinson which elicits these negative, emphatic responses? It isn’t that he’s particularly lazy, for equivalent players at his position he compares just fine. He obviously has talent. But there is something about him which draws the ire of so many. It’s probably that same thing which hinders his ‘style’ of midfielder in the lower levels. There is an interesting story to be told of their collective travails, the thoughtful and intricate nature of their game is often miscast with a large proportion of teams failing to utilise them properly, resulting in a large number of talented players falling through the cracks. (You’d think this would eventually lead to a Moneyball-style exploitation of undervalued assets by a progressive manager somewhere.)

The first time I saw him this year was at Gillingham where he played in central midfield alongside Gary Jones. Jones did the slides, the drives, the claps, he received the cheers from the support. Atkinson conversely busied himself with recycling possession and providing options for the wide players, full backs, and the similarly technical Alan Connell dropping off the frontline. Nothing he did sparked applause. In the second half, a tired leg gave away a penalty on the touchline (after he was left isolated by Garry Thompson) and the familiar sound and fury filled the void.

Two years ago, Will Atkinson’s career seemed to be on the upswing. After helping Rochdale to promotion from League Two the previous year, subsequently making his Hull City bow in the Premier League, he began the season in Tigers manager Nigel Pearson’s Championship first team, rotating with Craig Fagan on the right flank. Along with Tom Cairney and Mark Cullen, Beverley-born Atkinson was painted as part of the rebuild of a team which the season before had grown into locally resented, overpaid disaster. As the pressure quickly rose on Pearson, unsurprisingly the youthful exuberance of Atkinson was sacrificed for the experienced mediocrity of Richard Garcia and Fagan. A brief spell at League Two Rotherham (played three, won three) was the precursor to his Rochdale return, where he was a fixture in a side which missed the League One Play-Offs by three points (arguably Rochdale’s greatest ever team). Then things took a turn.

Keith Hill left Spotland for Oakwell, and while Pearson didn’t necessarily want to sell Atkinson, another loan destination was required. The recently relegated omnishambolic Plymouth became the target under manager Peter Reid. Quickly it became apparent Argyle were in another relegation battle, leaving Atkinson a luxury the side may not have been able to afford, often playing as an auxiliary striker. His season long loan was curtailed in January to free up the budget for the all-together-more-useful-in-this-context Darren Purse and Paul Wotton.

Within six months Atkinson had fallen from a starter in a League One play off race to the fall guy in the worst side in England. It wasn’t that his skills had regressed, he hadn’t suffered any injuries, but his stock had plummeted and taken his confidence with it.

Enter Phil Parkinson who went back to his KC Well, picking up the shaken Will Atkinson on loan to help improve his increasingly anxious charges. They were on paper a good side, struggling to put it all together. Maybe Will Atkinson was the perfect fit?

A run of inconsistent performances on the right flank followed, and Will Atkinson for the second time in three months became the scapegoat for a struggling fourth division side. Not that he was the problem of course, but he was a kid, a loan player no less and looked like an easy target. Tall, thin, and stationed out on the right flank, away from the direction of most of the side’s attacks, isolated. He became a lightning rod.

Loan players are often derided by fans. Not only do they not care, they militantly refuse to put in anything resembling a ‘shift’. Sure they are cheap, but they aren’t ours, we are merely developing someone else’s asset whilst one of ours lies idle, their talents atrophying on the sidelines. (Sorry, Dominic.) Will Atkinson arrived under this guise, and was treated as such, and doesn’t seem to have ever shaken that stigma.

Andrew Davies arrived on loan, then re-signed permanently in exactly the same manner as Atkinson, but fans were willing to overlook Davies’ loan status because he was our best player. Atkinson, not so much.

Ricky Ravenhill’s loanee status didn’t follow him after he signed permanently, neither did Zesh Rehman’s. (To the extent they ever held such reputations.) The vast majority of fans will immediately rail against the short-termism promoted by relying on loanees, but the uncomfortable truth may be that if the loanees are good, the loan stigma will be ignored, if not it will be the stick used to beat them with.

After the conclusive sample of three home starts (two draws and a win), the jury was back in on Atkinson, and the verdict was unanimous.

Like Michael Carrick in Manchester, I feel a factor in his widespread derision is superficial. Part of the joy of watching football is the reclamation of our childhood adulation. It’s fun to raise these guys up to being more than just guys running about on a field. But it’s difficult to do that with Will Atkinson, or Michael Carrick. It’s easy to view Robin van Persie, Ronaldo or Nani as ‘superhuman’, they look the part and can achieve technical and athletic feats of which we can only dream. But Carrick? He just looks like a normal guy. And nothing he does with a ball would occur in even his dreams. It’s hard to deify someone like that, and that’s half the fun. Despite being a fixture in the country’s most successful team for the past six years (Four Premier Leagues, One Champions League), he’s universally nothinged. Maybe he’ll get scapegoated after a defeat, but that’s it.

The same is true for Will Atkinson, in an admittedly miniature village sort of way. The guy looks like me, and I ain’t no footballer. Standing just under six foot, Atkinson is tall but not that tall. Slight of build, normal hair. He’s not that fast, strong or imposingly athletic. He just looks like a normal guy. What’s more is that he doesn’t play like a superhuman either; he’s nice, tidy, Carrickian if you will. He doesn’t beat men for fun, score long range screamers, dominate in the air. He plays nice little passes around. (Even when I’m genuinely trying to be complimentary, it sounds backhanded.) He looks like an easy target. Almost everyone could do what he does.

He isn’t respected in the same way as his peers. Zavon Hines for example, whilst relatively new on the scene, his bedding in has been met with a grace period from the fans, something never extended to Will Atkinson. Hines hasn’t ‘starred’ yet, he looks promising, but that’s the extent of it at this point. But Hines looks like a tricky winger is supposed to look, and is incomprehensibly fast for the layman. Nothing Atkinson does is incomprehensible. (Not a slight.)

What got lost in the wash last year was Atkinson the player. A technical, efficient midfielder, he was in an almost impossible situation. Stationed out on the right in a counter attacking side, away from the primary route of attack, he rarely saw the ball. The defence was briefed to dispatch the ball to Hanson as quickly as possible, whilst he was looking to spring Wells or Reid. The full backs weren’t capable of feeding him, and the midfield pair inside tended to be preoccupied in defence, or in quickly springing Wells over the top. Rather than ‘not looking for the ball’ (a common criticism from last year), the team never looked for him. He was left isolated, his confidence growing ever more shaken. As a young loanee, fearful of his future, inhibited by abuse from the stands, it is little surprise he became paralysed in inaction, merely attempting not to do anything wrong. It wasn’t that his work rate was poor, he just looked to play the simple ball. But that isn’t what the side needed because a) no one near him could receive, then use, a simple ball, and b) with the side so desperate for goals, more was required from one of only four attack-minded players in the team.

This year has seen a different role in the centre of the park, usually alongside a dynamic box-to-box type. Whilst I’m unsure whether this almost, dare I say, Carrickian role (Copyright, 2012) is his footballing destiny, he seems far more comfortable in this spot, and in this team. Whilst maintaining last year’s rigidity (the full backs are seemingly still under instructions to seldom leave their own half in the 4-4-2) there has been a greater willingness (and ability) to keep the ball, something which has greatly helped Atkinson, and the overall fluency of the team.

There may be some validity to the argument that I have the causality reversed here. Playing an Atkinson ‘type’ in a deeper role encourages a shift in outlook,  and it will be interesting to see how this is developed over time, or maybe how it isn’t. The premature double recovery of Ricky Ravenhill and Ritchie Jones should provide obstacles to game time for Will Atkinson and his Bradford career may fade away before it ever reaches the spotlight.

If he could reach the potential he has shown early in his career, he could become a very attractive asset indeed for Bradford City. But as with everything about Will Atkinson, it isn’t just about him. His career is at the mercy of others, his future lies in their hands. He is isolated in the squad; one of a kind. Yet almost everyone could do his job.

The sharp, pointed criticisms which follow him around throughout the crowd have evolved into a numbing leitmotif. You can’t extricate the opinion from the play. It is the same issue which leads to the tentative unveilings, the qualifier-laden compliments. And none of this has anything to do with how he is playing, it’s about us, our prejudices, whatever they may be.  There are many players I have talked myself into liking; we’ve talked ourselves out of liking Will Atkinson.

Some people just can’t take a hint. Four months after effectively being told his Bradford City career was over – either by accident or design – goalkeeper Matt Duke’s position at the club looks more secure than ever. From unwanted back up to first choice stopper, and goalkeeping coach to boot, Duke’s topsy-turvy first 12 months at Valley Parade have reached a new peak.

And who’d have thought that, when Duke’s name was included amongst a handful of contracted players informed they could find another club last May? Or six weeks before that, when Duke was so far out of the picture he was playing on loan at relegation rivals Northampton Town? His name seemed destined to join the likes of Russell Haworth, Mark Paston and Robert Zibica as quickly-forgotten, unloved City stoppers. However, after helping the club when it was in a hole last April, Duke earned the right to a second chance at Valley Parade. So far, the signs are promising.

Perhaps Saturday’s 4-0 thrashing to Rotherham offered a timely reminder that Duke – along with his team mates – still has some work to do in order to fully convince. As the ball kept flying into the back of his net, you couldn’t help but question whether the 35-year-old might have done better on a couple of occasions. Looking back at TV pictures of Rotherham’s goals, I’d argue that he was only slightly culpable on the fourth. Nevertheless Duke probably stands accused of being the only City goalkeeper – at least in my time supporting the Bantams – who we look to blame when a 30-yard worldly goes flying into the top corner.

And the reasons for that lie in his less-than-impressive start to life at City exactly a year ago, after Phil Parkinson had signed him within days of being appointed manager. With previous manager Peter Jackson robbed of Jon McLaughlin due to a pre-season bout of food poisoning, loanees Martin Hansen and Oscar Jansson were entrusted with goalkeeping responsibilities. You could understand why Parkinson immediately decided he needed his own man for this specialist position, and brought in a goalkeeper he had previously worked with, Duke, who had recent Premier League experience.

Yet Duke’s less than inspiring home debut against Bristol Rovers was immediately followed by a difficult Tuesday evening at Port Vale, where he made a howler for Vale’s second goal in a 3-2 home win. Two weeks later Wimbledon defeated the Bantams at Valley Parade, with the winning goal a decently-hit-but-hardly-unsaveable long range effort. It became a regular pattern throughout October: opposition players taking pot shots from distance and – all too often – finding the net.

Indeed in the middle of the month and – having being kindly handed some opposition scout reports, with strict instructions not to show them to another soul, by then-Chief Scout Archie Christie – I pondered what opposition scouts would be reporting back about Parkinson’s fledgling Bantams side. I asked Christie “will opposition players be deliberately targeting Duke from distance on purpose?” “Totally, absolutely” was his reply.

From day one Duke struggled to build any confidence amongst City fans. His final act was to concede a soft winning goal at home to Cheltenham in November. He didn’t look match fit (and how often do you question a keeper’s fitness?), as a shot stopper he looked hesitant, as a number one he was severely lacking. A fit-again McLaughlin was recalled, became a penalty shootout hero in his first match and didn’t look back.

Until the events of March 27 that is, where – in hindsight – McLaughlin was to become the biggest loser from Crawley brawlgate. Previously viewed as mild-mannered, the way McLaughlin waded into the post-match fight with a series of punches stunned everyone. Great to see him sticking up for his team mates, but the red card he collected in the dressing room, alongside Andrew Davies and Luke Oliver, looked set to tip City relegation-avoiding balancing act the wrong way.

That night, Duke was presumably stopping in a hotel nearby Northampton, after rediscovering his form while on loan at Sixfields and earning positive reviews. The following morning a call was made to Northampton and Duke was back at City. Conceding a goal three minutes into his comeback match at Plymouth was hardly the greatest of starts, but Duke impressed over the 90 minutes and – along with another discarded first teamer, Guy Branston – would go on to help steer the Bantams away from trouble. Duke’s form at this time was good if not outstanding. He didn’t look great at dealing with crosses; but no one was scoring worldlys past him, and the few goals he did concede hardly required an in-depth enquiry. Nevertheless McLaughlin was recalled for the season’s final game, and a few days later Duke got the news he should be looking to move on.

What happened next is unclear. But as pre-season friendlies brought the players back into the spotlight, Duke was still a prominent figure and ended up having more game time than his younger rival. With goalkeeper coach Kevin Pressman moving to Millwall over the summer, Duke was even asked to take on coaching responsibilities. Parkinson spoke of how he considered both Duke and McLaughlin to be equal ability-wise, and when the season kicked off at Meadow Lane in the cup it was Duke on the field and McLaughlin on the bench.

Duke’s early season form has been impressive. He is commanding his area again, and has made a series of excellent saves as the new-look defence in front has curiously given him a little too much to do. McLaughlin’s run-out at Watford in the cup last week suggests Duke is not runaway first choice yet, but even if he didn’t have the greatest of afternoons at the New York stadium on Saturday (not that any of his team mates did either), it would be harsh to drop him now.

Twice it seemed as though Duke’s future lied away from Valley Parade, twice he has turned it around. There may still be plenty of sceptics in the crowd but, if Duke can build on his solid start to the season and continue to impress, there is every reason to believe he can nail down a number one shirt that – since Rhys Evans four years ago – no one has quite been able to keep hold of.

This time last year David Syers had just swept up at the club’s award night and deservedly so – he even pushed James Hanson close as top scorer. He probably could have held Bradford City to ransom over a new contract, but the club only took their option of a 12-month extension and now he faces a take it or leave it offer that the club has put in front of him.

As lower league football fans we often proclaim that our young players are destined for great things. It’s happens regularly at Bradford: Dean Furman, Luke O’Brien, Hanson, Jon McLaughlin and of course currently Nahki Wells, have all been touted as stars in the making, but only rarely do these players live up to the high expectations we place on them.

I remember suggesting that Simon Francis would be a Premier League player and he now plays for mid table, League 1 side, Bournemouth. Of course that then he was the star in a Championship side meant it wasn’t such a massive leap of faith to believe he could make it at the next level up. But if we are being really honest, the last Bradford first team player who moved on to relative stardom was Andy O’Brien.

Since my bold claim about Francis, I have been relatively subdued to hype up the potential ability of our players. Even with Wells, while not denying the obvious natural talent the Bermudan has, I am quick to remark ‘let’s see how next season goes’. Therefore I am a little surprised myself how taken in I have been by Syers in his time here. At the end of last season I thought either we will be getting promoted to League One or he will be going there without us – and probably the Championship not long after.

Two games into this season he removed any doubts I had about his ability to play at that level, when he controlled the game against Championship side, Leeds United at Elland Road. Syers drove Bradford on against a far superior side reminiscent of the way Steven Gerrard has done for Liverpool on numerous occasions over the years. You only have to look at the match report from that night on the Bradford website and see how many time the name Syers is mentioned. The fact that this game had been played in front of the Sky cameras only concerned me that so many others would now be alert to his brilliance.

I attended the fixture with a friend who unfortunately pledges his allegiance to our other friendly neighbours at Huddersfield. The line ‘I’m going to tell Dean Hoyle about him (Syers)’ was repeated with annoying frequency.

After the match I also met up with a number of Leeds fans – who I am ashamed to call friends – but rather than spend all evening winding me up about the result, they only wanted to talk about Syers. It was a momentous occasion; Leeds, Huddersfield and Bradford fans all in the same room and all in agreement: Dave Syers was heads and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch.

Unfortunately, that evening Syers’ match was ended prematurely. Once again he drove forward with the ball but a heavy touch let him down and following a challenge with their goalkeeper he was left in a heap on the floor. As he hobbled off the pitch, supported by the physio, you could feel the concern among all City fans.

Early optimistic reports suggested he may be back in contention by the end of November, but in truth he was more likely to arrive in Santa’s sleigh at Christmas.

City fans must have behaved in 2011 as Syers returned to the bench on Boxing Day against Crewe in an impressive 3-0 win. Ricky Ravenhill picked up a yellow card in the match and would be suspended for the visit of high flying Shrewsbury just a few days later.

On their visit to Valley Parade Shrewsbury had won six of their last eight games and should have been full of confidence. However, Bradford turned on the style in the first half and had a 3-0 lead just after half time. Syers had been heavily involved in a typical all action display including creating an assist for Wells. In truth the game was already won, Bradford had put in possibly their best performance of the season with Ritchie Jones and Syers forming a very impressive partnership in midfield.

However – just as Syers restarted season looked as though it was going to hit the ground running – bad luck struck once more. After Syers made what looked to be an impeccable challenge just outside the Bradford area, and emerged with the ball, the referee halted play and showed him a red card. The New Year was only a few hours away, but Syers’ fresh start had gone already.

The red card was the end of any significant impact Syers would have on the outcome of the 2011-12 season. After the suspension he was reported to have another niggly injury and impact sub appeared to be his new role. In fact, in the latter stages he struggled to even feature from the bench.

Supposedly, during this period Syers was offered – and turned down – a new contract, as perhaps he thought he would once again prove he was worth more than what was offered. If we take recent events on face value, then it appears a misunderstanding occurred between player and manager over comments Phil Parkinson made to the press. Since January no formal talks have taken place between the player and club, but Bradford insist that the offer is still on the table and they will sit down with Syers once more. However, they will not be offering a better package. Therefore, it appears that the ball is in Syers’ court – either he accepts the terms that were offered to him in January, or he looks elsewhere.

Parkinson has defended his decision to leave Syers out as Jones and Ravenhill have developed a good partnership, securing enough points to keep Bradford safe. I completely agree with this – Jones and Ravenhill have proved a very capable pairing, and I would have no complaints to see them line up together in the first fixture next season.

My concern is how long did it take him to stumble across that partnership? How long was Jones out in the wilderness for, without getting a look in? And would they have even ended up being paired together if it wasn’t for the shocking scenes following the Crawley game that saw 3 players suspended and Bullock moved back into centre half?

Before that, Jones had featured once in seven games – the one win in this period against Oxford – and had struggled to even make the bench. Syers also had not had a run of games, only starting two and Parkinson seemed to prefer combinations between Bullock, Ravenhill and Michael Flynn. None of these players disappointed, but at the same time none seemed to complement each other’s style. In these seven games, Bradford took five points. Jones played 90 minutes in the victory and in the draw against Gillingham, where all fans agreed that the introduction of Wells and Syers inspired a second half comeback.

In the closing stages of this season, Jones and Ravenhill have deserved their places and Syers his on the bench. Parkinson has found a combination that is working and they are likely to have deserved starting berths next season. But I would not bet against Syers soon earning his place alongside one of them. Besides, with Flynn gone, are we realistically going to find a better option than Syers to compete with those two? What’s more, if we believe we can get cheap cover for Jones and Ravenhill, then what happens if one of them gets a Syers type injury?

Should we lose Syers, then I believe it will be another indication of the short-term approach that the club appear to be taking at the moment. As a young player, with his best years ahead of him, even if Syers was to spend next season as a bit part player the investment in his development would be worthwhile.

Ravenhill is 31, and therefore he is right at his very peak. He won’t improve as a footballer any further. He has played his full career in the bottom two divisions, and he is undoubtedly a very good player at this level; but relies on his work ethic heavily. Syers and Jones are already undeniably more complete players that could take Bradford onto another level, as they improve with experience.

Fortunately Hanson agreed an extended contract before his injury plagued, disappointing second season. However, had he been in the same boat and we failed to reach an agreement with him last year, then he may not have returned to be a very important reason as to why we have stayed up.

Furthermore Wells – similar to Syers last year – only has a 12-month extension. What happens if he struggles with injury next season and doesn’t score 15-20 goals; will we not push a little further to keep a player who has shown so much potential so far?

At this stage of his career Syers probably needs Bradford City more than they need him. He is likely to get patience from the fans, who know his ability and that he can prove he is still the player he was before his injury. On the other hand, two years down the line with four years of professional football behind him, Bradford are much more likely to need a player of Syers’ calibre.

We must keep promising young footballers at this club and develop them if we are to advance. Otherwise we will persist on replacing one League Two footballer with another and will continue to have a League Two side.

When Andrew Davies arrived at Bradford City in a loan deal on September 23^rd 2011, it was somewhat of an eyebrow raiser. Before he had even kicked a ball in Claret and Amber, he appeared to be the most stellar of all Phil Parkinson’s additions. Parkinson was in the process of overhauling a squad not two months into the season. A squad described by Mark Lawn as one that – without change – was a worrying relegation candidate.

Davies is not only a former England Under 21 international, but also a former £1 million pound player, having transferred to Stoke City for that pricely sum in 2008, and it was from the Potteries that he joined us on an initial 3 month loan deal. Having previously played permanently for Middlesbrough and Southampton – where he is thought of in extreme high regard by supporters – he had Premier League experience.

He had also spent a large proportion of his career out on loan at QPR, Derby County, Preston, Sheffield United, Walsall and Crystal Palace. Yet this was the first time that he had dropped to the bottom tier, and it was considered to be somewhat of a coup by City supporters. Even the Macclesfield Town manager at the time, Gary Simpson, used Davies – even though he wasn’t playing – as an example of the quality in City’s squad, in order to express his surprise at our lowly league position before the two teams met last October.

Some supporters were so surprised at the capture, that they questioned not only how we managed to convince him to join us, but also how we could afford the signing. More of that later. However, City’s ability to pull off the signature was attributed to Parkinson’s connections in the higher echelons of English football. It is well known that our manager is considered to be in high regard by Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, having worked for him in the past; and it has been suggested that City have the option to utilise The Gunners London Colney training base when on long southern trips because of this connection.

Parkinson’s contacts were believed to have been one of the factors that impressed our co-owners and helped to get him the job after Peter Jackson’s departure.

Back to Davies, and his qualities are there for all to see when out on the pitch. An excellent reader of the game, and by no means a slouch at League Two pace; his two most striking qualities for me are his communication with the rest of his defence and also his strength in the air – which City have utilised at both ends of the pitch during his time with us. This all goes without mentioning his vast experience which is a big quality at this level. One quality that I have not mentioned yet is his tackling – something which is obviously vital for any centre back.

This, although clearly impressive 99% of the time, has led to two of the three somewhat controversial moments that have blotted his stay at Valley Parade. Davies has been sent off three times in his short lived City career. The first two of these were for tackles during a game. Both were debateable. Firstly, in the home game against Torquay United he was dismissed for going in two footed on Danny Stevens. The fact that Davies clearly took the ball seemed to have little sway on referee Carl Boyeson’s decision and he was more influenced by Stevens’ theatrics as he rolled around on the floor.

The replays showed that Davies made absolutely no contact with The Gulls player and got lots of the ball, yet the fact that both his feet left the floor is a good enough reason for the tackle to be described as “dangerous”. And, as such, any appeal would have been frivolous. Hence a three game ban. Fortunately, City’s ten men went on to win that game 1-0.

The second red card received by Davies came on his return from that initial suspension at the County Ground ,when we played Swindon Town. This decision, made by referee Oliver Langford, from a long distance away, was even more questionable than the first. Although the challenge that earned Davies his marching orders did abruptly halt the progress of Swindon frontman Jake Jervis, anyone who was there that day – and indeed anyone who has seen the incident since – can clearly see that Davies slips as he makes the challenge and the contact was accidental. Not to mention the fact that the challenge occurred on the juncture of the halfway and the sideline, a long way from goal.

Nonetheless, a red card was shown, and Davies now had a four game ban to contend with. Again, the ten men of City fought admirably until the end of the game and earned a very respectable draw against a team who are now League Two Champions.

It was some supporters’ reactions that astounded me after this second dismissal. Many seemed to be of the opinion that Davies’ loan should be terminated, that he was “of no use to the team” and they had written him off as “a liability”. This all despite the player’s aforementioned qualities and, of course, the extremely harsh nature of the two dismissals – as we are all aware, many referees at this level can at the very best be described as inconsistent.

Having discussed two of the players more controversial incidents in Claret and Amber, it is only fair to balance that up with some of the outstanding performances that we have seen from him since, when his undoubted class has been on full show. Who can forget the superb free kick that gave us the lead at home to Burton Albion? The last minute header at home to Port Vale? The fact that he was the player who consoled Simon Ramsden after our right back’s own goal misery against Gillingham? These incidents all go to show that, with Davies, we don’t just have a top class defender, but also a top class footballer.

Unfortunately, Davies’ most memorable moment in a City shirt so far has to be his role in the post match brawl against CrawleyT own.  This incident has been discussed to death and I have no intention of going over it again here, but I would like to consider where this leaves Davies’ City career.

Since “fight night”, while he has been serving his five match ban, City have used Lee Bullock, Luke Oliver and the rejuvenated Guy Branston in the centre back positions. Although this has seen a return to the personnel that Parkinson was so keen to replace when he first arrived at VP, it is hard to argue that they haven’t impressed on their return to the side.

Parkinson himself has spoken of the fantastic attitude demonstrated by Branston, even though he forced the former captain to spend time training with the Youth team after his return from a loan at Rotherham. Bullock has been the consummate professional whilst filling in across various positions all season and our newly crowned Player of the Year Oliver has continued where he left off following his return from his own suspension.

Whether all have improved because of what they have learnt from Davies or simply because of their own sheer hard work and Parkinson’s training methods, the question has to be asked: “How much have we missed Davies during this latest enforced absence?” Parkinson’s decision to leave Davies out of the squad which travelled to Cheltenham might go some way to explain how he would answer it.

This obviously leads on to the bigger issue of whether or not he will be a City player next season. Out of contract at Stoke and unlikely to get a new deal there, what are the chances of us keeping him, and do we need him? To answer this question we have to look at a number of factors. As discussed earlier, he has clearly had a big impact during his time here. Oliver, Bullock and Branston are all playing better now than they were prior to his arrival. But will this continue if the pressure is released by the departure of Davies?

Furthermore, although his class and individual ability is there for all to see, has Davies himself had a big enough impact on results whilst playing in the team? These are all questions that Messers Lawn, Rhodes and Parkinson must answer before they decide whether to make an attempt to sign him.

Then we have to look at what our chances are of keeping him. Would he want to stay at Valley Parade and continue to ply his trade in the basement division next season? Clearly there will be offers from higher up the football pyramid and undoubtedly these will offer greater financial riches than City could afford.

At a recent Skipton Bantams meeting, Lawn confirmed that Davies’ wages amount to between £500k and £1m per year and that, currently, City are paying 10% of it. Clearly a significant drop would be required if he were to stay with us. It’s a huge ask of anyone to willingly accept such a large decrease in income and, ultimately, Davies will have to decide whether it is worth it if it means he is playing regularly somewhere where he is appreciated by teammates, management and supporters.

Any mega bucks offer to try to tie him to City would clearly make him the club’s highest earner by far, and it has to be considered how this would be viewed by other members of the playing staff and whether it could be offset by, for example, making him club captain.

If City do decide to keep Andrew Davies, and Andrew Davies decides to stay with City, it would be a huge statement of intent ahead of next season. But before that decision is made, there are lots to consider – not least the priorities of the club and those of the player.

Saturday’s all action display against relegation threatened Macclesfield Town from Ricky Ravenhill was the type of performance expected from the experienced midfielder. His signature by Phil Parkinson was seen as another big piece in his jigsaw of forming a team capable of achieving success going forward into the future.

Initially arriving on loan in November last year from League One Notts County, Ravenhill instantly impressed and formed a solid midfield partnership with Ritchie Jones. With promotions under his belt from his time in South Yorkshire at Doncaster Rovers and a little further down the M1 at Meadow Lane, he looked the ideal ‘battler’ in the middle of the park to allow more creative players the opportunity to do what they do best.

Performing well during his loan spell, Parky moved quickly to make the move a permanent one and, in January, Ravenhill signed a two-and-a-half year contract with the Bantams and duly netted his only goal for the club shortly afterwards in the 2-2 draw against Morecambe at Valley Parade. In my opinion, one of his best performances in a claret and amber shirt was last time out against Macclesfield, where he went close to doubling City’s goal tally on the day. An excellent team move opened up the Town defence before Jose Veiga in the visitor’s goal thwarted Ravenhill as he looked set to score.

Ravenhill might not get many plaudits, and at times his work will go un-noticed; similar to the type of performances Lee Bullock has produced over the years. But having a player in the middle of the park that breaks up play and links the defence and attack is equally as important to the team as the goals that James Hanson and Nahki Wells bring to the table.

In recent weeks, Ricky has taken over the captain’s armband and, for me, would be the ideal skipper going forward into next season – unless George Galloway can bring his Arab friends to the party and we become the Manchester City of League Two and snap up Andrew Davies (as he would be perfect captain material…). However, this isn’t Football Manager so the chances of this happening are slim to none.

Frustratingly, despite impressing on loan and shortly after signing permanently, Ravenhill suddenly lost form and looked a shadow of the player City thought they had on the books. However, as he was a Parkinson signing, the chances of him being dropped for his poor performances were highly unlikely. So with David Syers at the time struggling with injuries and the odd scenario of Jones been dropped from the side and on occasions from the squad entirely, Ravenhill largely kept his place.

Thankfully in recent weeks, Ravenhill has returned to form and looks every bit the player City expected. Last year’s player of the year Syers and captain Michael Flynn now have to settle for a place on the bench or play out of position, thanks to the solid central midfield of Ravenhll and Jones.

Hopefully, come next May, Ravenhill will have another promotion on his CV. He’s clearly viewed as a key player by Parkinson, and I would agree with that. I think it’s important to have a solid spine to the side, and Ricky certainly falls into that category. Providing he can stay fit and away from suspension it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s not one of the stand out performers for the club in the 2012/13 season.

As the season approaches its climax, Ross Hannah is banging in goals to help his West Yorkshire club close in on promotion. Only the circumstances are not quite how Ross would have dreamed it a year ago, when he agreed to join Bradford City after watching them lose 5-1 against Crewe.

For rather than Ross the non-league goal machine proving himself good enough to make the step up to professional football, Ross is still the non-league goal machine. Loaned to FC Halifax Town until the end of the season – who play in only one division higher than the Matlock Town side he departed 11 months ago – he will look back on a first season at Valley Parade with a frustration at failing to make the impact he would have hoped.

But the question is whether this is due to a lack of ability, or due to a lack of opportunity. He has made just eight league and cup starts and only stayed on the field for the full 90 minutes once. Brought in by Peter Jackson, Hannah has particularly struggled to get games under Phil Parkinson (two of his four league starts coming before Jackson left). A further 18 cameos from the bench have meant Ross has been involved in half of all of City’s matches this season, yet he has not enjoyed a consistent run in the team.

That’s not to say he hasn’t demonstrated his potential. Off the bench for his Football League debut, against Oxford, back in August – it took Ross just four minutes to find the back of the net. As he raced over to us in the sparsely populated away end that afternoon to celebrate equalising, I couldn’t help but feel slightly sorry for the lad that his first professional goal had basically being scored in front of a car park (Oxford only having three sides to his ground).

But he didn’t have to wait long for his first goal directly in front of his new supporters. At Morecambe three weeks later, he again made an impact as substitute by netting a dramatic and wonderfully taken half volley deep in stoppage time, to rescue a point. The celebrations were hugely memorable. That was Parkinson’s first game in charge, and the potential for a happy relationship seemed huge. Hannah may not be ready to start week in week out just yet, but his natural talent for burying chances suggested he could become our supersub.

Exactly six months on, I was sat at the back of the away end at Dagenham with Hannah and team mate Luke Dean two seats along. Numbers 17 and 18 of the squad who had travelled to Essex – and so not making the bench – it was easy to feel a little sorry for him, as on the pitch Lee Bullock was thrown up front to partner Craig Fagan. Hannah did get to make three more substitute appearances in the next three games, but the sudden availability of Chris Dagnall saw him sent on loan to the Shay.

The benefits of playing week in week out for FC Halifax are clearly huge. In six appearances for Town, he has netted seven times and no doubt rediscovered a bit of lost confidence; yet dropping two divisions to get that game time makes it difficult to measure whether he could ultimately cut it at City and in League Two. No one doubts he can score goals at non-league level, but re-affirming this in the Blue Square North probably isn’t going to push him up the Valley Parade pecking order.

Indeed while Hannah played in Town’s 1-1 draw with Altrincham on Saturday, Nahki Wells was netting a stunning hat trick for the Bantams to cement his position as this year’s young starlet which, pre-season, we expected Hannah to take. That Wells might not have even started against Northampton, had Chris Dagnall being fit, shows that Hannah faces a lot of competition. We can realistically suppose City will sign Dagnall – obviously unwanted by his parent club Barnsley – during the summer. Where would this leave Hannah?

There is no doubt that Hannah is natural finisher. According to the always reliable Wikipedia, Ross has scored 179 career goals from 299 appearances – and he’s still only 25. The three goals he has netted so far for City all demonstrated a poacher’s knack of sniffing out half chances – though at this level, more is needed.

And that, so far, to me at least is what we are missing when assessing Hannah. In the games I’ve seen him play, including pre-season, there is no doubt he has a good touch and makes some very intelligent runs off the ball, but at this level he needs to be more involved with the build up play and to be creating chances for others. From what I’ve seen (and the point here is that we simply haven’t seen enough of him in a City shirt) that hasn’t been as evident as we might have hoped.

It might be wrong to compare him to Wells – they are different types of forwards – but it’s also unavoidable. Nahki offers a huge amount in the final third of the pitch and has developed a strong understanding with James Hanson. I’d like to see Ross run the channels a bit more often, rather than solely be about putting the ball in the net.

Yet such aspects can be coached, and right now we have to hope that – away from match day – Ross is learning the ropes to be a more effective team player. Playing for Halifax is not as ideal as, say, getting first team football at a Blue Square Premier or League Two club, but it at least enables Hannah to train with the Bantams during the week and remain under Parkinson and his coaching staff’s supervision.

Hopefully, whatever he is learning from them he is trying out at Halifax. But most of all, hopefully Parkinson still views Hannah as an investment for the future that is worth working on – rather than allowing him to slip out of the exit door over the summer or midway through next season.

What we have seen from Ross is hugely likeable. It is a shame that he will go into pre-season having not progressed a great deal from a year ago in terms of proving if he can make it as a professional footballer, but the glimpses of talent that we have seen suggests no one should be looking to write him off yet.

Nahki Wells has always fascinated me. It began with his atypical arrival at Valley Parade; a twenty-one year old Bermudan named Nahki inherently carries greater intrigue than most. Recommended by Mark Ellis after a short spell at Carlisle, Wells typified the club’s new recruitment strategy focusing on young players with upside, and after nine months he alone has managed to bridge the gap to the first team.

A recent spell on the sidelines was broken on Good Friday as an imperious Wells led from the front in one of the team’s most convincing wins of the season, showcasing all the attributes which have transformed him into Bradford City’s hottest property.

I first saw Wells in a pre-season friendly at Silsden. Bagging a brace he stood out, linking well with now-forgotten penalty hero Nialle Rodney. Running in behind the non-league defence early and often, he exhibited an understanding of the position and intelligence which belied his age. This aspect of his game has only improved as the season has progressed. His movement to break in front of his man and flick the ball into the net against Gillingham was subtle but striking for someone widely labelled as ‘merely’ a track star.

As bizarre as it sounds, Wells has only completed three league games at this point of his nascent career. Commonly tagged as an impact sub, his exposure to the starting eleven has been limited. This shouldn’t be taken as a slight; nobody was expecting anything at the beginning of the season. Signed amongst a glut of young up-and-comers, he was earmarked for a squad role at best in this, his first full season in English football.

His first league goal came in the halcyon days of Colin Cooper in late August. Thrust on toward the end of a game relatively in hand, Wells only needed a couple of minutes before picking up the ball on the edge of the area, bewitching a Barnet defender before slotting home past the frozen Bees goalkeeper. A wonderful goal. Given this was his second appearance, striving to impress his new manager; his composure under that pressure should have indicated we had something special. That indication solidified a couple of months later with his preposterous thunderbolt against Rochdale. The confidence, the swagger of Wells has been evident ever since he exploded onto the scene, an invaluable attribute at a club sorely lacking in both.

As a player he is still raw, no doubt. But there is something about him. The way he plays exudes confidence, a charisma not apparent in most players. I’ve previously drawn parallels between Wells and players like Wigan’s Victor Moses and Crystal Palace’s Wilfried Zaha. Whilst different types of forwards, each of them are exhilarating, explosive, but still searching for their identity. They are often wasteful, but they make you feel something. Whenever the ball is at their feet, stadiums are transfixed. It may often result in an overly ambitious snapshot over the bar, or an overly intricate jinking run down a blind alley, but you can’t look away.

The only City player who compares in the regard is Kyel Reid. But Reid, a far more rounded player at this point, is counter-intuitively hamstrung by his consistency. A conventional winger, and an elite one at this level, Kyel Reid stars within the confines of his role in the system, whereas Wells’ unpredictability affords him the freedom to flourish outside of it. The fact his end product and decision making are inconsistent only adds to his allure.

Whilst not as powerful as Reid or even Omar Daley, Wells’ pace stands apart over recent seasons at Valley Parade. Over ten yards I’m not sure I’ve seen a player as fast. That facet of his play is invaluable. On a basic level, his inclusion means his team always have an out ball. Pump it into the green, let Nahki chase it and we’ll buy a throw-in and some field position. Not exactly cultured, but it is what it is. But the deeper you look, the more apparent his effect becomes.

His pace requires the opposing defence to drop deeper. They have to. As a result, whenever he picks up the ball, he already has a yard of space to try something, or find support. At the same time, James Hanson can drop off into the newly-formed gap between defence and midfield, making it far easier for City to find their target man and for him to search out a second ball. Rather than some intangible kinship between the two, this is what I see as the reason behind their effective strike pairing. Affording Hanson that extra breathing room makes him a far more influential forward in this system. This effect was especially evident in Good Friday’s victory over Southend, with both Hanson and Wells putting in dominant displays.

The stretching of the field by his mere presence grants the rest of his team more space to work, it is no coincidence their best performances have come with him on the field. He’s magnetic. Be it opposing defenders, supporters, teammates, we are all drawn to him. Nahki Wells plays the game with a rare charisma, from his swivelling turns to his energetic bursts. He looks like he is having fun without sacrificing his resolute urgency. He has already shown the ability to lift a team and inspire a crowd. He is a beacon.

Over recent weeks Wells has adopted the ‘fan favourite’ tag after the loaning out of previous owner Ross Hannah. However a large part of this phenomenon is something of a passive aggressive acting out by the City fan base, demonstrating their discontent with the manager. Every Wells appearance from the substitute bench bebibbed prompts spirited applause throughout the stadium. Whilst partly down to his talent, the primary reason has been an inverse boo of the manager.

Parkinson’s opinion of Wells has exhibited mistrust throughout. Even during the spell over Christmas in which Hanson and Wells were partnered together (the most successful spell of the season); it felt like Parkinson was reticent to accommodate the Bermudan, a feeling vindicated by him attempting to replace Wells not once, but twice with experienced loanees as the season developed. Parkinson’s reasoning behind this is clear, but confounding. His assertion of Wells being an impact sub seems one based on rationalism rather than empiricism. The same is true of his belief in the primacy of experience, signalled by the recent exclusion of Wells, David Syers and Ritchie Jones.

The predominant frustration around Valley Parade has been around the manager’s perceived overly cautious approach. I feel rather than being defensive, Phil Parkinson is being damned by his own logic. Every decision he has made can be justified by a cold, detached reasoning, but that is inhibiting his team’s performance. This is no better personified than by the exclusion of Nahki Wells.

Every player in this team has a fatal flaw, otherwise they wouldn’t be here; they would be in the Championship. With everything Wells brings to the table, criticising his erratic decision making and inconsistency is a feat of nit pickery. More than that, as I have already fawned, these weaknesses somehow make him more intriguing, more fascinating. He stars in each of the three facets of a footballer; the technical, the physical, and the mental. Consistency and intelligence only develop with playing time, and Phil Parkinson’s restriction of that to incorporate loanees frustrates. If he can continue his development and stay injury free into next season, an Emile Sinclair-type future may beckon.

The argument that Nahki Wells is already one of the club’s most important players is surprisingly easy to make. (52.16 mins/goal with him on pitch, 100.46 mins/goal without; 11 games scoreless without him on the pitch; 1.36 points/game when he starts, 0.87 when he comes on as sub, 0.85 when he doesn’t feature.) But all these stats do is reinforce what we all see on the pitch, that the team is far more dangerous with him in it.

On his playing attributes alone, he has the chance to become something exceptional, but his true value lies outside of that. The enthusiasm. The swagger. The determination. The effect his confidence and willingness has on the rest of the club, from players to fans. His talent makes him great, his character makes him special. I don’t know what system I would incorporate him in, but I know he would be a focal point.

Phil Parkinson decided to start him on Good Friday based on the matchup (Southend’s high line), but going into next season #21 should be looking to establish himself in the starting line-up each and every week.

This year has been a trying one for Bradford City with the consensus being that the club has stagnated, if not regressed. However with Wells, Hanson, McLaughlin, Syers (contract permitting), Reid and Jones, there is an exciting young core being assembled. It may contradict the perception of most, but throughout his career Phil Parkinson has shown a willingness (and a talent) for developing young players, and maybe, whisper it, the arrow could finally be pointing up. The precocious talent and eternal enthusiasm of Nahki Wells hint at a future which we are only scratching the surface of, and his maturation alongside the rest of him teammates next season could be something to behold.

I can’t wait.

When fit, there are few full backs in League Two that you would rather have in your side. Ramsden is not the flashiest of defenders in terms of getting forward, but for defensive positioning and tackling ability he never lets anyone down. He has a level of assurance and composure which makes a big difference to the rest of the back four, and he is clearly a natural leader – evidenced by the way he directs others. In theory he could be City’s first choice right back for another four or five years.

But those injuries. Persistent hip and groin injuries kept him out for all but three games of the 2010/11 season. Just as he was set to go this campaign, a calf strain two days before the big kick off ruled him out until November. And just as he got going again over Christmas, a nasty tackle by a Shrewsbury player on New Years Eve ruled him out for another six weeks. Two more games played in February, then a hamstring injury meant he was absent a further five matches. And last week, in the aftermath of the brawl against Crawley, Ramsden – rested for the game – was struck by illness and struggled through the Plymouth game.

Set back after set back. One step forward, and then one or two steps back. It never seems to be a reoccurrence of the same injury, but at the same time it can’t all be down to bad luck. Can it?

The problem for Simon’s manager is having good enough quality in reserve to cover for his frequent absences, on obviously lower wages. In Ramsden’s first season, former Blackburn youngster Jon Bateson was his deputy and showed solid potential – somewhat harshly, in my opinion, getting released by Peter Taylor at the end of the campaign after Stuart McCall had originally signed him.

Taylor went with the more experienced Lewis Hunt as back up the year after, but the former Wycombe defender struggled to impress and was relied upon far more often than would have been expected. This culminated in a contract dispute between player and club a year ago, where Hunt was entitled to a new deal by playing a 20^th game. He wasn’t in then-manager Peter Jackson’s plans, so the club dug their heels in on this clause. But in the end Hunt won his new contract because City didn’t have a fit right back, with Ramsden out for the season (this unavoidable decision apparently cost the club £50k).

The time out, Liam Moore was the back up called upon more than envisaged. Moore settled down fairly quickly, but the 19-year-old soon found playing week in week out a big ask of his consistency levels. Rob Kozluk has come in as number two since January, but the problem has been similar to Hunt in that he has struggled to perform to the desired standard.

Without Ramsden, City look a weaker side. But the problem remains that they are without Ramsden too often. And so Phil Parkinson faces a big call during the close season over whether to award him another deal. The decision won’t be based on his ability – that’s not in doubt – but whether we can afford to retain him as first choice and have a deputy of sufficient standard, at a lower cost.

Could Ramsden be persuaded to take a pay cut and become number two, with Parkinson having the budget to go for a better right back ahead of him? It is possible, perhaps, but having a back up option with ongoing fitness questions is hardly ideal, as Ramsden is more likely to be unavailable when he is needed.

Much depends on the physio reports on Ramsden’s fitness. He could, plausibly, shake off these problems and become an ever present next year. The benefit of a close season resting up, he might at least become more reliable fitness-wise in 2012/13, with the promising Andrew Burns backing him up. It’s a very tough call.

In the meantime, the unavailability of Luke Oliver, Andrew Davies and Marcel Seip make Simon’s fitness over the coming games even more crucial. Ramsden has impressed greatly at centre back before and, with Lee Bullock making a big impact in the centre of midfield, Parkinson might be tempted to pair a fully fit Ramsden with Guy Branston over the Easter period, trusting Kozluk and Matt Fry as full backs. One things for sure, if Fry still isn’t fit enough to play on Good Friday, Parkinson can’t afford to be without Ramsden too. We are down to the bare bones.

Whatever happens over the next few weeks, Ramsden is one of the most popular City players of the last five years and easily the best right back we have had since Nathan Doyle. The opportunity is there for him to become a true hero during the relegation run in, and we know that he has the mindset and determination to take on that mantle. It’s just whether his body is going to let him.

Yet Bullock has not only come back into contention, but increasingly established himself as a key member of the squad. From appearing to be something of a utility player, used to cover for others when they are injured – between January and early March, he played centre back, defensive midfielder and even striker – the 30-year-old is keeping some very good players out of the side.

With Luke O’Brien departing in January, Bullock became the club’s longest serving player. Of the six clubs he has played for, only at York City – where he began his career – has Bullock made more appearances than the 123 times he has featured for the Bantams. Signed by Stuart McCall on New Year’s Day 2008, back then Bullock instantly brought about a calmness to City’s play that turned them from mid-table mediocrity to outside play off contenders. Even after a close season that featured the high profile arrivals of Paul McLaren and Dean Furman, Bullock looked set to be a big player in a stronger promotion push the following campaign.

Not for the last time, injuries disrupted his season very badly and Bullock was in and out the side. But a year later (2009/10) McCall converted him from attacking midfielder – where personally, I was never that convinced by him – into defensive midfielder. He held things together, while Michael Flynn, Scott Neilson or Chris Brandon bombed forward, never looking more assured or valuable to the team.

Bullock survived the change of manager to Peter Taylor and, by the time Peter Jackson took over a year later, Bullock was becoming that utility player. A less than convincing outing at right back against Torquay ended badly, but a move to centre back in a key game against Aldershot saw him produce one of the finest individual displays of anyone that season. Thanks to Lee and others, City won 2-1 to virtually confirm survival.

And it seemed centre back was to be his position, starting this season against Aldershot again – before another bad injury struck – and continuing in home games against Morecambe and Hereford earlier this year. But when Bullock was moved to central midfield for the home game with Accrington a month ago, he produced a highly impressive display and has become a mainstay since. No mean feat, when your rivals for the shirt include Ricky Ravenhill, Ritchie Jones, David Syers and Flynn.

The strongest part of the squad, and yet somehow the forgotten man has stolen a march on others.

Which makes you wonder what Parkinson must have originally thought when he joined the club to find Bullock on the sidelines looking out of the picture. If the two Chairmen were in his ear – they had wanted to offload Bullock to Darlington last summer, but Jackson refused – he probably held a fairly negative impression and didn’t see Bullock within his plans. Yet the Stockton-born player must now seem like a new signing, given how unexpectedly well he is performing.

The quality of his displays against Accrington, Oxford and Gillingham were there for all to see. Not only was he superbly protecting the back four to enable others like Craig Fagan to have a greater licence to get forward, he was setting and controlling the tempo of matches. I have personally never been more impressed by Bullock than I have been over recent games. Not just a player doing his positional job, but someone entrusted with greater responsibility.

Now, of course, he will be needed as a centre back again, for three games at least, after the dreadful events of Tuesday night. We need him to be the inspiration in the relegation battle that he was last season, and to fill some rather large shoes as City face up to the fight of their lives. He will let no one down for sure, and certainly things would look a lot more desperate going into these three crucial games if he was not building.

Which means that Bullock has suddenly become one of the most important players at the club and, injuries permitting, won’t be spending the next few weeks killing time by browsing Tesco on a Saturday afternoon.

Like so many of the signings recruited during the close season, this campaign and move to West Yorkshire has clearly not worked out in the way Mitchell would have wanted. Aside from being unused sub occasionally, the Stirling-born defender/midfielder has not had a sniff of first team action since the Bantams exited the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy at Oldham in December. A huge amount of competition for a starting position perhaps, but the writing would appear to be on the wall. It is difficult to envisage Mitchell still being at Valley Parade next season.

Which is a real shame, because the early season performances he delivered showed huge potential – and many of his finest qualities are currently absent from City’s play. We badly lack an effective set piece taker, which Mitchell has proved he is. There is a lack of decent crosses into the box, especially compared to the high standard that Mitchell was providing when in the team. Only Kyel Reid and Jack Compton have contributed more goal assists.

Admittedly all three of Mitchell’s assists came in the same game – the 4-2 win over Barnet in August that was undoubtedly his finest moment in a Bantams shirt. He demonstrated superb quality in playing a key part in all four City goals that afternoon, as he appeared set to blossom in a right-sided midfield role which, at the start of the season, he had looked shaky performing.

Significant that afternoon too was that there was no Peter Jackson – the man who acted upon then-chief scout Archie Christie’s recommendation to sign Mitchell and team-mate Mark Stewart during the summer – after he quit two days before.

Phil Parkinson initially continued to play Mitchell, though in most of his early games the substitute board would be out early in the second half displaying Chris’ number 16 to be taken off. And then Craig Fagan entered the building, eventually taking Mitchell’s right midfield slot in terms of the way he was instructed to perform. On the sidelines Mitchell would have found familiar company in the shape of numerous summer signings been pushed out.

Mitchell still played in the cup games – and at the time the high work rate and fearless attacking approach the ‘cup side’ players produced at the likes of Huddersfield and Sheffield United captured the imagination of us supporters. Turgid league performances on Saturday from the reshaped first team struggled to inspire us; Tuesday nights at the Galpharm, Bramall Lane and Boundary Park with Mitchell and co. were a whole lot more fun.

Impressive back-to-back displays from Mitchell against Sheffield United – where he netted the winning penalty in the shootout – and Rochdale in the FA Cup earned him back a starting League Two place. But that strange 3-2 loss to Rotherham in November – which effectively brought an end to the City careers of Luke O’Brien and Steve Williams – saw Mitchell’s stock fall again with his manager, despite the fact he scored and played reasonably well that day. Just one first team appearance since – at Oldham where he played the 90 minutes and was industrious and creative in possession – and Mitchell is on the outside looking in. Yet to kick a first team ball in anger during 2012.

Back in the summer, Christie likened Mitchell to Phil Neville in terms of his versatility and the fact players of his type often go under the radar, but are key to a lot of very successful teams. A string of impressive pre-season performances taught us that Mitchell wasn’t the strongest physically or the quickest running-wise, but his ability on the ball suggested it was worth sticking with him and ensuring a place could be found in the team for his talents.

Chris Mitchell talks to Archie Christie at the training ground, September 2011

Mitchell had his rough edges – for example needing to get a more involved in setting the tempo of a game – and he was not the more polished level of player that many of Parkinson’s signings who now stand in his way are proving to be. But he was a clear symbol of the team-building, development season we were supposed to be undertaking this time out. His stalled career is a missed opportunity for the club.

Perhaps that 3-2 loss to Rotherham was the final straw that left Parkinson feeling there was no choice other than to prioritise ensuring survival at all costs, rather than allowing embryonic players the time to learn from mistakes. Whatever the thinking, the team has evolved in a different direction without Chris.

Curiously Mitchell is yet to depart City on loan, meaning there remains a slim ray of hope that he might get a couple of games at the end of the season – should relegation worries be put to bed – to demonstrate to Parkinson he can be part of next season’s plans.

If his future does, as seems more likely, lie away from Valley Parade, however, then it is sad that we have not given a raw-but-clearly-talented-player the opportunity to develop and become a more effective performer. His finest qualities remain something Parkinson is unable to find in his other players.

Let’s hope at least that – set piece and passing-wise – Mitchell’s team-mates are learning a thing or two from him while he is still sharing the same training ground.

The story of how Jones made it to Valley Parade during the summer was an indictment of the struggles Peter Jackson was having in the role, and the value Christie was providing until he departed the club last November. Jackson needed to recruit a strong midfielder after determining Jon Worthington wasn’t worth a new contract and that Michael Flynn was, at the time, not in his plans. The hunt was not going well.

Not going well because the targets that Jackson had identified were looking for high wages and offered poor long-term value in terms of their age. Gary Jones (34-years-old) at Rochdale and Tommy Miller (then 32, who ended up at Huddersfield Town) topped the list. They were both offered and rejected a salary which was three times more than what Jones eventually signed for.

Christie told us the story that Jackson knew little of Ritchie Jones; a quiet and unassuming midfielder for several seasons with Hartlepool and then last season Oldham. But after the moves for Gary Jones and Miller failed, Jackson acted upon Christie’s recommendation and agreed to sign the 24-year-old, who was out of contract. Like Gary Jones and Miller, Ritchie had offers from League One clubs to rival an approach from City. But Christie was able to sell the potential of the Bantams in moving up the leagues, and he signed a four year contract.

He is tied to City until 2015 – meaning he can either become a key player for many years, or be a saleable asset which can help the club. And while Gary Jones or Miller would have been great players at Valley Parade for this season, their age suggested they did not offer much beyond that and would have come at a much higher cost. Jones had already played over 150 senior games so had experience, but his career still has a long, long way to go.

And what a signing he is proving to be. Luke Oliver might be runaway choice for player of the season and his defensive partner Andrew Davies will no doubt take the silver gong, but after them no one has been as effective and consistent as Jones. In recent weeks especially, he has time and time again proved to be City’s best player. He was arguably man of the match in the previous two home games, and was by some distance our strongest performer at Dagenham on Saturday.

It perhaps didn’t look so encouraging initially, with Jones’ first few games offering only limited glimpses of the ability he possesses. He suffered a bad injury in pre-season which put him behind his team mates fitness and sharpness-wise, but once he got a run in the team his potential became apparent. Christie told us that Jones was signed to help get the club into the Championship over the duration of his four-year deal, rather than someone who would become surplus to requirements if and when City move up a division. Certainly his performances this season have been that of a player capable of playing at a higher level.

Jones has great energy levels and work rate. He is adept at protecting the back four alongside Ricky Ravenhill and – earlier in the season – Flynn. It is a superb sight to watch Jones picking up the ball from deep and driving forwards. He is very effective at tackling and clever at picking out the right pass.

Weaknesses? Well it would be good to see more from Jones in the final third. Whether it is due to the discipline of playing a deeper role instructed by Parkinson, or a slight lack of confidence, he looks reluctant to enter the opposition penalty area or make late runs into the box. The fact he has scored just 11 goals from 167 career appearances suggests attacking has never been his strength. But memories of the superb manner he struck his one and only City goal, at Port Vale earlier in the season, suggests he has the capability to become a bigger goal threat than he has shown so far.

Yet even without this development, there is no doubting his worth to the team. When everyone is fit, you wonder if Parkinson would necessarily start with Jones – a suspicion added to by the baffling decision to substitute him at Dagenham on Saturday, which back-fired on the manager – but the form of the former Manchester United trainee over the past few weeks should ensure he is one of the first names on the team sheet for the moment.

Over time, I’d like to think that David Syers and Jones can be the two players Parkinson builds his team around. They are both at such a great age of having a decent level of experience, but with their peak years still to come. If Jones can continue to develop his defensive awareness, his solidness can give Syers licence to roam – with both players covering every blade of grass between them.

Jones was a superb piece of business by Christie, and such a transfer approach provides a blueprint that we should be looking to copy over this summer.

Phil Parkinson replaced Jackson as manager early on, and signed other defenders who took Branston’s place in the team. Soon after Guy was loaned to Rotherham for three months, before injury curtailed his stay and left him out of action for two months.

Now, however, he’s back in contention at City; and kindly spoke to Width of a Post editor Jason McKeown before the Hereford game about how he still hopes to have a future at the club.

WOAP: Are you fully recovered from your injury now?

GB: Yes, totally yeah. I’ve been back for around four weeks now. It took longer than I thought it would. It was an eight-week injury and I had to go back and see a specialist at one point, which the club was good enough to pay for.

WOAP: How did your loan spell at Rotherham go?

GB: Yeah it was good. Rotherham’s one of the clubs that I always look out for. I had five good years there as a player, I lived in Rotherham for five years and enjoyed it. So going back to get some games was great. But unfortunately I got a bad injury and I had to cancel the loan early.

WOAP: What happened with the injury, did you pick it up during a match?

GB: No, I picked it up in training. It was during my first week of training actually, but it got worse and worse. And I had to take an injection in order to still be able to play; something I’ve done at other clubs past, and which the manager thanked me for.

But, well it wasn’t so much the wrong sort of injection, but it didn’t work out. I took an injection and it aggravated it even more. And I went up for a header and it actually ended up rupturing the tendon in my foot. Which made it very uncomfortable just to walk on and I was on crutches for a couple of days. Obviously I can now walk on it, but I’ve had pains for nine weeks.

WOAP: Do you have any targets for the rest of this season, for example get back into the team?

GB: Yes, of course. I didn’t come back here not to get in the first team. It’s very important that I keep working hard and get back in the squad, and then hopefully challenge for a place. I’m still working really hard and doing extra training and fitness work, and I think that I’m fit enough to play in the first team.

But you know, up to now, the lads at the back have done really well. Which is great, and I’ve thanked them to keep pushing me, because when they’re doing well it makes you start playing well. It should have that affect on your career. When the top players are playing well in a team, you want to be better than them.

WOAP: Have you had conversations with Phil Parkinson in terms of your chances of getting back into the team? Does he see you as part of his plans?

GB: I’ve had conversations with him. I don’t think we see eye-to-eye in the sense that I obviously want to play in the team. But I said to him I will be here for Bradford as much as Bradford needs me. And if that’s not going to work out this season, well I’ve got next season as well. So no problems.

WOAP: Going back to last summer, when you arrived there was this great story about you driving towards Valley Parade, getting out of your car when it came on the horizon and being amazed at how big it was. So far moving to City doesn’t seem to have worked out for you as hoped…

GB: No, definitely not. It’s been a nightmare for me and it’s not gone how I expected. The club itself is what I expected. It’s a massive club and it’s a pleasure to play for them. I’ve got nothing but respect for the place, and that’s why I turn up every week and do my work, and why I want to play for the club still.

I’ve left clubs quickly before, when things haven’t worked out; but I don’t want to leave this football club and I’m not looking to leave this football club – because I can see the benefits of staying. Some clubs I have been at and thought, well the manager’s told me to my face that I’ve not got a future. But this club is immaculate, and I’ve got nothing but respect for it.

When I signed at the start of the season, I obviously had a lot of confidence in myself anyway, and I think everyone knows that. I envisioned that I’d be leading this club to the top of the table, but things went on out of the control of us players. And then it was our fault with the results that we got, and we held our hands up. And then a new manager comes in and takes over. And sometimes, unfortunately, your face doesn’t fit. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to stay here. I’m desperate to stay here.

WOAP: Peter Jackson was obviously a big reason why you signed here, because you were friends with him…

GB: I wasn’t technically friends with him. It’s hard to be friends with a football manager. It is a very tricky situation to have a friendship with a manager because things can change so quickly and things can blow up. To a manager you’re blue-eyed boy one minute, and then you’re dog dirt on the bottom of his shoe the next!

I had a relationship with Peter Jackson because I played so well against him in the past, so he’s always thought that I was a good player. Unfortunately I signed for Jackson and you know it didn’t work out for him at City and he ended up walking out anyway. I was disappointed myself and thought he should have stayed until Christmas at least, but that’s the way it goes.

WOAP: Do you have any regrets about signing for City and leaving Torquay?

GB: No I’ve got no regrets. I stick my chest out, and I’ve got no problems being shot at. I enjoy being in football and I like being part of this football club.

Hindsight’s a great thing. You can look back on things and think ‘oh I should have done this, I should have done that’. But I wanted to go to the biggest club available to me during the summer, and Bradford was the biggest club available. I was buzzing at that. I never look back and think this move has not worked out. It has worked out for me, because it’s got me to a big club – which is where I want to be.

This is a massive club and I’m so proud to be associated with Bradford City. And now I will always be associated with Bradford City. That’s a good feeling.

WOAP: As supporters watching on it can feel frustrating to see a club like Torquay, last season and this, achieve impressive things and being high up the league, while it seems Bradford City has a bigger budget but haven’t been able to come close to the play offs for three seasons. In your experience of both clubs, what do you think the difference is between Torquay last season and City?

GB: I think Bradford overall has got a big budget, but I don’t think the playing budget is that big. It’s probably up there with a group of big teams in this division, but I wouldn’t say that it’s a Swindon budget.

I don’t even know the budget, but I can’t imagine the players that we’ve got at this football club are as expensive as the Swindon players; otherwise we’d go and get [Paul] Benson ourselves wouldn’t we?

I think the Chairmen are doing an absolutely amazing job to keep this club ticking over, and they need to be applauded for it. They come in and put their money where their mouths are, and behind the scenes for us players it’s all very organised and the lads are looked after.

In football it’s hard with the budgets. It’s something that the manager and the directors’ deal with; as players we just get told to turn up, try and play our best. But sometimes other teams are going to turn up to this wonderful stadium and try their best as well. And that’s where it’s unfortunate, because it’s sometimes more of a challenge playing at this stadium. Opposition players turn up and say ‘oh wow here we go; this is going to be a great game today’.

Talking of today, because of the crowd, it will probably be a full house today. £1 a ticket, it’s going to be a tremendous day. And I think you’ve got to applaud the club itself for doing that for the fans. It shows solidarity in the city, because this place [Bradford] is on the up and you can see it in the town centre with the water fountain and the excitement around the place. If we can get this club buzzing like I wanted to – and still want to – then it can be a big hit in Yorkshire again.

WOAP: The club began this season making a lot of noises about long-term building and Jackson brought in players for the future. However, this changed quickly and now there’s very much a short-term focus. As players does this sort of stuff affect you?

GB: I liked the idea, but you know I was promised all sorts of things when I signed. I was hearing Clayton Donaldson, Gary Jones, all these kind of players and I thought ‘wow they’d be great to play with’. They are big hitters in League Two and League One. And I was really excited by that.

But it didn’t materialise. And the players that we got in were young lads who weren’t ready for League Two. And that’s nice for the development of the football club in five or six years time, but for me personally my career is going to run out and I wanted us to sign players who maybe we can win the league with. It didn’t happen, although I don’t think the gaffer [Jackson] signed a lot of the players; behind the scenes I think Archie [Christie] did, and the Chairmen, to sort the future of the club out. This was obviously understandable, because this club has got to go somewhere and it’s got to have saleable assets as well. It can’t just have 35, 36-year-old guys who want to come and play at a great stadium, like myself.

To me, I think it’s hard to want a certain thing and then for it to materialise. I was very pleased with myself obviously signing here, and the lads who joined here like your [Mark] Stewarts and [Chris] Mitchells I was impressed with. And the new gaffer has brought in some excellent players since. We’ve got a good squad now. It’s one where it’s very hard to get in, and that’s how it is.

In the summer, if we’d given more power to Peter Jackson, I think we’d be in a different situation – that’s my opinion. I think that if he’d been given the budget that sometimes I was hearing, it might have worked out for him. But I don’t think he was; we wanted to go down a different route and the chairman’s held his hands up and got rid of it, because it didn’t work. Which again, I applaud him. The chairman’s a man who sticks his heart on his sleeve and he’s a passionate football fan of Bradford. So he wants Bradford to do well, like we all do.

WOAP: Do you get on okay with Phil Parkinson? I know you said earlier you don’t always see eye-to-eye with him…

GB: Well the thing that we don’t see eye-to-eye on is simple, I want to be in the team and he doesn’t want me in the team (laughs). But I can understand why he doesn’t want me in the team, because the lads in it are doing well. That’s where I mean eye-to-eye, but he’s my manager and I’ve got to respect his decisions. I try and do everything that he asks of me. Whatever that might be, such as turning up today or going running on my own tomorrow or training with the youth team, or training the kids. Whatever he wants me to do, I will do.

I get on fine with him. I think that you’ve got to respect your gaffer and respect the chairmen and the chief exec – and, if you don’t do that, you’re a fool.

WOAP: How do you see your future beyond the end of this season? Obviously Andrew Davies will probably not be at City next season, do you think at that point you can get back in the team or even before that?

GB: I don’t see why I can’t get in with Andrew Davies. I can’t see why I can’t knock him off his pedestal, which I’ve said before. He’s a very, very good player but he’s also a Premiership player and I don’t understand why we didn’t sign him before if we can afford him.

These are the things that I question myself. I got told at the start of the season that we’d be signing blah, blah, blah and in the end that didn’t materialise, but I’m not blaming that on anyone.

In terms of Davies he has come in and done a great job, and he deserves a pat on the back for that. But we need that push all the time, and it’s very all well saying that one person is a good player, it’s a team game – it’s not just individuals.

Personally, what’s gone on will be put behind me, like it always is, and I will move on from that. If the club needs me in the summer I will be here 100%. If the club doesn’t need me they will have to come to me and tell me that. But I can’t see that.

WOAP: It appears you’ve had a very interesting career – I’m sure if you wrote an autobiography it would be a fantastic read. What have been the highlights of your career?

GB: Promotions, and meeting as many players as possible. I’ve been surprised by how many players I’ve come across, I never envisioned that my career would go this way. I started at Leicester City, which is my home club and I had five or six great years there, but it just didn’t work out and Martin O’Neill came in and said I wasn’t good enough for the Premiership. I’m happy with that (laughs), because we got on really well and he was a nice bloke. I’ve kept in contact with a lot of the staff from most clubs I’ve been at.

But definitely the highlights for me have been the five promotions that I’ve had, the big games I’ve played in – the play offs last year was amazing – and the big stadiums I’ve played in.

There’s also the normal stuff that you want to be involved in football for; signing for clubs like Bradford City, and being an important figure in people’s lives as a footballer.  I love football fans. I think they respect the fact that I’m always willing to talk and have a chat with whoever wants a chat.

I’ve really enjoyed my career, and I’m still really enjoying my career – and that’s why I’m not giving it up. When my legs go and when someone has to put me down as a donkey, I will take it. But not yet, I’m not ready yet.

WOAP: Finally, what do you envisage doing when you do finally hang up your boots?

GB: I’d love to be a manager, I’ve got my B [coaching qualification] and I’m doing my A in the summer. It’s a big thing in my mind. I’ve have enough experience, I’ve spoke with enough players, I’ve dealt with enough players, I’ve had situations myself where managers have to deal with me and I’ve dealt with them.

I’ve seen so many different coaching styles, from your O’Neills, your Phil Parkinsons, your Paul Buckles, your John Gormans and even Tony Adams. There’s so many managers that I’ve worked with, and I think I would suit being a manager well.

I can spot a player, I know I can. I have ideas of good players and watch enough football to identify a player. I’ve been in the game for 20 years, starting at 14 in terms of being competitive, getting my apprenticeship and kicking on from there. I’ve been a pro ever since, so I can’t be doing that bad!

The 17^th consecutive start McLaughlin made for the Bantams is the longest uninterrupted run in goal he has enjoyed during one season since joining three-and-a-half years ago. And with Matt Duke departing on loan to Northampton on Monday, it would appear Jon’s position at the club truly reflects the number which appears on the back of his shirt.

Not that being Bradford City Number One for this season looked likely for McLaughlin last summer. Along with Luke Oliver, Michael Flynn and Robbie Threlfall, it appeared as though the Edinburgh-born stopper’s days at the club were numbered. A nasty bout of food poisoning left McLaughlin recovering in hospital instead of being involved in pre-season friendlies, while then-manager Peter Jackson invited a clutch of goalkeeper trialists to attempt to win a contract at Valley Parade. In the end Martin Hansen and Oscar Jansson arrived on loan as the season began, with McLaughlin apparently firmly out of the picture.

Hansen struggled to impress, Jansson showed greater promise; but as Phil Parkinson replaced Jackson, a permanent goalkeeper was preferred and Duke arrived on a two-year contract. McLaughlin was by now back in training, but facing up once more to being Number Two at Valley Parade – a regular occurrence since he arrived from Harrogate Town in 2008.

Duke failed to command confidence almost from the word go and displayed a worrying tendency to be beaten easily from long range, which resulted in opposition teams clearly targeting this weakness. Duke wasn’t much better dealing with crosses and – although the defence in front of him struggled early season – as the back four improved, the spotlight glared brighter upon the former Hull keeper’s form. A mistake in gifting Cheltenham the winner at Valley Parade in November was one too many.

Enter McLaughlin at Sheffield United in the JPT, catching the eye in a similar way to when he made a first genuine stake for the Number One jersey under Peter Taylor at Burton Albion in April 2010 – by his penalty saving ability. McLaughlin was the hero of a nail-biting shoot out after making three saves. A run in the team was his reward.

McLaughlin has kept the Number One shirt ever since, and Duke’s search of first team football at Sixfields illustrates how well he has performed over these 17 games. Yet there is very little fuss made of McLaughlin and he rarely seems to get the plaudits other City keepers have enjoyed in the past. Rotherham in January apart, there have been no serious mistakes made. McLaughlin just quietly gets on with the job.

He is a solid if unspectacular goalkeeper. Beyond his heroics from penalties, there isn’t anything that especially jumps out as to what McLaughlin is fantastic at – but also little obvious weaknesses to his game. In that regard he reminds me of Gary Walsh, who like McLaughlin was a solid shot stopper and commanding of his area. Capable of the occasional costly misjudgement; but someone who will pretty much always give you a steady 7 out of 10, if not higher.

In recent weeks I can recall McLaughlin making two or three decent saves almost every match, and only getting beaten by strikes he had little chance of keeping out. No clean sheet since Boxing Day is a worry for the keeper and the defence, but he is letting no one down.

Having such a long run in the team is significant. After that man of the match performance under Taylor at Burton in 2010, McLaughlin was entrusted for the final few games of that season and made Number One for the 2010/11 campaign. But after a few average displays in which his confidence seemed to drop, Taylor brought in Lenny Pidgley to give McLaughlin a breather in October 2010. For the rest of the campaign neither keeper impressed sufficiently when playing to nail down an undisputable starting spot. McLaughlin ended the season with a nightmare performance in a 5-1 home defeat to Crewe.

There became a feeling that – at 24-years-old – McLaughlin wasn’t yet ready to have a sustained run in the team, because he didn’t quite possess the mental strength to recover from individual mistakes – therefore meaning he’d have to be taken out of the firing line from time-to-time. When McLaughlin had a poor game at Rotherham this season, you feared the same thing might happen again. But credit to Jon, he retained his confidence and composure at Watford the game after to perform very well, and has continued in this manner over the last few weeks.

Is McLaughlin the best goalkeeper in League Two? Not at this moment, but then that’s not really the point. City have a competent keeper to help them through the here and now of avoiding relegation – while at the same time being in a position to develop him for the future. Develop was supposed to be the buzz word of this season but, other than Nahki Wells at this moment, younger players are not getting their chance due to the difficult circumstances.

Almost four years at the club, McLaughlin represents something of an investment. A goalkeeper picked up on the cheap by Stuart McCall, with an eye on the future. He’s had to bide his time, and the path to a run in the first team hasn’t always run smoothly. But not only is McLaughlin now the undisputed Number One for this season, his continuing development could mean he holds this title at Bradford City for many years to come.

If City fans were asked to pick their favoured pairing in the centre of the team’s midfield, it is unlikely that club captain Michael Flynn’s name would be mentioned. In fact, was Phil Parkinson to prefer three central midfield players it is still unlikely that many supporters would include his name in the team. The fact that the sheet of paper Parkinson will hand the referee listing Bradford’s team on Saturday is not likely to feature a fit again  Flynn supports the argument that the current City squad is a strong one – on paper.

Unfortunately for Flynn that piece of paper includes the names Ritchie Jones, Ricky Ravenhill and David Syers; and no side in this division would complain about seeing any one of those names on their team sheet. However, as they say football isn’t played on paper and Bradford are looking to find a combination that works on grass and Flynn may well become a part of that.

It is not so long ago Flynn and Lee Bullock were forming an effective pairing that many considered good enough to hold their own in a side competing in the top half of this league, but now they find themselves as 4th and 5th choice in the pecking order. Times have definitely changed and Bullock has even converted into a centre half to try and get a game.

Flynn is not the energetic midfielder with a habit of scoring a spectacular goal that he was when he first joined Bradford, but he has successfully adapted his game to be an effective force who can dictate play from a deeper position. He has been criticised by some for being less mobile and therefore not good enough; but the same could be said about Paul Scholes, who changed his game in a similar way, and recently answered a SOS from Manchester United to help them revitalise their assault for the Premier League.

Obviously I’m not putting Scholes and Flynn in the same league – after all, Flynny can tackle! Instead I use the comparison as evidence that it may be a little too soon to write off the Welshman. Jones and Ravenhill have received numerous plaudits for their performances together and when Parkinson – somewhat harshly – left Jones out of the side to accommodate Syers, the latter marked his return to the side with a goal.

However, these performances have not produced the results the side needs to escape the lower reaches of the table whereas, before Flynn was laid low with gastroenteritis, our results had started to turn a corner. Flynn appeared to add a steel core to the side, whether paired with Jones or Ravenhill. This could have been perhaps lacking in recent weeks as City have shown more of a soft centre when conceding late goals.

Of course there have been other notable absentees over this period including Simon Ramsden, Luke Oliver and Kyel Reid; which have also had an effect on the rhythm that Bradford had just starting to get into, but Flynn’s absence should not be overlooked.

Possibly it’s Flynn’s experience and leadership qualities that have been the missing ingredients over recent weeks. In last week’s  Midweek Player Profile, Jason McKeown discussed how Reid’s absence from the first team may have highlighted how much he has been missed and something similar could be said for Flynn. Reid’s absence has been more evident by the fact his replacements – with the exception of Jack Compton – have failed to impress, where as those deputising for Flynn all earned highly deserved praise for their performances.

It may be the case that, although Michael Flynn the footballer may not have been sorely missed, Michael Flynn the leader has been. I’m not criticising the leadership abilities of Craig Fagan, but every manager Flynn has played under during in his time at Valley Parade have raved about his influence and the importance of his presence amongst the other players.

This raises a dilemma for Parkinson; should he sacrifice the work rate and pressing qualities of Ravenhill, or the added quality offered by Jones, or the energy levels and goal scoring threat provided by Syers, to include Flynn’s leadership and experience? Parkinson showed by bringing Syers straight back into the side, despite the impressive form of Jones, that he is not frightened to make difficult decisions.

It is likely that Parkinson felt City had become too reliant on their front men to score and, because of that, decided to include Syers. He may also consider Flynn to have the discipline to play the ‘holding role’ in front of the back four, giving Syers more of a licence to attack. The fact that this option could be considered shows how much Flynn’s game has changed since he was first signed under Stuart McCall.

On the other hand, the Bristol Rovers game was the first time that Syers and Ravenhill were paired together and, given more opportunities, they have the right qualities to become a superb partnership; but this could be said for any of the possible combinations available. Parkinson is likely to give Syers and Ravenhill the chance to develop an understanding and, if that is the case, Flynn and Jones will become frustrated spectators hoping to make an impact from the bench. I can’t imagine this is a situation that Flynn would be content with, and may see him move on at the end of this season.

Flynn can be held in no way responsible for City’s struggles in the basement division and the fact that he has survived the regular end of season player culls over the past two years shows that he has been of great value to the team. If it is to be the case that Flynn leaves, then he can leave Valley Parade with his head held high and all supporters will give him a fond farewell – because whatever criticism he has had in his time here, no one can accuse him of not being fully committed to the cause.

“Reid, Reid will tear you apart, again” was the chant on the Memorial Stadium away terrace as the 24-year-old warmed up in front of us early in the second half. At 2-0 down, Reid was called into action a fortnight earlier than the six weeks he was originally expected to be unavailable for. The former West Ham trainee showed few signs of rustiness to terrorise the Rovers’ defence, and he played an inspirational role in the team almost coming back from 2-0 down with only 10 men.

The roars of approval and debut of the Reid chant was a long way removed from the way he was viewed by many City fans just a month ago. Go back to the Plymouth home game on December 10, and Reid was the  subject of significant groans of frustration and anger about his performance. Struggling to make his mark on the match, it seemed every decision he made was the wrong one and there was little encouragement from the stands. The fact he set up James Hanson’s crucial equaliser was largely ignored.

It wasn’t the first afternoon that Reid had been on the receiving end of such criticism – and it’s the nature of wingers that they attract this kind of abuse. While we football supporters expect our full backs to always stop opposition wingers from running past them and getting a cross in, we equally demand that our wide players dribble past their marker and whip the ball onto the centre forward’s forehead. Yet it is always a case that sometimes the winger will win that battle, and sometimes they will lose it. Sometimes they will win their team the match, on other times they may cost them it.

As a fully paid up member of the Omar Daley fan club, it pains me slightly to say that Reid is a better winger than the Jamaican. Reid’s all round game has the edge in that he can deliver better crosses and has a few more tricks to beat players, while he is more effective at tracking back. Yet just like Daley, when Reid is bad he is very bad. And the criticisms previously thrown at Daley are replicated almost word-for-word towards City’s number 32.

Daley was unfortunate to leave the club this summer, with then-manager Peter Jackson apparently going back on a promise to award him with a new contract if he came back from his loan spell at Rotherham and helped the Bantams stay up. Daley did what was asked, yet found himself looking for alternative employment after May. At a Skipton and Craven Bantams Supporters Club meeting last November, Head of Operations David Baldwin revealed that he and joint-Chairman Julian Rhodes had even gone as far as to ask Jackson to reconsider releasing Daley. Whatever has been said about how much control Jackson felt he had during the close season, he was not going back on this particular decision.

On Daley’s part, he apparently told people close to him that at City he felt it didn’t matter what he achieved, some people would always seek to belittle his contribution or fail to recognise his qualities. He felt pigeon-holed as a “lazy player”, no matter how hard he tried.

Reid is similar to Daley in how direct he is and where his strengths and weaknesses lie, and in time will probably find himself holding a similar reputation among supporters. For as much as we have missed Reid over the last few weeks, it is those occasions where he is flying past his full back or whipping across dangerous balls to Hanson that we conjure up in our minds, not the times when he loses the ball or doesn’t chase a lost cause.

The famous quote by the American composer and comedian Oscar Levant reflects our recent memories of Reid fairly well: “Happiness is not something you experience, it is something you remember.” The happiness that we remember Reid providing will doubtlessly translate into an expectation that he will perform to this impossibly high level week in week out, when his time at the club has shown this simply will not happen. Reid certainly will tear the opposition apart, again; but he will also have us tearing our hair out on other days too.

What ultimately matters are the thoughts of his manager Phil Parkinson, and there is little doubt that Reid is held in high regard. Within acceptable parameters, it would appear Reid has been rushed back to fitness. He travelled with the team to Watford in early January to join in with the team’s warm-up on the pitch. Reid was also on the pitch pre-match for the recent back-to-back home games against Morecambe and Burton. The big question now, as Reid prepares to start against Crawley Town on Saturday, is just how big a role Parkinson expects Reid to play going forwards.

In recent weeks Craig Fagan has started on the right – which has benefited the team’s overall balance, but placed greater emphasis on the left winger to run at people and get the ball into the box. Three players have been brought on loan since Reid got injured – Charlie Taylor, Andy Haworth and Will Atkinson – and none have been able to fill Reid’s shoes and accept this heavy responsibility. If Parkinson plans to continue playing this way, Reid will encounter similar problems to the three loanees even if he makes a better fist of it. The temptation to go with two out-and-out wingers must be rising.

Indeed why would Parkinson have signed Atkinson on loan until the rest of the season during the same week Reid was back in first team contention, if there is to remain only one opening for an out-and-out winger in the starting line up? Atkinson can play wide right and is probably better suited to that side of the pitch. There is a growing clamour for Parkinson to play two direct wingers instead of keeping Fagan wide right.

He may feel that City’s circumstances aren’t appropriate to go so gung ho – especially on Saturday against the League Two title favourites. But with Nakhi Wells lagging recently and Deane Smalley failing to impress so far, Parkinson might elect to go with two out-and-out wingers and move Fagan up front to partner James Hanson. If that does happen, the pressure and expectation on Reid’s shoulders will lessen slightly, which might be for the best given he is hardly going to be up to full speed just yet – despite how well he played for 30 minutes against Bristol Rovers.

Whatever the line up, Reid will receive a warm welcome from us City supporters in recognition for how much he has been missed. Like so many Bantams’ wingers before him, Reid’s personal objective for the rest of the season will be to make sure he is widely appreciated when he is playing week in week out, rather than only when his unavailablty leaves a void that his replacements cannot fill.

No Luke Oliver and no other fit centre backs – but with three recognised left backs to choose from – Seip seemed certain to be switched back into the centre to partner Andrew Davies. Instead midfielder Lee Bullock filled in for Oliver and Seip continued on the left. On the surface two pegs in round holes, when Parkinson had all the right pieces.

It proved to be a smart decision. Bullock’s impressive display and way that he has previously shown such promise as a defender is worthy of a future ‘Midweek Player Focus’ of its own; but selecting a midfielder who had been injured for over three months to replace Oliver, when a more obvious option was available, represented something of a gamble. It was, however, a successful move that provided minimal disruption to an increasingly reliable defence, and ensured the team balance that Seip has played a big role in shaping was continued.

In view of the improvement in overall results and performances since the 3-2 defeat to Rotherham, there is little doubt that November afternoon was a pivotal moment in City’s season. A dismal second half team performance saw Luke O’Brien and Steve Williams caught wanting by a physical Millers’ attack, with two goals a result of their struggles. The return of Simon Ramsden to fitness and Davies from a four game suspension prompted a radical defensive shuffle at Gillingham the week after. Each member of the new-look back four has since flourished as a unit.

Siep was playing at right back against Rotherham, and looked okay if not outstanding. And although his switch to left back for the Gillingham game didn’t trigger any immediate increase in his performances, he quietly settled into the role and became more and more effective over the subsequent weeks. Seip played a full part in the defence conceding just two goals in five league games. All the more impressive considering he is such an obviously right-footed player.

Yet still, surely this was a stop-gap solution? The events that followed another injury set back for Ramsden on New Year’s Eve suggested it wasn’t the case. Although Seip was initially moved to right back once more, as Robbie Threlfall had just returned from a lay off and could play on the left, the seven goals conceded in the subsequent two games suggested the changes were not working. Threlfall was struggling, so Rob Kozluk arrived to cover for Ramsden – and Seip was moved back to the left.

It is surely this development which has led to this week’s proposed departure of O’Brien. He, Threlfall and Charlie Taylor, on loan from Leeds, should in theory be selected as left back ahead of Seip; but the Dutchman has become first choice. His return to this position has again seen improvement over the past couple of games – the two goals conceded against Morecambe was largely due to the disruption of injuries, while Burton’s underserved equaliser on Saturday masked a good defensive performance.

Full backs under Parkinson are playing in a different manner than that instructed by Peter Jackson, Peter Taylor and Stuart McCall. O’Brien in particular was an attacking option encouraged to support his winger by charging forward and – when a 4-3-3 formation was deployed by all three previous City managers – he was looked upon as a key part of the attack. It suited O’Brien’s game especially and, although his final ball needed to improve, it was a thrilling sight to watch the former youth trainee take on and dribble past opposition players. Threlfall wasn’t as offensively minded, but would still come forwards and support his winger.

It is claimed by some that – under Parkinson over the past few weeks – no full back has crossed the half way line. That is not entirely accurate, but there seems to be little doubt that the left back is no longer encouraged to charge up and down the flank.

Which is why Seip is more suited to Parkinson’s way of playing than O’Brien and, to a lesser extent, Threlfall. It has much to do with the winger in front of him, who has a significant role in the team in terms of taking on players and making things happen. Be that Kyel Reid, Jack Compton, Taylor or Andy Haworth – the left side of City’s midfield is set up to be the most potent attacking threat.

Meanwhile the right flank of Parkinson’s team has different requirements. The role that Craig Fagan is playing in the team – and his strengths and weaknesses – was discussed two weeks ago. There is no doubting Fagan’s ability and he has been effective in recent weeks, but he doesn’t have the pace to take people on and charge to the byeline. So Ramsden, until he was injured, and now Kozluk are expected to get forward more down the right to link up with Fagan, compared to how much is asked of Seip down the left.

Both Ramsden and Kozluk have shown themselves very able at this role. They won’t be taking on people in the way O’Brien at his best did so well, but they are crossing the half way line and supporting Fagan in his attempts to get crosses into the box.

There in lies the balance to the team. On the right, Ramsden/Kozluk get forward and are combining well with Fagan. On the left, wingers Reid/Taylor/Haworth are confident and able to take people on. There is far more danger that they will lose possession as a result, meaning the opposition is able to charge forwards on the counter-attack; but with Seip playing in a much more reserved manner, greater cover is provided. Fagan is acting as an extra midfielder tucking inside when City don’t have the ball, while Seip is doing something similar in defence.

So O’Brien look set to leave City not because he is such a bad player Parkinson would rather stick a central defender ahead of him, but because Luke’s strengths and weaknesses are not as well-suited to the functionalistic left back role that’s the team’s shape requires. With each passing week that left back Seip and City perform well, the former Dutch Under 21 international looks increasingly as though he is playing in his natural position.

Three years ago James Hanson was purchased from non-league Guiseley for the minimal sum of £7,500 – although to Bradford City no transfer fee is minimal. At that point he was viewed as one for the future. However, the creaky legs of wily old Peter Thorne finally gave up on him, we couldn’t decide if Gareth Evans was a winger or striker, the signing of Michael Boulding hadn’t been what we hoped and Boulding Junior was just a makeweight in tempting the prior.

Therefore, a lot of pressure was placed on the broad shoulders of a young James Hanson.

To his credit ‘Jimmy’ coped fantastically well and the Valley Parade faithful could not believe how well the young, local lad adjusted from stacking shelves in the Co-op just a few months earlier. The target man went on to score 12 goals in his 34 league games for the 2009/10 season; rumours were flying around that our neighbours down the road were ready to swoop, and the Board were encouraged by fans to tie ‘our Jimmy’ down for the longer-term. They duly obliged and a new four year contract followed his Player of the Season and Top Scorer accolades – it appeared, for once, almost every City fan was pleased.

Prior to 2010/11 there was a lot of talk about how Hanson still needed time to develop and may not be ready to be the focal point of Bradford’s attack. Thorne and the Bouldings had gone, so Peter Taylor had to find some strikers: Lewis Moult clearly wasn’t fancied, Chib Chilaka wasn’t ready, we were still trying to decide if Gareth Evans was a winger or a striker and Jake Speight was in prison! Then disaster struck, Hanson had been working too hard in the gym to beef up for the added pressure of his second season and injured himself in the process.

We were down to the bare bones in striking options and Luke Oliver was forced up front to try and accommodate Peter Taylor’s ‘hoof it’ tactic. At this point everyone – fans, manager and most of all Luke Oliver – were hoping Jimmy would return sooner rather than later and so he did; too soon! Hanson was rushed back into contention last season, clearly before being ready, with more expectation than ever. And, as further injuries followed and his form failed to reach the levels of the prior season, a few murmurs of “second season syndrome” turned into heated debates about Hanson’s ability.

Questions about his attitude were raised – including by his own manager – and he was rumoured to be seen frequently in local pubs. In fairness to James, he was probably trying to escape the pressure of 11,000 people waiting in expectation for him to become their beloved Bradford’s saviour. It appeared we fans had already forgotten he was only working in the Co-op 18 months before.

The criticism of Hanson astounded me all the more when compared to our previous target man, Barry Conlon; who became somewhat of a cult hero at Bradford. On goal scoring alone Jimmy’s worst season in the league last year was one short of Barry’s best – Barry also took penalties. Our big, tough, Irish centre forward would fall over and look at the referee every time a little full back came within 5 yards of him. As for attitude…well I can say from experience that Barry was great to have a pint with!

I realise the majority of fans would prefer to have Hanson lining up for Bradford on a Saturday, but it both confuses and irritates me why Barry would have his name sung across the ground when young James – in need of our support – is more likely to receive jeers and boos.

Taylor, to his credit, tried to help Hanson out by bringing in experienced strikers Jason Price, Scott Dobie and Kevin Ellison. But with the possible exception of Price, none really worked out and Hanson finished a disappointing season still as the club’s second top scorer on nine goals.

Many considered 2011/12 to be a make or break for season for Hanson. Some had already written him off. But after what appeared to be a mixed start, Hanson is beginning to win over even his most outspoken critics on the message boards – a difficult thing to do at City!

He has already reached double figures halfway into the season, and finds himself amongst the top 15 scorers in the division. This is even more impressive considering the majority of players in front of him are penalty takers at their club. Given the amount of penalties City have won this season – should he have taken them – he could quite easily be right up there.

He is also receiving plaudits for the way he is bullying opposition defences, including the stand out occasion for me against Shrewsbury and one of the most respected defenders at this level, Ian Sharps. As a commanding centre half, Sharps would take his place in any defence in League Two and a lot of defences in the division above; but when Shrewsbury came to Valley Parade he was made to look small, weak and out of his depth by a determined Hanson.

When considering the amount of work he puts in outside of the box, it makes his record in front of goal all the more impressive – because target men at this level aren’t often particularly prolific. For example, if we were to look at the top marksmen since we have been in the basement division they aren’t exactly giants; Jack Lester is 5’9, Adam Le Fondre 5’10, our very own Peter Thorne just reached the 6 foot barrier. The trend has continued this season: Izale Mcleod is 5’11, Billy Kee 5’9 and Matt Tubbs also 5’9.

It seems to be accepted at this level for one big striker to do all the donkey work while his little partner takes the glory, but Hanson seems able to do both. His own partnership with a little man in Nakhi Wells seems to be taking shape, and hopefully it can keep getting improving. But as he has managed five goals in the last six games, it doesn’t look as if Hanson will be content just to assist Wells.

Supposedly we are still looking out for a new striker too and, although I agree one is needed, I only hope the incoming forward will have to wait for his opportunity while our current little and large pairing continue their purple patch.

In his time here it has often been speculated what level Hanson could reach. During his first season many touted him as having the potential to be a Championship player. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hanson appear at that level, I do think he would be slightly out of his depth. On the other hand I certainly do see him continuing to spearhead our attack and attempt to get us back up the divisions over the next few years. Hopefully, if that is the case, he will deserve a chance to prove himself at that level in claret and amber. That is, of course, unless he starts receiving interest from elsewhere once again.

Either way £7,500 looks to be a very modest now.

Craig Fagan – playing on the right – has in recent weeks become an increasing source of frustration to us supporters. I include myself in that group: the number of occasions that he’s received possession in a decent area and failed to make the most of it has become irritatingly frequent. Fagan is undoubtedly the club’s best-known player outside of Valley Parade and has a pedigree that commands above average expectations. His first few months have seen him struggle to live up to them.

When he was signed by Parkinson, barely a fortnight after taking over as manager, it looked like a major coup for the club (indeed, at the time the official website described it as a “sensational swoop”). Here was a player who only 18 months earlier was playing Premier League football for Hull City. He had first come to our attention back in 2005 when impressing for Parkinson’s Colchester United. Soon after he moved on and become a well-known Championship player, first with Hull and then Derby. A return to East Yorkshire in 2008 saw him play a sizeable role in Hull’s two-year Premier League adventure.

Only a bad injury curtailed his career in the top two divisions when he was released this summer. But still when he rocked up at Valley Parade the suspicion was that – as soon as he rediscovered his fitness and form – Fagan would shortly return to bigger and better things elsewhere.

The initial signs were certainly promising. Fagan’s full debut at Burton saw him lead the line superbly alongside James Hanson. A week later, the 29-year-old netted his first goal with the winner against Torquay; a match that saw the Bantams reduced to 10 men with 70 minutes to play and Fagan deployed on his own up front. When in the following home game Fagan netted an important penalty to defeat Northampton, the one-year deal seemed an extremely promising arrangement for club and player.

However, instead of further improving from the added sharpness of playing each week, form began to dip. The 1-0 defeat at Macclesfield that followed the Northampton victory was the first time Fagan genuinely disappointed. Rather than making his presence felt, Fagan the striker became increasingly quiet. Perhaps it was because he has never been a great goalscorer – just 48 in 294 career games to date – but it became increasingly apparent that Parkinson needed someone more prolific to spearhead his attack.

So Fagan was moved to the wide right position, and though he wasn’t brilliant against Watford – Championship opposition who we might have expected him to look at home competing against – he has previously performed effectively in this new role. In particular, the two home games over Christmas saw Fagan make a key contribution during the consecutive victories. His quality is evident in his first touch and composure on the ball.

It’s important to note that Fagan does not appear to have been asked to play as an out-and-out-winger. He does not possess the pace or the dribbling ability of Compton or Kyel Reid. Instead, he is performing as a wide central midfielder, with the aim of acting as an extra body in the centre of the park when City don’t have the ball – so that the two central midfielders are not out-gunned. When the Bantams are in possession, Fagan is required to take up good positions and to whip the ball into the box. The success of achieving this comes from finding sufficient space, and also from how effective his team mates prove at finding him.

Chris Mitchell was asked to play this role at the start of the season, while Ritchie Jones was also tried out during October. It is a big change from the traditional tactics of City playing two out-and-out wingers, which over recent years has proven limited in its success – particularly at home. Fagan would appear to be the ideal person to perform this role, but won’t always receive thanks for it.

For this wide midfield position is one which is rarely appreciated in the stands, well-versed in seeing wingers take on their full back and whip the ball into the box quickly. Dean Windass was the first player I personally witnessed in this wide midfield position – back in the early days of the Premier League. Paul Jewell seemed to be trying to ensure City weren’t hammered in the first few games by remaining compact in the middle, but as Windass struggled to impress as a wide right midfielder it appeared his days at the club were numbered.

A struggle to impress Fagan may be able to relate to. He is performing a successful role in the team that – by and large – will be valued by his manager and team-mates. But if his ambition is still to play higher up the divisions than League Two, it is dubious whether he will be able to make enough of an impact to get himself in the shop window when his deal runs out in the summer. If Fagan is happy performing at this club and willing to continue rebuilding his career here, it might not matter. But with Parkinson still searching for another forward to compete with Hanson, Nakhi Wells and Ross Hannah, it appears as though the days of Fagan the Bradford City striker are numbered.

Ultimately, the task for Parkinson in filling the hole vacated by Compton until Reid returns from injury has nothing to do with Fagan and the type of role he plays. But if the supply line from the left winger spot – currently occupied by Charlie Taylor, who is struggling to convince – continues to dry up, the spotlight will remain intense upon Fagan and his relative value to the team.

Wherever Fagan sees his long-term future, Parkinson’s objectives for him at City during the second half of the season should be clear. Fagan’s quality is not in doubt, and on his day there should be few League Two players who can match what he is capable of. So how can Parkinson ensure Fagan brings even more to the role he is performing on the right, for the greater good of the team? And in what way could Fagan be entrusted with greater responsibility to go with the captain’s armband that he’s been wearing recently?

Fagan is too good a player to go about his business quietly, attracting few headlines. As the team hopefully continues to progress over the coming weeks, more will be needed from him in order to take City onto the next stage.

“Who is that guy, your new David Wetherall?” snorted my brother following yet another superb Oliver tackle against Shrewsbury on Saturday. A proud Leeds supporter and reluctant attendee at Valley Parade as part of a Christmas family day out, that Oliver caught my brother’s eye was all the more commendable given it was the only positive thing about the game he could bring himself to disclose. Oliver was in typically outstanding form repelling Shrewsbury’s attempts to come back in the game; a fitting way to end a year that began with ‘typical Oliver’ meaning something very different.

Signed by Peter Taylor in 2010, back at the start of 2011 the former Wycombe, Woking, Yeovil and Sailsbury defender was still widely viewed as a liability and a person who would often make mistakes during games. He did not particularly look like a defender comfortable in possession and, though he would display strong levels of confidence to not allow personal errors to effect his game, he was seen as part of the problem rather than the solution. When Taylor left last February with City’s form nosediving, it was widely assumed Oliver would follow.

Only then did Oliver truly prove himself to the Valley Parade faithful. As the Bantams’ relegation plight grew serious, he was in outstanding form under manager Peter Jackson to help the club remain above the dotted line come May. Superb performances in crucial home games against Burton and Aldershot particularly stood out. Oliver was a player to count on, much to our own surprise.

Yet still his City future looked bleak. His upturn in form was not yet transferring into consistent displays week in week out, and when the Bantams endured consecutive thumpings at Southend (4-0) and Accrington (3-0) Oliver was singled out by angry away supporters. It was alleged that he reacted badly to personal abuse at Southend by claiming he didn’t care as he wouldn’t be at the club next season. When Jackson put the whole squad up for sale during the summer, Oliver looked a likely leaver.

He was not, it appeared, going to be first choice this season as Guy Branston arrived. Oliver watched the first two games from the sidelines – Lee Bullock picked as centre half for the opening day loss to Aldershot – but was given a chance in game three at Oxford due to injuries. That day at the Kassam Stadium he was outstanding – and he has not missed a match since. Consistency has been found and, far from calling for him to leave the club, we fans now chant his name. At the half way stage of the campaign, Oliver is the runaway candidate to win player of the season and has been nominated for the league’s December player of the month award.

There is an argument to be made that Oliver now has the perfect defensive partner alongside to make him look good. Andrew Davies has undoubted higher level quality, and his return from suspension had coincided with the back four keeping more clean sheets. Just like a year ago under Taylor, Oliver seems to be under instructions to attack the ball when it comes into the penalty area. If he misses an interception or an opposition player gets past him, Davies is then available behind to mop things up. Perhaps it is this approach which underlines why Branston’s City career has not got to plan so far. He is very similar to Oliver in that his strengths are attacking the ball and making quick challenges. Oliver and Branston did not make the greatest combination when they played together earlier in the season, but Oliver and Davies are certainly proving to be a fantastic partnership.

Oliver is unsurprisingly strong in the air, but he’s equally showing that he is useful with the ball on the deck too. Against Shrewsbury he seemed to be a one-man attack repellent, challenging and clearing everything. Surprisingly compared to a year ago, he is also willing to bring the ball out of defence and embark on runs forward. Inevitably this could lead to mistakes if he is tackled in a bad area, but – knowing that Davies is behind him – Oliver seems confident taking slight risks to help launch attacks.

There is no doubting his commitment, or his work ethic.

So what about that Wetherall comparison? Well certainly the two players are slightly different in their style and Wetherall would probably have made for a good partner for Oliver. Of course Oliver is not in the same league ability wise as Wetherall in his prime. But in terms of the gaping hole Wetherall left at City when he retired in 2008, Oliver is a worthy successor in becoming the cornerstone of City’s defence.

For Oliver is only 29-years-old. There is no reason why he cannot continue to play for Bradford City for the next four or five years. He can be the heartbeat of this team, perhaps even the captain. He can follow Wetherall in going down in the club’s history as one of its more highly regarded players. He may not have played much football above League Two level, but there is no reason to believe he wouldn’t be good enough to play a crucial part in a successful promotion and then remain a key member in a League One City side.

2011 was a fantastic year for Oliver. But instead of proving its peak, it might just be remembered as the true beginnings of an outstanding Bradford City career.