Season Preview: Bradford City

I talk to a Bradford City fan, a club that have sold over 11000 season tickets for the forthcoming season. But what do they expect?

Tell us a bit about your season last season firstly. Would you say it was a success or failure? Did you achieve anything throughout the season, and were the fans happy with the end result?

Failure, No and No. Last season up until about October we were flying pretty high in League 1 with realistic hopes of Promotion. But then it all fell apart from there on in, we lost to our local rivals (Huddersfield) and confidence dropped dramatically after that, losing or drawing game after game. We lost our two most productive players in the Transfer window (Dean Windass and Jermaine Johnson), sacked Colin Todd in February with David Wetherall taking over the reins as Caretaker and just gave up without really giving any sort of fight.

Obviously every close season sees players leave. Who left your club and were you happy with the decision to let those players go by your boss?

Err…Well, after last season, we were left with about 8 Senior players to start this Pre-season with. But to be honest, I don’t think any City fans were that bothered about any of the players that left.

Apart from maybe Steven Schumacher and possibly Marc Bridge-Wilkinson who were reasonable midfielders in there own way. But, as I said, nobody’s that bothered and we needed a fresh start anyway.

So obviously, with players going out, some have got to come in. Who has come in for you, and do you expect them to do well? Tell us a bit about these lads?

I don’t know a right lot about our new signings really…Most are pretty young and are hungry for 1st team football or are a bit older and have something to prove, IE- Striker, Barry Conlon, who by some accounts wasn’t very good when he played for Darlo.

But the one who probably stands out the most is Striker, Peter Thorne who we signed from Norwich City. I`ve heard nothing but good reports about him from fans of whoever he’s played for, and for him to drop two divisions (and probably drop wages too) tells me he’s hungry for football..

Who are going to be your star players this season then? Who`s going to get the goals, and who`s going to stop them?

We have Jamaican, Donovan Ricketts in goal. He didn’t have the best of times last season, but he is a good shot stopper and hopefully he can recover from last season and get back his confidence, which he seemed to have lost.

On the wing, we have another Jamaican, Omar Daley. He arrived last transfer window under a lot of expectation, but failed to deliver anything like what was hyped up about him (earning him the nickname- Slowmar Daley), but there was a few moments of good football from him, and again, if he can build his confidence up, I’m sure we have a good player on our hands.Watch out for his shooting and crossing! Wicked!

Also, as from question above. I am expecting good things from striker, Peter Thorne. Hopefully he can start knocking in the goals for us.

Season ticket sales help the club at the beginning of the season to stabilise the place and give it a bit of extra income. How many season tickets have your club shifted these season so far, and what do you expect the average attendance to be throughout the season?

As of Today (Tuesday July 31st)..We have sold 11546 season tickets @ £138 for adults and £69 for juniors. Which I’m sure most will agree, is pretty good numbers for League 2. Even at such low prices.

So probably, we are looking at average crowds of around 13k+.

Tell us a bit about your gaffer and his backroom staff. Do the fans like the gaffer, or can you see him being out of a job after a run of bad results?

We have a new manager…STUART McCALL.

Do the fans Like the Gaffer??? We Love him. Stuart McCall and his assistant Wayne Jacobs were legends as players at Bradford City, and the fact that they hold such legendary status, they will probably be able to have the longest honeymoon period EVER.

This question is split into two. What do you BELIEVE your club can achieve this season, and what do you HOPE your club can achieve this season?

To be honest, I don’t know what to believe. We have an unproven manager in Stuart McCall, most people think he will make a good manager. But whether or not our squad is good enough remains to be seen.

My hopes for next season is Automatic Promotion. That`s what 99% of Bradford City fans will tell ya!

Finally, whom do you expect to win the division, who do you think will go up with them and who do you think will be relegated?

Apart from ourselves.

I fully expect Peterborough to be up there, for obvious reasons MK dons, I would expect to be up there too, I think Paul Ince will make a top Manager. And without being a bit big-headed Bradford City too.

And then the usual suspects fighting it out for the Play-offs. Lincoln, Stockport, Shrewsbury, Rochdale. With possibly Rotherham and Chesterfield thrown in too.

To be honest, I don’t know a right lot about teams in this league…But for relegation I’ll go for Chester, Macclesfield and maybe Dagenham thrown in too. For no other reason than that what it seems everyone else is predicting.