It’s been a weird couple of weeks at The Coral Windows Stadium, some occurrences have an explanation and some of them don’t. After last night’s FA Cup 3rd Round replay City are incredibly out of the competition without even conceding a goal, so what next?
As we hit 2016, the continued dominance of the internet, Modern Society has invested into “Complain Culture”, whether it’s a comedian making a joke that one person doesn’t agree with, to something ordered on Amazon that isn’t suitable – modern society LOVES to follow the crowd and complain or raise issue with a problem that sometimes just isn’t even there.
The hypocrisy of it all is that we appear to become locked in a recurring negative mind set and ego’s formed in a world where receiving likes on an Instagram photo is far more appealing and stimulating to the modern citizen than real-life, physical appreciation.
In the current surreal realm of Bradford City on a chilly Tuesday evening, Simon Parker’s stubborn refusal to eat a pie from the press box oven has been extended to 2 home fixtures in succession.
Then during the short break before the start of extra time, Shakira’s World Cup 2010 “hit” single “Wakka Wakka” boomed around the stadium, which ironically wasn’t what Davies and Cole did for their penalties and it certainly wasn’t “time for Africa” whilst the 6,000 City fans froze in December Yorkshire temperatures.
In recent weeks this Bradford City team have been comparable to a beautiful girlfriend who won’t put out, a few nice touches here and there, great to look at but no result at the end of it.
Bury boss Gary Flitcroft told the press after the game that “bad sportsmanship” didn’t play a part at all in the game after Ian Lawlors infuriating time wasting on several occasions from minute 40 – the finger pointing must go to the referee who allowed Lawlor to wear all black like the ref & officials but also to only add 1 and 2 minutes during both halves of injury time – truly embarrassing and I sincerely hope it was noted by the FA assessors.
Let’s not get carried away here, a nervy 1-0 win last week isn’t to be frowned upon, but the manner of the performance tonight, against 10 men, was laboured by the lack of creativity.
It was a game hand crafted for Billy Knott, who last started against Gillingham - a game where none of the starting 11 turned up when the game was gone in the first 15minutes, what has the lad done wrong L? Let’s also not forget the impact of losing the training ground to a natural disaster, it’s clearly had a huge impact and unsettled a stable routine that gave birth to the play off place foundations throughout the back end of 2015.
The bottom line is the team are solid at the back, Rory Mcardle would clear a grandma to make sure she was safe, but the lack of scoring is a huge concern, especially with the amount of strikers and attackers that are available in the squad.
At some immediate point there has to be questions of key players who have drifted like the Titanic and resolutions to those that ensure the start of 2016 is one of success.
What’s happened to the prolific scorer Devante Cole?
Why is Billy Knott not getting a chance?
Is Billy Clarke focusing on pursuing his coffee franchise?
Can we get enough fan funding to sign Bradley Dack?
Unfortunately Parky can’t bring himself on that pitch and slap the goals in, however, he must find the answers to the current drought, if Liddle departs then it’s a must to bring in a proven striker, somebody on the same terms on Jon Stead if needs be, but there also needs to be a balance so that the goals return and we continue to keep it solid at the back without exposing anyone in the defensive line.
In conclusion, without sounding like a drug fuelled hippy who has spent the majority of their life listening to the Levellers and Gregorian Chants in India, a positive mind set will always be rewarded, not just in football but also in everyday life itself.
Modern society is so obsessed with having everything immediately and the expectancy that everything should be perfect all the time, nobody speaks up when everything is going well, Modern Society only speaks up when they want to show disproval – that’s complain culture for you.