Black Cats Find Themselves Trapped Under A Handsome League One Ladder!
The day after Valentine’s Day was a beautiful one for me, peaceful and enjoyable, watching a classic Cup tie at Valley Parade. Late Sunday morning humour was flying around from the “passionate” night before and I rattled out the best joke-lie I had about an ex-girlfriend who’s currently working in Mumbai working for the Indian Netflix, only the football could spoil a great afternoon out at the football!
In previous weeks the “get out of jail” card has quickly been out on the table for a handful of teams visiting the Coral Windows Stadium, the mind-set instantly turns from progression to irritation which can evidentially lead to loss of focus - imagine having a mate who worked at Nando’s and every time he came round to your house you had to ask him if he had “been here before”, let’s all remember that a positive attitude will always lead to a positive outcome.
Without sounding like a Bradfordian Paul McKenna and asking confusing questions like - “How do showers get so dirty when they spend all of their lives in the shower?!” OR trying to deal with trust issues - “I don’t think I can ever fully trust a person who types with one finger!” - it’s quite clear to see that the positive mentality, togetherness and passion shown by the entire team in recent weeks has been the epitome of why good things keep on happening at Bradford City.
The day as a whole had everything, even from the 10:30am arrival at the ground and giving a helping hand with the Tifo display cards in The Kop (my arm still feels like it’s made out of rubber) to the stupid acts of a young lad who thought it was a genius idea to rest a boiling cup of coffee on a slanted ledge separating the Press Box to the lower JCT600 stand.
That cup of coffee (unsurprisingly) slid down the ledge like a Todd Carty on “Dancing On Ice “ (never watched it apart from the hilarious clip - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeA879IROik) and disbursed around the entire parameter of Dom’s Apple MacBook, it killed the entire unit and led to rightful anger, even from myself at the lack of apology and unforgiving shrug of the shoulders – kids these days eh?!
The match was wonderfully odd, not once did I feel worried about a potential threat from Sunderland, even when the added time was shown there wasn’t any worry from the 20,000 Bradford fans, once that second goal went in that was it, Sunderland were mentally already back in the North East eating stotty cake rammed full with bacon and sausage.
As much as my burning adoration for Jon Stead will flicker on, the solidarity of Gary Liddle and Rory McArdle was a wonderful sight, Liddle bossed that central midfield role - it was like watching a ‘Boro born’ Patrick Viera, only Lidds has a slick haircut that a Frenchman would be proud of!
McArdle should change his name to “Rocky McArdle” – he’s an absolute warrior, puts everything on the line for the team and off the pitch I reckon he’s the sort of chap that would cure any embarrassment whilst paying at a Waitrose checkout and lend you the 70p you were short of!
After Monday’s draw, which will see us play Reading in the next round, I’m starting to experience the nervous feeling similar to seeing an old school teacher in the Post Office or the uneasy feeling when you see the Sky remote in the kitchen!
A week of 3 games could be heavy on the legs but with the bench as strong as it is, we have players who can step in and do a job!
The game Vs. Reading will be played on Saturday 7th March at 12:45pm and will be shown live on BT Sport, which will be FREE to all Sky subscribers that weekend - but you'll be at the stadium won't you?!