Two winnable games in hand

[scawsby steve]

I think that most people actually said that they would be delighted with mid table, like I did for example.
The concerns were raised when we looked like free falling again and DF kept tinkering with the team.
It can’t be denied that our early season form and results were not great.

Like other posters who voiced concerns I have since praised DF for turning things around.

Yes, the first 8 games were awful in terms of results and (mostly) performances.

Since then, we’ve had 30 games at a form that would comfortably see you in the top 10 mostvseasons. Sometimes a bit lower. Sometimes a bit higher. And we’ve got (on paper) a relatively easy last 8 games, so we ought to improve on that. And all of that has been achieved whilst we’ve had yet another season with several key players missing great chunks of the season through injury.

A couple of decent signings and a sprinkling of luck with injuries and we’ll be play-off contenders next season.

You're right about those first 8 games, Billy; the only thing I couldn't understand was that amongst that pile of sh*te was the Blackburn game, which produced probably the best result and performance of the season. I can remember sitting there with the grandson feeling ecstatic about the season to come. How disappointed I was over the next few weeks, but, as you said, we've managed to gradually pull it around over the last few months.

[dickos1]

I agree to an extent Dickos but as an owner or backer I might be worried if I had given a manager a very good budget and after a quarter of the season we were nowhere near where expected.
Bradford City early bird season ticket prices end tomorrow. They are currently 3,000 down on this time last year. That is because the new manager is saying exactly what the old manager said, the squad isn't good enough, plus reports that they aren't willing to pay any player more than £1,500 a week. These fans are obviously not even waiting until October.
An adult ticket for a home game will probably be £25. How many lapsed season ticket holders would pay that every week? Not too many I would guess.
Fans have expectations and if a manager doesn't deliver early doors then they might not want to pay for dissapointment. I went year in year out from 1958 but as ticket and petrol prices go up I find it harder to attend.

I agree but we’ve never been nowhere near midtable his season

[Chris Black come back]

Keep bringing it back up?
Gaz mentioned it,

He had managed to do so numerous times over the years for us and Peterborough. But people were saying he’s never ever stopped a poor run. Just like he’s never ever managed to gain more than 1ppg.

We’re looking like finishing midtable which most were stating they’d be delighted with yet throughout the season have done little more than complain about being midtable

“Never ever”?

[BillyStubbsTears]

I think that most people actually said that they would be delighted with mid table, like I did for example.
The concerns were raised when we looked like free falling again and DF kept tinkering with the team.
It can’t be denied that our early season form and results were not great.

Like other posters who voiced concerns I have since praised DF for turning things around.

Yes, the first 8 games were awful in terms of results and (mostly) performances.

Since then, we’ve had 30 games at a form that would comfortably see you in the top 10 mostvseasons. Sometimes a bit lower. Sometimes a bit higher. And we’ve got (on paper) a relatively easy last 8 games, so we ought to improve on that. And all of that has been achieved whilst we’ve had yet another season with several key players missing great chunks of the season through injury.

A couple of decent signings and a sprinkling of luck with injuries and we’ll be play-off contenders next season.

You're right about those first 8 games, Billy; the only thing I couldn't understand was that amongst that pile of sh*te was the Blackburn game, which produced probably the best result and performance of the season. I can remember sitting there with the grandson feeling ecstatic about the season to come. How disappointed I was over the next few weeks, but, as you said, we've managed to gradually pull it around over the last few months.

Scawsby.
It frequently happens after a promotion. You have some excellent performances then the weekly drudge finds the weaknesses before you find your feet.

03/04 we had that day at Orient then we looked like dross for 6 weeks before the promotion form clicked.

08/09 we beat Derby and Coventry then had 4 months where we couldn’t buy a result. Then it clicked and we were nigh on the best side in the Championship for 3 months.

This season hasn’t been quite so extreme but we found our feet and we’ve been a top 10 side since September. Even when things haven’t been great results-wise, we’ve rarely been totally outplayed. It just needed a bit of luck and a bit of steel. And we’ve had that for a while now. The run of results in Jan/Feb when we didn’t win many but we matched most of the promotion contenders showed that we’ve got a decent squad.

Course, we’ll now lose the last 8 on the bounce and go down.

[The Red Baron]

Since about Christmas time I've noticed a big improvement in terms of resilience. It hasn't always translated into results but maybe in these last few games it does and we can climb the table.

The only really rank performance I can recall since Christmas was Walsall away.