Phil Parkinson Wins League 2 Manager Of The Month

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Updated: January 7, 2012

Phil Parkinson has won the N-Power League 2 Manager of the Month Award for December (or should that be January, who cares!) But it is yet more bad news for those City fans who had called the Bradford City manager “Phil Plonkinson” who will surely find something to complain about on the back of our defeat at the hands of Rotherham United, and probably will not be satisfied with anything other than a top three finish this season.

So the big question is, does this still make Phil Parkinson a plonker? Well Parky who is appearing at a Fans Forum through Bantamstrek on January 10th has quietly gone about his business, and now there is no interferance from glorified scouts with far too much responsibility, seems to be pushing Bradford City in the right direction. Some of us are prepared to give him a fair chance and do not think he is a plonker and realise that football in real life is a little more complicated than it is for the average person imagines in the ever growing world of expert fans with expert knowledge from their ability to turn City around on Fifa or Football Manager.

According to the official website it is the first time a Bradford City manager has won Manager of the Month since Colin Todd. Has it really been so long since a City manager has picked up such an award? Wow time does fly.

Bradford City not only hit a great patch of form, but the teams we played suggest that we are capable of matching almost anybody in League 2. Why? Because clueless Plonkinson has taken time (not much mind) to steady the ship and has been allowed to get on with his job without the interferance of a glorified scout. For those people who called Phil Parkinson “Plonkinson” and thought the club would collapse when Mark Lawn and co finally saw sense and allowed Archie Christie to leave, unsurprisingly the opposite seems to be happening.

You see it is not what has happened at the club that matters, it is what is happening now that matters. Yes it would have been interesting to see what would have happened had Peter Jackson been afforded the same opportunity to manage the club without a glorified scout brining in players that would struggle to dazzle supporters of Blue Square Bet North & South clubs. But we have to move on and trust the manager and let him get on with his job. After all, have any of us had Bradford City or any other football club banging on our door offering us jobs because we have done such a great job last season on Football Manager 11? No.

Regardless of all the panic that has gone before, the baffling events of 2011 off the pitch and the abject failure that has naturally followed on it, certain people are finally cottoning on and have (even if not in words, but instead in actions) admitted they have made errors of judgement and, rather than compound an error, have moved to correct them.

It is vital we give Parky time, a couple of seasons at least and that not only is the team managed, but supporters and the boards expectations are managed properly. So Phil Parkinson ”on paper” is a little overrated. But he is quietly going about his business and the results are starting to follow. We need now to build on this, and we hope he brings in a few more new faces in January. We might not be make the dreams come true for the rose tinted glasses brigade are concerned, but next season we could certainly be contenders. But as long as we improve season on season, we are in a much better position than we have been in a long time and might be building something for years to come that could see us back in the Championship in the not too distant future.

Yes it is true there are three automatic promotion spots up for grabs and a further four play-off places to target. It is not beyond us to get there by any stretch of the imagination, but the form we hit in December needs to be the rule now rather than the exception to make it. It is a big ask considering where we were no long ago, and we need stability. So of course to be in amongst the top 10 would be ideal for us, but all I say is do not be too quick to point the finger and blame the manager if we are nowhere near.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and all that.

Congratulations Phil Parkinson on the Manager of the Month Award, hopefully there will be more to come. What does this tell us about the job Phil Parkinson is doing? Well, so far so good. The future is offering glimmers of hope for us.