Two Wins & Two Draws, Too Early To Celebrate?

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Updated: April 9, 2012

Thanks to a great win over Southend (for the second time this season) we have come out of the Easer Holiday period pretty much safe. Two wins and two draws from either Hereford United or Macclesfield in the final four matches is what it will take to send Bradford City down (or three wins which is even less likely). All of this and City have to lose all four of the remaining fixtures. This of course based on the fact that we have a far superior goal difference.

Yes we are currently 4th from bottom, and to be honest finishing in an awful position such as this is not such a bad thing with a club that needs a shake up big time. All that really matters is that we will not finish in the bottom two, and third or fourth from bottom should send out a loud and clear message that things need to change and that for us, the only way is now up. But the answer is not to sack the manager, it is actually to give the manager a chance to do things his way and build a team of his own. Sacking managers clearly has not worked, so let’s try giving one some time. Stuart McCall seems to have come good now for those who still want to argue that McCall was given plenty of time.

Not over yet for Bradford City?

The season is not quite over, but it is as good as over. And after the antics of the home match against Crawley, we might hear what the futures are of Andrew Davies (well, I cannot imagine him staying next season anyway) but more importantly that of Jonny Mac and Luke Oliver.

The planning for the 2012/13 can begin, unless something beyond the imagination is about to happen. It might be fast approaching the 100 year anniversary of the sinking of Titanic, but I cannot seriously now foresee any similar fate for our not so mighty Bantams.

Easter Monday ended in defeat, but the two teams that really mattered did not make any real ground on us. With an excellent three points at home to Southend, there again are positive signs of progress and our home form has been very reassuring.

Moving Forward

Phil Parkinson will have his first full season ahead of him, without interference from people that had no business at Bradford City Football Club in the capacity they were in, and it is no coincidence that since the departure of certain people from the club, things have started to get better. Even if that improvement is not as in your face as many supporters would like it to be.

The thing is, had things stayed the same at the club as they were at the start of November, we would probably be in a straight dog fight with little hope of survival in the football league. Our level of improvement has seen us safe (almost) but fourth from bottom of the league. That is the level of the work Phil Parkinson has had to deal with since arriving at Valley Parade. Yes, as with any manager he will be making mistakes along the way, but it is just about job done for the 2011/12 season.

It has been a season to forget for many reasons, and even if we had hired Sir Alex Ferguson we would not have been any better off. But if the powers that be have learned anything from this season, it might mean we can put this sorry saga of the last decade behind us and start now moving up the table and the leagues.

Lowest Finish In Years For Bradford City

If I am honest I do think finishing just above the dreaded relegation line will do us a world of good in terms of a reality check. All those people who were still saying City were underachieving when we were near the bottom of the table for most of 2011 must realise that the league table does not lie, and it has not been lying for a whole year. It had not lied when we got promoted to the Premier League, it did not lie when we stayed up the following season and it did not lie when we went down. So there is no reason to disbelieve the league table now, as in football it is clearly the best indicator of how good the football team you support is. Yes, that bad.

It is also worth remembering that it looks odds on that those teams in the bottom two cannot mathematically gain the points that would have been required to stay up last season. And in order for us to do the same we need at least a win and two draws from our next 4 games. So let’s thank our lucky stars that we had our worse season in many years, this season rather than last season.

I know I am celebrating our survival a little prematurely, there is not much really to celebrate. Because if we did need a win and two draws to stay up, how confident would you be when you consider one of those matches is against Swindon Town.

Oh, and do not blame me if something does go completely tits up and we go down. But I really do not think it will. I know it has been a case of “what can go wrong, will go wrong” in recent years, but for us to go down it really would take something special to go wrong.

Oh, hang on, the F.A. could still deduct us points for that brawl. They wouldn’t though would they?