Ricky Ravenhill Seeks Out Loan Move

Ricky Ravenhill prepares to leave the club

   Sheffield United were visiting Valley Parade, and the Bantams were 2-0 up. We were all incredulous. How had City, who were supposed to be tentatively calibrating their way around their new division and playing the part of the terrified new boys, managed to slot two past a team who had been tipped for promotion, a play off place at the very least? We’d all seen much, much stranger the season before, but we were still pinching ourselves. This was more than we’d expected an hour or so earlier.

   “Ricky Ravenhill’s coming on,” my uncle said, pointing over to the touchline. “He’d best not get booked.”

   “There are two minutes left!” I laughed. “Even for Ravenhill, that’s a stretch.”

   But, oddly enough, it wasn’t. Extra time ticked in, and Ravenhill found his name scribbled in the book for ‘dissent’. Which was sort of ironic, given how the midfielder’s playing style divided opinion during his tenure with the club.

   To some, he was exactly what was needed to match the combative, direct style of the majority of League Two outfits: tough tackling with dogged determination and fierce defensive play. But to others, he’s reckless and a bull in a china shop; though there’s always intelligence embedded in those spurts of manic play.

   But I liked him. And why not? He got stuck in. He won tackles. He lead from the front during the relegation battle of two years ago, and helped to secure survival at a time when things were looking increasingly, increasingly bleak (I blame Brawl-ey Town, among other things).  He was a symbol of Parkinson’s intent as manager, of the kind of players the City supremo wanted to bring in: passionate, hardworking footballers who wouldn’t be bullied off the ball.

   Ravenhill became the captain, but an injury sustained during pre-season banished him to the sidelines. Jones slid in, Doyle hopped aboard and the rest was history.

   Questions were raised about his role in the team. Why did we need him? What was the point of him? What did he bring to the club that others didn’t? Then, the squad rotation policy was implemented. Doyle ran out of steam, Ravenhill stepped up to the plate and that was it – our misconceptions about him were assuaged. The club captain was suddenly the most important man in the midfield, and Doyle was the one under fire. Football fans are, by nature, a very fickle bunch (me included, and I’m also great at sitting on the fence and getting Ravenhill mixed up with Stephen Darby from a distance, which is utterly disgraceful because the latter’s my joint-favourite player), and no sooner had we deemed Ravenhill surplus to requirements, he was the catalyst of our promotion charge and helping the Bantams rack up the points that were so desperately needed in the closely-fought play off chase.

   Doyle combined sleek passing ability with composure and calmness, while Jones offered unrelenting energy and the rallying cry when the team was under the cosh. Ravenhill was an amalgamation of the two, with a bit more thrown in besides: his merciless tackles saw him placed just in front of the back four, allowing Gary Jones to surge upwards and be more creative. He added something different to the fold, but Doyle’s coolness won out after Ravenhill picked up a knock during a midweek clash.

   Again, Ricky was stuck on the bench, a starting berth proving frustratingly elusive. He waited behind the first-choice midfield pairing of Jones and Doyle, and then Kennedy’s arrival saw him slip further down the pecking order.  He was second, third, fourth fiddle by the time the campaign opened at Ashton Gate, biding his time for a chance in one of the most competitive areas of City’s tightly-knit squad.

   Parkinson strived for a consistency within his starting eleven, with Mark Yeates and Kyel Reid the only ones to really challenge his ethos other than where injuries and international call-ups had forced him to make changes. Ravenhill bobbed along compliantly, never begrudging those who had started ahead of him – which is credit to his professionalism and maturity.

   And so, too, is his request for a loan move. At 32, the curtain will fall on his playing days in just a matter of years. Time is of the essence as far as his sporting career’s concerned. Unlike Darby, Wells and Hanson, he’s not got the luxury of an impending peak, of another ten years of first team football. Every game counts.

   Perhaps it’s no surprise he’s asked to move on, and there’s no doubt in my mind that there’ll be teams clamouring for his signature; he’ll be a surefire starter at many League Two, perhaps even League One, teams, because look at what he’s offering them: experience, energy and an attitude that most Premier League superstars could take note of when they’re flaring up on a Saturday afternoon. And maybe there’s still a place for him in this City team. Just maybe. If – perish the thought - Doyle or Jones pick up injuries and are out for months, or if Kennedy fails to impress, Ravenhill would have to be recalled, thrust into the centre of the park to slip on the captain’s armband for one last time. He might return and win a slot in the line-up, handing the ‘reserve midfielder’ hat to the players to whom he’d lost his place a year ago. Or he might leave for pastures new in January and sign permanently for another side where, it can be assured, his services would make a massive impact.

   But whatever happens, Ravenhill can rest easy in the knowledge that he was one in the band of brothers who propelled the mighty Bantams out of the dingy, gloomy, hopeless bottom tier, stopping the rot and reversing a slide that had been in full motion for over 10 unremarkable years. Walking out at Wembley. Holding that trophy aloft. And above all, sticking with the club when it would have been so easy to turn around and wash your hands of claret and amber.

   And having that on your C.V. will make any club sit up and take notice.

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Bantams Blogger Meets... Peter Jackson

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Bantams Blogger meets former Bradford City player and manager PETER JACKSON to find out about his career highlights, the rise of Nahki Wells and his ill-fated spell in the Valley Parade hot seat.

   It’s a Saturday morning in Waterstones, and a trickle of City fans line up at a table in the doorway. Sat next to a stack of books alongside his wife, Alison, is former Bantams boss Peter Jackson, scribbling his signature as he poses for pictures and talks enthusiastically to supporters.

   In his autobiography, Living With Jacko, Peter and Alison talk emotionally and candidly about Peter’s battle with throat cancer, his football career and that fateful day in 1985. It’s a beautiful read, but not one that’s failed to attract controversy: Mark Lawn told the Telegraph And Argus last week that the board “don’t agree with what he has said in certain parts of it”.

   “[It’s about] mostly what’s happened in my life and my wife’s life as well, really,” Peter Jackson says. “It’s not a typical football book but it’s the truth about my career, my problems with throat cancer and basically my life in general.”

   Jackson played over 300 games for the club and returned to manage the side at the end of the 2010/11 season, eventually keeping the Bantams up with just one game to go. Though his stint in charge was ultimately doomed and he resigned after just four league games the following year, Peter describes his time at the helm – which saw the arrival of Bantams hotshot Nahki Wells - as his ‘dream job’.

   “[It was] brilliant. I loved it. I absolutely loved managing the club,” he begins. “To go down to Apperly Bridge, where it all started when I was a kid, as manager was really special for me and I’m just sad it didn’t work out.”

   ‘Work out’ being an underestimation. The start of Jackson’s tenure was blighted by uncertainty, with fans worried the team would slide out of the Football League and be forced to leave Valley Parade in the process. But for Peter, originally drafted in as interim manager, his priority was simple.

   “Just to keep the club up,” he says. “Just to keep the club up, simple as that. It was in freefall. There was no spirit within the club, there was no passion or pride - at least I gave that to the club, if nothing else. I brought some smiles back to people’s faces but my main aim solely was just to keep the club in the Football League.”

   Jackson secured survival at Hereford on the penultimate day of the campaign. The achievement saw him appointed permanently and he began recruiting for the new season, with his sights set on that elusive promotion to the third tier that had so far escaped all his predecessors. And Peter thinks the team he assembled could have cracked it.

   “Yeah, I believe so,” Jackson explains. “You only have to look at that couple of games before I left. For the Leeds game, where we should have beat Leeds United that night and they were a Championship side, we gave a really good account of ourselves, and with the emergence of Nahki Wells, a player I signed, I firmly believe that we’d have been up there.

  “Nahki came through Mark Ellis and Dave Baldwin. Different people had recommended this player and he’d been released by Greg Abbot at Carlisle. We brought him down, had a look at him and I signed him. He wasn’t on massive money so he was worth the risk because he had a lot of pace and he can destroy teams with his pace alone. But he’s matured now and he’s a really good finisher who’ll go for millions of pounds.”

   Just before his departure, Jackson’s side had taken just one point from a possible twelve and lost to Dagenham the week prior. Did he feel a pressure?

   “No, not really,” he says. “It was early stages in the season but there were things going on around me that shouldn’t have been happening at a football club. That was my reason for leaving and everything in the book is true.”

   Where did it go wrong?

   “Different people trying to do different things really – probably the emergence of Archie Christie,” Jackson sighs.

   It’s these comments, about then-head of development and chief scout, Archie Christie, that have led to City cancelling the book signing originally planned in the club shop. In the book, Peter writes, “Day by day, week by week, I felt my authority was being undermined… and not only by Christie… Mark [Lawn] also used to come down to the training ground while Colin [Cooper] and I were taking training sessions, something none of my previous chairmen had done.”

   In spite of this, Jackson doesn’t regret coming back.

   “No, not at all,” he says.  I loved it. I really, really did enjoy it. Being able to keep the club up, which I did, build for a new season… But, as I say, the arrival of Archie Christie killed it all.”

   Of a career encompassing the honour of being made the Bantams’ youngest ever captain, 60 games at Newcastle and 155 appearances for Huddersfield Town, as well as three promotions, what stand out as the highlights?

   “Winning, obviously, the Championship with City,” he begins, “winning Newcastle United’s Player of the Year and my promotion with Huddersfield Town at Cardiff many years ago.”

   And at Bradford City?

   “As a player, lifting the trophy and meeting so many incredible people - the spirit we had at Bradford City after the fire. I started there as a kid and to think I’m stood now, in the centre of Bradford, Mario’s, where I used to have my hair cut, 100 yards away… It’s quite emotional to think there’s a book on Peter Jackson in Bradford, sold in Bradford bookshops, so that’s quite pleasing. And the biggest low was obviously the Bradford City fire and another one is my sad departure of what I call my dream job.

   “The fire was a really awful time, as you can see in the book. The emotion was really high and, as I say, it was a very sad day for everybody connected.”

   Jackson’s current pursuit takes him far away from the pitch - but it’s one that, he says in his book, comes with even more pressure than managing a football club.

   “We’ve got a home care company,” he explains. “We provide carers to go to people’s homes and we employ over 90 people, so it’s quite a big business we’ve got.”

   And Jackson, who went to the cup final and was ‘even waving a flag’, says it’s great that City are finally moving upwards after six years of rotting away in the doldrums.

   “[It’s] good, excellent, really good,” he enthuses. “They’ve brought in good players, they’re doing well and they need to get on a roll. I’ve always said at one time, with the turnover of managers, someone will eventually get it right, and Parkinson’s getting it right.”

Living With Jacko is out now and available to buy here.

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Party Like It's '99

As the Class of ’99 reunion game gets fans remembering years past, I wonder where the next fourteen years will take us 

   It’s scary to think about where you’ll be in the next 14 years. It’s scary to think of how you’ll be and who you'll be, and of what major milestones will have whizzed by. It’s scary to think of dreams: whether they’ll have been broken or achieved, or remained unfulfilled and locked away in some sacred corner of your heart, never to be attempted for fear of failure. It’s scary to think of where Bradford City will be.

   Surely, no one there on that day in 1999, when the Bantams beat Wolves to secure promotion to the Premier League, could have predicted the dramatic downward spiral that followed. Those days were ones of optimism, promise and chasing the dream. Not of, well, the other stuff. Especially not of the other stuff.
  Time has slipped all too quickly by since those heady days of Molineux, promotions, Premiership football and relegation survival, since the days when the club had the world at its feet. Then, there was the fall back down again: the administrations, the heartbreak and the hurt. Life in League Two became a struggle, the club still bearing the scars of the foray into the top flight. Bradford City, once standing toe to toe with Manchester United, were a symbol of shattered dreams.
  The years in the bottom division were generally unremarkable and forgettable. The first two seasons were ace, of course: Stuart was there, and there was an odd novelty to being amongst the likes of Barnet and Accrington Stanley. But that all ended. Taylor came in. You know the story. Trips to Valley Parade became a tale of ‘Well, there are 90 minutes of my life I’ll never get back’.
  Then, Parkinson entered. He gave us hope. He gave us tactics, strategies and form. He gave us those characters: Hines, the doomed West Ham winger whose tenure with the Hammers was blighted by injury; Stephen Darby, the Liverpool graduate who had been released by the Premership giants; Gary Jones, the midfield powerhouse who never stopped running and the one man embodiment of what this club is now all about. James Meredith, Rory McArdle, Garry Thompson, Alan Connell, Kyel Reid. He handed them a stay of execution. They took it. The rest, as they say, is history.
   For the first time in a long time, we cared about the team. They were more than a quick ticket out the division, cannon fodder to plug the gaps, more, even, than footballers. They became brothers, standing arm in arm, hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, on the hallowed Wembley turf, harbouring our hopes, our dreams, our fears. Everything we are, everything we have, everything we’ve ever wanted to be. There. In them.
   Superhumans. Superheroes.
   That, I am told, is how it’s meant to be. The class of ‘99 are just as revered, just as loved, just as appreciated, as the 2012/13 boys. They trigger the same offset of emotions as Matt Duke and Will Atkinson. James Hanson and Nahki Wells hold their own in the same echelon as Stuart McCall’s band of merry men.
   And, fourteen years from now, will there be another charity match? Most of the players will have finished their careers by then. Wells’ time as a footballer will be coming to an end. McHugh’s will also be winding down.
   It’s hard to picture the scene. A balding Matt Duke, perhaps, in between the sticks, ducking and diving and tipping shots over the bar, and clambering to his feet to deny some daring challenger from the penalty spot? A greying Alan Connell? Gary Jones, though approaching half a century, will still, no doubt, be playing with the youthful exuberance of an 18 year old. A Google search tells me the years have been reasonably kind to most of the 1999 squad, especially McCall, Jacobs and Beagrie. The pressure’s now on our lot to make sure they age just as well.
   I’ll probably be there on such a date, if ever there was one, having squeezed into my hooped shirt one last time and sent some hardy soul up into our attic to retrieve my Villa and City half-and-half scarf. Waving one of those Wembley flags. Recalling those days.
   And there’ll be a time when I’m grey and old, sitting on some elaborate, gold-encrusted throne as I count my millions and field calls from agents and A-Listers (Pfft! I wish!), and I’ll stop and look back on that season. Look back on the Will Atkinson flick-on and Garry Thompson volley. Look back on Rory McArdle swooping in to double City’s lead in the play off final. Look back on Gary Jones climbing the Wembley stairs, rubbing his hands together with glee and jubilantly holding the trophy aloft as the pyrotechnics glittered and sparkled and the party got into full flow. Dreaming, with a glint in my eye, of a bygone era. Dreaming of Nahki, of Meredith, of Darby, of Duke. Dreaming of Wembley. Dreaming of promotion. Dreaming of Bradford City.
   And it still won’t quite seem real.

 

 

Friends of BCFC - Match Reports

  

Friends of BCFC

   Just a quick post to let you know that I'm writing match reports from every home league game for Friends of BCFC, a supporters' group of nearly 1,000 members seeking to raise funds for the club. I'll tweet the links to each of these reports as soon as they go live and you'll also be able to find them by checking the 'Other Work' section of my blog, where they'll be archived along with other pieces I've had published elsewhere.
   You can view the latest match report (Bradford City 4-0 Brentford) by clicking here.

Bradford City 4-0 Carlisle United

Bantams prove they can cut it in League One as Mark Yeates earns his Bradford City stripes.



Nahki Wells was among the goalscorers during today's rout;



   To anyone who still somehow thought it wise to write off Bradford City, today was a wake-up call they won’t be forgetting in a while.

   But even I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting a performance that close to perfection. I mean, aren’t newly promoted teams supposed to… struggle? Aren’t they supposed to wait a few weeks before registering a win? Aren’t they supposed to at least look as though they were a division below everyone else last season, and not play with the class and control demonstrated by the Bantams today?

   But Parkinson’s men don’t like to go by the script. Instead, it was Carlisle, a team who had finished 17^th in League One the previous year and 14 places ahead of the Bantams on the league ladder, who looked like the out-of-their-depth, bumbling new boys experiencing their first season in the third division after a prolonged exile.

   We might be the newly promoted team, but don’t expect us to play by the book.

   That was a fine initiation into League One. A total statement of intent. Us proving to the doubters that we are worthy of a place in this division. Because, for all that their credentials as a third tier side the previous year should have served them well, Carlisle United crumbled and were like dazzled rabbits in headlights. City were clinical, rampant and ready to cause an upset.

   Bradford looked like a force to be reckoned with right from the off. Cool passing play up the flanks paved the way for efforts from Thompson, Wells and Hanson, and the Bantams were using the ball well.

   It was Yeates, who had been a lively presence down the left side, who started off the scoring. The impressive Irishman cut inside, took a touch and hit a powerful effort from just in front of the halfway line, which rocketed cleanly into the top corner, and there was nothing the Carlisle keeper could do; the ball span far beyond his reach. The Valley Parade faithful were sent into raptures and the chanting intensified. What a goal that was! What a signing he is! Ole, ole, ole, Mark Yeates!

   The dominance continued and it took just five minutes for the hosts to double their lead. Nahki Wells latched onto a defensive header from United’s Paul Thirwell to flick home his third in as many games. For the Bermudan, it was a chance to show Carlisle exactly why they should have been keener for his signature all those years ago - a sweet revenge for Nahki.

   City pressed on, Doyle the victim of a crunching Liam Noble tackle and subsequently winning a free kick. Yeates delivered a teasing cross but Noble managed the clearance.

   A minute later, Carlisle’s Danny Livesey slipped and lost Hanson, who sprinted through and clipped in from 15 yards to all but ascertain the result.

   Jones fired wide and Thompson’s effort forced a save from Carlisle shotstopper Mark Gillespie, while a Hanson header also flew wide. The Bantams continued to pile on the pressure. It was 3-0, but that didn’t matter. They didn’t ease off the Cumbrian side for a minute.

   The second half presented a more even game, but Carlisle, though they got forward on occasions, never looked menacing. Nahki Wells’ shot was blocked by Livesey, and Thompson thought he’d made it four after volleying a rebound wide and behind the goal.

   With half an hour to go, Wells broke free on the right wing and surged forward, playing the ball square to Gary Jones. And how fitting it was that our Captain Fantastic, whose energy and enthusiasm never cease or falter, got the final goal of the game to wrap up proceedings, celebrating with a knee slide to the main stand before giving his trademark fist-pump to the Kop. “Easy! Easy!” chanted the City fans, and, in all fairness, it almost was too easy: Carlisle didn’t show up.

   Let’s not get carried away. It’s early days. We’ve only played two league games and we still have scores of matches ahead of us, against some of the division’s toughest opposition. But, after today, one could be forgiven for at least daring to dream what other glories await in this division.

City: McLaughlin, Darby, Meredith, Davies, McArdle, Thompson (replaced by De Vita on 65 minutes), Yeates (replaced by Reid on 70 minutes), Jones, Doyle, Hanson, Wells (replaced by Connell on 83 minutes). SUBS NOT USED: Ripley, Taylor, McHugh, Ravenhill.  

Bantams Blogger’s Top Three:

1^st – Mark Yeates: Controlled, creative and clean on the wings, and a bona fide contender for Goal of The Season under his belt. Superb, stylish display to mark his home debut.

2^nd – Nahki Wells: The Bermudan sustained his goalscoring prowess with a pristine finish from an awkward angle. Constantly looked threatening and linked-up well with midfield.

3^rd – Gary Jones / Nathan Doyle – Usual workrate from Captain Fantastic and a solid performance from Doyle. Both players demonstrated the eye to pick out that pivotal pass and dominated the centre of the park.

And So It Begins...

As the Bantams prepare themselves for their first season in League One for over half a decade, I ready myself for one giant leap into the unknown.

 

Can we expect another trip to Wembley this season?

   This Saturday, the wait is over. This Saturday, it all begins again. This Saturday, another season of passion, euphoria, elation, anger, despair, happiness, pride, pain and heartbreak commences with the opening game against Bristol City at Ashton Gate. This Saturday, Parkinson’s men get their first taste of life in League One.

   And I know how they feel, especially the ones who have never set foot in the third tier before. Because I’m in a similar boat: I’ve never seen City play outside of League Two. 

   As I mentioned in The Width Of A Post’s season preview earlier this week, League One is uncharted territory, and I have no idea what to expect. Any predictions I make are based on my knowledge of all the newly-promoted teams I’ve seen over the years: the ones who have had a dire campaign and just hung on in there by the skin of their teeth; the ones who have been mercilessly exposed as simply not strong enough for the division and who have plummeted straight back down again; the ones who have emerged as strong sides and have remained in the league for years to come; the ones who have somehow sailed on to secure back-to-back promotions.

   Which all leaves me wondering what will happen to us this season. Will we become the easy scalp, the club that others point at and jeer at and view as a nailed-on three points, as probably was the case during part of the League Two stint? Or will we tear every team to shreds and leave Coventry City cowering in a corner? Will every game be closely fought, or will we endure multiple throwbacks to cup final day, when a ruthless Swansea team showed their superiority? Will we go up again, or is talk of another promotion ill founded? Oh, we’re top of the table now – is that a good omen? Will we be able to sustain our current pole position, or will we languish at the bottom of the table? We’ve seen these players compete with Premier League teams before – they’re obviously ready for this level. But to produce that quality over 46 games? Can we do that?

   I look at our squad and see a competitive, experienced, sharp group of lads who share such a tight bond. I look at the wise Parkinson, who dragged this club off its knees and reenergized the Bantams. I look at the backroom staff, Nick Allamby and his acclaimed fitness programme, and I see the most professional and organised set up I’ve ever known at City. My knee-jerk reaction to the question, “Can we be successful in League One?” is to say, “Yes,” because look around – this is our best chance yet to keep moving on up to where we feel we ought to be. 

   For me, it’s just a case of maintaining this momentum and making sure that the progression from that meagre, feeble League Two side we cringed at under Peter Taylor, to a quality squad that enjoy great success, is built upon. 

   It’s not going to be easy. We are stepping up into a league with a lot of financial muscle, and there are ten or eleven clubs – including Sheffield United, Wolves and Bristol City - who all have their sights firmly fixed on promotion. It’s a tight division.

   But there’s no reason why we can’t compete with the other 23 teams there. I bet Brentford don’t have a Gary Jones, a Nathan Doyle, an Andrew Davies or a Nahki Wells.

   So, what can we expect? That remains to be seen, but, whatever happens, we know these lads won’t be going out on a tentative whimper.