It's Not You; It's Me

The Nahki Wells story in break-up clichés

Nahki Wells has now left the club

   The saga is finally over. After weeks of speculation, weeks of new names being added to a string of possible suitors and weeks of trying to construe the signs to plot his next move, Nahki Wells married Huddersfield Town. It’s galling, him leaving for them, isn’t it? The £1.5 million plus clauses transfer fee is an arm’s length away from the multi-million pounds price tag we had already mentally spent. And it hurts. A bit, anyway.

   My overriding memory of the January Transfer Window comes from my brother, a Liverpool fan. A few years ago, when Torres’ Anfield future was in doubt, my brother camped out on the couch on deadline day, a Liverpool scarf draped around his shoulder as Sky Sports flashed between links from reporters and stills of the Spanish forward. With no real affinity to Liverpool, I was bundled upstairs at bedtime, but my brother was allowed to stay up late that night to watch the climax of the whole thing as the ominous deadline crept into view.

   I woke up in the morning to find the word ‘legend’ scrawled across his Torres poster. Two weeks later, it had been torn to the floor and the word “traitor” scribbled over it.

   Thanks to a few weeks of mental preparation, I’ve managed to avoid such dramatic… pain. I was ready for Wells’ departure. And, yes, it’s sad to know he’s leapt that side of the border, but it doesn’t erase two years of incredible memories.

   Which means it’s now time to delve into my hastily compiled list of boyband break-up clichés (it somehow feels… apt?). Here we go…

Break-up cliché number one: it was fun while it lasted

And it was, wasn’t it? Remember that surge of excitement when Nahki was first introduced? When he confirmed his arrival with that spectacular blast from the halfway line against Rochdale? What about that goal against Aston Villa? Burton away? Wembley? The best tribute to Nahki is himself and what he’s achieved: only by looking back on what he did, when he did it and how, can we truly get an idea of what a player and what an asset he was for us. He sniffed out chances others had deemed futile, and fired home from the most obtuse and acute angles going. He was one of our own, plucked from obscurity by our scouts, someone’s progress for us to chart and revel in and applaud and chant about. What sets this transfer window apart from any other is that Bradford had something, someone, a commodity, that seemingly everybody wanted – it was refreshing to be in that position. Everyone at school knew the name of a Bradford City player. Before Wells, that had never happened to me.

Break-up cliché number two: you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone

Nahki Wells was the first ever protégée I saw at City. He was the first player that made my school friends sit up and take notice of the Bantams. Before last season, he was the first player I ever earmarked as capable of playing in a higher division. We’re all going to miss him. He was significant to the entire team, but we’ll never really know of his true significance until we see the team functioning properly without him.

   Will someone weave in and out of defences to latch onto Hanson’s knockdowns? Will we ditch the long-ball stuff? Or - perish the thought - will we look lost without Wells? Reassuringly, I strongly believe that, given the months of substantial forewarnings that have flashed about, Parkinson and co. will have had targets in mind, but there will undoubtedly be a period of carryover as the team adapt to incorporate this new player and a new strike partnership is forged. Whether it’s Connell, Gray, Clarkson, McBurnie or a loanee, we can’t expect them to hit such dizzying heights straight away. It’s going to take time.

Break-up cliché number three: did it have to end this way?

Why them? Leeds would have been bad enough, but you could have understood because they actually look like they’re going places every year. But Huddersfield? I think we’re a bigger club, actually. Our ground is far more imposing – the most enticing thing about the Galpharm is that it sports a lovely backdrop of green-veined foliage and tall fir trees that resemble something out of The Chronicles of Narnia. And the price was hardly the eye-watering figure we’d set our sights on. It’ll draw jeers from some corners because Huddersfield really have got themselves a bargain, but we have to move on now. What’s done is done.

   Our club calendar now holds a degree of notoriety among the Terriers faithful, a fact that hovers somewhere between humorous and humiliating. Still, it’s not as embarrassing as the time Bradford plastered a Hull player on the front.

Break-up cliché number four: there are plenty more fish in the sea

Sure, Nahki was a rare talent. I’d never seen anyone like him, and the sheer dichotomy between his gift and the direness of some other players was too far-fetched to contemplate. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t other Nahkis, or youngsters in the Nahki mould. We’re great at unearthing talent and we’ll do it again. What’s worrying is that we seem to have an inability to function without Hanson and Wells, and our whole system appeared geared up towards the target man creating things for the Bermudan. Nonetheless, we should view this as an opportunity to rectify the long-ball element of our game. There are other young talents to integrate into our system. They’re rare, but it doesn’t mean they’re not out there.

   Nahki Wells is proof such gems do exist.

 

 

All Quiet on The Transfer Front

Jones has signed, Duke has gone and Doyle is TBC. It can only be the close season.

   After the excitement of the 2012/13 campaign, we knew that the off-season was going to be strange.

   Bradford City’s epic adventure is well documented by now. A convincing start to the season saw the Bantams sizzle into the top seven, before they rampaged through the Capital One Cup. Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa were all sent packing as a clinical Bradford reigned supreme, and, as older fans relived the Premier League glory days, younger ones got their first taste of the top division, plus the chance to see world-famous players ply their trade on the Valley Parade turf. TV crews swarmed Bradford. The Bantams became the toast of the town, and the pride of Yorkshire and the fourth division. Everyone wanted to watch City. People scrambled for tickets for that big day, and, even though defeat followed, the side recovered and flew back to the capital in style to secure promotion to League One. Open top buses descended onto City Park for the victory parade.

  Then, suddenly, nothing. No more games. No more press appearances. No more checking the table on a Saturday afternoon. That was it. Just silence.

  But it wasn’t long before we were given something to chew on. Andrew Davies put end to the speculation about his future by penning a deal with the Bantams, and Gary Jones took advantage of his contract extension option to pledge his services to City for another year. And that, in a nutshell, is the next couple of weeks for you: an eerie silence broken by the talk of transfers and contracts.

  Welcome to the close season.

   The summer months mark an influx of far-fetched rumours and a mad rush to decipher those ambiguous codes coming from various parties. We listen intently for sporadic updates about Jo Bloggs and Jack Robinson, and excitedly gaze inwards as the rumour mill cranks itself up to full. We second guess. We debate. We check the newspapers and club websites every day, scouring the web for clues as our teams offer us tantalising glimpses into the state of the current market. Some years, it’s stagnant because clubs slash their budgets, but sometimes it’s in full flow, and the Sky Sports News scrollbar is alive with reports of supposed bids and high money fees. For many football fans, it’s the most enthralling and effective way of banishing the boredom that comes with the off-season.

   The script reads the same every year: some Premier League club is signing a multi-million pound ace to propel them into title contention; whole squads are revamped as new managers look to change the face of a club; one of the Premiership’s top performers hops abroad or switches allegiance; one team – quite often the England squad – is embroiled in some dramatic crisis that will spell the end of life as we know it. With league matches off the menu, national games and all of this become our port of call for a football fix.

   This year, the desire for kick-off among City fans is more prevalent than ever. Previous seasons have seen us await the coming campaign with a guarded optimism, approaching August with promotion hopes pinned on the ‘it can only get better’ mantra. Now, though, we’re raring to go. For the first time in a long time, we go into a season knowing what success tastes like. We enter the season with an interesting sense of confidence, and there is genuine substance to our hopes that goes beyond potential – that is, we have seen these lads achieve great things and we know that they are capable of the unbelievable.

   But that doesn’t mean that we won’t have to strengthen. Contrary to previous years, we are not welcoming a new management team, so the squad won’t have to be stripped down and rebuilt from scratch; it’s just a case of fine-tuning certain areas. We will need to add, of course – more depth may be useful, as almost a pre-emptive measure to avert an injury crisis  – but, in terms of experience, we’ve got several players who have played in League One and beyond, so, to me, it just seems to be a case of bringing in a few more names to ensure that we can really establish ourselves up there.

   In City’s case, the key transfer arcs are Duke’s future (it has been confirmed that he has signed a two-year deal with Northampton Town) and Doyle’s future. Some say that a new striker may be on the horizon, whilst others claim that the acquisition of Andy Gray way back in January means that this isn’t an area that Parkinson is looking to expand.

   As I write this, it’s just been announced that Matt Duke will join the Cobblers and become their first-choice goalkeeper. Although the promise of two years of guaranteed first-team football would have been hard to refuse, I thought that Duke would stay at Valley Parade, not least because his position as goalkeeper coach provided longevity in terms of a guarantee of a job once his playing career ended. But that wasn’t the case, and our cup hero made the tough decision to part ways with the Bantams and join Aidy Boothroyd’s side. It’s sad to lose him, but we’ll never forget those amazing nights against Wigan, Arsenal and Aston Villa that Duke’s efforts helped to provide. So, good luck, Duke, and thanks for the memories. Oh, and I'm really going to miss your chant, by the way.

   I know nothing about any rumours connecting Nathan Doyle to other teams, but I’m hoping that we can tie him down. As one of the more versatile players in the squad, he can be the attacking spark that terrorises opponents, or the tough-tackling defender who leaves strikers quaking in their boots. He’s the gel that binds the defence to the middle of the park. We’ve seen that he can come on and lift a team – it was his calm influence and Reid’s link-up play with Meredith that really allowed us back into the Burton home leg – and he fits perfectly alongside Gary Jones to steady the midfield unit. The two have forged a lethal partnership, with Jones’ energy and Doyle’s eye for a pivotal pass providing a more intense attacking outlet that is harder for defences to break down.

   Some prefer Ricky Ravenhill, who, as he often plays just in front of the defence, allows Jones to drive forward and make greater use of the wingers. And, yes, we do have Ravenhill, Will Atkinson and young Scott Brown, so maybe Doyle will be viewed as surplus to requirements, but he’s still an asset, and he’s still going to be a huge part of the squad if we keep him. If he wants to head elsewhere, it’s not the end of the world, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t put up a fight to tie him to Valley Parade next season.

   Moving onto Andy Gray, who Parkinson signed on an 18-month deal way back in January. He’s definitely divided opinion since his arrival from Leeds. To some, he’s a poor player, not providing the pace, effort and creativity that Wells, Hanson and Connell respectively offer. Some fans cite him as the reason why Hanson’s hold-up play has improved, but others are uncomfortable with awarding him such credit.

   But I’m backing Gray to come good. Why? Because Parkinson doesn’t do dud signings. Only the cream of the crop will do for the City chief; the players with that winning mentality who are willing to battle hard for 90 minutes and who are only satisfied with a hard-fought three points. Moreover, Parkinson has shown an admirable ability when it comes to improving players, and it’s hard to ignore his impressive track record in this field: under Parky’s influence, Atkinson blossomed and silenced his critics, and Thompson brushed off a wobbly start to develop into a prodigious goalscorer. In a similar vein, Luke Oliver was regarded as the worst of a bad bunch during the Peter Taylor era, yet he blasted back in style to amass multiple gongs at the club’s awards night the following year. My point? Don’t ignore this history. Gray may still deliver.

    We’ll definitely be inundated with more rumours in the next few days and weeks as the market steadily picks up, and we’ll do our fair share of staying up late for midnight announcements and watching updates ticker across the news channels. But, in the meantime, embrace the transfer window, because you don’t find suspense and drama quite like it anywhere else.

   Unless, of course, it’s the actual football season.

Looking Back

How a rare room tidy lead to a trip down memory lane

Luke O'Brien was once a regular for the Bantams

   Tidying my room is a mammoth challenge that I undertake once in a blue moon. It involves being ruthless, being resourceful and being reminiscent of football seasons gone by, as it is seemingly inevitable that an old City programme or newspaper cutting will be unearthed.

   This time, it was a stack of football cards from the 2007-08 season that entertained, as a certain City talisman was at the centre of the pile.

   “No! Is that… Our Andrew Davies?”

   The blond hair had been shaved off, the trademark beard was nowhere to be seen and he was sporting the red and white strip of Middlesborough, but it was still the very same Andrew Davies who is now such an instrumental part of Phil Parkinson’s squad.

   I knew of his Premier League history, but I had no idea that he’d been immortalised on a football card.

   There was one of Kasper Schmeichel in his Manchester City days, and Glen Johnson as a Portsmouth player. A floppy-haired Gareth Bale, who is now Tottenham’s shining light, was a three-star defender with an “attack” rating of merely 40.

   The moral of the story? Football is fickle. A lot changes in six years.

   In terms of Bradford City, the guarantee of change has been the only certainty throughout the League Two stint, with McCall, Taylor, Jackson and Parkinson all bringing their own plans to the club in hope of securing that evasive promotion. Hanson and McLaughlin have been the closest things to constants, and each reformation has seen new talent drafted in and other players released.

   Bradford under Stuart McCall, for example, differs greatly to the present incarnation of the club.

   Joe Colbeck and Omar Daley paced down the flanks, and Mark Bower shaped the defence alongside David Weatherall and Paul Heckingbottom. Ex-City dynamo Luke O’Brien is at Oxford, but Bantams fans still fondly remember his time in the team and the way in which he charged up from left back and whipped crosses into the box. The teenager who clinched the winner when City took on Macclesfield, David Brown, now lines up for Bradford Park Avenue. Scott Loach is currently plying his trade for Championship team Ipswich Town.

   Dean Furman, such a superb player for City in the McCall era, has since captained Oldham (though, at the moment, he's on loan with Doncaster) and represented South Africa at international level. He may be returning to Valley Parade if Athletic survive the drop and the Bantams win promotion, or if Bradford stay in this division and Oldham don’t avoid relegation.

   More recently, tough-tackling Michael Flynn waved Bradford a fond farewell, joined by Craig Fagan and Chris Mitchell. Personally, I always felt that the latter was unlucky not to figure more in the line-up – 3 assists in one match clearly indicates a footballer of calibre – as he could create chances and knew how to exert influence on the game.

   Yet, Mitchell wouldn’t fit into Parkinson’s squad, and that is why he was given the chop at the end of last season. Under the League Cup miracle man, the team play more flowing, passing football. Gary Jones catalyses City’s offensive efforts. Kyel Reid and Zavon Hines whiz up and down the wing to create chances. Will Atkinson’s link-up play with Jones can perplex defences, and it certainly did cause trouble for Paul Lambert’s side in the Villa home leg. The team is entirely different.

   Football evolves and changes so fast, and is begs the question: is there room for sentiment in football?

   Yes, one could argue. Players will always have their favourite clubs and the magic of representing their boyhood team will never fade. Passion, emotion and spirit drive a team to success – the Bantams team that we’ve got now always admirably give 100% to every game; players like Jones and Ravenhill are a credit to City in terms of work rate. However, players don’t know how long their time in the first team will last, let alone their tenure at the club, and they’ll have to be ready to face the possibility of a move.

   When the transfer window opens and Parkinson makes changes to the team, we’ll all have our personal pick of who to keep and get rid of – just like my room tidy, coincidentally. I’d quite like to retain this whole squad, because we’ve enjoyed so much success this year and we are in possession of a set of players who are capable of beating any side. I expect to win every game, and I’ve never really felt that about City before.

   Bradford City is a magnet for players, especially after the publicity generated through the club’s part in the League Cup final. Phil Parkinson himself is a massive draw, and the huge fan base, the one that was out in such voice at Wembley and which dwarfs the number of supporters of nearly every team in this division, is even more of a pull.

   Thanks to the cup run, we’ve got the money to keep our assets and to recruit that extra talent to strengthen our bid for success next year.

   We’ll have to wait with bated breath to see what Parkinson has planned for the team, but, until then, there’s a promotion battle to fight.

Oh, and if you’re curious about that Andrew Davies football card, here it is: