Bradford survive

Monday 7th May.

I have a strange empty feeling today as the reality of relegation slowly sinks in, and the fact that it is a bank holiday almost makes things worse as there is more time for reflection. Having now seen the footage of the Stockport versus Crystal Palace game I feel even worse as an awful piece of cowardly refereeing cost us our place in division one. With only minutes remaining in that game and with the scores level at 0-0, David Hopkins clearly controlled the ball with his arm before clearing his lines and creating the move that saw Palace score the winner, yet the referee turned a blind eye to the offence that should have resulted in a dangerous free kick for Stockport. We all know that a draw would have been sufficient to keep us up, yet we also know that it is futile blaming results elsewhere for our demise.

It is a season of 46 games and when you only collect 48 points from those fixtures then the writing is always likely to be on the wall, and 10 defeats at home tell their own tale. To fall just one point short of the target is particularly galling after the wonderful upturn in form during the month of December and after another poor month in February we looked to have done enough in March and April to escape. The feeling down at Selhurst Park last Tuesday was of a job all but mathematically completed and everyone left the ground almost certain in the knowledge that of the four remaining fixtures in the division that had an effect on our status, at least one would provide the desired outcome. History now shows that this was not to be the case, and whilst I am venting my spleen who (in my opinion) should shoulder the blame for our demise?

Barry Rubery. Having dismissed Peter Jackson he installed a big name manager of little real experience, and promptly let him loose with the chequebook to sign a host of highly paid players more interested in their bank balance than the long-term well-being of Huddersfield Town. Rubery had too many other business interests to closely monitor the club’s expenditure, and when the financial problems eventually manifested themselves they had gone too far because he placed too much trust in his sidekick, Ian Ayre. He got cold feet at a critical stage of the previous season and was tempted to cash in on Marcus Stewart at a time when we were poised to make the promotion play-offs, and even though he has admitted his misjudgement in this matter failed to rectify it by ensuring the Peter Ndlovu became a Town player when it was crystal clear that he was the spark to ignite Town’s season. The loss in club revenues as a result of our relegation is far more than would have been required to secure the services of the Zimbabwean, and although the late arrival of Andy Booth looked to have done the trick, it was probably too little too late.

Ian Ayre. Never a true Town fan at heart despite his protestations to the contrary, Ian Ayre lied to the fans about the financial backing the club owner would provide if the fans showed their commitment with season ticket purchases. He was instrumental in possibly the worst piece of transfer activity in the recent history of the club when he allowed Marcus Stewart to depart with the team poised to make the play-offs, and then further alienated the fans with comments about being ‘a good piece of business’ etc., and when things started to get worse he jumped ship.

Steve Bruce. Having blown a barrel full of money on over paid stars from the Premier league, he failed to motivate them sufficiently and his lack of managerial skills became more and more apparent with each game that passed. He was a great player but he was not a great manager and his record in the second half of last season and first quarter of this was quite honestly appalling. I really cannot say anything else about his tenure or I may risk following Barry Rubery into the courtroom.

Lou Macari. On the whole little Lou didn’t do a bad job, and if you take the results during his reign and extrapolate them to a whole season we would have managed around 55 points. Bearing in mind that it took a few games to steady the ship this figure is probably a little skewed on the low side. He must be congratulated for some excellent man management in turning Craig Armstrong from an unpopular left back into the player of the season in midfield, as well as bringing some of the fringe players such as Delroy Facey and Simon Baldry into the team. However, there were one or two decisions that baffled everyone and very possibly cost us the vital point we needed, such as settling for a point against Grimsby when they were there for the taking and making changes to the formation of the team at the eleventh hour causing players to be unsure of their exact role in the team. It has been suggested by one or two fans that he should quit, but I disagree and think he did enough to warrant a tilt at restoring us to division one next season.

Nico Vaesen. Our £80,000 import from Belgium a few years ago has generally been a good servant to the club, but has always been prone to the odd moment of madness. He only survived 14 minutes of his debut before being dismissed for handling the ball outside the area and has suffered a slight crisis of confidence at times this season. Earlier in the campaign he was so rooted to his line at times he was almost referred to as Count Vaesen because he was afraid of crosses and late in the season a couple of moments of madness almost certainly cost us at least one point. We were capable of taking a point from Fulham when he went walkabout to gift them the winning goal, and then 2 days later he received a red card for handling outside the area when Town were beginning to establish themselves in the game.

Trevor Francis. If there is one salvation it is the fact that we won’t have to face the invidious Mr Francis’ outfit next season when they fail to achieve promotion through the play-offs once again, which I’m certain they will do. He strung us along with the Peter Ndlovu transfer when we could have been trying to get another striker into the team only to finally say that he had no intention of allowing the Zimbabwean to join Town and to rub salt into the wounds, Curtis Woodhouse who was part of the deal that saw Ndlovu head to Sheffield United scored twice yesterday to condemn us to defeat.

That Bloody Referee. I don’t know his name and don’t particularly wish to, but the official in charge of the Stockport v Crystal Palace game yesterday should be struck off (if that’s what they do to referees) and his linesman should suffer the same fate. His myopia cost us our division one status and I hope that is he never allowed to officiate at another game of football, even at under sevens level. Nigel Spackman. Thanks for nothing Nigel. The side you fielded against Portsmouth was so weakened that you might as well have put the three points into an envelope and posted them to Fratton Park.

Neil Warnock. Our former manager shares some blame for selling Curtis Woodhouse to Birmingham and signing our player –Peter Ndlovu. Ken Monkou. Not an ounce of commitment to the club and content to draw an exorbitant salary for doing absolutely nothing.

Kevin Gallen. I suspect that Mr Gallen will not be on Town’s books next season and although he finished the season as joint top scorer he missed that penalty down at QPR so the fickle finger of blame is briefly pointed in his direction.

Craig Armstrong. Player of the season and deservedly so after showing that a dodgy left back can become a hard grafting midfielder, but I’m sorry, Craig, you had your spot kick at the Reebok Stadium saved and so I will blame you (ever so slightly).

I could doubtless find more and more people to blame including myself for failing to wear my lucky undies for some of the games, but the recriminations will solve nothing. I have studied the toxicity levels of various substances under the kitchen sink but can’t quite bring myself to put an end to my misery. Besides if I did end it all today then I wouldn’t be around to share in the joy of our promotion campaign next season and we all know that it will be a glorious season that will see us crowned champions, before we march through the first division the following year and into the top flight of English football, and a place in the European Champions League will surely follow.

Whoever coined the phrase “it’s a funny old game” had it sussed. I feel gutted and empty today but as each day passes it will slowly dissipate until next August when I take my place at the McAlpine ready to sing…

Those were the days, my friends

We thought they’d never end

We won the league three times in a row

We won the FA cup and now we’re going up

We are the Town, oh yes we are the Town.

Finally, for those people who always read the last page of a book first to see who dunnit, it was the butler. Oh, by the way, Town were relegated so don’t bother reading this book wondering will they survive or won’t they.

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