Bradford survive

Monday 14th August

Following the enforced sale of Kevin Gray, manager Steve Bruce has insisted that he will not quit over the transfer budget farce. He has publicly declared that he would not have let 'Big Kev' go to Stockport if it was his decision, so clearly the players movements are being controlled by the men in suits. This is a situation not unlike the one that saw him quit Sheffield United just over a year ago, and my money is still on him not seeing out the season at the McAlpine. His declaration of loyalty sounds a little like those public 'votes of confidence' that sees managers sacked only days later. Perhaps the board of directors can grovel deeply enough to entice Peter Jackson to return if he does call it a day.

Apparently a statement is 'in the pipeline from Mr. Rubery about the clubs finances and he actually watched the game on Saturday with his wife Gillian who is also on the board of directors. Certainly some clarification of the finances might explain why we had to sell a player to fund the arrival of a free transfer, unless it meant that we were exceeding our allocation of Kevin's and one of them had to go. It feels a bit like the signings embargo of about 18 months ago when the club was being taken over by Mr R., and these previous incumbents didn't wish to part with their hard earned.

Having lost a defender through transfer dealings we might also be without the service of Steve Jenkins for a month or so. He damaged his knee ligaments during Saturdays defeat by Watford to leave us even more stretched in defence. Although I'm not exactly his number one fan, we can ill afford yet another injury so early in the season, especially with the only other right back, Thomas Heary, suffering from the dreaded (I still don't know what they are) shin splints.

I was interested to note that after just one league game, the bookmakers now rate us at 40-1 for the first division championship, and this is the same as newly promoted Burnley! Worth a few quid? I don't think so.

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