Bradford survive

Friday 27th October.

There is still no concrete news on the name of Town’s new manager, even though it had been said that the new boss might be in charge before the Blackburn game tomorrow. The announcement should be made in the earlier part of next week, and the rumour mill is busy with names like Carlton Palmer and Chris Kamara being mentioned, although neither of these would meet the supposed criteria of being experienced. I can’t say that I have ever particularly rated Carlton Palmer as a player, and even if he was to come in as some sort of player/manager he wouldn’t be my first choice, nor second for that matter.

During a radio interview with Lou Macari, the caretaker Manager was asked if he was one of the three short-listed contenders and he answered that he was. If this is the case, it looks as though Rubery might take the cheap option (á la Bradford City) and appoint from within the club. This would be another appointment that would hardly thrill yours truly, or probably many other Town fans, particularly if John Deehan was to keep his post as coach because I feel that many of Town’s woes stem from the training ground.

Presumably the final decision will be driven by money because at the end of the day most managers appointed from outside will expect to be given some funds to bring their own players in as well as their own back room team. With the apparent lack of finance available at the moment I get the feeling Rubery might give the job to Macari and tell him to get on with things with the squad as it is. Rubery feels that the existing players are good enough based on their exploits 12 months ago, sadly most of the fans who are now becoming increasingly resigned to division 2 football next season would not agree.

Tomorrow brings a tough encounter against the team who I thought would romp this division, Blackburn Rovers. So far, they haven’t quite lived up to expectations but I still think they will finish in the top two. Just like Crewe on Tuesday, we are ridiculously short of attacking players, with Martin Smith hopefully making a comeback from illness to be Town’s only true striker. Town have failed to score for the past four games, and if we can’t put the ball in the back of the net how can we even hope to survive this season?

Lou Macari has apparently been busy trying to secure a loan deal for a forward, but has once again failed, there is obviously little attraction in joining a struggling team because our opponents tomorrow have had little problem securing the services of former Manchester United man, Mark Hughes. Hughes is the sort of tough resilient striker we could do with at the moment, and having scored twice in midweek I am worried that he will make mincemeat of our defence. I am already resigned to defeat, but it would be better if we could avoid a cricket score.

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