Pondus

Changes at Bradford

With just two games left of the season Bradford have fired their manager. To replace him the club has appointed Norwegian Stian Martinsen as the new man in charge. With most of what has been a disappointing season behind them, the club looks for drastic improvement in the coming season. The completely unknown manger from Norway is given the task of turning things around at the club. With Scandinavian gaffers in England on a run of bad luck lately… Martinsen is expected to get a though time convincing people he got what it takes. Martinsen himself have stated his aim to prove the quality of Norwegian managers once and for all to any disbelievers. With a squad lacking a lot, and the club’s finances way into the red, he’ll certainly have to bring out something special to come anywhere near his bold goal of promotion first full season in charge. He claims to know the transfermarket well, and speaking to a local newspaper he promised the fans some new arrivals during the summer. A number of names have already been liked with a move to the cash strapped club. Both fans and board will expect improvement from this season. If he can cope with that remains to be seen. At the moment the club’s squad is very slim, but the wage budget is still conceded big time. The club is loosing money, and the balance is horrible. Martinsen will have to up the number of players, and at the same time cut wages. Surely a job more suitable for a magician.

How the Bradford board can expect this un-experienced chap to achieve anything at all beats this reporter. It’s rumoured that they accidentially found this guy down in the south of Spain sitting in a bar with a “cerveza” in his hand. Whether this is true or not, I don’t know, but it could be a new low even for a League One club. Martinsen arrived in England slightly sunburned and seemingly more worried about his tan, rather than important team affairs. He will get a chance to shine, but many predict the foot within Christmas. We’ll be following Martinsen and his side’s progress closely in the coming months. Tune back for more!

gillesam

Thursday night's session saw the start of the 4th season. We got off to a fantastic start with a 4-1 win away to Rotherham.

The second game saw a slightly disappointing 0-0 at home to Watford. It was a game we should have won as we played them off the park. Then a hard fought 1-0 win away to Britol Rovers meant we had made a solid start. Then another 0-0 at home.

The last game of the night saw us destroy Stockport 2-0 in the League Cup. Fingers crossed for a money spinning tie in the next round.

All in all it was a good solid start to the season. if we can start winning at home things could be looking quite good.

GAZMANGOLF

After a very up and down finish to the 3rd season where we finished 18th in the championship,the financial restraints have really hit me hard this season with the board giving me a massive 40k to spend and the wage budget needing to be trimmed I really was in need of a new club I felt.However the season start has been a surprisingly bright one,the main signings were Danny Gabbidon(who was injured in the 1st lge match and is still not back) and Joseph Desiere-Job who has really impressed me.The opener against Bolton saw a backs against the wall performance against a side that should go straight back up,we somehow hung in there and got a 1-1 draw.The tale was very similar against Leeds in the next game with Job levelling with a great goal,then though we secured 2 wins in the following games with a 4-1 win over Coventry being especially good as I had 4 certain starters out through injury.We ended the session with a draw at Southampton and a 2-0 win in the league cup over Exeter.Really pleased with the start considering the circumstances.

GAZMANGOLF

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Pondus

Bradford
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With the club in a horrible financial situation, the transfer budget available for the new manager had to be restricted. To the managers frustration it was restricted down to a big fat zero. No money to spend, and a squad no way capable of pushing for promotion. It was time to get to work. During the summer a lot of changes were made at Valley Parade. Most of the players at the end of their contracts were allowed to leave. Yes, this means Dean Windass will not be playing for Bradford again. To replace him, and others, some new faces arrived during silly season. Considering the fact that no transfer money were present, and only a very restricted wagebudget, the manager must be quite happy with what he has achieved during the summer. The new arrivals include:

Mohammed Abdellaoui: This forward arrived from West Brom, after they accepted a bid of 0 pounds. A quite young player with a dual nationality; part from Marocco/part Norwegian. He used to play for Norwegian side Skeid, so the manager knows this fellow countryman quite well. He will link up with former team mate Laajab, who’s already a part of the Bradford squad. I see Moa as an exciting player, with a promising future. I’m very happy to have captured his signature, and expect to play him as a regular part of the team.

Pascal Cygan: Old and useless where whispered when this guy signed on a free transfer. I hope he have a season left in him, and should be able to keep up in league one. When you look at the results of the first games (below), it might well prove to be an excellent signing.

Garry Flitcroft: More experience added to the squad. The manger has admitted a weakness for Blackburn Rovers, and the former Rovers skipper will become the new midfield general this season, and maybe one more?.. Great work rate, and overall defensively solid.

Filippos Keramas: Olympiakos were happy to offload this 21 year old attacking midfielder. Can play right, left and centre, but after a few games he looks comfortable in my offensive left wing role. Currently a first choise in that position. I hope to see some development from this player during a year or two. Might be a man for the future.

Zac Jones: Young promising goalkeeper signed form Blackburn just before the window closed. Looks set to have a bright future ahead of him. Will fight with Evans for the number one jersey. After Evans' good start to the season he will have to wait for a slip up before he gets his chance. The future belongs to Jones.

Paul McShane: On loan. Have started the season looking very solid in the centre of defence together with Cygan. If he keeps it up he will, quite surprisingly, stay in the team as my first choise centre half.

Martin Brittain:Arrived on loan from Newcastle in search of first team football. Looks solid, and will probably be my first choise at right wing.

??: On loan from Aston Villa. Young right winger from Portugal. Will compete with Brittain for a spot in the team.

Season starts

The season has kicked off, and after five rounds the Bantams are looking great. The team have been playing above all expectations, and are currently top the table. That’s only on goal difference, but still way above what anyone could have hoped for. What’s most impressive is still the fact that no goals have been conceded at all. None. Five league games, and one league cup game into Martinsen’s first season no ball have been picked out of the net. The new defensive duo with Cygan and McShane look super solid, and have stopped everything so far. From what we have seen the manager prefer a quite defensive style of football, which certainly not can be described as crowd pleasing. Still, as long as he gets the results everyone is happy in Bradford. The new players have looked good, although Moa have spent most of his time on international duty so far. Also last years top goalscorer, Ars, is injured together with one of the clubs biggest stars, midfielder Schumacher. With these two back the squad will get even another boost to keep them on their winning ways. Flitcroft have played a very central role so far, even bagging a goal, and it looks like he might be a key to success this year. Young Keramas has also looked sharp.

Could the unexperienced Norwegian manager actually be a genious? It certainly seem that way so far. The question everyone at Valley Parade is asking themselves is; how long will it last?

rectum

Just thoght id pop in on the topic and say hello,iv joined the league as Rotheram although the board are experiencing a few "can not find server problems"
Hopefully this will be sorted in time for kick off otherwise the FA are going to step in a disqualify us from the game
Anyway chaps look forward to looking down on you all while we are lifting the champions league.

rectum

Well as you may allready be aware if you watch sky sports news or read teletext Rotheram have had to withdraw from the league due to technicall difficultys.
The board have released this statment:

"Due to technical difficultys were bolloxed !!"

As you probably can gather the board is deeply gutted and regretfull but wishes nobody good luck and hopes to sort the problem in the near future.

im gonna go play one player now !!

Pondus

Bradford
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A quick update on Bradford's progress:

Ups and downs, but most ups.

Ipswich (A): 2-0 win. Goals from Rui Miguel and Gerardo (pen). Mom: Gerardo
The good form gives us another win, and we still have not conceded a goal.

Rotherham (H): 1-2 loss. Goal from defender McShane. This was the first time we conceded a goal this season, and it also became our first loss.

Watford (A): 1-1 draw. Rui Miguel scored the goal. Keramas got sent of after 50 mins, so a draw was ok in this away game.

Bristol Rovers (H): 3-1 win. Goals from Matt Derbyshire x2 and Gerardo (pen)
Derbyshire Mom. Back on track after two games without a win. New on loan striker Derbyshire looking sharp.

Scunthorpe (A): 2-3 loss. Derbyshire and Morris (pen) scored. Gerardo sent off after 71 min. The poor away form continues, and a red card did not make it easier.

Leicester (H): League cup, 3-1 after ET. 1-1 after 90 minutes, but goals in extratime from Moa and Derbyshire secured the win. We are through to the next round, and have a chance to make some much needed money.

Just before the transfer window two new players have joined the club. Striker Matt Derbyshire have signed on loan from Blackburn. After only a few games he has already bagged three goals, and will become a usefull backup through the season. Midfielder Jody Morris joined from Millwall for a fee of 0. The Chelsea reject will become a important part of my midtfield, and is likely to get a regular starting spot.

gillesam

Well Monday's first game saw us race into a 2-0 lead. Unfortunately one of our defenders then got sent off, and we were lucky to draw 2-2. After this game we were hit with more bad news as there were no fewer than 6 players out injured.

We then managed a very good 1-1 as we had about 7 players out and then lost our keeper during the first half. After a few days off the first team were looking a bit fitter and proved this with a thumping 5-2 win to move up to 5th.

The next game saw us lose for the first time this season, 1-0 away to Brighton, as our injury problems caught up with us. We had players injured and one away on int duty. With only 1 player back, we managed to beat Gillingham 2-1 after being 1-0 down early on. This brought us to within 2 points of the top.

The final game of the night was a League Cup game away at Premiership Palace. I decided to take a cautious approach and so started with just one striker. At half time it was 0-0 so I decided it was time for Trundle to make is return from injury. 16 minutes later we are 2 up with Trundle scoring one.

10 minutes to go things were still looking good. Then Palce pulled one back and they equalised in the 93rd minute. ALthough we had been under pressure that was hard to take. Things got worse when Palace took the lead in extra time. HT in ET 3-2 down it was time to go for it and play 3 up. 4 minutes later it was 3-3 as Trundle scored a penalty. The game eventually went to penalties with Andy Gray scoring the decisive penalty to take us through 5-4 penalties.

Thursday's session got off to a good start with a come from behind win over the new Bradford manager Stian. It was a tight game that turned on a sending off shortly after they took the lead. Then following on from his winning penalty in the previous game, Andy Gray came to the rescue with a fine double to win the game 2-1. This saw us top the table, but it wasn't to last.

This was followed up with a 0-0 draw that we should have won easily. Then another come from behind 2-1 win over Derby this time, including a peach of a free kick from Doriva. We seem to be struggling to score at the moment. Hopefully this wil change as I get players back. This saw us go back to the top - only on alphabetical order!!

Then a really bad game, as we lost 2-1 to Port Vale. We never got started in theis game and when we went down to 10 men that as the end of it. However we bounced back in style with a 4-1 win over Grimsby.

The last game saw us get put out of the LDV Vans, but this is not a disaster as it means we can concentrate on the league, where we are currently 2nd.

The final game saw us draw 1-1 away to my former club Swansea. We were probably a bit lucky to get a point. This left us in 3rd place, hopefully the next session or two will see us start to be a bit more consistent and have fewer injuries.

GAZMANGOLF

The inability of my brentford side to string 2 good sessions together continues,after a good start to the season we then managed to win just 3 of our next 12 league games,everytime we get a sniff of the play offs we then lose a few then if relegation begins to loom we win a few,frustrating to say the least.However I feel we are established in the championship but whether we can actually progress from there is doubtful.
This season we are not conceding the goals of before but are also not scoring the goals either probably due to a slightly more defensive formation.With a full strength side out we can be pretty decent but a few players(jason Roberts in particular) would appear to be made of glass.