McCall : Stay or go?

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Bradford City count the cost of failing to achieve ambitions

JOINT chairman Mark Lawn last night warned that Bradford City's playing
budget for next season will have to be dramatically reduced following
the failure to win promotion.
City have suffered a horrendous end to the campaign with the last nine
games having yielded just three points to leave manager Stuart McCall
contemplating his future.

The Bantams chief suggested last month that if his side failed to finish
in the top seven then he would walk away in the summer.

And his subsequent comments after Saturday's defeat at Dagenham &
Redbridge hardly pointed to a change of heart with McCall admitting: "I
just feel I have let everyone down – the club, the fans and my own family.

"The wheels have come off and that is my responsibility. Unfortunately,
I have not been able to put them back on."

Mathematically, City could still clinch a play-off place but everyone at
Valley Parade is preparing for another season in League Two. Lawn and
co-owner Julian Rhodes plan to sit down with the former Scotland
international, who only signed a new two-year deal in February, after
the final game of the season against Chesterfield on May 2 to discuss
the way forward.

But the City joint chairman, who recently loaned the club £1m to cover
the cost of chasing promotion this term, has warned that whoever is in
charge will have to work on a reduced budget.

Lawn told the /Yorkshire Post/: "Stuart still has a two-year contract
with the club and the plan is to sit down with him and see how he feels.

"Often, emotion can take over straight after a game when a manager is
talking to the press so we will have to wait and see what Stuart has to say.

"Obviously, everyone is very disappointed with how the season has turned
out, probably none more so than me. Myself, Julian and his father all
sat down at the start of the season and decided to push the boat out to
try and win promotion.

"Unfortunately, it has not worked and I put in the £1m (loan) to cover
that deficit recently.

"Basically, I have put my children's inheritance on the line and I
simply have not got another £1m to do the same for next season, which
means the club will have to operate within a smaller budget."

Bradford's wage bill this season is believed to have been the highest in
League Two, just ahead of both Shrewsbury Town and Darlington with Luton
Town also having been among the highest payers in the basement division.

Lawn declined to reveal the size of the wage bill at Valley Parade but
did add: "The budget will still be competitive next season and certainly
similar to what most other clubs in the top half have been operating with.

"But there will be some clubs that, in terms of wages, we might not be
able to compete with such as Rotherham because we simply cannot afford
to push the boat out again like we have done this time."

It looks like being another hectic summer at Valley Parade with several
members of McCall's squad being out of contract in June.

Some players persuaded to drop down to the basement division a year ago
also have clauses in their current deals whereby they can leave at the
end of this season if City fail to win promotion.

It is the future of McCall, however, that is most pressing in the minds
of supporters and Lawn continued: "If caring about the club was a
guarantee of success then Bradford City would be above Manchester United
right now.

"Stuart is down, as we all are. And if we could put our finger on where
it has all gone wrong then we would have sorted it out by now.

"When we beat Aldershot (on March 7), we thought we would be unlucky not
to get automatic promotion. But it has just not happened."

Lawn, who joined the board in 2007, is at pains to stress that it is not
all doom and gloom at Bradford in terms of the future with more than
9,500 fans having already bought season-tickets for 2009-10.

He added: "What I will say to Bradford City fans is we are here for the
long term and we will turn it round."


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I have just been able to manage to post Stuart's interview on Radio Leeds on YouTube as I was in the perfect position to video it.
 
The link to the clip is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfYWKIGhyb0


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Mark, Neil Warnock feels Stuart is a young inexperienced manager...see his words from a recent article in the independant.

"The other promotion places are up for grabs but I'd love to see Keith Hill, who played for me at Plymouth, take Rochdale up. I think they were last promoted 40 years ago. He is one of the last people you'd think would become a manager, but he's done brilliantly. Another old boy involved is Stuart McCall. I hear he's said he may call it a day if Bradford are not promoted but that is what you get when you are a young manager starting off. You get frustrated at times, but Stuart is a super coach. He was tremendous for me at Sheffield United and, irrespective of whether they go up, Bradford can only be a better place with Stuart around. I hope he understands it is all a matter of experience as he will go on to bigger things. When you are a young guy you do let disappointment get to you too much."


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  McCall: Jakes has been a rock

Stuart McCall today defended assistant manager Wayne Jacobs and
declared: I wish all my other signings had been as good for me.

McCall is keen to destroy the notion that City have come up short this
season because he has not had experienced back-up.

Some have suggested he should have called in an older hand to help when
the going got sticky.

But McCall is adamant that Jacobs has been the perfect number two – and
pointed to City's recent history as evidence that a youthful partnership
can pay off.

He said: "You only have to look back at the last 20-30 years. The four
or five pairings that have done well were all young.

"Roy McFarland and Mick Jones were here when I started, then Trevor
Cherry and Terry Yorath. Kammy (Chris Kamara) was in charge with Martin
Hunter and Jags (Paul Jewell) had Chris Hutchings. None of those
managers had the experience behind them that people are talking about.

"Jakes has been an absolute rock of support. Nobody could ask for a
better assistant.

"He is a very, very good coach who knows and understands the game and
he's certainly not a yes man in any way."

The likes of Terry Dolan have been touted as a back-up with plenty of
lower-league experience but McCall believes that Jacobs has become a
soft target with disenchanted fans who are reluctant to attack him
personally.

He added: "It's a cop out. There are many different reasons why we
haven't succeeded this season but that's definitely not one of them.

"It's the easiest thing in the world to point fingers. That's the blame
culture we live in.

"People don't want to criticise me so they blame somebody else.

"Certain things haven't gone to plan like a couple of players I've
brought in haven't paid off. But there are far bigger factors than
having no experienced older man alongside me.

"Jakes and Wethers (David Wetherall) have been outstanding in their
commitment. Wayne has sure done far more for me than I did for Neil
Warnock at Sheffield United. His dedication to the job has been over and
beyond what I could expect and I just wish all my other signings had
worked as well."



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McCALL WON'T CALL IT A DAY

22/04/2009

Football Spy

Stuart McCALL is ready to do a U-turn and stay with Bradford - after being swamped by letters from fans.

Bantams legend McCall has been talking of leaving after his side slipped out of the promotion race, but the response from supporters is giving him a change of heart. McCall opened discussions on his future with the board last night, but insiders believe he will carry on next season and honour his new two year contract - rather than let down the fans.


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  Daley: Please stay Stu

Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:28 pm (PDT)


Omar Daley is desperate to play for Stuart McCall again at City.

The Jamaican flyer has been ruled out until November after an operation
to repair the damaged cruciate ligament in his right knee.

And he is keeping his fingers crossed that McCall will still be the man
in charge when his comeback date finally dawns.

Despite missing the last two months, Daley has been voted into the
League Two team of the season by fellow players and insists a lot of the
credit for that should go to his boss. So he is urging McCall to think
twice about his threat to walk away.

Daley said: "If anyone knows the gaffer, he's a winner. It must be so
frustrating for him to see the position the team is in.

"He's a young manager who is eager to achieve big things and I think he
will.

"The understanding between the gaffer and me has been really good. He
might be on the sideline but he coaches with a passion.

"At first when he'd just come in, I didn't realise that and I used to
get angry whenever he said things to me. But I soon realised that he is
a passionate coach and needed you to do well.

"Hopefully the situation will be resolved quickly – and I'm hoping he's
going to still be at this club because he's really settled me in."

Daley's absence has been one of the biggest factors in City's
spectacular slump. In the 13 games since he was stretchered off against
Darlington in mid-February, they have picked up just eight points to
crash out of the promotion reckoning.

The fear his lightning pace on the ball strikes in opponents is evident
with his selection to the division's elite.

Daley added: "Whenever I play in a game, I go out to terrorise teams. It
doesn't always work but I'm happy that people can see the effort that I
try to put in for this team.

"I do not treat it like a big joke. I really take my job seriously and
Stuart McCall and the coaching staff have really helped. I have to give
them the praise.

"I'm injured and frustrated that I'm not playing but I'm not losing my
head.

"I had the offer to go home early to Jamaica but I'm happy to stay here.
That shows how settled I am."



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Graeme Lee believes the final home game gives City's players and fans
the perfect chance to show how much Stuart McCall means to them.

The skipper is hoping that McCall will be persuaded to stay on at Valley
Parade for next season – and he reckons Saturday's clash with Rotherham
is the ideal stage for everyone to get behind him.

Lee said: "The manager is the right man for the job. He's the man to
take this club forward and we just hope and pray that he does stay.

"I'd like to think that this game is the chance to really get behind
him. I'm sure the fans will show what he means to everyone.

"As captain, I want him to carry on and finish the job off here. I
haven't spoken to him one-to-one on what his thoughts are yet but I'd
like to think he can be talked round into staying.

"He's got such a passion and love for this club and it would be a big
loss if the gaffer did move on."

Lee admitted the players were guilty of not rewarding the boss with at
least a play-off spot.

He said: "You can understand him being so frustrated. We've let him down
as a team and he probably feels he should take the blame.

"We haven't done ourselves justice and know we should have done much
better. It's so disappointing and frustrating to look back at what could
and should have happened this season.

"We'll be trying to finish off well in the last two games and hopefully
that, as well as the reaction of the fans, will persuade the manager to
give it another go."

Lee has recovered from the tight thigh muscle he suffered against
Dagenham and could line up this weekend alongside Zesh Rehman.

With City still not out of it mathematically, McCall will resist the
chance to throw in youngsters but he has promised Rehman a start at
centre half.

McCall said: "We've played Zesh at right back and left back and, to be
fair, he's only had two games in the centre. He had a tough time here
against Lincoln but that was not at his strongest position."

Dean Furman, who won the T&A most consistent player title at this week's
awards dinner, is back in training. He has missed the last three games.

McCall anticipates a fierce Yorkshire derby against a Millers side who
would be chasing an automatic promotion place if they had not been
docked 17 points.

The City boss said: "Mark Robins has done an outstanding job to keep
them right at it and it won't be an end-of-season game.

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*Bradford City joint chairman Mark Lawn has told BBC Radio Leeds that he
is hopeful manager Stuart McCall will stay at Valley Parade after all.*

McCall said last month that he would walk away if Bradford failed to
make the League Two play-offs.

Tentative talks were first held between McCall and the board on Tuesday.

And Lawn said on Thursday that indications given by McCall led them to
believe that their manager is now happier with life at City.

Lawn also stated that McCall had not handed in his resignation.

More discussions are planned with the City boss as the directors want to
go through next season's player budget.

McCall has also confirmed that he will be sitting down with Julian
Rhodes and Mark Lawn after the Chesterfield match to review the season
and discuss future matters.

Fans are also doing what they can to convince McCall to stay - giant
banners begging the City manager not to go have been made and will be
displayed on Saturday at the final home league game of the season.