L2 v Barnet (h) W2-1 April 17th 2010

Matchday programme Notes
http://www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk/page/News/0,,10266~2028218,00.html?
(see below for more on ground sharing)


Next match: (A) Chesterfield, Saturday April 24, 2010. K.O. 3:00PM.

Football League Two - KO 15:00
Bradford      2 (0) - 1 (1)    Barnet
Luke O'Brien 79
Flynn 90
     Adomah 28
 
  At Valley Parade on 17-04-2010


Bradford: McLaughlan, Rehman, Threlfall, Bateson, Williams, Bullock, Grant (Luke O'Brien, 75 ) , Bolder, James

O'Brien (Flynn, 59 ) , Evans, Osborne
Subs not used: Glennon,Clarke,Kendall,Horne,Dean,

Barnet: Cole, Breen, Lockwood, Devera, Gillet, Jarrett, Micah Hyde, Livermore, Upson ( Deverdics, 84 ) , Adomah (

O'Neill, 89 ) , Furlong
Subs not used: James, Hart, Carpenter, Kamdjo, Hughes,

Bookings: Livermore (Barnet)
Attendance: 11138

Referee: Eddie Ilderton (Tyne & Wear)

Stats

TEAM STATS
Bradford            Barnet
10(4)    Shots (on Goal)    13(9)
3    Fouls            9
4    Corner Kicks    3
0    Offsides    2
67%    Time of Poss.    33%
0    Yellow Cards    1
0    Red Cards    0
7    Saves            5

===========================


City 2, Barnet 1

It was the moment that a young fan's dreams became reality.

Sitting directly behind the goal in the Kop, Luke O'Brien had often fantasised how it would feel to score for City

in that very net.

Eighteen months after first stepping on to his own field of dreams in first-team colours, he finally find out.

Gareth Evans fired in a cross from the right wing, defender Joe Devera was caught in two minds trying to deal with

it and O'Brien was on hand to smack it into the far corner of the net.

Forget the fact that he had been on the pitch for just four minutes and it was only his second touch. It was a goal

that he had been waiting a lifetime to score.

O'Brien said: "It was so special to see it go in. I've always wanted to score like that in front of the Kop. I used

to have a seat behind the goal where the 'T' is in 'City'.

"Now our fans are in the TL Dallas Stand, the lads in the changing room are always on about which end they prefer

to score at, but it was always the Kop for me.

"It's the biggest stand and the one where I grew up in, so it was great to score my first Valley Parade goal

there."

City completed the fairytale feel when Michael Flynn, freshly out of sickbay, slammed the winner deep into stoppage

time. There was more than a hint of offside about his twice-taken finish but nobody in home colours was listening

to Barnet's complaints.

Flynn screamed and punched the air as if he'd won the cup final. Barnet, still needing three points to guarantee

their own survival, had the haunted look of someone who'd been mugged of a winning lottery ticket.

For 75 per cent of the game, the third-bottom visitors had looked the better team. They certainly possessed the

best player in Albert Adomah, City's regular nemesis.

Nobody has suffered more at Adomah's hands in recent meetings than O'Brien, so perhaps the substitute's instant

impact was a clear sign that the fortunes had shifted.

Adomah had the first say with his third goal in four matches against the Bantams after 28 minutes of non-descript

action.

City were unchanged from the Morecambe win in terms of personnel but the jaded performance that began Saturday was

light years away from the chase-everything, harrying effort that had unsettled the Shrimps.

They could not get the ball for starters as Barnet knocked it around with a swagger that belied their wretched

recent form and the typically unpredictable playing surface.

James O'Brien had already hacked off the line before Barnet struck on a counter attack. Paul Furlong, who Taylor

first coached at Enfield 24 years ago, flicked on keeper Jake Cole's clearance and Adomah turned on the

after-burner to slip beyond Adam Bolder.

Adomah has had a hit-and-miss season as his mind wanders waiting for a summer move higher up the league ladder. But

there was no disputing the quality of his half-volley finish which flew past Jon McLaughlin.

Peter Taylor questioned his keeper's positioning but Barnet, well orchestrated by another sprightly veteran in

Micah Hyde, were well worth their lead. City's traditional bogey side were at it again.

Stuart McCall was watching knowingly from the main stand. Taylor's predecessor had been given a huge ovation before

the game when the team from 1985 were announced on the pitch ahead of their fund-raising dinner that evening.

With City struggling to get out of first gear, McCall's return looked like being the highlight of the game.

The current boss, meanwhile, was contemplating a familiar scenario. Good City had morphed into bad City yet again

for no apparent reason. Thankfully the shock of Barnet's goal kicked a few backsides.

"Before that we weren't playing any football whatsoever," admitted Taylor.

"Credit Barnet, because some of the football they played was difficult to cope with. But I thought we got slightly

better after they scored. It was a very poor goal to give away but after that we improved a little bit.

"The players show me at times that they are nervous and then they show me they can play some good football."

Gavin Grant had slipped back into his shell and failed to cash in on a clear sight of goal, firing straight at

Cole. Barnet argued that the striker was well offside; it was not the only time the protests fell on deaf ears.

But Robbie Threlfall raised the pulse with an explosive 30-yard first-timer which flew narrowly over and at least

indicated that the hosts were trying to do something about the deficit.

Leon Osborne was lively but needs that bit of composure in and around the box. Taylor suggested that the youngster

can expect lots of shooting practice on the training ground after spurning two big chances to equalise.

The first, just two minutes after the restart, was the worst miss. Evans found plenty of space to collect a long

pass from Steve Williams and set up Osborne for what appeared a simple finish but the striker screwed it wide.

Then the best move of the match, involving Grant and substitute Flynn, worked an opening for Osborne straight

through the middle but again he got his angles wrong as the ball brushed the post.

Taylor had switched to 4-4-2 with Flynn up front alongside Evans and City had a stronger look about them. Barnet,

for the first time, were getting pinned back.

Luke O'Brien was thrown into the fray with a quarter of an hour left and made his spectacular entry as the game

belatedly exploded into life.

O'Brien's cross was met by a looping header from Adam Bolder that bounced off the Barnet bar.

Within a minute, the visitors had broken devastatingly from a City corner and Albert Jarrett picked out Adomah.

O'Brien slipped in his pursuit, giving him room to fire off a curler bound for the top corner, but McLaughlin was

equal to it with a brilliant tip on to the woodwork.

Barnet were holding their heads in disbelief – and it got even worse for them three minutes into the added time.

O'Brien's cross was nodded out by Gary Breen as far as Osborne lurking by the D. He scuffed the ball back into the

danger zone where it landed at the feet of Flynn.

As Barnet froze for a flag that never came, his first shot was parried by Cole. But the rebound came straight back

and this time the Welshman made absolutely no mistake.

City had secured their first win over Barnet in six attempts since returning to the basement and in doing so they

got some payback for the late goals that the Bees always seem to come up with.

City had played much better in previous encounters with little to show for it. Penny for McCall's thoughts, anyone?

Attendance: 11,138


==================

For those who couldn't make it to the 84/85 reunion dinner last night (Saturday), the following players were in

attendance.
 
Chirs Withe, Stuart McCall, Peter Jackson, Dave Evans, Greg Abbott, John Hawley, Don Goodman, Mark Ellis, Martin

Singleton. Also in attendance was Ces Podd who sat next to Mark Lawn and the only current player at the dinner was

Zesh Rehman. City's current assistant manager Wayne Jacobs was there sitting in between McCall and Abbott.
 
Highlight of the evening for me was Grag Abbotts impromptu and heartfelt spech about attending the evening (he'd

driven down from Carlisle after their home game today) and what it meant to him to play with such a group of

players and how they all had to get on with the job of getting through the aftermath of the terrible tragedy at VP

on May 11th 1985.
 
Lowlight was Neil "Razor" Ruddock mocking Greg for his 'boring' speech during his part in the entertainment of the

evening. I know that it was said in jest and both Abbo and Ruddock seemed to have a jovial word afterwards, but it

was crass and insensitive and proved that Ruddock was only there to earn ' a wedge' and had no real idea about why

we were all there. It certainly not really there to see him for sure.  
 
Another highlight was during the auctioning of John Hawley's shirt and shorts (auctioned by John himself) from the

84/85 season Chris Withe stood on the top table modelling them!
 
Followed by another lowlight with the disabled comedian saying "I hate effing auctions, especially ones done by

professional auctioneers". As you may know, John Hawley is an antiques dealers and auctioneer in East Yorkshire.

Once again, no need to go for a cheap laugh having totally forgotten or not fully understood what the evening was

all about.
 
Other than that, a good night was seemingly had by all.
 
Mike Harrison
Editor - The City Gent




===========================

CITY IN SHOCK GROUND-SHARE CALL

By Will Kilner (T&A)

Bradford City FC's co-chairman has today called for City and the Bradford
Bulls to ground-share at Valley Parade.

Mark Lawn says it would prevent Bradford Council "wasting" £15 million of
taxpayers' money on the Odsal Sports Village (OSV) project, which ran into
financial difficulties last month.

He said the "only sensible option" was for the Council to sell Odsal stadium
and re-invest money in Valley Parade for both clubs to play at the stadium.

He said it would need £6 million or £7 million to create a ground-share at
Valley Parade, with £5.5 million for buying back the stadium and the rest to
make the pitch suitable for rugby league.

The playing area would have to be increased by taking out seats and a more
resilient pitch created.

He said: "We are digging the pitch up to do some work this summer so, if the
Bulls are coming down here, we need to know as soon as possible. But no-one
has been in touch, so they're obviously not thinking about it as an option."

Last month, plans for the £75.5m Odsal scheme were hit by a funding crisis.
The Council, which has committed £15 million to the project, has now come up
with five scaled-down options.

Mr Lawn claimed the Council was effectively giving another £15 million to
the Bulls – a move he described as the "latest gesture" from a Council that
had never displayed similar interest in supporting Bradford City.

He said: "I'm a Bulls fan myself but I'm against the bias that has been
shown towards a minority sport. I know we are in the lower league, but we
get more people coming through our gates than they do and we bring more
people into the city centre every two weeks than any other business."

Bulls chairman Peter Hood said Mr Lawn was an astute businessman who was
passionate about Bradford City and had put his money where his mouth is.

"On this occasion, however, Mr Lawn has got his facts badly wrong," he said.

"First, no-one – least of all the Council – ever 'gave' the Bulls 'another
£15m' or indeed any millions for that matter.

"I suspect Mr Lawn is thinking about the £5 million or so we received from
the Council upon returning from Valley Parade to Odsal in 2002. On that
occasion we negotiated a deal which enabled the Council to buy themselves
out of their obligations under our previous lease that would have cost
ratepayers an estimated £20 million. In my judgement that was a very good
deal for the taxpayer."

In terms of the £15m from the Council, Mr Hood said: "It has been committed
as part of the funding for the OSV which is not all about Bradford Bulls as
Mr Lawn seems to think.

"On the contrary, it will deliver sport, recreation and leisure facilities
for all the people of the district by replacing an ageing Richard Dunn
centre with a state-of-the-art facility and pool, as well as providing
education for our young people via Bradford College."

He said the OSV would be owned and operated by a not-for-profit Trust
managed by the stakeholders, including in particular the Council.

"That's where the £15m will go, together with the Odsal stadium site – not
to Bradford Bulls.

"Mr Lawn is free to describe ours as a 'minority sport' if he wishes.
However, in terms of positive profile for the City of Bradford, being on Sky
as often as we are, and often also on terrestrial BBC, plus the numbers of
'away' supporters who travel here to watch their team go head-to-head with
the Bulls, plus the media coverage we get locally, regionally, nationally
and internationally – it is no contest."

Alan Carling, chairman of Bradford City Supporters' Trust, said: "It is a
significant development that Bradford City FC has now come out in favour of
ground-sharing with the Bulls at Valley Parade."

He said the Valley Parade solution was the best way forward.

Jane Glaister, Bradford Council's strategic director for culture, tourism
and sport, said: "The Council is not giving £15m to the Bulls. The Council
with its partners, is investing in a sports village for the whole community.

"The Council provides sponsorship and grants to Bradford City to develop
community programmes and is disappointed that this is not acknowledged by
Mark Lawn."


===========================

Trivia Corner

There are a few IFs here but...........
 
IF Taylor is manager of City next season he could be up against 4 of the teams that he has previously managed
 
IF Gillingham, Wycombe and Southend are relegated from League one plus Stevange who have just been promoted.
 
Mike Harrison
Editor - The City Gent

===========================

O'BRIEN: PLAYERS WAITING ON BOSS

Bradford City defender Luke O'Brien has revealed several players are waiting
for manager Peter Taylor to decide whether he will commit to the club.

Taylor, who agreed a short-term deal until the end of the season when he
replaced Stuart McCall in February, has yet to confirm he will be extending
his stay and the uncertainty is having a huge bearing on the playing staff.

O'Brien told the club's official website: "Nobody knows if the gaffer is
going to be here next season or not. That's up to him.

"But there are a lot of players out of contract, myself included, and
everything is still up in the air. We're all playing for our future.

"I want to stay, of course I do. This is my club. I've been here since I was
a little lad and I don't want to think about playing for someone else.

"But it all depends on who the manager is. A new one might come in and bring
in 15 to 20 different players."

===========================

Peter Taylor expects his Valley Parade future to be sorted by May 1.

Both Taylor and City want a decision to be made before the season is up.

And the Bantams boss, currently contracted until the end of next
month, sees no reason why a deal cannot be done in time for the final
home game against Northampton a week on Saturday.

Taylor, who has won six of his 15 games at the helm, does not want any
uncertainty lingering into the summer break.

If he gets the job full-time, he intends to maximise the off-season in
preparing for next term.

He said: "As far as I'm concerned, personally speaking I would
expect it to be done before our last home game.

"I can't give everything away but it can't be done now. There are
a few little things that need agreeing on.

"But I honestly don't see there being a problem and I'm really
hopeful it's all done and dusted by Northampton.

"I want to get it sorted because all of a sudden August will be here
again and you can't let this go on too far.

"I'm very pleased we've won six matches but there is still an
awful lot of planning needed to be done before pre-season.

"And for the club's benefit, the quicker it's done the better.
Even if I wasn't staying, it will give them time to get on with
things."

When Taylor was appointed in February, City made it clear that they
would remain open-minded over other options. A couple of potential
candidates have indicated their interest if the former Hull chief does
not stay on.

Joint-chairman Mark Lawn said: "We agree with Peter. We would like to
get it sorted as soon as possible and we're working towards that."

Meanwhile, Omar Daley is expected to return at Chesterfield. The
winger is back in training after recovering from a pulled hamstring.

Taylor said: "Omar trained with us on Friday and I was very tempted
to put him on the bench against Barnet. But if I had, I would have
been tempted to put him on and I couldn't take the risk.

"I didn't want to take any chances because I really want to finish
the season with nearly everybody fit for the last three matches.

"He trained Saturday as well with the staff and as long as he gets a
good week, I'm looking for him to be involved against Chesterfield.

"I'm still hopeful (James) Hanson might have a bit of a chance as
well."

===========================

BBC


Bradford City to train at Leeds University
Bradford City

Bradford City are set to move their training facilities for next season to the University of Leeds.

Joint-chairman Mark Lawn told BBC Radio Leeds: "We've agreed the deal more or less, we just have to sign contracts.

"The place is top class, a very good facility and a lot better than what we've got and certainly up to Championship

standard."

"There's some very good facilities for us to use, Bulgaria trained there during Euro '96."

The move to Weetwood could attract some controversy as it sees the club moving out of Bradford, but Lawn feels they

had no other option.

"It would have been very nice if Bradford Council had done something, but if they don't offer anything then we have

to go where we can go," he added.

The transfer of training facilities is thought to have been recommended by current Bradford manager Peter Taylor,

who is still in negotiations with the club board over a deal for next season and beyond.

"We're moving on with it," Lawn said. "I think we've come to an agreement with Peter, there's only the odd bits and

pieces to sort out.

"I won't say what they are as they are personal to Peter, but it's certainly not the facilities or the budget we've

given him."

While the negotiations continue Lawn admits that he has been happy with how Taylor has turned City's season around.

"He came in and steadied the ship, got rid of some of the high wages very quickly which helped us, and then brought

some people in which obviously got us the points that made us safe," he said.

"I've got to be honest I was panicking a bit at one stage."

Lawn has warned that if not enough fans take advantage of their cut-price season ticket off then they will not be

able to do the same next season.

Fans have until 9 May to buy adult season tickets at £184, and Lawn is hoping there is enough interest in the deal

but admits tickets are not selling as fast as he would like.

"It's very, very slow," he said. I think some of them are looking to see what sort of manager we're going to get.

"We're about at present 3,000 short and we need to get those people down and more if we can."

"Even more if we can, the more we get, the more money we can give Peter Taylor."

"The one thing that [fellow joint-chairman] Julian Rhodes and myself do is not take anything out of this club, so

whatever we get in goes into the facilities and the players."

"We've had great backing from the fans, we can't turn around and thank them enough for what they've done," he

added.

"But there is a reality, if we don't get 10,000 at this sort of price then we wont be able to do it again, and next

year we'll have to take it back to normal prices.

"We've had the fan-base, and I know that over the last seven or eight years they've not had a lot to shout about.

But the one thing that they've had is value."

===========================

DELPH INJURY AFFECTS PAYOUT

Chairman Ken Bates insists the implications of Fabian Delph's injury on the
money owed to Leeds in transfer fees is "of secondary importance".

Delph progressed through the Thorp Arch academy into the first team as a
teenager at Leeds before being sold to Aston Villa last summer for a fee
that could rise up to a reported £8million in add-ons.

The 18-year-old has been ruled out for eight months after rupturing his
cruciate knee ligament in training and further money due to Leeds - and
Bradford, who Delph left aged 12 - based on his first-team appearances at
Villa has now been put on hold.

But Bates said: "Nobody wants to see a player seriously injured and we wish
him luck.

"We have received a proportion of the guaranteed element of the fee with the
rest being due in the future, an eighth goes to Bradford City, but that
really is of secondary importance.

"This is when you find your character and he will pick himself up and dust
himself down."

===========================

STARS LINE UP FOR BANTAMS FIRE VICTIMS

Former Bradford stars Dean Windass, Stuart McCall and Peter Beagrie will
take part in a memorial match for the Valley Parade fire victims.

The trio will form part of the 'Old Boys' side, who will take on The
Co-operative Challenge Trophy Cup Lancashire Winners, on Sunday, May 9 at
3pm in a match aiming to help raise £100,000 for the Bradford Plastic
Surgery and Burns Research Unit. Entry is free but donations are welcome and
can be made on the day.

In addition, the two supporters placing the highest bids could play
alongside some of their heroes. Any male over the age of 16 who has
experience playing football should email their name, age and contract
details to bid2play@thebantams.co.uk, with their offer in the subject line.

Peter Ryan, regional operations manager at The Co-operative Food said: "We
have two places up for grabs. The two highest bidders will get the chance to
play for up to 45 minutes with the old boys and live out their fantasies of
playing at Valley Parade.

"This really is what all Bradford City F.C fans dream of and we're making it
possible."

Meanwhile, the Bantams will move to a new training ground next season after
agreeing a five-year lease to rent the University of Leeds playing fields at
Weetwood.

===========================