Read this article online
http://texasbantam.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/46810838356/
===========================
Next/Upcoming Game
FA Cup 5th round confirmed for Sunday Feb 15th 2.30pm v Sunderland
http://www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk/news/article/new-date-for-coventry-city-game-2230060.aspx
Leyton Orient on Tuesday 17 or 18th February 2015
Swindon Town on Tuesday 24 February 2015
Coventry Tuesday 10 March 2015 - kick off 7:45pm.
Signings & Loans
Hello and goodbye: Bantams aim to shift Mclean straight back out again
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/11753698.Hello_and_goodbye__Bantams_aim_to_shift_Mclean_straight_back_out_again/
Bradford City striker Aaron Mclean returns to Peterborough United on loan until the end of the season.
Lewis Clarkson has left the club in search of first-team football.
see below
Mackenzie was Paul Ince's first signing as Blackpool manager in 2013. He played 37 games last season but has not featured since April because of an Achilles injury.
See below
Injuries & Suspensions
===========================
Preview
BBC http://ift.tt/1BDkBMN
Game links
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11763439.FT__City_1_Colchester_1/
http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/gamecast?gameId=394087&action=stats
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/sport_bantams_pics2012/sport_bantams_pics2014_colchesterhome/
Highlight/ Goals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkcphkJwM6k
Post Game Interview
===========================
Final whistle - match report
Parkinson blasts Bantams board over poor Valley Parade pitch
8:03pm Saturday 31st January 2015
By Simon Parker
PHIL Parkinson criticised the board for "doing nothing" about the Valley Parade pitch after today's 1-1 draw with Colchester.
Filipe Morais earned City's first point in three games with a cracking second-half volley as the Bantams bounced back from a poor opening.
Referee Kevin Johnson had nearly called it off after a pre-match inspection and both sides condemned the state of the playing surface.
Parkinson said: "I had a board meeting after the Gillingham game two and a half months ago and asked Roger Owen, the director who's in charge of the pitch, and (fellow director) Graham Jones what they thought of the pitch.
"They both said the ball was rolling well and Gillingham had marked it well. I said it was terrible because it's giving way every time the lads try and turn.
"I asked if they can help the groundsman and give him some funds to improve the pitch otherwise we'll be in trouble with it.
"They thought I was making excuses because we were having a bad run at home at the time. But I was telling the truth and nothing was done.
"I've got to defend the groundsman Mick Doyle because he is working so hard but hasn't got the help needed. He's been hung out to dry."
Parkinson felt City were "off the pace" up to half-time but added: "I thought we dominated the second half but just couldn't find that winner."
===========================
When the dust settled - match report
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11764638.print/
Parkinson anger breaks surface over Bradford City pitch
6:43am Monday 2nd February 2015
By Simon Parker
City 1, Colchester 1
JUST when the Chelsea ticket row calmed down, along came the FA Cup furore over being ignored by the TV companies for the fifth round.
Now that outrage has been overtaken by Phil Parkinson's damning post-match criticism about the Valley Parade pitch.
There seem to be more issues surrounding the club right now than an average episode of Jeremy Kyle.
The state of the playing surface is hardly breaking news. It has rumbled on since caving in under the weight of the particularly wet weather in November.
That was the point when Parkinson raised his concerns with the board – and when he claimed they chose to sit on their hands rather than offering to fund any salvage work.
But Saturday was the low point. Valley Parade had been out of action for 17 days since the Millwall cup replay and still looked worse than ever.
Two heavy dumps of snow in the meantime just compounded groundsman Mick Doyle's problems and the covers had to be left on for longer than he would have wanted.
Referee Kevin Johnson came close to pulling the plug just over two hours before kick-off after a concerned inspection.
If Colchester boss Tony Humes had been at the ground at that point, it would have been cancelled. He arrived half an hour later and immediately voiced his fears about player safety.
Parkinson's anger on the issue has been bubbling under. It burst spectacularly when he faced the press afterwards.
It still came as a surprise to hear the manager break ranks as vocally as he did with a tirade against particular directors – pointedly absolving Doyle of any blame.
But of course the timing is in Parkinson's favour. On the back of that win at Chelsea, he is talking from a position of considerable strength.
What will be interesting is the response to his angry attack. Suffice to say, his usual weekly meeting with the board on Thursday could become a lively affair.
The game probably should not have gone ahead but that would have just added to City's impending fixture pile-up. With 14 outings already scheduled for the next two months, a postponement was the last thing on their minds.
So Parkinson convinced the first-year referee that they had played on worse this season – they hadn't – even if it meant once again having to tell his players to adapt their game accordingly.
Forget the free-flowing stuff that had stunned Chelsea and roll your sleeves up for a heavy slog through the mud, mud, not so glorious mud.
Parkinson said: "Nobody wants to hear a sob story about the state of the pitch come the end of the season. We've got to win games.
"But we have to completely change the way we'd like to play. That's the team talk. You're asking someone like Billy Knott, who is a very good technical player, to run around and play a game that's alien to him.
"There was a time when we could have got somebody in (to improve the surface) and it wasn't done. So we're left with a pitch where it's lucky the game's on.
"We've got to adapt to it, make the most of it and be better than the other team on it."
It took a long while for that message to sink in. The personnel may have been the same as the week before, barring the usual switch of goalkeeper, but the first-half performance was poles apart.
With concentration of the essence on such an unpredictable stage, it was Colchester who settled far quicker. The contest could have slithered out of sight before City had found their feet.
Centre halves Andrew Davies, in particular, and Rory McArdle were running in treacle as the U's carved their way through the middle. "I could have played up front and looked a good player," was their manager's biting criticism at the break.
McArdle had already thwarted Gavin Massey when Chris Porter fired the visitors ahead after five minutes. Tom Lapslie's long pass picked out the striker in too much space and he drifted inside Davies before scoring his first goal since joining from Sheffield United with a glorious curler.
Massey then burst through but could not follow suit and Jordan Pickford denied Sammie Szmodics another goal to add to the hat-trick he'd scored at Valley Parade in the Youth Alliance Cup final ten months earlier.
All that within the first 11 minutes – so much for the wonderful "homecoming" for the cup heroes as the club had billed the afternoon.
The untrustworthy surface made for an open encounter and City had their half-chances. Knott's close-range effort just before the break was the best of them but was foiled by Sean Clohessy's sliding block.
That did not save the players from their manager's sharp tongue during the interval and thankfully the transformation was immediate.
Colchester barely got a kick in the second period. City tightened up at the back and built momentum going forward.
Filipe Morais had been the one home player who refused to be hampered by the pitch in the first half and took his game up another notch from the restart.
He hammered in three shots and keeper Sam Walker was forced to turn one of them against the outside of the post.
With 15 minutes left, it was a case of fourth time lucky. Inevitably, the assist came from Jon Stead.
Having had a hand in three of the four FA Cup goals, the striker launched another rescue act by doggedly holding off two defenders to the left of the penalty area.
Even more impressively, Stead managed to keep his feet while twisting and turning before delivering the perfect cross for Morais to thunder home. Wisely the winger met it on the full rather than taking his chance with letting the ball bounce.
It was the Portuguese's fifth goal of the season but his first in the league at home.
Morais' equaliser at Stamford Bridge at almost the same moment had sparked a legendary fightback. But despite the odd scramble, there was to be no repeat as Colchester dug in for the draw.
But then the only real winner was always going to be the pitch.
Attendance: 13,917
===========================
Wintery VP
https://twitter.com/officialbantams/status/560459373085229058/photo/1
CHELSEA WIN SECURES PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK AWARD
http://www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk/news/article/chelsea-win-secures-performance-of-the-week-award-2234141.aspx
Bantams clinch signing of 6ft 4in Blackpool defender Gary MacKenzie
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11766524.Rhodes_happy_with_window_shopping_as_Bantams_gazumped_by_Millwall_over_Tonge_but_clinch_signing_of_6ft_4in_wrecking_ball_Blackpool_defender/
Allamby fit to burst with pride over Bantams' FA Cup staying power
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11766897.Allamby_fit_to_burst_with_pride_over_Bantams__FA_Cup_staying_power/
===========================
CLARKSON QUITS BRADFORD CITY
Bradford City have announced that young forward Lewis Clarkson has left the
club in search of first-team football.
Clarkson, who featured once for the Bantams, was due to quit the League One
side in the summer, but has agreed to leave with immediate effect.
Boss Phil Parkinson told the club's official website: "There are currently
one or two options out there for Lewis and we felt it was best for him to go
and see if he could find first-team football elsewhere.
"At this stage in his career, Lewis needs to be playing regularly. We wish
him all the best for the future."
===========================
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31133517
FA Cup: Millwall and Bradford fined for breaching FA rules
Millwall and Bradford City have been fined by the Football Association after admitting a breach of FA rules.
The two clubs were charged with failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion in an FA Cup third-round replay last month.
Millwall have been fined £6,000 and Bradford have been fined £3,000, while both clubs have been warned about their future conduct.
The Bantams won the match 4-0 and have subsequently reached the fifth round.
The charge related to a first-half melee between both sets of players, which was prompted by a foul by Lions defender Alan Dunne.
Bradford boss Phil Parkinson and assistant Steve Parkin were sent to the stands after the incident and were subsequently charged with improper conduct by the FA.
Both Parkinson and Parkin admitted the charge, and were fined £1,000 each.
===========================
http://texasbantam.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/46810838356/
===========================
Next/Upcoming Game
FA Cup 5th round confirmed for Sunday Feb 15th 2.30pm v Sunderland
http://www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk/news/article/new-date-for-coventry-city-game-2230060.aspx
Leyton Orient on Tuesday 17 or 18th February 2015
Swindon Town on Tuesday 24 February 2015
Coventry Tuesday 10 March 2015 - kick off 7:45pm.
Signings & Loans
Hello and goodbye: Bantams aim to shift Mclean straight back out again
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/11753698.Hello_and_goodbye__Bantams_aim_to_shift_Mclean_straight_back_out_again/
Bradford City striker Aaron Mclean returns to Peterborough United on loan until the end of the season.
Lewis Clarkson has left the club in search of first-team football.
see below
Mackenzie was Paul Ince's first signing as Blackpool manager in 2013. He played 37 games last season but has not featured since April because of an Achilles injury.
See below
Injuries & Suspensions
===========================
Preview
BBC http://ift.tt/1BDkBMN
Game links
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11763439.FT__City_1_Colchester_1/
http://m.espn.go.com/soccer/gamecast?gameId=394087&action=stats
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/sport_bantams_pics2012/sport_bantams_pics2014_colchesterhome/
Highlight/ Goals
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkcphkJwM6k
Post Game Interview
===========================
Final whistle - match report
Parkinson blasts Bantams board over poor Valley Parade pitch
8:03pm Saturday 31st January 2015
By Simon Parker
PHIL Parkinson criticised the board for "doing nothing" about the Valley Parade pitch after today's 1-1 draw with Colchester.
Filipe Morais earned City's first point in three games with a cracking second-half volley as the Bantams bounced back from a poor opening.
Referee Kevin Johnson had nearly called it off after a pre-match inspection and both sides condemned the state of the playing surface.
Parkinson said: "I had a board meeting after the Gillingham game two and a half months ago and asked Roger Owen, the director who's in charge of the pitch, and (fellow director) Graham Jones what they thought of the pitch.
"They both said the ball was rolling well and Gillingham had marked it well. I said it was terrible because it's giving way every time the lads try and turn.
"I asked if they can help the groundsman and give him some funds to improve the pitch otherwise we'll be in trouble with it.
"They thought I was making excuses because we were having a bad run at home at the time. But I was telling the truth and nothing was done.
"I've got to defend the groundsman Mick Doyle because he is working so hard but hasn't got the help needed. He's been hung out to dry."
Parkinson felt City were "off the pace" up to half-time but added: "I thought we dominated the second half but just couldn't find that winner."
===========================
When the dust settled - match report
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11764638.print/
Parkinson anger breaks surface over Bradford City pitch
6:43am Monday 2nd February 2015
By Simon Parker
City 1, Colchester 1
JUST when the Chelsea ticket row calmed down, along came the FA Cup furore over being ignored by the TV companies for the fifth round.
Now that outrage has been overtaken by Phil Parkinson's damning post-match criticism about the Valley Parade pitch.
There seem to be more issues surrounding the club right now than an average episode of Jeremy Kyle.
The state of the playing surface is hardly breaking news. It has rumbled on since caving in under the weight of the particularly wet weather in November.
That was the point when Parkinson raised his concerns with the board – and when he claimed they chose to sit on their hands rather than offering to fund any salvage work.
But Saturday was the low point. Valley Parade had been out of action for 17 days since the Millwall cup replay and still looked worse than ever.
Two heavy dumps of snow in the meantime just compounded groundsman Mick Doyle's problems and the covers had to be left on for longer than he would have wanted.
Referee Kevin Johnson came close to pulling the plug just over two hours before kick-off after a concerned inspection.
If Colchester boss Tony Humes had been at the ground at that point, it would have been cancelled. He arrived half an hour later and immediately voiced his fears about player safety.
Parkinson's anger on the issue has been bubbling under. It burst spectacularly when he faced the press afterwards.
It still came as a surprise to hear the manager break ranks as vocally as he did with a tirade against particular directors – pointedly absolving Doyle of any blame.
But of course the timing is in Parkinson's favour. On the back of that win at Chelsea, he is talking from a position of considerable strength.
What will be interesting is the response to his angry attack. Suffice to say, his usual weekly meeting with the board on Thursday could become a lively affair.
The game probably should not have gone ahead but that would have just added to City's impending fixture pile-up. With 14 outings already scheduled for the next two months, a postponement was the last thing on their minds.
So Parkinson convinced the first-year referee that they had played on worse this season – they hadn't – even if it meant once again having to tell his players to adapt their game accordingly.
Forget the free-flowing stuff that had stunned Chelsea and roll your sleeves up for a heavy slog through the mud, mud, not so glorious mud.
Parkinson said: "Nobody wants to hear a sob story about the state of the pitch come the end of the season. We've got to win games.
"But we have to completely change the way we'd like to play. That's the team talk. You're asking someone like Billy Knott, who is a very good technical player, to run around and play a game that's alien to him.
"There was a time when we could have got somebody in (to improve the surface) and it wasn't done. So we're left with a pitch where it's lucky the game's on.
"We've got to adapt to it, make the most of it and be better than the other team on it."
It took a long while for that message to sink in. The personnel may have been the same as the week before, barring the usual switch of goalkeeper, but the first-half performance was poles apart.
With concentration of the essence on such an unpredictable stage, it was Colchester who settled far quicker. The contest could have slithered out of sight before City had found their feet.
Centre halves Andrew Davies, in particular, and Rory McArdle were running in treacle as the U's carved their way through the middle. "I could have played up front and looked a good player," was their manager's biting criticism at the break.
McArdle had already thwarted Gavin Massey when Chris Porter fired the visitors ahead after five minutes. Tom Lapslie's long pass picked out the striker in too much space and he drifted inside Davies before scoring his first goal since joining from Sheffield United with a glorious curler.
Massey then burst through but could not follow suit and Jordan Pickford denied Sammie Szmodics another goal to add to the hat-trick he'd scored at Valley Parade in the Youth Alliance Cup final ten months earlier.
All that within the first 11 minutes – so much for the wonderful "homecoming" for the cup heroes as the club had billed the afternoon.
The untrustworthy surface made for an open encounter and City had their half-chances. Knott's close-range effort just before the break was the best of them but was foiled by Sean Clohessy's sliding block.
That did not save the players from their manager's sharp tongue during the interval and thankfully the transformation was immediate.
Colchester barely got a kick in the second period. City tightened up at the back and built momentum going forward.
Filipe Morais had been the one home player who refused to be hampered by the pitch in the first half and took his game up another notch from the restart.
He hammered in three shots and keeper Sam Walker was forced to turn one of them against the outside of the post.
With 15 minutes left, it was a case of fourth time lucky. Inevitably, the assist came from Jon Stead.
Having had a hand in three of the four FA Cup goals, the striker launched another rescue act by doggedly holding off two defenders to the left of the penalty area.
Even more impressively, Stead managed to keep his feet while twisting and turning before delivering the perfect cross for Morais to thunder home. Wisely the winger met it on the full rather than taking his chance with letting the ball bounce.
It was the Portuguese's fifth goal of the season but his first in the league at home.
Morais' equaliser at Stamford Bridge at almost the same moment had sparked a legendary fightback. But despite the odd scramble, there was to be no repeat as Colchester dug in for the draw.
But then the only real winner was always going to be the pitch.
Attendance: 13,917
===========================
Wintery VP
https://twitter.com/officialbantams/status/560459373085229058/photo/1
CHELSEA WIN SECURES PERFORMANCE OF THE WEEK AWARD
http://www.bradfordcityfc.co.uk/news/article/chelsea-win-secures-performance-of-the-week-award-2234141.aspx
Bantams clinch signing of 6ft 4in Blackpool defender Gary MacKenzie
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11766524.Rhodes_happy_with_window_shopping_as_Bantams_gazumped_by_Millwall_over_Tonge_but_clinch_signing_of_6ft_4in_wrecking_ball_Blackpool_defender/
Allamby fit to burst with pride over Bantams' FA Cup staying power
http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/sport/sportbcfc/11766897.Allamby_fit_to_burst_with_pride_over_Bantams__FA_Cup_staying_power/
===========================
CLARKSON QUITS BRADFORD CITY
Bradford City have announced that young forward Lewis Clarkson has left the
club in search of first-team football.
Clarkson, who featured once for the Bantams, was due to quit the League One
side in the summer, but has agreed to leave with immediate effect.
Boss Phil Parkinson told the club's official website: "There are currently
one or two options out there for Lewis and we felt it was best for him to go
and see if he could find first-team football elsewhere.
"At this stage in his career, Lewis needs to be playing regularly. We wish
him all the best for the future."
===========================
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/31133517
FA Cup: Millwall and Bradford fined for breaching FA rules
Millwall and Bradford City have been fined by the Football Association after admitting a breach of FA rules.
The two clubs were charged with failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion in an FA Cup third-round replay last month.
Millwall have been fined £6,000 and Bradford have been fined £3,000, while both clubs have been warned about their future conduct.
The Bantams won the match 4-0 and have subsequently reached the fifth round.
The charge related to a first-half melee between both sets of players, which was prompted by a foul by Lions defender Alan Dunne.
Bradford boss Phil Parkinson and assistant Steve Parkin were sent to the stands after the incident and were subsequently charged with improper conduct by the FA.
Both Parkinson and Parkin admitted the charge, and were fined £1,000 each.
===========================
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