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    i miss stallard & murray wrote:
    Spenvalleyspartan wrote:
    Prisoner Cell Block A wrote:
    i miss stallard & murray wrote:
    LaCe78 wrote:
    Spenvalleyspartan wrote:
    1 bingley bantam wrote: Right then pitch sorted great news. Now for the team/squad Mr Parkinson! in my book the squad is thread bare only got absolute bare minimum.I feel that we should have had pretty much all the players we wanted before our trip to Ireland,this is a great oppurtunity for all the players new and old to bond not just as a team but as friends.Anybody coming in after this is in my opinion a long way behind the 8 ball to some extent a stranger.Sorry guys if it sounds like im moaning but i am getting so frustrated at the lack of signings.As for Mr Lawns statement about eye opening signings since the signing of Davies (Coincidentally? just before season ticket offer ended) whilst i think most of the signings will do a very good job Only Davies made my eyes open wide in disbelief.
    I too can understand your frustrations! Espeically all this wasted time and print talking about a player who wants a big pay cheque but also would like to warm a sub bench!! City have acted like a teenage school girl with a crush on an older boy! Wants more time to think about it.... But I love him! On trial at Bellend road.... But I love him! We're about 5 short in the squad! Stop sanding the pitch!!!!
    I must admit its starting to play on my mind too! It's been v quiet for a week or two now on the transfer front, rumours of non league trial it's in for a kick about already, surely they start to come in when the real core of the squad has been assembled, after we have 'actively sought' the players we want for a promotion push! Not just the free agents wanting a pay cheque! We are still at least 5 quality players short of a squad capable of promotion, and nothing seems to be happening!
    I totally agree about requiring 5 quality players. I bet we end up with loans to make up the numbers prior to the start of the season, this is disruptive and has been unsuccessful in the passed. Ok Davies proved to be a good loan signing and compton showed potential but this option will not provide us the foundations for a successful season.
    The talk of promotion needs to be squashed, we have a starting 11 that is good enough for a mid table finish. There are elements of experience and potential but nothing that backs up what was said about exciting signings.
    To make sure this season does not turn into a failure lets set a realistic target, improve on 18th position finish and hopefully see some of the potential develop.
    We will have loans, I believe this was always the plan. Get some quality of our own and then fill with surplus young uns from higher divisions. This is why I am saying we don't need to be panicking, you can't affect it by doing so, so let them get on with it. I reckon one more in by Ireland or just after and the rest will be late arrivals from Premier league team's reserve and youth sides.
    Do we not learn from our mistakes of the past? The loan thing does not work! It's not the stability we crave! We need a close knit side not the players going through a sliding door and back out again!
    Totally aggree. Loans are a waste of time and cause disruption. Even a season long loan works against u as the team mite gel but then they are gone, u can not build a team if they are temporary. No future. I wud like a solid squad and if we have the mis fortune of players missing give our youngsters a chance.
    It isn't about learning from past mistakes, we do not have an option but to use the laon system, the mistake as was blatantly evident was the short term loans, the upside was the long term loan of Davies, which incidentally didn't end up in here today gone tomorrow but with him signing. The loan market can be and is useful, Bradford City are not the only club to use it and nor will we be. How ace would it be for Messrs Lawn and Rhodes if they could use FIFA12 or ChampMan to build their squads from imaginary money.

    Get in the real world fellas, the loan system is used by ALL clubs in England and worldwide with few exceptions, change the record now, moan about something different please."
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Bog off! Bradford City say good riddance to pitch problems

7:00am Thursday 19th July 2012 in Sport Photograph of the Author By Simon Parker , Bradford City Reporter

Dave Baldwin says the improvement work to the pitch at Valley Parade is money well spent Dave Baldwin says the improvement work to the pitch at Valley Parade is money well spent

City have carried out a £50,000 pitch revamp in an attempt to solve Valley Parade’s boggy wings.

The heavy state of the surface on the flanks has been a constant problem in recent seasons. But extensive work through the summer has left the club confident that the issue has finally been resolved.

Director of operations David Baldwin said: “It’s quite an extreme cost but an essential one. It is our stage and worth paying out a sizeable chunk of money.

“We made as much saving as we possibly could in order to generate some more budget availability for this close season.

“Ultimately if you want to do well and entertain, you try to make available the best provisions possible within the resources.

“It will help with the nature of football the manager wants to play without any shadow of doubt. Hopefully it gives him the best opportunity to get us out of this division.”

Work began in late May to resurface the pitch and lay fibre sand along the sides to help with drainage. It should bring it in line with the centre of the pitch, which had already been treated in the same way. The exceptionally wet weather has helped the grass bed in – and also provided it with an early test.

Baldwin added: “The pitch has historically always been a battle. There’s a 1930s massive 30-foot concrete wall underneath, that runs down almost to the depth of Midland Road.

“The backfill of water that used to build on the main stand side of the stadium has been an ongoing problem.

“We spent a lot of money on the pitch a few years back, taking up 200 tonnes of soil to lay 100 tonnes of fibre sand. But that was predominantly run down the crown of the pitch, from the halfway line out to the penalty area both sides.

“As a result of that, the crown dries out much quicker than the flanks. So that becomes very apparent.

“The perfect solution would have been to dig the whole lot out, blow out the concrete wall and start again. If you’ve got £500,000 and time is no objective then that’s fine.

“We’ve had to do it step by step but ultimately to fix the problem we needed to have fibre sand across the whole pitch. We now have that.”

The new-look pitch will get its first work-out in City’s friendly with Bury on August 4. With Barnsley’s visit the following week cancelled because of the Capital One Cup shift, there is a 17-day break before the next home game against Fleetwood.

Baldwin said: “The pitch is looking quite lush at the minute with the weather we’ve had.

“Most importantly, we’ve got an even texture underneath because the fibre sand has covered every parameter.

“We’re talking about a ten-week period to grow the grass back and let it bed down. That is the minimum limit.

“We’re feeling very positive about it. The groundsman, Mick Doyle, really wants to go for that best pitch in the division award again.”

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