Time for players to take cover (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Time for players to take cover

10:53am Friday 9th November 2007

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The curse of the Bradford City programme strikes again.
I’m sure the appearance of Mark Bower on the cover on Tuesday night had no influence whatsoever on Stuart McCall’s decision to leave out the long-serving defender.
But when Bower was relegated to the bench, ending an ever-present league run of nearly two years, he became the latest “victim” of the player profile.
On Saturday, Barry Conlon had been the featured man in the Brentford programme. Just over an hour into the game, he was being taken off after missing several gilt-edged scoring chances.
Rhys Evans had been the focus for the Darlington match – a week later he was heading out of Grimsby in an ambulance with a shoulder injury that forced City to cut his loan period short.
And remember Accrington? Peter Thorne was the cover star that night – and later suffered a whack in the ribs which would keep him out for another five games.
Any dressing-room jinx is not down to me or the programme, honest. It just looks like it.