Review of Bradford City's 2020 - and a familiar story

Social distance, bubbles, tiers, shielding and “stay safe” are all on that depressing virus-related list. And the dreaded cliché of them all – “unprecedented times”.

We have obviously never experienced anything like this last year before. Except, perhaps, at Valley Parade.

Sadly for City, even a pandemic that brought everything to its knees could not alter an outcome that we have suffered through previously.

Even in such a stop-start format, the last 12 months have played out an all-too-familiar script in BD8.

There has been nothing particularly “unprecedented” for those whose life revolves around following the Bantams.

New year hopes quickly crushed? Check.

A drift into nothingness? Check.

A losing tailspin that accounted for Stuart McCall? Yes, unfortunately we’ve been there before with that one as well.

A year that began with genuine ambitions of at least a play-off crack in the first season back in that “other” tier four would see just nine league wins – and a third of those coming from mid-December.

Wind the clock back to this time last year and City had won 11 at League Two’s midway point – two more than they would muster in the 12 months to follow.

In 35 league outings, minus those months of football lockdown, City collected 38 points. Averaged over a full 46-game season, that would near enough scrape 50 – barely enough to stay up.

They scored 34 goals – one under a goal a game. There were only two occasions when the Bantams netted more than twice – both at home against teams marooned at the bottom.

Wind the clock back to this time last year and City had won 11 at League Two’s midway point – two more than they would muster in the 12 months to follow.

On the face of it, everything had looked fine and dandy as 2020 dawned with victory over Morecambe.

City were seemingly set fair in fourth place following back-to-back home wins and six points off top spot with a game in hand.

Shay McCartan’s dead-eye impression of Cristiano Ronaldo (description courtesy of Soccer Saturday pundit Clinton Morrison) at leaders Swindon the following week then salvaged a late draw to stay right in the mix.

But delve a bit deeper and the cracks were starting to form.

The fans had grown bored of Gary Bowyer’s functional football after struggling through some dour draws against opponents well down the table.

Gary Bowyer's style of football had become unpopular with Bradford City fans

Even the two victories to ring in the new year were stodgy at best.

Then the points dried up. Crawley away set the alarm bells ringing, totally outplayed by a side who had won just once in 13 previously.

The one-goal margin flattered the Bantams – the listless display more deserving of the 3-0 inflicted upon them soon after by an equally out-of-form Mansfield.

If that was bad, City’s “effort” at Oldham a week later was off the scale. The white flag was raised well before the Latics claimed their third first-half goal and Bowyer was on his way.

With a pick-me-up required, it quickly became clear that the new man at the helm would be anything but.

Once more, McCall was handed the chance to finish the business ripped away from him by Edin Rahic two years previously.

The day after Bowyer’s exit was announced, he was back at Apperley Bridge like he had never been away.

An eager fan caught on camera phone assistant Kenny Black’s colourful choice of words to lift the players in that first training session.

“Passing, sxxxxxxg, whatever you do, you want to be the best you can be,” urged the Scot. That brought a smile to faces again - and maybe the good times from 2017 were just round the corner?

Unfortunately, this was more like 2018 revisited.

The reception that greeted the return of McCall for his third managerial spell was spine-tingling.

A raucous audience of 17,668 at Valley Parade, easily the biggest of the season and swelled by a full contingent from Grimsby, roared away the grey clouds that had been gathering.

Stuart McCall's return in February lifted the mood - but results did not improve

Typically, though, McCall’s winning hopes were dashed in the last minute – the fact that Luke Hendrie snatched the Mariners’ equaliser was almost beyond parody.

But that first victory followed three days later, in admittedly edgy fashion coming from behind against rock-bottom Stevenage.

McCall would chalk up another home success against high-flying Plymouth, though once more there was little opportunity to relax and savour the moment as 10 men just about held off nine.

But he could not cure the away-day blues.

Bowyer had failed to win on the road since a sun-drenched afternoon at Morecambe the previous October.

McCall’s first three attempts, despite scoring first against Cambridge and Newport, ended empty-handed.

The last of those at Salford was a flashback to the pathetic rollovers from January and left the travelling fans and manager seething afterwards.

He vowed to rattle cages for an immediate response – but Boris and his scientists then ensured he never got the chance.

There were nine games unused as the rest of the season was written off.

But a ninth-placed finish, four points adrift of eventual play-off champions Northampton, summed up how City had fallen short of what had been expected or even demanded.

The long football-less vacuum cleared heads and reminded all of us how grateful we were just to watch something.

McCall added to his squad in the extended transfer window but there were no wholesale changes with a significant number still under contract.

The new salary-cap ceiling of £1.5m would not be reached with up to a fifth left unspent – a decision on the manager’s part that would prove fatal.

James Vaughan made it clear he did not want to come back to City

The James Vaughan circus occupied the summer as McCall tried in vain to dissuade the striker from his goal of turning a loan move to Tranmere into a permanent one.

City promised to play hard ball with Vaughan only 12 months into his three-year contract.

McCall had sensed a chink of light after several lengthy phone calls – but that quickly disappeared when he witnessed the player’s clear reluctance on the first day back for pre-season.

So, the striker was hustled out to the Wirral and City had another hole to fill; one that would eventually be taken by Wolves youngster Austin Samuels.

“The final piece of the jigsaw” said McCall at the time but we still await Samuels to break his duck in the league.

Familiar faces did return. Callum Cooke’s permanent arrival was initially greeted more keenly than Billy Clarke’s, although the Irishman had impressed earlier in the year at Grimsby and came back with a point to prove after his difficult episode under Simon Grayson.

Carabao Cup joy at highly-fancied Bolton in the first competitive game promised much but City would win only two more of the next 12 in all competitions.

The fanbase was splitting between those demanding another change and others keen to give a club legend every encouragement to turn the corner.

Opinions were sharpened and frustrations heightened as supporters remained locked out of grounds. Social media resembled a warzone at times with each setback.

A potential minefield week for McCall against hapless Southend and part-time Tonbridge at the start of November was negotiated with the minimum of fuss – 10 goals and two clean sheets hopefully restoring confidence for sterner tests to come.

But a lively 2-2 draw against Exeter would provide his last point.

Conor Sellars and Mark Trueman have overseen a five-match unbeaten run since taking interim charge

Even the announcement of a year’s contract extension, on the same day that Ryan Sparks was unveiled as the EFL’s youngest chief executive, could not save McCall after a run of six straight defeats.

Lee Novak was back for the last of those at Oldham, the graveyard for City managers. His injury absence had been most keenly felt among the list of casualties that hit selection.

The lack of suitable back-up proved McCall’s undoing – and that was on him for not addressing those concerns when the money was there.

Academy coaches Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars stepped into the breach as the search began for a full-time replacement.

That will continue as we head into 2021 but with far less urgency after a remarkable turnaround of fortunes. Maybe the answer is right under the nose - the two in the post now will clearly get the time to stake their claim.

A three-game winning run halted with Tuesday’s draw against Port Vale but 11 points from their five games at the helm has taken the Bantams off the critical list.

The move away from the back three that McCall was so keen to implement has brought less confusion – and more clean sheets. Players understand their jobs better.

City are becoming tougher to beat again – almost like this time last year.