I'd never heard of him so googled him when you posted and that was first thing I saw. Might be out of our price range but he looks a good talent.
I think the fee would be nominal but wages would be an issue. He’ll be on 10k a week at Arsenal I bet. As I said, was hoping for a loan deal where they pay 75% of the wages.
The same reason as a player would leave Barnsley to join Luton? As far as footballers' careers are concerned, there really isn't any long-termism any more. Barnsley are currently a higher division club than Bradford (and have consistently been so for probably two decades).
My immediate thought was because they are a constant in L2 I thought wages but the usual wages sources say he’s on £3200 a week. So either that’s not correct or wages is not a reason and as always sees us a a good stepping stone into the Championship and quicker/better career prospects.
Mark Hughes can say he is not going anywhere but it's not him who decides anymore, if he doesn't go soon and leaves for nothing at the end of his contract then let's hope Hughes gets them promoted this time in to the big league 1 with all the wealth that comes with it. Hughes is a dinosaur and could cost Bradford big time with his arrogant approach.
Bluff and bluster would suspect to either drive the price up or when it’s not disclosed they can make out they got what they wanted, straight out of the Peterborough playbook.
Good checking of the the historic League placings to pick a period to suite the point! My point is Bradford are a much better longer term prospect than Barnsley. Bigger city, bigger wages, bigger club all round and critically - considerably more ambition. I get the point about the anomaly of their struggling to get out of Div 4 but imo their prospects of returning to the top division are way ahead of ours but then again, so are many (most?) Clubs in this Division.
‘Pick a period to suit the point’ - hardly, he’s picked the current period! How do you determine that Bradford have more ‘ambition’? They get big crowds because season tickets are about £150, it hasn’t helped them out of L2, they haven’t even been that close to getting out despite 3 auto places. You wouldn’t get many players choosing L2 Bradford over L1 Barnsley at the moment, and I’m aware of our shortcomings!
Thanks for sharing your opinions. I'll stay with mine and time will show which one of us is nearer the mark.
He looks a good shout and seems to have done okay at Crewe last season, although I have only seen highlights. I don't think that the fee would be too much, but you can be certain that there would be sell-ons imposed by Arsenal. I think that they would do a deal on that basis. If he played at Crewe, he would be aware of the sort of wage structure which exists in lower leagues. Good shout. I would be in for him. Good pedigree with his England caps.
Bradford were last in the second tier in 2003/04, so they've spent the last 20 years in the lower divisions, 9 of which will have been spent in the bottom division if we include next season as well. We have only spent 10 seasons in the 4th tier in our entire history. Bradford's current struggles are far from a historical anomaly - they're par for the course. Going further back, Bradford were relegated from the second tier in 1936-37, and proceeded to spend time next FORTY-EIGHT seasons in the 3rd Division North, and then flitting between the 3rd and 4th divisions, before finally being promoted back to the second tier in 1985. It's absolutely nothing to do with cherry picking. Whether we look at the 21st century or the entire league histories of both teams, Barnsley are a much more successful football club than Bradford City.
I've just given you objective evidence which says that we are. Bradford are an established lower division club, who've had very occasional forays into the top two divisions in the last 100 years. We've spent the vast majority of our history there. Even this century where we've done a bit of yo-yoing, we've spent 15 seasons in the second tier. Bradford have only spent 17 seasons outside the bottom two divisions since 1937.
Has there ever been a rivalry with us and Bradford ?. I've heard some stories from our fans, saying it used to get a bit feisty when visiting them at Valley parade, especially in the 70s.
